New York Tendaberry (studio album) by Laura Nyro

From slatsheit 03/06/2025 05:31

One of the very most underrated albums on this site. Laura Nyro is the quintessential eccentric female musical artist, and a massive influence on every single one who has emerged in her wake. She was a towering talent who didn't and doesn't get nearly enough credit. Her 1967 debut, which revealed her as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, with a maturity beyond her then-teenaged years, is her most accessible album, with its mix of Tin Pan Alley, r & b, soul, jazz, and high pop given a conventional sheen in spite of her beautiful but unbridled vocal style. On the follow-up, Eli & the 13th Confession, her songwriting became far more unfettered in style, with many startling shifts in mood and tempo in the midst of poppy forms, but still with arrangements and production typical for the time. New York Tendaberry was the album where she truly spread her wings, the true masterpiece.

Here, the emphasis is less on pop songcraft and far more on Laura's deeply personal and emotionally powerful self-expression. Much of the arrangements are based on her solo vocal and piano performance, but with intermittent bursts of rich horns or orchestral accompaniment to enrich the songs. This is much more moody and intimate than anything she had done before or after, often with slower tempos and more vulnerable lyrics and performance. Artful, beautiful, and passionate. So many of the female singer-songwriters after her cite her as an influence, starting with Joni Mitchell, who acknowledged her debt to Nyro very early in her career. This album in particular is the font for many confessional and personal, but profoundly artistic, albums by other women that came after it, the most notable to me being Kate Bush's Hounds of Love. Kate is actually a good touchstone for what to expect from Nyro - very eccentric, an acquired taste in terms of vocal performance, but richly satisfying once you get accustomed to her charms. I think it's important to note that Laura very strongly influenced early male singer-songwriters as well, most notably Elton John, Todd Rundgren, and Jackson Browne.

If you're familiar with early Laura Nyro - her first four or five albums are her most famous - but don't care for her vocals, give her '90s material (Walk the Dog & Light the Light, Angel in the Dark) a listen. They're worth the price of admission for the gorgeous refinement of her mature, strong, lush, having-quit-smoking vocals alone.

But this is still the masterpiece. In any event, if you haven't heard this one, you're in for a treat.

Laura Nyro was one of those rare and singular talents that comes along once in a lifetime, if you're lucky. In her original music, the disparate sounds of Soul, Jazz, Folk-Rock, Doo-Wop, Broadway, and Brill Building Pop coalesced into something that was magically hers alone. Her wild and untrained 3-octave mezzo-soprano, while powerfully expressive, was not to everybody's taste. So it's no surprise that so many of her songs became hits when covered by other performers, but never for herself. ("Stoned Soul Picnic", "And When I Die", "Wedding Bell Blues", "Stoney End", etc.)

One of the first things you notice about Nyro's music is how much she was a product of her surroundings. New York City exudes from every musical pore in her body. While I've never called New York my home, I've had the pleasure (and pain) of spending time in all five boroughs at various points in my life. And nothing takes me back there like Nyro. When listening to her now, I'm reminded of the streets I walked down, the sights I saw, and the people I met throughout New York. And I imagine what it must have been like to have grown up in her time and place.

All of Nyro's albums are worth hearing. But for my money, this one is her masterpiece. Simultaneously both intimately personal and grandly ambitious, it's a roller-coaster ride deep into her then 21 year-old psyche. And during those several occasions when her voice cracks, you can feel your own heart breaking right along with it. Haunting, arresting, deeply human, and flawless in it's flaws. If New York Tendaberry catches you in a particularly vulnerable moment, it just might leave you weeping.

I find, New York tendaberry, a difficult album to get into. There's no doubting the quality of the songs, but as opposed to the, Eli, album there's no diversity here. It's all piano based tracks, where on the last record there were jazz, pop and folk influences. NYT, is a good album with some fine songs but it just isn't as enjoyable as the last one.

Amazing. Not just playfully bonkers like Eli, this is a quite dark and ambigious album, it's where you often see the most of Laura Nyro's personal struggles even if she keep her inner self more hidden than ever. While it may be her masterpiece, it's not the best place to start with Nyro, but after going through her lighter subsequent work and her more caddish earlier albums, it's harsh and difficult yet intoxicating beauty becomes even more recognizable and rewarding than ever.

From kingofwine 02/20/2013 19:51

I don't know if I can say this is her best album out of the trilogy, Eli and Christmas the others, but it is definitely more moody and personal than the previous. This woman will break your heart.

From Romanelli 03/13/2011 17:18

Laura Nyro was, above all else, a great songwriter. Her own recordings didn't sell a lot, and her style takes some getting used to. But her songs are amazing, and the arrangements, particularly on this album, are unlike what anyone else was doing at the time, or since. New York is her 3rd album, and she took a lot of time and care in making it a beautiful piece of work. The album is about her home, New York City, and what it means to her. "Save The Country", written after the assassination of Robert Kennedy, is the single, and the rest, if you can get used to her more jazz and Tin Pan Alley style, is beautiful.

Nyro died of cancer in 1997. 2 bonus tracks were added for this 2002 reissue. This is her best album overall.