Laura Nyro, along with Joni Mitchell, seem to be the most influential Baby Boomer songwriters for today’s singers. Here are a couple of re-issued and undiscovered gems.
Go Find The Moon is a collection of an 18 year old Laura Nyro’s audition tape for her 1967 debut album. She accompanies herself on the piano, with two of the songs (“And When I Die” and “Lazy Susan”) making the cut for her first album, and “Luckie” getting on the 1968 followup. She’s in strong voice, with a bit of a warble on “In and Out” and “Susan”, displaying a powerful hand at the piano for “I Only Want To Be With You”. Most interesting is some studio talk where she’s asked is she knows any standards, to which she replies that she likes Bob Dylan. A generation has shifted.