Price: £160.00
Format: Boxset - vinyl
Artist: Laura Nyro
CatNo: SMABX1176
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Laura Nyro American Dreamer Vinyl Boxset
American Dreamer 1967-1978 is an 8 LP limited edition deluxe vinyl box set from the prodigiously talented Laura Nyro
 
Including seven of Laura’s breathtaking original albums - More Than A New Discovery (1967), Eli And The Thirteenth Confession (1968), New York Tendaberry (1969), Christmas And The Beads Of Sweat (1970), Gonna Take A Miracle (1971), Smile (1976), and Nested (1978), alongside an original LP of Rarities & Live Recordings.
 
* All albums remastered especially for these vinyl editions
* 36-page 12” book with extensive liner notes from renowned author Peter Doggett 
* Featuring rare photographs, and interviews with Todd Rundgren, Charlie Callelo, Herb Bernstein and many more
* All housed in a stunning book-shelf slipcase box set

 

 

During the singer/songwriter movement in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, Laura Nyro was one of the most celebrated artists of her day. She penned soulful, literate songs that took the folky introspection of her peers and infused it with elements of soul, R&B, jazz, and gospel, giving them an emotional heat that set her apart. Nyro was a hugely respected recording artist, whose confident piano work and rich, expressive vocals made other sonic trailblazers such as Miles Davis and Alice Coltrane navigate towards her. She has influenced the greatest of songwriters - Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Elton John, Neil Young, Carole King, Kate Bush and Elvis Costello among them.

 

That influence continues today being heard in the works of Alicia Keys, Tori Amos, Suzanne Vega, Jenny Lewis and more. Nyro’s wonderfully expressive and poetic songs – of which many became major hits by other artists, most notably The 5th Dimension, Three Dog Night and Barbra Streisand – remain hallmarks of outstanding quality. ‘Eli’s Comin’, ‘Gibsom Street’, ‘Wedding Bell Blues’, ‘And When I Die’, ‘Stoned Soul Picnic’, ‘Map To The Treasure’, ‘Sweet Blindness’ and ‘Stoney End’ are magnificent examples. 

 

Nyro was 18 years old when she signed her first recording contract and wrote the songs for which she is likely to be best remembered. By the time she was 22, she had become one of the most successful composers in American popular music. But at the age of just 24, she drew back from her creativity and fame, battered and drained by the sheer energy and nerve required to sustain her career. Fortunately for those of us who loved her music, that was not the end of the story. She returned briefly to the fray for three turbulent years in the mid-to-late 1970s, and then enjoyed a final decade of artistic achievement and public acclaim, before illness took her from us at the tragically early age of 49 in 1997. 

 

Nyro found her early fame challenging yet despite living under an unrelenting spotlight, she was able to create this series of utterly beautiful and stunningly unique albums. 

More Than A New Discovery (1967)
 
1 Goodbye Joe 
2 Billy’s Blues
3 And When I Die 
4 Stoney End 
5 Lazy Susan 
6 Hands Off The Man 
 
1 Wedding Bell Blues 
2 Buy And Sell
3 He’s A Runner
4 Blowin’ Away 
5 I Never Meant To Hurt You 
6 California Shoe-Shine Boys 
 
Eli And The Thirteenth Confession (1968)
 
1 Luckie
2 Lu
3 Sweet Blindness
4 Poverty Train
5 Lonely Women
6 Eli’s Comin’ 
 
1 Timer
2 Stoned Soul Picnic
3 Emmie
4 Woman’s Blues
5 Once It Was Alright Now (Farmer Joe)
6 December’s Boudoir
7 The Confession 
 
New York Tendaberry (1969)
 
1 You Don’t Love Me When I Cry 
2 Captain For Dark Mornings
3 Tom Cat Goodbye
4 Mercy On Broadway 
5 Save The Country 
 
1 Gibsom Street
2 Time And Love
3 The Man Who Sends Me Home 
4 Sweet Lovin’ Baby
5 Captain Saint Lucifer
6 New York Tendaberry 
 
Christmas And The Beads Of Sweat (1970)
 
1 Brown Earth
2 When I Was A Freeport And You Were The Main Drag 
3 Blackpatch
4 Been On A Train
5 Up On The Roof 
 
1 Upstairs By A Chinese Lamp 
2 Map To The Treasure
3 Beads Of Sweat
4 Christmas In My Soul 
 
Gonna Take A Miracle (with Labelle) (1971)
 
1 I Met Him On A Sunday
2 The Bells
3 Monkey Time / Dancing In The Street 
4 Desiree
5 You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me 
 
B
1 Spanish Harlem
2 Jimmy Mack
3 Wind
4 Nowhere To Run
5 It’s Gonna Take A Miracle 
 
Smile (1976)
 
1 Sexy Mama
2 Children Of The Junks 
3 Money
4 I Am The Blues 
 
1 Stormy Love 
2 The Cat-Song 
3 Midnite Blue 
4 Smile 
 
Nested (1978)
 
1 Mr. Blue (The Song Of Communications)
2 Rhythm And Blues
3 My Innocence
4 Crazy Love 
5 American Dreamer 
 
1 Springblown
2 The Sweet Sky
3 Light (Pop’s Principle) 
4 Child In A Universe 
5 The Nest 
 
Rarities & Live Recordings 
 
1 Stoney End (Single Version) (Mono Version) 
2 Lu (Demo)
3 Stoned Soul Picnic (Demo)
4 Emmie (Demo) 
5 Eli’s Comin’ (Single Version) (Mono Version) 
6 Save The Country (Single Version)
7 In The Country Way (Album Version) 
 
1 Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing (Recorded Live 30 May 1971, Fillmore East, USA)
2 (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman (Recorded Live 30 May 1971, Fillmore East, USA) 
3 O-o-h Child (Recorded Live 30 May 1971, Fillmore East, USA)
4 Up On the Roof (Recorded Live 30 May 1971, Fillmore East, USA) 
5 Someone Loves You (Demo)
6 Get Off My Cap (Demo)
7 Coffee Morning (Demo)
8 Medley - Emily-Nested (Live)