Rating: 
Summary: Men listened to her music, too!
Review: Starting the comments with that Library Journal review is misleading and I'm glad to see that most of the customer reviews are from men. I haven't read the book yet but just wanted to say thanks to those real 70's men who locked themselves in their rooms with Laura's music, too!
Rating:
Summary: Men listened to her music, too!
Review: Starting the comments with that Library Journal review is misleading and I'm glad to see that most of the customer reviews are from men. I haven't read the book yet but just wanted to say thanks to those real 70's men who locked themselves in their rooms with Laura's music, too!
Rating: 
Summary: Only the Bronx Knows Nyro
Review: The late Laura Nyro was a brilliant, uncompromising artist in a world that runs on hype, and not surprisingly she was often misunderstood by critics, journalists, and pop culture observers. Because of the intensely emotional nature of her music, it was always assumed that her work was essentially confessional, and critics and writers inevitably extrapolated the drama Nyro exhibited in her performances into her private life. Thus, the author of the first Nyro biography was in the unenviable position of having to separate fact from fiction, and paradoxically, to clearly delineate Nyro's emotional landscape, without being able to speak with Nyro herself and gain firsthand insights. The task clearly required a combination of poet, political analyst, musical expert and sleuth, a writer with a deep understanding of Nyro's personal, political, and musical times, and the ability to evoke Nyro's exquisite yet elusive inspiration on the printed page without falling prey to cliches or becoming trapped in stereotypes. That's a tall order, and admittedly few popular music biographers would be up to the task. While it's gratifying to see a major publisher bring out a volume on Nyro four years after her death, one can't help but regret that this biography wasn't entrusted to an author with a better grasp of Nyro's subtleties. Michele Kort is definitely no poet; her prose in "Soul Picnic" is mundane and utilitarian -- straightforward at best, disingenuous at worst. The paragraphs pile up, but what is ultimately lacking is any significant overview of Nyro as a woman and a musician. We are subjected to a thousand and one trivial details about Nyro's life and work that in the end lack resonance and worse, don't add up to the big picture we crave. We never gain any true insight into who Laura Nyro was; instead we're subjected to the author's interviews with friends and colleagues, nearly all of whom seem to have had an agenda in agreeing to speak. There is also a sense that these interviews, and the conclusions derived from them, have been edited carefully to present an image of Nyro that was pre-determined by the author before she began writing the book. Nyro's music was sui generis; the author of her first biography could be expected to go into some detail about the nature of her compositions and their influences, but beyond a repetitive focus on the music of the early '60s "girl groups" and a few nods to other pop composers, Kort does not offer the reader any such musical insights. She prefers instead to exhaustively describe the recording sessions for each of Nyro's albums, compile lengthy quotes from the reviews the albums received, and add a few extraneous comments. This does not provide a musical overview in any sense of the word. Kort also chooses to slant Nyro's sociopolitical stance in a more pop-culture direction, leaning heavy-handedly on her developing feminism and bisexuality. These may have been elements in Nyro's personality, but far from the only significant issues in her life and times. From this description it would be easy to dismiss Nyro as a rich-hippie crank, floating from one pseudo-mystical conceit to another. Yet she was a complex and fascinating human being, capable of communicating a universal vision to many different types of listeners through her music. The history of her intellectual, musical, and social progress was far more complex than Kort seems to realize. Perhaps Kort's West Coast background worked against her in understanding the roots of such an archetypical East Coast artist as Nyro. At any rate, as Kort herself states in the book, this is not "the" book on Laura Nyro, but hopefully it will spark a new interest in Nyro and ultimately open the door to future works about her by more politically and musically sophisticated authors.
Rating: 
Summary: An Enigmatic and Beautiful Life Revealed
Review: This is an engrossing and extremely well written account of the life of mysterious and mythic singer/songwriter Laura Nyro. Baby Boomers who came of age in the latter Sixties and early Seventies will love this wonderfully balanced account of Nyro's tragically short life. The author, not by artificial construction, but by simply telling the story by way of the many authoritative and definitive sources available to her, captures the excitement that Nyro's stunning music created. Younger readers, who are comfortable with their favorite female singer/songwriters of today, will also benefit tremendously by reading this biography. Nyro paved the way for the female singer/songwriter and it was not an easy path to walk. Readers will also be intrigued by the latter part of Nyro's life which, to some, is shrouded in mystery. Without giving anything away to spoil the fun, one is deeply impressed by just how true Nyro was to herself, how uncompromising she was when it came to her music. Despite the fact that Nyro died tragically of cancer at the age of only forty nine, this biography reveals a life of the deepest integrity and beauty. Anyone who reads this book will never forget it.
Rating: 
Summary: The Greatest Singer's Story
Review: Those of us who have lived with Laura's music know HOW much she means to us and HOW deeply we have been affected by her music. She spoke for the emotional soul of a generation, able to reach the height of ecstacy and the pit of despair within a few brief measures. For me, her later work is as valuable. "Woman of the World," "Free Thinker" and the gem "Sweet Dream Fade" are also part of my personal soundtrack. Michele Kort's book is excellent because it is well researched, thorough, and brimming with information. It's weakness is that it does not read like a nice little story; so we have to work a bit to move through it. But the trip is worth the effort. As ardent of a fan as I have been, for some reason I was unaware of the Japanese release of "Season of Lights." To hear that Santana-like jam her band breaks into on "Timer" was worth the price of both "Soul Picnic," the book, & the Japanese CD! One of the comments I most appreciated in the book came near the end, and is so true. Richard Herrington of the Washington Post says, "Lots of people were later compared to Laura Nyro. Nyro herself was never compared to anyone." Nyro's music was the benchmark of artistry, integrity, passion and wit. This book succeeds in bringing that struggle to attention. For whatever other shortcomings the book may have, for that I am grateful.
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Singer's Story
Review: Those of us who have lived with Laura's music know HOW much she means to us and HOW deeply we have been affected by her music. She spoke for the emotional soul of a generation, able to reach the height of ecstacy and the pit of despair within a few brief measures. For me, her later work is as valuable. "Woman of the World," "Free Thinker" and the gem "Sweet Dream Fade" are also part of my personal soundtrack. Michele Kort's book is excellent because it is well researched, thorough, and brimming with information. It's weakness is that it does not read like a nice little story; so we have to work a bit to move through it. But the trip is worth the effort. As ardent of a fan as I have been, for some reason I was unaware of the Japanese release of "Season of Lights." To hear that Santana-like jam her band breaks into on "Timer" was worth the price of both "Soul Picnic," the book, & the Japanese CD! One of the comments I most appreciated in the book came near the end, and is so true. Richard Herrington of the Washington Post says, "Lots of people were later compared to Laura Nyro. Nyro herself was never compared to anyone." Nyro's music was the benchmark of artistry, integrity, passion and wit. This book succeeds in bringing that struggle to attention. For whatever other shortcomings the book may have, for that I am grateful.
Rating:
Summary: Good, Considering.
Review: Writing a bio about one of the most secretive artists in history must have been rough and Kort does an admirable job here. Even if she'd wanted to put together a real tell all expose, do you really think that anyone in Nyro's circle would have talked? I'm also sure that the author originally left much more juicy stuff in but that other individuals had the upper hand. Let's not complain. We may never see another Nyro book.
Rating:
Summary: A Fitting Tribute for an Artist Who Never Sought Tributes
Review: Yes I'm biased, but Laura Nyro was THE greatest singer/songwriter of her generation. She remains unrecognized,underrated,and unappreciated by the general public. Ask anyone over the age of 40 if they've heard of Nyro and chances are they haven't. Then start listing the songs she's written that others have had hits with,and a recognition begins. Michele Kort has written a thoughtful book that reveals why Ms. Nyro was never meant for superstardom. She was uncompromising, and unwavering when it came to the production of her music. It was the vision she had for her music and her refusal to cave in to the commerciality of the music industry, which gives her a cult, rather than household name status. For example, listen to the single version of "Save the Country" (on the remastered "New York Tendaberry"), and then listen to the superior album cut.
Kort paints a portrait of a woman who did things her way, without overglorifying this artist. I'm sure if Ms. Nyro was alive she would not want a biography to be written. However, Kort has done a masterful job of describing recording sessions, the mixed reviews of Nyro's work, and an overall sense of the humaness of Ms. Nyro. This is not easily done, considering Ms.Nyro's need for privacy. Read this book and if you've never heard her music you will want to, and if you're a fan, you will want to listen to Laura's compositions and her angelic voice, over and over.
|
