Tracks

1. Wedding Bell Blues

2. Blowin' Away

3. Billy's Blues

4. Stoney End

5. And When I Die

6. Lu

7. Eli's Coming

8. Stoed Soul Picnic

9. Timer

10. Emmie

11. The Confession

12. Capt. st. Lucifer

13. Gibson Street

14. New York Tendaberry

15. Save The Country

16. Blackpatch

17. Upstairs By A Chinese Lamp

18. Beads Of Sweat

19. When I Was A Free Port And...

20. I Met Him On Sunday

21. The Bells

22. Smile

23. Sweet Blindness (Live)

24. Money (Live)

25. Mr. Blue

26. A Wilderness

27. Mother's Spiritual

28. A Woman Of The World

29. Louise's Church

30. Broken Rainbow

31. To A Child

32. Lite A Flame

33. And When I Die (Live)

34. Save The Country (Live)

Performer Notes

Personnel includes: Laura Nyro (vocals, guitar, piano, electric piano, organ, synthesizer, keyboards); LaBelle (vocals); Jay Berliner, John Tropea, Jeff Mironov, Roland Chambers, Norman Harris, Elliot Randall, Hugh McCracken, Cornell Dupree, Tommy Tedesco (guitar); Alice Coltrane (harp); Joe Farrell, George Young (flute, saxophone); Buddy Lucas (harmonica); Bernie Glow, Pat Calello (trumpets); Wayne Andre, Jimmy Cleveland, Ray DeSio (trombone); Felix Cavaliere (organ, bells); Todd Rundgren (synthesizer); David Friedman, Mike Mainiere (vibraphone); Chuck Rainey, Freddie Washington, Richard Davis, Cyril Cianflone (bass); Dino Danelli, Andy Newmark, Hal Blaine, Bernard Purdie, Rick Marotta (drums); Carter "C.C." Collins (conga, percussion).
Producers: Milt Okun, Charlie Calello, Laura Nyro, Roy Halee, Bones Howe, Arif Mardin, Felix Cavaliere, Gamble and Huff, Roscoe Harring, Gary Katz.
Compilation producer: Dan Loggins.
Engineers include: Dale Ashby, Wayne Yurgelun.
Recorded between 1966 and 1994. Includes liner notes by Paul Zollo.
Though she was an innovator in '60s pop-rock on a par with Paul Simon, Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, Laura Nyro's place in the history books is not as secure as those of her peers. Whether this is due to her markedly reduced output after her late-'60s/early-'70s heyday, the inconsistency of her later releases or some indefinable sociological phenomenon is hard to say. What this two-CD career retrospective does prove beyond a shadow of a doubt is that Nyro was a true original. She merged jazz, gospel, R&B and girl-group pop to create an unprecedented form that was both sonically rich and instantly accessible.
STONED SOUL PICNIC features Nyro's broad, poetic vision on great early songs like "Gibsom Street" and "New York Tendaberry" as well as on cuts best known through other singers' versions ("And When I Die," "Stoney End," etc.). What emerges over the course of these two discs is the highly-developed aesthetic sensibility of an artist who not only understood the sources of her inspiration, but had enough of a vision to assimilate those sources and take them someplace new.

Professional Reviews

Entertainment Weekly (3/21/97, p.74) - "Fans of today's visionary female popsters would profit from a good listen to Nyro, the shamefully overlooked singer-songwriter who paved the way for them 30 years ago. Nyro's passion still cuts like a glistening blade on this well-stocked two-CD set..."

- Rating: A