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

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

-born singer, songwriter, and pianist

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

and her ninth original album in total, including the 1977

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th centur ...

'' Season of Lights''. 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. It was released in 1978 on Columbia Records. Following on from her extensive tour to promote 1976's ''Smile'', which resulted in the 1977 live albu ...

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

love Love is a feeling of strong attraction and emotional attachment (psychology), attachment to a person, animal, or thing. It is expressed in many forms, encompassing a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most su ...

towards subjects of a more political and sociological nature, including

environmentalism Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecolog ...

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

, and

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

. 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 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 musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the bands Nazz and Utopia. He is known for his sophistica ...

, 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
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine

Critical reception

In a contemporary review for ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'', music critic

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

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. Briston - 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 t ...

- 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