Gonna Take a Miracle

Artist: Laura Nyro & LaBelle
Label: Sony
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 074643098724
EAN: 0074643098724
ASIN: B0000024XY

Release Date: 1990-10-25

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Piano

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Tracks:

I Met Him On A Sunday
The Bells
Monkey Time/Dancing In The Street
Desiree
You've Really Got A Hold On Me
Spanish Harlem
Jimmy Mack
The Wind
Nowhere To Run
It's Gonna Take A Miracle

Similar Items:

Eli & The 13th Confession (Exp)
New York Tendaberry (Exp)
The First Songs
Christmas and the Beads of Sweat
A Home at the End of the World

Customer Reviews:

Laura was a great artist.......2006-11-09

This CD captures the real Laura, soulful and able to deliver a tune like nobody before or since. Her song " It's gonna take a miracle" should resonate with anyone who has ever loved someone.

Don't Leave Before The Miracle Happens.......2005-12-29

Laura Nyro was stunning in every respect - singer, composer, performer. Nobody hung it all out to dry quite like Laura Nyro. Eli and the Thirteenth Confession is a landmark album, as is New York Tendaberry. This effort stands apart, a nostalgic tribute to the pop classics Nyro grew up loving.

The bare bones recording and choice of LaBelle for background vocals are both inspired decisions, making for an effect that is casual and authentic. Chilling a cappella renditions of Desiree and The Wind offer a spiritual beauty, while Monkey Time and Dancing In The Street deliver feel good funk. (Plenty of vocal gymnastics from Patti LaBelle on those two in particular.) The bonus tracks seem to be taken from a college concert and include interesting renditions of classics like Up On The Roof, Ain't Nothin' Like The Real Thing, and others.

If you are only going to own one Nyro CD, it should be Eli and the Thirteenth Confession. If you want a quirky minor masterpiece, this is for you.

Blast from the Past.......2005-12-14

If I hadn't watched 'A Home at the End of the World' I would have hardly remembered LaBelle or Nyo. As it happened, it brought back floods of memories fro mmy youth and out came also the old Carol King songs to be listened to again.

Good, that such quality cannot be beaten.

I remember buying this new...on vinyl ...back in the day........2005-11-30

I remember buying this as a new release...on vinyl and I still have it. This might not be everyone's cup of tea but if you are a Nyro fan, a Doo Wop fan, an R&B fan, a Blue-eyed soul fan, you will find something here to to love. (However, if you are a Labelle fan you will probably be greatly disapointed as they play the role of guest star back up vocalists, albeit with panache, before they became superstars.)

The album has a feel of a star more at play than at work (or maybe church would be even more accurate). Not that the songs are treated in a frivolous manner, just the opposite you can feel the songs are treasured. But you sense Laura Nyro said to herself something we probably wish all our favorite artists said at some time, "I'm going to do an album of the songs that I loved and influenced me growing up." Then she called up one of the best, and last, girl groups of the same era for back up and let them do their thing.

With Cindy Birdsong gone off to replace Flo Ballard of the Supremes a couple of years earlier, Labelle had just recently dropped their "Patty Labelle & the Bluebelles, Sweet Hearts of the Apollo" title and were searching for a new direction. I'm not sure what they do here can be considered "new direction" but they do bring passion to the project.

The focus here was on the songs, the songs are definitely the stars of the show. The arrangements are sparse, often bordering on accapella. Laura's voice can be an acquired taste and bringing in Labelle was a smart move, giving you just enough of them to leave you wanting more without taking away from Ms. Nyro or the songs. The songs run the gamut from old school 50's Doo Wop (The Jesters "The Wind" and The Charts haunting "Desiree") to Brill Building hots of the early 60's "I Met Him on Sunday" and "Spanish Harlem" and on to fairly recent Motown hits of the day (The Bells, Jimmy Mack).

Thirty years later I now enjoy the CD even more with out the pops and clicks of my old vinyl. For Nyro fans and fans of the other genres I mentioned I don't know if I would call this a "must have" but I do believe it is a little gem and a curiosity that you will enjoy.

A miracle from Laura Nyro and LaBelle!.......2005-06-23

In his book, About A Boy, Nick Hornby describes Rachel, the single mother his character Will falls in love with in the latter part of the book as reminding him of Laura Nyro as she appeared on Gonna Take A Miracle. That's what got me into Laura Nyro, that simple description. Having bought the album earlier this year and finally gotten around to listening it, I was stunned at how Nyro's vocals fit sassy Motown numbers like velvet. Gonna Take A Miracle is her and LaBelle, i.e. Patti LaBelle, Nona Hendryx, and Sarah Dash, doing Motown and other R&B covers, and they do them splendidly. This is an example of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff's production, soon to gain them fame in the Philly Sound. Laura and her new friends simply jam on the danceable songs, clearly enjoying themselves.

There are three Martha and the Vandellas songs done here. The first is "Dancing In the Street," which is the second part of a medley, the first part being the Curtis Mayfield-penned and (I believe) sung by Major Lance. Both parts have piano (by Nyro) and a percussion section that simply jams. Their repeated "don't forget the Motor city" attests to their influences. The other is "Jimmy Mack" which has a snappy pop/soul sound complete with clapping. Sheena Easton's did a version with similar tempo in 1986. And last up is "Nowhere To Run," which has the same jamming sound as "Dancing In The Street."

They do an acapella version of the Shirelles' "I Met Him On A Sunday" before doing the Originals "The Bells," their soaring harmonies doing great justice. Their cover of Smokey Robinson & the Miracles' "You Really Got A Hold On Me" gives the original a run for its money from the sassy uptempo rhythm and harmonies that suddenly springs up after the leisure part. I thought the Beatles' cover of it was great, but now, looks like I have to give this cover more consideration.

Laura's voice has never been more splendid than on the ballads, which include the title track, originally done by the Royalettes, a piano ballad sweetened by strings and the harmonies of LaBelle, and "Desiree," originally done by the Charts, with ringing vibes accompanying Nyro's resounding vocals. And a backing brass section helps them out on their cover of Ben E. King's "Spanish Harlem."

The four bonus tracks are done live by her solo and include Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing," of which she sings a snatch of before seguing into "You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman." It looks like I found the definitive interpreter of this song-sorry Aretha and Carole King. Then it's "O-o-h Child" by the 5 Stairsteps and the Drifters' "Up On The Roof." These songs are just Laura on piano and nothing else. What a voice!

Having already written songs that would prove hits for other groups like "Stoned Soul Picnic," it isn't too surprising that she would splash into the Motown sea with her sistas. Laura Nyro's fifth album is just that, a miracle!

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