Eli And The Thirteenth Confess [Original recording remastered]

1968's ELI AND THE THIRTEENTH CONFESSION was her second release, and it shattered virtually every convention imaginable. Heard today, it is almost impossible to imagine this recording as a product of that decade; there is nothing of the still-popular do-wop, no trace of guitar-heavy baroque, not even the barest hint of psychedelia. And even now it remains a very, very difficult work to describe.

Essentially, Nyro fused several elements--pop, jazz, soul, folk, and show music--into a completely original sound. The opening track, "Luckie," is indicative: the first few bars set a fast pace in an almost do-wop style, but no sooner is this clearly established than Nyro suddenly shifts the entire tone of the piece, and no sooner do we adjust to the shift than she shifts again, playing with our ideas of tempo and style, stretching the music to see what she can make it do. It is a remarkable feat, and one that she will repeat in unexpected variations and to great success with virtually every cut.

This is one of those rare recording where absolutely everything in the collection works perfectly in both an individual sense and collectively in terms of the whole. You may think you know titles like "Sweet Blindness," "Eli's Comin'," and "Stone Soul Picnic" from covers by other artists, but once you've heard Nyro's originals the later versions simply blow away as if they never were. The original tracks have been beautifully remastered and the package includes three bonuses, demo cuts of "Lu," "Stone Soul Picnic," and "Emmie"--all of them very interesting to compare to the final versions.

This is really the beginning of what would become "alternative"--and even today, most "alternative" pales in comparison with what Nyro could do when working at the height of her skills. Strongly recommended.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

At the infamous 1967 Monterey Pop Festival she was booed off stage, her tightly harmonic song structures must have stood in stark contrast to Jimi Hendrix's wildly loose improvisations. While her summer of love sentiments were pure (e.g. 'Stoned Soul Picnic' and 'The Confession' where "Love is surely gospel"), grand pianos would always be out of step with the hobo, outlaw acoustic guitar or the violent excess of the electric one.

What may have contributed to Laura'a lack of commercial success during her career was her unique talent to harness surprise and unexpectancy. Each individual song she wrote was more melodically mobile than most other artists' entire albums. The breathless tempo changes of 'Luckie', the extraordinary vocal diversity of 'Lonely Women', the constant reinvention of 'Eli's Comin' where, like the rest of her work, you don't know from bar to bar where she's goning to take the song. She may have taken influence from Motown, but as a songwriter she had more in common with Captain Beefheart, totally disregarding any sense of conventional song structure.

It's a sad testiment to today's music that over 35 years later 'Eli and the 13th Confession' still sounds remarkably original. It's a pity that groups like Coldplay obviously haven't listened to this album, they might learn something about developing a dynamic melody.