Time and Love: The Essential Masters

by

Laura Nyro

Edit

This album is still very worthwhile for fans because the remastering of the tracks makes for a somewhat new listening experience. This remastered collection shows that Laura's albums are in dire need of remastering (and are overdue for remastered reissues).

For LN newbies, I guess this is a decent collection of songs. My fear is that they won't make you much of a fan. Without intention on Laura's behalf (I'm guessing), Laura Nyro albums each work together as a whole. They are each something of a rock opera, though not really rock or operatic (or like, for example, "Tommy"). Laura Nyro really defies definition or comparison. But once you get to know her songs in the context of their original albums, you will have a hard time separating each song from the songs that surround it. That might seem to be the case for most albums, or might sound pretentious, but it's something that amazingly seems to happen for most LN fans much more so than for other artists' albums. So if you want to get introduced to Laura Nyro, you should start with "New York Tendaberry". That album is timeless, thrilling, and simply breathtaking. "Eli and the Thirteenth Confession" is also a great start, but its production is more representative of its time (though not dated; you just need to be comfortable with the late 60s sound--it turned me off at first, but I sure got over it). "Christmas and the Beads of Sweat" is also an excellent start.

But no matter what, get something by Laura Nyro!! She's the closest thing I've ever had in my life to a religious experience. A collection like this won't be enough to "convert" you, but it's a start! :-)

It's hard to accept a Laura Nyro CD without "Emmie" as being "The Essential Masters." It is also true that if you are already a fan you probably have all these songs and will disagree about various omissions. If you want a better (or at least more comprehensive) introduction to Laura's music spanning more of her career, try the 2 CD collection "The Best of Laura Nyro: Stoned Soul Picnic." [Columbia/Legacy C2K 48880]. HOWEVER: If you are looking for a one volume introduction to Laura Nyro so that you'll see what all the shouting (praise and passion) is about, you'll find this CD to be a good selection of some of her best. None of these comments are directed at the music. As with any Laura Nyro collection, the music and lyrics are beautiful . . . and that may be reason enough to buy this CD.