Laura Nyro vs. Scott Walker
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Laura Nyro vs. Scott Walker
Both Americans
One East Coast, One West
One mannered, one very natural
One Brill Building, one Jacque Brel
First five of each excellent, then hit or miss/mess
One East Coast, One West
One mannered, one very natural
One Brill Building, one Jacque Brel
First five of each excellent, then hit or miss/mess
It's kinda depressing for a music forum to be proud of not knowing musicians.
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Re: Laura Nyro vs. Scott Walker
Laura. More original and a better songwriter.
I love 'em both though.
I love 'em both though.
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Re: Laura Nyro vs. Scott Walker
Nyro by miles and miles.
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Re: Laura Nyro vs. Scott Walker
Damn, I guess pretty much any name looks good next to Walker.
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Re: Laura Nyro vs. Scott Walker
The G Experience! wrote:Walker. More original and a better songwriter.
Spectacularly wrong on both counts.
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Re: Laura Nyro vs. Scott Walker
The G Experience! wrote:Walker. More original and a better songwriter.
Certainly my view.
Re: Laura Nyro vs. Scott Walker
I'm not sure I'd agree Nyro is "very natural" either. When I bought New York Tendaberry all those years ago, one of the things I was expecting was a certain natural soulfulness because I'd read about her in those terms. I was slightly nonplussed therefore to hear what appeared to be these strident and hammy show tunes. There was something histrionic about the whole thing.
I could never get into the album at all and at the time I really tried. I've not really been back to her since.
In a way I'd have preferred this thread to just be about her as I'm burned out trying to defend Walker on here these days, but I am still open to the idea of Laura Nyro. I wonder if I just started with the wrong album.
I could never get into the album at all and at the time I really tried. I've not really been back to her since.
In a way I'd have preferred this thread to just be about her as I'm burned out trying to defend Walker on here these days, but I am still open to the idea of Laura Nyro. I wonder if I just started with the wrong album.
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Re: Laura Nyro vs. Scott Walker
The French love Jerry Lewis.
The Brits love Scott Walker.
The Brits love Scott Walker.
Don't fake the funk on a nasty dunk!
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Re: Laura Nyro vs. Scott Walker
Not sure what San Juan's excuse is. And G just compounded this on the cup thread by calling Mingus' Haitian Fight Song "conventional jazz".
What a world.
What a world.
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Re: Laura Nyro vs. Scott Walker
The G Experience! wrote:I wonder if I just started with the wrong album.
Honestly, if I hadn't started with her (very fucking good) covers album, I would probably not rate her at all. It is a stunning record (Gonna Take A Miracle) which makes the most of her voice.
I mean, it's an interesting thread - people can say that 66-69 era Walker is overwrought and histrionic, but...his delivery and writing sound downright humble, earthy and modest compared to Nyro's golden era. I don't dislike her voice or work, but...yes, a great deal of it sounds utterly "TA-DA!" to my ears, and there is a certain palpable effort in her voice/songs that make a pretty good case for her being decidedly second tier among "people who wrote songs for Three Dog Night/Fifth Dimension/Barbara Streisand/Blood Sweat and Tears/etc."
And I say this as a fan.
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Re: Laura Nyro vs. Scott Walker
Lets just stick to the first bad assertion on this thread before adding any new ones, okay John?
First off - on the claim that Walker is the more original artist...that's just wrong on every level. This is a site that fellates the likes of Kraftwerk for being innovative, yet somehow Laura Nyro's influence on music is news here? G likened her songs to show tunes, but show me all of the show tunes before her that she sounded like. I guarantee you that you'll find a lot more after her records came out. Meanwhile the list of artists who have acknowledged her influence includes the likes of Elton John, Joni Mitchell (who never admits to being influenced by anyone not black and 20 years older), Todd Rundgren, Elvis Costello, Rickie Lee Jones and Steely Dan.
While influence and originality are not the same thing, it should be noted that Nyro was redefining the whole concept of the singer-songwriter when Walker was peddling stiff Brel covers.
As for who is the better songwriter - there is no doubt whose songs have made the bigger impact. In her short career Nyro wrote classic after classic - and completely innovated song structure in the process. Walker wrote a few nice little existential dirges.
I'm less bothered by the issues you guys have with her performing style, but since she's up against one of the most mannered performers of the rock era here, hard to see that as a point in Walkers favor.
Frankly...I can't think of a category beyond longevity where he compares favorably to Nyro.
First off - on the claim that Walker is the more original artist...that's just wrong on every level. This is a site that fellates the likes of Kraftwerk for being innovative, yet somehow Laura Nyro's influence on music is news here? G likened her songs to show tunes, but show me all of the show tunes before her that she sounded like. I guarantee you that you'll find a lot more after her records came out. Meanwhile the list of artists who have acknowledged her influence includes the likes of Elton John, Joni Mitchell (who never admits to being influenced by anyone not black and 20 years older), Todd Rundgren, Elvis Costello, Rickie Lee Jones and Steely Dan.
While influence and originality are not the same thing, it should be noted that Nyro was redefining the whole concept of the singer-songwriter when Walker was peddling stiff Brel covers.
As for who is the better songwriter - there is no doubt whose songs have made the bigger impact. In her short career Nyro wrote classic after classic - and completely innovated song structure in the process. Walker wrote a few nice little existential dirges.
I'm less bothered by the issues you guys have with her performing style, but since she's up against one of the most mannered performers of the rock era here, hard to see that as a point in Walkers favor.
Frankly...I can't think of a category beyond longevity where he compares favorably to Nyro.
“Remember I have said good things about benevolent despots before.” - Jimbo
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Re: Laura Nyro vs. Scott Walker
Another thing that makes them an interesting comparison for me- on the surface Nyro is a much 'warmer' artist, and Walker a colder one. Yet I connect with Nyro's classic albums a lot less than I expect to, and Scott 2, 3 and 4 in particular, a lot more. I'm also with JSJ on Gonna Take a Miracle- it's a truly joyful album and you can hear the commitment to the material in a way that you can't her own stuff. She's the only artist I can think of that I prefer other people's versions of her songs to her own and her versions of other people's songs to her originals.
In the end Walker has a whole lot of records that leave me utterly cold, and nothing by Nyro really offends me. At worst it'll wash over me, which to be honest it does most of the time. So I still went Nyro, but I had to think about it more than I thought I would.
Oh, and not to pick nits here, but I have a hard time thinking of Walker as a west coast artist. His career may have started there, but he's really an English artist for a huge majority of his work, and a Midwesterner by birth. Nyro, on the other hand, is east coast all the way- in good and bad ways.
In the end Walker has a whole lot of records that leave me utterly cold, and nothing by Nyro really offends me. At worst it'll wash over me, which to be honest it does most of the time. So I still went Nyro, but I had to think about it more than I thought I would.
Oh, and not to pick nits here, but I have a hard time thinking of Walker as a west coast artist. His career may have started there, but he's really an English artist for a huge majority of his work, and a Midwesterner by birth. Nyro, on the other hand, is east coast all the way- in good and bad ways.
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Re: Laura Nyro vs. Scott Walker
Dizzley tha Fat Boy wrote:This is a site that fellates the likes of Kraftwerk for being innovative.
No intelligent person will ever care how you or I rate Kraftwerk (I'm no great fan, if my biographer is reading this), but it is in no way out of order to acknowledge them as innovators.
As for who is the better songwriter - there is no doubt whose songs have made the bigger impact.
"Wedding Bell Blues" vs. "Plastic Palace People" would undoubtedly make a FANTASTIC poll for people who can stay awake through this shit.
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Re: Laura Nyro vs. Scott Walker
GREAT SCOTT!! We're heading for a tie!
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Re: Laura Nyro vs. Scott Walker
The Homosexual Lobby wrote:Dizzley tha Fat Boy wrote:This is a site that fellates the likes of Kraftwerk for being innovative.
No intelligent person will ever care how you or I rate Kraftwerk (I'm no great fan, if my biographer is reading this), but it is in no way out of order to acknowledge them as innovators.
Of course not. But somehow enough of these dumb Limeys read articles hyperventilating about it at just the right time in their lives that it convinced them somehow against all odds that actually listening to their music was a decent idea. But not only that, their status as innovators has hoisted them into the upper ranks of musical acts (far more beloved here on BCB than someone like Ray Charles for one example).
Meanwhile the notion of influence is no currency for an artist like Nyro.
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Re: Laura Nyro vs. Scott Walker
Dizzley tha Fat Boy wrote:these dumb Limeys
This isn't about Kraftwerk, is it?
Ray Charles
Even if his name were never mentioned here (and it is), his actual influence is its own currency.
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Re: Laura Nyro vs. Scott Walker
The Homosexual Lobby wrote:Dizzley tha Fat Boy wrote:these dumb Limeys
This isn't about Kraftwerk, is it?
Well..about those that worship them.
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Re: Laura Nyro vs. Scott Walker
GoogaMooga wrote:GREAT SCOTT
That's what we're trying to decide, isn't it!
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