''Mother's Spiritual'' is the eighth studio album by

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

-born singer, songwriter, and pianist

Laura Nyro Laura Nyro ( ; born Laura Nigro; October 18, 1947 – April 8, 1997) was an American songwriter, singer, and pianist. She achieved critical acclaim with her own recordings, particularly the albums ''Eli and the Thirteenth Confession'' (1968 ...

and her ninth original album in total, including the 1977

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

Season of Lights ''Season of Lights... Laura Nyro in Concert'' is the first live album by American singer-songwriter Laura Nyro. Overview Columbia Records issued the album in the summer of 1977, taking the songs from various locations on Nyro's 1976 tour in su ...

''. The album was released at the beginning of 1984 after a year of difficult and expensive recording sessions, and came more than five years after its predecessor, 1978's well-received but poor-selling ''

Nested ''Nested'' is the seventh studio album by Bronx-born singer, songwriter and pianist Laura Nyro, released in 1978 on Columbia Records. Following on from her extensive tour to promote 1976's ''Smile'', which resulted in the 1977 live album '' Seas ...

''. Thanks to a small buzz surrounding Nyro's return to the spotlight after her second period of semi-retirement (the first came from 1972 to 1975), ''Mother's Spiritual'' became Nyro's last US chart entry, reaching #182 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart. Musically, ''Mother's Spiritual'' is the most serene and easygoing of all Laura Nyro albums, and was criticised in some quarters for being too sedate and maternal in comparison to her wild, adventurous, and experimental albums such as ''

Eli and the Thirteenth Confession ''Eli and the Thirteenth Confession'' is the second album by New York City-born singer, songwriter, and pianist Laura Nyro, released in 1968. History Nyro premiered some of the songs that were to appear on the album at the 1967 Monterey Pop Fes ...

'' and '' New York Tendaberry''. Thematically, Nyro's concerns turned from passion and

love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...

towards subjects of a more political and sociological nature, including

environmentalism Environmentalism or environmental rights is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement regarding concerns for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seek ...

motherhood ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gesta ...

, and

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

. It met with mixed reviews, and Nyro was lambasted in some quarters for "turning into a tree-hugger." After being out of print in the U.S. for many years, ''Mother's Spiritual'' was finally released on CD in 2009. It was her last studio album for nine years, and she returned only in 1988 to stage a tour. The album represents Nyro's sole original output of the 1980s, during which time she concentrated mostly on raising her son Gil, born in 1978.

Background

The recording of ''Mother's Spiritual'' was punctuated by several difficult incidences. Nyro intended to record the album, as with predecessor ''

'', at her

Danbury Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut. Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...

home and laid down solo demos of the songs as early as the spring of 1982. Then, Nyro spent 3 to 4 days a week over eight weeks recording at The Boogie Hotel on Long Island, NY, with recording engineer and studio owner Jeffrey Kawalek at the board, and producer Joe Wissert commuting from California for the sessions - but Nyro was not satisfied with the outcome of the music. So she then spent between $150,000 and $200,000 building a proper studio at her home (as opposed to the mobile studio where ''Nested'' was recorded) and continued recording with Roscoe Harring as co-producer. The album's arrangements are soft and wistful, but Nyro also desired a more fiery edge to the songs as well. Longtime fan

Todd Rundgren Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, multimedia artist, sound engineer and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Ut ...

, however, was not particularly encouraging about Nyro's new sound and soon aborted his role as producer having cited her indecisive and languid approach as factors.Archived a
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Critical reception

In a contemporary review for ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'', music critic Robert Christgau facetiously remarked that the "romantic generalizations of matrifocal ecofeminism " are suitable to Nyro's moody, gushy style, while citing her "still arresting" dynamics.

Track listing

All songs by Laura Nyro. #"To a Child" – 3:53 #"The Right to Vote" – 3:02 #"A Wilderness" – 2:56 #"Melody in the Sky" – 3:45 #"Late for Love" – 2:57 #"A Free Thinker" – 3:15 #"Man in the Moon" – 2:55 #"Talk to a Green Tree" – 3:44 #"Trees of the Ages" – 3:39 #"The Brighter Song" – 2:30 #"Roadnotes" – 3:18 #"Sophia" – 4:39 #"Mother's Spiritual" – 3:12 #"Refrain" – 1:08 #"Man in the Moon" (live) - 3:28, bonus track on Japanese import and special edition

Personnel

* Laura Nyro - voice, harmonies, acoustic and electric pianos, dulcimer on "Sophia" *

Terry Silverlight Terry Silverlight is a jazz, pop, rock and R&B drummer, composer, producer, arranger and author. Biography Silverlight was born in Newark, New Jersey and grew up in North Plainfield, New Jersey. He made his debut as a drummer on Barry Miles' 's ' ...

- drums * Lisa Sunshine (note: her real name spelling is Elysa Sunshine - improperly credited on LP) - bass * John K. Bristow - electric guitar *

- synthesizer on "Man in the Moon" and "Trees of the Ages", production assistance * Nydia "Liberty" Mata - percussion, production assistance * Jan Nigro - acoustic guitar *

Julie Lyonn Lieberman Julie Lyonn Lieberman is an American improvising violinist, vocalist, composer, author, educator, and recording artist specializing in fiddle and international violin styles. She is among the first to teach improvisation and world music at th ...

- violin ;Technical *Roscoe Harring - engineer * Arthur Kelm, Chris Andersen - engineer, mixing * Irene Young - photography

References

AllmusicLaura Nyro
Michele Kort's biography ''Soul Picnic: The Music and Passion of Laura Nyro'' () {{Authority control Laura Nyro albums 1984 albums Albums produced by Todd Rundgren Columbia Records albums