Laura Nyro's 1968 album "Eli and the Thirteenth Confession" ranks in my top five albums of all time, but it is unsurpassed in terms of albums I have enthusiastically recommended to friends only to have them say, "Yeah, I pretty much hated that." I will never understand why this is so. I understand that the album was ahead of its time in 1968, and that its time had passed by the dawning of the female singer-songwriter era led by the likes of Carole King a mere few years later, but to me "Eli" is absolutely timeless, a breathless sky's-the-limit cross-genre melting pot as impeccably arranged and produced an album as I've ever heard.
Nyro was probably more popular amongst her music industry peers than the public at large. Her reputation as a songwriter of unique talent became further established as more groups (such as The Fifth Dimension and Three Dog Night) pilfered her log of songs and turned them into mega hits. Songs such as "Wedding Bell Blues," "And When I Die...," and "Stoned Soul Picnic" are oldies radio fodder in their watered-down cover versions, but Nyro's quicksilver soul originals are still definitive.
Nyro, soul chanteuse supreme
By the time "Eli" was recorded, Nyro was a seasoned music industry veteran. She was 20 years old. Even in her discography, the album is unique. Subsequent releases dug deeper, became more introspective, and dramatically pared down the musical landscape to sometimes spartan extremes. "Eli," though, is more universal, more immediately gripping, and far more lush in soundscapes and instrumentation. The album features some of the most densely arranged pop songs of all time, crafting beautiful mini-suites inside the three minute pop radio standard. The first three songs alone comprise perhaps the fastest nine-minute run of any pop album. So packed with ideas that they seem to grow wings and fly, the songs (no matter how many times I listen to them) never seem to last as long as they do.
The rest of the album branches out a bit musically, including smoky jazz lamentations on the state of "Lonely Women," avant-garde pop ("December's Boudoir," which Nyro seemed to use as the starting point for her next album, "New York Tendaberry"), blistering gospel soul ("Eli's Comin'" - a huge hit for Three Dog Night pathetically outclassed by Nyro's original), and a smattering of Tin Pan Alley and Broadway thrown in for good measure. One particularly wonderful legend surrounding the creation of the album was that Miles Davis (a Columbia label-mate of Nyro) was brought in at Nyro's request to add trumpet flourishes to the album, but when Davis heard the tapes he told the young woman there was absolutely nothing he could add - the album was flawless.
Nyro's wailing delivery is either a majestic thing of beauty or a total turn-off. I guess there's no way to acquire a taste for her music - you either love it right away or you never will. That's probably why I've had such awful luck introducing the album to friends. I literally cannot recall one person who liked it, let alone loving it to pieces as I do. I first bought the record at a vintage shop for probably $2.50 or $3.00 and was electrified as soon as I dropped the needle. It changed my life, and I immediately listened to it again. And again. And again. I'm still listening to it today, years later, and it still floors me every time I hear it.
Perhaps I mention it now in yet another attempt to introduce people to this marvelous artistic creation that has meant so much to me in my life. I can't shake this sort of compulsion I have to exhaustively share my point of view about things like this in some sort of effort (I guess) to try to make people see the same way I do. "I love it, so you will, too!" I don't know if I subconsciously reach out for that sort of outside validation so that I will know my feelings are correct. Like I can't trust myself to know that, yes, you were moved by this thing, and that means its good. I get my socks knocked off, and then, well, what does everyone else think? That's a point I hadn't considered before, and which bears more introspection in the future.
Whatever the case may be, "Eli" is a singular experience in my forever unchanging opinion, and everyone deserves to give it a shot. It may not change your life, but then again, it may. It really may.
Click the link below for a sample of the album's riches:
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