More Than a New Discovery

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More Than A New Discovery

Studio album by Laura Nyro
Released	January 1967
Recorded	New York City, 1966
Genre	Pop
Length	46:15
Label	Verve/Folkways Records (UK) Verve/Folkways Records (US)
Producer(s)	Herb Bernstein, Milton Okun
All Music Guide link
Laura Nyro chronology
n/a	More Than A New Discovery (1967)	Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (1968)

More Than A New Discovery is the debut album by Bronx-born singer, songwriter, and pianist Laura Nyro. It was recorded during 1966 and released at the beginning of the following year on the Folkways imprint of the Verve label.

Nyro signed to Folkways Records after supplying Peter Paul and Mary with her song "And When I Die," which became a successful addition to the folk trio's repertoire. She recorded her debut in 1966 with Herb Bernstein and Milton Okun at the helm of proceedings. They did not allow Nyro to play piano on the pieces or to arrange them the way she would have liked, which led to Nyro in effect disowning her debut album. She was, however, at the helm of her 1968 Columbia Records debut, Eli and the Thirteenth Confession.

More Than A New Discovery is out of print as a standard Laura Nyro album, and was never issued on CD format. Instead, it was reissued in 1973 by Columbia Records as The First Songs, featuring a revised track order. It is this version that survives on CD formats, and gave Nyro a chart entry at #97 on the Billboard 200, then known as the Pop Albums chart.

The album is notable for producing a trove of hits for other artists. Blood Sweat and Tears scored with "And When I Die" (US #2), The Fifth Dimension with "Wedding Bell Blues" (US #1) and "Blowin' Away" (US #21), and Barbra Streisand with "Stoney End" (US #6). Various other artists covered songs from the album.

1 Overview
2 Track listing
3 Personnel
4 Miscellanea
5 References

[edit] Overview

More Than A New Discovery is informed by the styles of Laura Nyro's youth. She had just turned 19 when she recorded the album, and the songs retain a youthful exuberance but glisten with beautiful pop melodies and fashionable, sturdy '60s arrangements.

Nyro's lyrics are already poetically-charged and mature, from the wise "And When I Die" to the observational approach of "Buy and Sell." Musically, the album was tailored to fit the landscape of most 1960s female pop singers and it often has the same soulful atmosphere of Dusty Springfield or the brash pop of Barbra Streisand, who took "Stoney End" to the charts three years later.

Vocally, the album finds Nyro giving some of her strongest performances. She convincingly tackles brassy gospel on "And When I Die," countered by the jazzy torch-song styling of "Billy's Blues," which remains one of her finest compositions.

Although Nyro's albums would become more influential and adventurous, More Than A New Discovery features the majority of her most famous and revered compositions.

[edit] Track listing

TITLE	TIME
"Goodbye Joe" (Nyro)	2:38
"Billy's Blues" (Nyro)	3:20
"And When I Die" (Nyro)	2:40
"Stoney End" (Nyro)	2:46
"Lazy Susan" (Nyro)	3:53
"Hands Off the Man'" (Nyro)	2:29
"Wedding Bell Blues" (Nyro)	2:44
"Buy and Sell" (Nyro)	3:38
"He's a Runner" (Nyro)	3:40
"Blowin' Away" (Nyro)	2:23
"I Never Meant to Hurt You" (Nyro)	2:52
"California Shoeshine Boys" (Nyro)	2:45

[edit] Personnel

Herb Bernstein - arranger, conductor, flugelhorn
Milton Okun - producer
Laura Nyro - guitar, keyboards, vocals, songwriter
Jay Berliner - guitar
Stan Free - piano
Bill Lavorgna - drums
Buddy Lucas - harmonica
Lou Mauro - bass
James Sedlar - horn

[edit] Miscellanea

"Wedding Bell Blues" was originally in effect a "mini-suite," featuring several dramatic rhythmic changes - a trait Nyro expanded on future albums. However, producer Herb Bernstein did not allow Nyro to record this version, which led to Nyro more or less disowning the entire album.
After recording More Than A New Discovery, Nyro moved from the Bronx to Manhattan for the first time.
More Than A New Discovery produced more hits for other artists than any other Laura Nyro album.
The "Wedding Bell Blues" single was released in September 1966 and remained on the "Bubbling Under" segment of the Hot 100 (then "Pop Singles") for several weeks, peaking at #103. Nyro would have scored her first chart entry had the single achieved three higher places.
For the single version of "Stoney End," Nyro was forced to rework some of the lyrics that referred to the Bible because Verve felt it would cause too much controversy.
Nyro had already written many of the songs that would appear on her second album by the time she released her first.
More Than A New Discovery was reissued twice - first as Laura Nyro on the Forecast label in 1969 and then as The First Songs through Columbia in 1973, and it is this version that remains in print.
It was originally titled simply A New Discovery.