Laura Nyro
Smile
Expanded Edition Remastered CD with Bonus Tracks | ICON 1034
- Originally released 1976
- Laura Nyro’s 1976 comeback album
- Includes 3 bonus demos
- Remastered by Vic Anesini
- Features liner notes by Laura Nyro biographer Michelle Kort
Track Listing
- 1. Sexy Mama
- 2. Children of the Junks
- 3. Money
- 4. I am the Blues
- 5. Stormy Love
- 6. The Cat-Song
- 7. Midnight Blue
- 8. Smile
Bonus Tracks
- 9. Someone Loves You (demo)
- 10. Get Me My Cap (demo)
- 11. Coffee Morning (demo)
Lineup
- Laura Nyro - vocals, piano, guitar, wood block
- John Tropea, Hugh McCracken, Joe Beck, Jeff Mironov, Jerry Friedman, Greg Bennett - guitar
- Will Lee, Richard Davis, Bob Babbitt - bass
- Chris Parker, Allan Schwartzberg, Rick Marotta - drums
- Jimmy Maelen - tambourine, wood block
- Nydia Mata, Carter C.C. Collins - congas
- Rubens Bassini - shaker
- David Friedman - vibraphone
- Joe Farrell, Michael Brecker, George Young - saxophone
- Randy Brecker - trumpet
- Paul Messing - triangle
- Nisako Yoshida, Reiko Kamota – koto
Laura Nyro returned to the studio after a four-year hiatus with this completely fresh sounding album. Laura was reunited with her Eli producer Charlie Calello and a very impressive line-up of New York session cats, which led the album in a much more jazz-tinged direction than her previous releases. She had moved to a more serene environment and the music that was created for this album is certainly influenced by that move away from the city.
Laura took many of these musicians out on the road with her following the recording of this album and the results can be heard on the following year’s Season of Lights live recording. Liner notes are provided by Laura biographer Michele Kort, who points out that “Smile still stands as a transition for Laura Nyro between her highly emotional early albums and her mellower later work.”
Mastering is provided by Vic Anesini who has brilliantly captured what was going down in the studio back in the day. The release is fleshed out by a series of demos that were most likely recorded early in the sessions that produced this special album.