Christmas and the Beads of Sweat is my personal favorite Laura Nyro album, too. But I agree with Mark: get them all ;-) A couple of years ago, when I went to the local record store intending to buy some Nyro CDs, I couldn't find any. I looked in all the logical places and finally had to ask for assistance. I was told that Laura Nyro was filed under "Folk," and sure enough, there she was. But no Christmas, etc. CD, which is now apparently hard to get. My advice: if you see one, buy it. It's SUCH a great album, and it's only grown over the years. I remember so well discovering Blue and Christmas and the Beads of Sweat at about the same time. There's been a lot of talk about Carole King's Tapestry lately. I remember that album fondly, but Blue, LOTC, James Taylor's Mudslide Slim, anything by CSNY, Paul McCartney's Ram, and Rod Stewart's Every Picture Tells a Story: they were the albums that were speaking to us. Carole King was pleasant, sort of like an aunt we all loved being tolerant and hip. Without exception, we preferred You've Got A Friend as performed by James Taylor. In those days (I'm talking about the very early 1970s), Joni Mitchell and Laura Nyro were really cutting edge. Maybe they aren't any more. Over the years, Joni and Laura seem to have accumulated a lot of imitators, but IMHO the only ones who count are the ones who've found their own personal voice. Laura Nyro was one hell of an artist. And I'll close on that note, with best to all, Roberto Mark wrote: >I see a couple of people have already mentioned 'Christmas and the >Beads of Sweat' which is my personal favorite. I also highly >recommend 'Eli and the 13th Confession'. 'Smile' has some really nice >stuff on it too. But then so does 'The First Songs'. What the heck, >get them all! > >Mark in Seattle _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp
