Laura Nyro – Angel In The Dark

Laura Nyro, while always wearing her influences on her sleeve, had something else to put into her music, which can only be classified as inspired genius. Nyro had the ability to capture the romance of the New York streets completely in her voice and writing. This was the person who wrote “And When I Die” while still a young girl in high school. Nyro put out a batch of critically well-received but commercially disappointing records and, at age 24, retired (for awhile, anyway) to become a housewife and mother. The hits came for other performers covering her material; Blood, Sweat & Tears, the Fifth Dimension and Barbra Streisand all had success with her works.

Much of Angel In The Dark was recorded in the three years prior to Nyro’s death in 1997, while she was battling the cancer that would eventually take her life. The title track, which opens the album, settles in immediately like a long lost friend; from there on, I just wanted to hear what that friend had to say.

Eight of the sixteen tracks are covers. Nyro always had a penchant for interpreting R&B better than most artists, and her efforts here are no exception. The Goffin/King staple “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” is personalized and sweetly performed, and she exhibits her ever-present soul on the old Delfonics hit “La La Means I Love You”.

Nyro’s original compositions here are, for the most part, winning; she sounds inspired and in fine form despite her failing health. She sounds comfortable and at peace with her history and style, and I found myself enjoying Angel In The Dark more than some of her other earlier “comeback” attempts.