Go Find The Moon: The Audition Tape
Omnivore, 2021
10/10
There’s legions of Laura Nyro fans out there, like myself, who never got the chance to see her live. Thankfully, the Omnivore label is giving us the next best thing by assembling two volumes of rare recordings, including Go Find The Moon: The Audition Tape, which is actually her 1966 audition.
“And When I Die” starts the listen with Nyro’s warm keys and equally cozy pipes that abruptly shifts to a swift display of her inimitable talent that spans pop, folk and jazz, and “Lazy Susan (False Start)” follows with a brief mishap that’s still quite interesting in its spontaneity.
The middle tracks offer us the eloquent beauty of the rich “Enough Of You”, while “In And Out” brings her precise piano prowess to a minute of inimitable, heartfelt singing. The title track is one of the best, and finds Nyro hitting some high notes amid charming key work, and it certainly hints at the greatness to come from her future work.
Near the end, the meshing of “When Sunny Gets Blue (Fragment)/Kansas City (Fragment)/I Only Want To Be With You (Fragment)” makes for a particularly interesting medley of sorts, and “Lazy Susan” appears in its full form for a very stirring, emotive finish.
It’s amazing to think that Nyro wasn’t even 20 years old when this was recorded. She plays with a sage like wisdom and sings with the soul of someone who has already lived a very full life. Not so surprisingly, this audition led to a record deal and a manger, and this glimpse of where her lengthy and esteemed career started is quite striking. Very tragically, Nyro died at age 49 in 1997 from ovarian cancer. Her spirit, however, is immortal and lives on in the countless covers of her songs, her own expansive body of work, and now a pair of excellent live recordings, too.
Travels well with: Jackson Browne-Downhill From Everywhere; Marissa Nadler- The Sister