Eli and the Thirteenth Confession

Nyro, Laura

album cover

A New York Amalgam like None Other

Listening to these perfectly sculpted, constantly surprising pop miniatures, it's possible to imagine Laura Nyro (1947–1997) soaking up inspiration by walking around New York. A musical omnivore, the singer, songwriter, and pianist gathered gospel refrains and soul shouts into a glorious street-level sound. One of her supercollider concoctions, "Eli's Comin'," spins conga-heavy Latin boogie into a music-theater second-act showstopper. Another, "Stoned Soul Picnic," immortalizes the beatific, spaced-out vibe of flower children in the park.

Nyro's second album (and easily her best), Eli, reminds that pop songwriting was a different game in the late 1960s. Without making a big deal of the mechanics, Nyro created maze-like songs that change tempo, key, and mood frequently. Often the music slows when she reaches the end of a verse, shifts to an entirely new pulse for the hook, and eventually circles back to the original groove in grand and satisfying fashion. Nyro guides these changes from the piano, providing an anchor with persistent lilting chords, a signature. Her music is sophisticated without sounding elite—each instrumental touch becomes somehow essential to the tale. Nyro never had the success others did with her material (songs from this album were big hits for the Fifth Dimension and Three Dog Night), but that doesn't diminish her contribution: Like no one before her, Nyro gathered the tangled and often contradictory sounds running through her city, and wove them into riveting and wholly original music.

Genre: Pop
Released: 1968, Columbia
Key Tracks: "Lu," "Eli's Comin'," "Stoned Soul Picnic."
Catalog Choice: New York Tendaberry
Next Stop: Fiona Apple: When the Pawn . . .
After That: Nellie McKay: Get Away from Me
Book Page: 558