New York Tendaberry is a music album by New York-born singer, songwriter, and pianist Laura Nyro.
It was released in the autumn of 1969 on the Columbia Records label, some 18 months after its predecessor, Eli and the Thirteenth Confession. It is generally considered by rock critics and Laura Nyro aficionados to be her greatest musical achievement. The album was helmed by Nyro, with the assistance of producer and engineer Roy Halee.
New York Tendaberry is also considered to be the second in a trilogy of classic original Nyro records, with Eli and Christmas and the Beads of Sweat on either side. They are all considered musically and thematically similar, although New York Tendaberry is by far the most intense and stark.
In 1969, Nyro was one of the most popular pop songwriters, and various groups including The 5th Dimension, Three Dog Night, and Blood Sweat and Tears had enjoyed hits with her compositions. Thanks to the strong word of mouth trailing her work, New York Tendaberry became her most commercially successful record, peaking at #32 on the Billboard 200, formerly known as the Pop Albums chart.
The 5th Dimension reached US #27 in the Pop Singles chart (the Hot 100) with their version of "Save the Country," while artists including Barbra Streisand recorded "Time and Love."
In 2003, the album was included in Mojo's Collection book of the best albums of all time, and the reissued version was voted among the Best Albums of 2002 in Uncut magazine.
Overview
New York Tendaberry is loosely Laura Nyro's love ode to her hometown, New York City. All of the songs either take place in New York City or are influenced by the city.
The song "New York Tendaberry" particularly stands out as an ode to the city, while other songs, such as "Gibsom Street" and "Mercy on Broadway," take place in the urban metropolis. Elsewhere, Nyro sings of lovers and romances in a notably darker and more knowing tone than on 1968's Eli and the Thirteenth Confession, adding further weight to the theory that this album is a thematic continuation from its predecessor.
Musically, New York Tendaberry is far more intimate than any other Nyro album, and the lack of multi-layered instrumentation and memorable pop hooks was a surprise coming after the cult favourite Eli. The album is built around Nyro's voice and piano; her voice is at its wildest and most free, swooping and diving between notes and regularly locked in its upper register, while her piano playing is alternately velvety and impassioned.
Nyro painstakingly guided co-producer and engineer Roy Halee using colour metaphors. Nyro could not understand musical notation, and used other analogies to communicate what she wanted. This process slowed recording down somewhat, as did Nyro's perfectionism. The use of strings and classical instrumentation is also notable.
The album also utilises sound effects, such as the gunshot on "Mercy on Broadway" and the twinkling sky in "New York Tendaberry." Alongside Nyro's piano, there is a jazz band, an orchestra, and a rock band, although this is used sparingly. The mood is downbeat and smoky, which makes Nyro's theatrical dramatics and dynamic abilities all the more effective.
The album was finally released after a year of painstaking night-time recording sessions, and is considered by most to be Nyro's artistic highpoint. Famous Nyro fan Rickie Lee Jones has described the album as one of the best records of all time.
Analysis
You Don't Love Me When I Cry: The album begins in a low-key manner in complete contrast to the raucous opening to Eli. This is a smoky, late-night ballad full of dynamics mainly created by Nyro's voice swooping from downbeat alto to brassy Broadway-style cries. An odd but strangely compelling opener.
Captain for Dark Mornings: Nyro's voice here is lustful and sultry, and her piano is alternately soft and immensely powerful. The rolling piano melody is mysterious and evocative, while the bare piano-vocal arrangement is at times coloured by viola and congas. The song unexpectedly launches into a middle horn section before returning to its original setting for Nyro's erotic lyric and vocal delivery.
Tom Cat Goodbye: This wild, raucous piano-vocal composition details a woman murdering her lover for his infidelities, straying "like a tom-cat." Nyro's voice is at its most abrasive here, full of shrieks and wails, but the delivery makes sense according to the subject matter. It is often improvisational, wild, and shows her potent vocal power.
Mercy on Broadway: The first song slightly reminiscent of Eli and the Thirteenth Confession, Nyro's vocals are multi-tracked to create a gospel chorus as she sings of the famous New York street, where both joy and crime can take place. After the first three epics, it provides welcome listening relief.
Save the Country: One of the album's catchiest melodies, with a remarkable refrain. Nyro's voice cracks until she screams out the lyric, and the song unexpectedly shifts from piano-vocal only to a brassy horn section playing alongside Nyro's syncopated piano rhythm. The song fades out with drama, theatrics, and a completely different mood to how it began, displaying Nyro's idiosyncratic talents as composer and musician. She wrote this song in June 1968, just a couple of days after Robert F. Kennedy had been assassinated.
Gibsom Street: One of the album's most accomplished and mysterious songs. Nyro sings of a mysterious and sinister New York back-alley, with references to poverty and illicit sex. Full of disturbing imagery, the song features a stunning horn section coupled with Nyro's impassioned wails as she sings of what many have speculated to be a backstreet abortion.
Time and Love: This brassy song wouldn't sound out of place on Broadway, and indeed became one of the album's signature hits for other artists. It's one of the simplest and indeed was written the earliest, but Nyro skillfully rearranges it to fit into the New York Tendaberry context.
The Man Who Sends Me Home: The most low-key of the songs, this is a "sonic poem," with little more than a smoky atmosphere and Nyro's distinctive musical skills. It is full of tonality and film noir elegance, and one of the most timeless and surprisingly enduring of the songs. It's not as obvious as the others, but is still vital in the album's make-up.
Sweet Lovin' Baby: This song begins as a sort of "part two" to the previous song, but is home to Nyro's distinctive tempo and mood changes and surprising shifts in rhythm. These two songs represent the "smoky" corner of New York Tendaberry.
Captain Saint Lucifer: A welcome return to Nyro's brassy best, this is one of the album's most fast-paced songs and also one of the highlights thanks to a memorable melody and impassioned vocal performance. The added "colours" are subtle and beautiful, while Nyro's lyric is poetic and evocative. It remains one of the finest compositions on the album.
New York Tendaberry: The closing epic, this song sums up much of the album. Thematically, it's a love ode to the city, featuring the lyric: "you look like a city but you feel like religion to me." The song again features several dynamic changes, going from slow and languid to brassy and loud. The album ends on this beautiful and serene note.
Track listing
All songs written by Laura Nyro.
- "You Don't Love Me When I Cry" (4:24)
- "Captain for Dark Mornings" (4:38)
- "Tom Cat Goodbye" (5:32)
- "Mercy on Broadway" (2:18)
- "Save the Country" (4:36)
- "Gibsom Street" (4:47)
- "Time and Love" (4:24)
- "The Man Who Sends Me Home" (2:52)
- "Sweet Lovin' Baby" (3:55)
- "Captain Saint Lucifer" (3:17)
- "New York Tendaberry" (5:33)
The 2002 remaster
The Legacy imprint of Columbia Records reissued the album in re-mastered and expanded format during the summer of 2002 alongside similar reissues of Eli and the Thirteenth Confession and Gonna Take a Miracle.
The reissue featured the previously unreleased song "In the Country Way," recorded by Nyro during 1971 oddly enough, as well as the mono single version of "Save the Country," which was recorded in the summer of 1968 in an attempt to give Nyro her first chart hit. This attempt backfired, and Nyro stuck to her solo piano renditions for the New York Tendaberry album.
The accompanying booklet features photographs, lyrics, and recording details, as well as new liner notes by David Fricke and a back-cover reminiscence from Suzanne Vega. The reissued version was voted among Uncut magazine's Best Albums of 2002.
Miscellanea
- Legendary 20th Century music pioneer Miles Davis attended one of the sessions.
- Musician Rickie Lee Jones counts it among her favourite albums of all time.
- The original version of the album was recorded with a full band in 1968 to follow up the sound of Eli and the Thirteenth Confession, but Nyro decided to re-record it the way she wanted before the end of the year.
- It took the longest of any Nyro album to record.
- Nyro's original plan for the cover was to have several ducks at her feet. This plan was scratched when she discovered that the photographer she hired was afraid of ducks.
- The original cover is a photograph of Nyro's New York apartment balcony, but at the last minute she changed her mind. Some of these original copies still exist and are a collector's item.
- Nyro had decided upon the album title even before many of the songs were written.
- It cost between $50,000 and $60,000 to record, which was around double the amount usual albums cost at the time.
- New York Tendaberry is the most commercially successful Laura Nyro album.
- The Tony Award-winning actress and vocalist Audra McDonald included a rendition of "Tom Cat Goodbye" on her 2006 album Build a Bridge.
- The Supremes and Diana Ross recorded versions of "Time And Love" in 1970.
- Kanye West sampled "Save The Country" for his song "The Glory."
References
Allmusic
Laura Nyro
Michele Kort's biography Soul Picnic: The Music and Passion of Laura Nyro (ISBN 0-312-20941-X)
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