(1971) Laura Nyro & Labelle - Gonna Take a Miracle [FLAC,Tracks] {100.XY}

Wikipedia:
Laura Nyro(October 18, 1947 – April 8, 1997) was an American songwriter, singer, and pianist. She achieved critical acclaim with her own recordings, particularly the albums Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (1968) and New York Tendaberry (1969), and had commercial success with artists such as Barbra Streisand and The 5th Dimension recording her songs. Her style was a hybrid of Brill Building-style New York pop, jazz, gospel, rhythm and blues, show tunes, rock, and soul.
Between 1968 and 1970, a number of artists had hits with her songs: The 5th Dimension with "Blowing Away", "Wedding Bell Blues", "Stoned Soul Picnic", "Sweet Blindness", "Save the Country", and "Black Patch"; Blood, Sweat & Tears and Peter, Paul & Mary with "And When I Die"; Three Dog Night and Maynard Ferguson with "Eli's Comin'"; and Barbra Streisand with "Stoney End", "Time and Love", and "Hands off the Man (Flim Flam Man)". Nyro's best-selling single was her recording of Carole King and Gerry Goffin's "Up on the Roof".
In 2012, Nyro was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.


Review:
With the 1971 release Gonna Take a Miracle, pop composer and vocalist Laura Nyro completed her four-album/four-year deal for Columbia. Nyro's passion for R&B can be traced back to some of her earliest compositions, such as "Wedding Bell Blues" and "Stoned Soul Picnic" -- both of which were covered by the R&B vocal quintet the Fifth Dimension. More recently, her version of "Up on the Roof" was one of the highlights of Christmas and the Beads of Sweat. So, enthusiasts who had paid any attention at all to the course of Nyro's career would not have been surprised by her direction on this project. As much as Gonna Take a Miracle is indeed a Laura Nyro album, it could likewise, and perhaps more accurately, be described as a collaborative effort between Nyro and the female soul trio LaBelle -- featuring Patti LaBelle, Nona Hendryx, and Sarah Dash -- as well as producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. It is ultimately this team that is responsible for the album's overwhelmingly solid results. Leading off in an apropos style is a succulent cover of the Shirelles hit "I Met Him on a Sunday." The vocal performance is structured as a round -- with each woman singing a consecutive line. The song is rightfully returned to the street corner doo wop tradition from which it originated with the simplicity of unadorned vocals creating an inconspicuous a cappella symphony. Nyro has never sounded so comfortable, easy, or "in her element" than she does backed by an all-star Philly soul ensemble that Gamble and Huff assembled for these sessions. The material reaches beyond just the sounds of Philadelphia, with Motown ("You've Really Got a Hold on Me" and "Nowhere to Run") and Brill Building ("Spanish Harlem"), as well as lesser-known covers of the Charts' "Desiree" and the Baltimore-based Royalettes "It's Gonna Take a Miracle."
Review by Lindsay Planer @allmusic.com
Rate 4.5/5 stars




Track List:
1."I Met Him on a Sunday" (Doris Coley, Addie Harris, Beverly Lee, Shirley Owens) - 1:55
2."The Bells" (Marvin Gaye, Anna Gordy Gaye, Iris Gordy, Elgie Stover) - 2:56
3."Monkey Time/Dancing in the Street" (Curtis Mayfield; M. Gaye, Ivy Jo Hunter, William "Mickey" Stevenson) - 4:57
4."Désiree" (L.Z. Cooper, Danny Johnson) - 1:52
5."You've Really Got a Hold on Me" (Smokey Robinson) - 4:07
6."Spanish Harlem" (Jerry Leiber, Phil Spector) - 2:52
7."Jimmy Mack" (Holland–Dozier–Holland) - 2:56
8."The Wind" (Devora Brown, Bob Edwards, Nolan Strong) - 2:58
9."Nowhere to Run" (Holland, Dozier, Holland) - 5:08
10."It's Gonna Take a Miracle" (Teddy Randazzo, Bob Weinstein, Lou Stallman) - 3:24


Summary:
Country: USA
Genre: R&B, pop, jazz, doo-wop, rock and roll
Format: Tracks


Media Report:
Source : CD
Format : FLAC
Format/Info : Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : ~703-926 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits