Search - Laura Nyro :: Mother's Spiritual

A mature Laura in reflective, personal mood

mianfei | 09/19/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"During the 1980s, Laura Nyro spent most of the time with her young son Gil, and "Mother's Spiritual" was the only recording she released between 1979 and 1988. Nested had been a commercial disaster owing to the "punk revolution" tightening playlists and leaving her without a media outlet, but "Spiritual" with hindsight came out at a much more favourable time with the emergence of such artists as Kate Bush and the Cocteau Twins who took much (whether consciously or not) from her masterpieces like Christmas and the Beads of Sweat.



Given this, and the development of college radio to counter the stifling restrictiveness of late 1970s commercial radio, it is hardly surprising that "Mother's Spiritual" fared better commercially than "Nested", briefly denting the Top 200 - though one does at times think it could have done better.



Since its release "Spiritual" has received a good deal of criticism from the press: for instance, the title song was described as an "MOR lullaby" by Q. This deterred me from taking serious interest in the album even when I first joined Laura Nyro sites on the Internet, and it is only recently that I have taken serious interest in the few tracks not found on compilations.



There is no doubt "Spiritual" lacks the sheer wonder one has playing through Laura's 1968 to 1971 albums with their ecstatic emotion and constant changes of tempo and volume. The mood throughout is quiet, even reflective and dreamy, and there is not that much of Laura's trademark piano. The sound is dominated by sparse, highly relaxed synthesiser and electric guitar flourishes. Even these, however, cannot make up for the deficiencies in some songs, such as "A Wilderness" with its out-of-place child-calls, and "The Brighter Song" and "Roadnotes" which are simply too devoid of feeling to be valuable.



However, Laura's newfound maturity does not make everything lost, because for the greater part of "Mother's Spiritual" her lyrical intelligence shines through in a surprising way. "A Free Thinker" and "Melody in the Sky" show her voice singing with gorgeous beauty, whilst the latter song has the added bonus of a superb lyric about female friendships. On the slower side, "Late for Love" and "Trees of the Ages" are truly dreamy yet touching, and the way Laura asks simple yet rare questions in the former song is fitting. "Man in the Moon"'s intro even captures some of the amazing softness of "Christmas and the Beads of Sweat", though Laura's age and reclusive lifestyle probably made it impossible for her to maintain it for the whole song - which still stands as a beautiful dream of a truly peaceful world.



"Sophia", which makes Laura's goddess religion explicit, furthers the mystical dreaminess seen in other parts of "Mother's Spiritual", but does not lack the dark tone of the slower tracks. "Talk To A Green Tree", despite its title, is about the difficulties working women face protecting and raising children, and what Laura says here is both ambivalent and remarkably intelligent. The third verse and chorus in particular has one of Laura's most stunning lyrics:



Listen pretty daddy

You can take my place

Childcare and home

Is no disgrace

But eight days a week

May wilt your wild flower

And after you've done it all big daddy

Be ready for the midnight hour



And you, society

You can never lead me

'Cause you don't seem to hear me

Gonna talk to a green tree...



The spare backing on the song, too, is so unpretentious that it has aged much better than most music from the 1980s. "To A Child", though tearjerking, has some of the touching beauty of the albums' best tracks.



The album's (and Laura's last) absolute masterpiece (with lyrics preserved by the Chicago Peace Museum) is "The Right To Vote". Featuring some of the few traces of Laura's earlier piano work, the song's simple, yet funky rhythm overlies a lyric that is dark yet pure fantasy. Written in an age when nuclear war and the threat of women being oppressed by fundamentalist religion seemed serious, Laura imagines a work free from the confines of patriarchy in a manner that recalls Elizabeth Gould Davis without being in anyway unfair to it. The way in which Laura, on this and lesser tracks, feels the need to withdraw from a decadent society should indeed have appeal outside the radical feminist movement.



All in all, even if some sub-par tracks do lessen its value, "Mother's Spiritual" stands as an impressive reminder that even in her retirement and without the dramatic mood changes that made her early work amazing, Laura Nyro was still very much a capable music force."

I own all her recordings, this is one of her best

R. Lindeboom | Paso Robles, CA USA | 11/21/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I began listening to Laura Nyro when she first appeared in 1966. When she released Eli & The 13th Confession, she became one of the most magical singer/songwriters of her time. As she progressed through her career, she released some of the most remarkable music ever recorded in the rock genre. Mother's Spiritual is among her very best in my opinion. Right up there with Eli & The 13th Confession if I dare say. Disagree? It's my opinion, okay? I was lucky enough to find a copy when it was out of print, sitting in one of those discount CD racks at a gas station. I had never heard it but bought it and put it in my car CD player. It stayed there for weeks, nothing could displace it. The material on this album is some of the very best material she ever wrote and recorded. Sometimes, it is so beautiful it is emotionally overwhelming and it makes me smile to think that someone so remarkable has been a part of the song of my life. I know that many of us who loved Laura Nyro feel the same and place her music at the apex of rock. This one belongs with the best of her works. If you love Laura and have missed this one, get it."

Laura Comes of Age

Maddog | Cerritos, CA | 05/09/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When this was first released my children were tottlers. I actually heard this on a Jazz radio station. It just hits directly to the heart of any young parent. Laura had the gift of lyrics and music that made this CD so special. Although, my kids are grown I can put this on and it takes me back to the simpler days when my kids listened to me. I've been searching for this CD for such a long time, I was thrilled to see it released, on Japanese import. The audio quality is great. Grab this CD while it is available. This and First Songs, brings Laura's music full circle and demonstrates what a talent she was...a very special gift to mankind. Enjoy Enjoy you will not be disappointed."