I was bought a rather good book at Christmas by my mate Rob (aka Jock Pop). 'The Best Music You've Never Heard' issued by Nigel Williamson published by Rough Guide is a treasure chest of lost classics that is a must for any music fan. Having been a fan of music 'on the fringes' I am aware of a fair proportion of the artists covered in this book but I have been led to some music that I wasn't aware of at all. I'll return to this great book from time to time but today I want to concentrate on someone I was aware of but to my shame had not heard until recently (thanks to Spotify for costing me money on Amazon).
Laura Nyro is one of those talents that a talentless person like me (although my Spaghetti Bolognese has been spoken of as far away as Leigh on Sea) is extremely jealous of. How can someone liby a great musician, singer and song writer. The only unfathomable thing is that Nyro isn't a household name. For example she wrote this song only for Barbra Streisand to cover it is a big showbiz way and make it a hit.
Her songs were complex and by all accounts difficult to play for instance at the 1967 at the Monterrey Pop Festival her band cut her set short because they couldn't follow her intricate music! You don't get that with your run of the mill artist. She recorded three seminal albums for Columbia 'Eli and the Thirteenth Confession', 'New York Tenderberry' and 'Christmas and the Beads of Sweat'.
This song is from 'New York Tenderberry' and is pretty special. It's called 'Captain for Dark Mornings'
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