The 1971 album rewove the dialectic that dominated romantic themes in pop music—not as giddy conversations between teens—but as authentic feelings between ‘natural’ men and women.
Oh, the memories this brought back. My sisters and I played that vinyl until the grooves wore out. Laura Nyro, an undying pleasure. Thank you for this article!
Thank you, Victoria. It's funny how writing pieces like this rearranges memories you thought you had in sequential order, but then actual research and facts give them a different, 'out-of-time' order. I believe this is why writers are addicted to writing.
Oh my gosh…I’d almost completely forgotten about my sunlamp and the googles that were meant to protect your eyes, but instead did give you great white circles around your eyes!! Thanks for the reminiscing about those, what seem now, innocent days!
Beautiful writing! Thank you ! It brings back so many memories from my teen years, too. I played it for hours. But I have to admit, tapping into Black Magic Woman by Santana gave me another view of what becoming fully embodied as a woman was going to be like. And I listened to that album with equal measure.
SPEAKING OF URANUS: Carole King is an Aquarian with an exact mercury-sun conjunction in Aquarius. The very first song on Tapesty (which she wrote ala mercury) is "I Feel the Earth Move" (...under my feet) so very fitting!
What a wonderful, evocative piece of writing, thank you! I loved Tapestry and Blue and Court and Spark, but must check out more of Laura Nyro now. King's songs and recordings of them meant so much to me as an aspiring singer-songwriter (that's in the past, oh well) because she was so HUMAN and real, and I could play along and sing along with a reasonable parallel performance. She didn't need lots of the early electronics that existed then (minimal compared to today), just her piano, voice, heart and sensibility. This was a joy to read! (Sorry, just change my screen name to Leslie A. <g>)
It’s like music from a different planet, given what’s released today. I watched the Grammy’s the other night and most of it was shrill dissonance. Talk about aging out. 😂
Yes, and clearly you and I are NOT Kendrick Lamarr's target audience for his Super Bowl halftime performance. I am normally not cranky, but I could not understand one word of what he was rapping, and wish I knew what he was all about without having to have it explained to me. The power of pre- intense electronic intervention in our musical environment is the actual direct experience, viscerally, and the ability to understand and be moved by that experience. Catharsis, as the ancient Greeks so wisely discussed.
The Queen of Wands
Imagine what McCrary would think of cats on the Internet! And now I need to put Tapestry on once I'm done with Fleetwood Mac tonight.
Undoubtedly, he'd feel he had made the right choice.
Wonderful to read this… a great reflection on the time. Thanks!
Gald you enjoyed Maloah!
enjoyed reading and laughing and remembering. I didn't have the record, but friends did and it played every day. I need to look for some of that Nyro.
Yes, Laura Nyro is a phantasmorigal wild card within pop music.
Oh, the memories this brought back. My sisters and I played that vinyl until the grooves wore out. Laura Nyro, an undying pleasure. Thank you for this article!
Thank you, Victoria. It's funny how writing pieces like this rearranges memories you thought you had in sequential order, but then actual research and facts give them a different, 'out-of-time' order. I believe this is why writers are addicted to writing.
Oh my gosh…I’d almost completely forgotten about my sunlamp and the googles that were meant to protect your eyes, but instead did give you great white circles around your eyes!! Thanks for the reminiscing about those, what seem now, innocent days!
Thanks, Christie.
I ADORE the exact same musicians as you, especially Laura Nyro and Joni and Carole! Thank you for your exquisite essay!
Thank you, Lorraine.
Beautiful writing! Thank you ! It brings back so many memories from my teen years, too. I played it for hours. But I have to admit, tapping into Black Magic Woman by Santana gave me another view of what becoming fully embodied as a woman was going to be like. And I listened to that album with equal measure.
Excellent couterpoint, Kirsten. Thank you for the reminder.
Enjoyed this sensual trip back to great women singers. For your consideration just for pleasure I recommend Janis ian Phoebe snow and Joan armatrading
I got to know Janis while working in the music biz in LA. What a solid, generous soul. Very dear person. And so talented. And still at it today!
SPEAKING OF URANUS: Carole King is an Aquarian with an exact mercury-sun conjunction in Aquarius. The very first song on Tapesty (which she wrote ala mercury) is "I Feel the Earth Move" (...under my feet) so very fitting!
Exactly! As I noted in the open to this piece, she's moving towards her Uranus return.
Love, love, loved this. Thank you.
What can I say, Frederick? In this piece your writing sings..."lace wrapped around a chunk of iron ore"--could that be you?
Thank you, Denise.
Yes, that metaphor arose from listening to Laura off and on for many, many years—no one else like her is within the pop music pantheon.
What a wonderful, evocative piece of writing, thank you! I loved Tapestry and Blue and Court and Spark, but must check out more of Laura Nyro now. King's songs and recordings of them meant so much to me as an aspiring singer-songwriter (that's in the past, oh well) because she was so HUMAN and real, and I could play along and sing along with a reasonable parallel performance. She didn't need lots of the early electronics that existed then (minimal compared to today), just her piano, voice, heart and sensibility. This was a joy to read! (Sorry, just change my screen name to Leslie A. <g>)
It’s like music from a different planet, given what’s released today. I watched the Grammy’s the other night and most of it was shrill dissonance. Talk about aging out. 😂
Yes, and clearly you and I are NOT Kendrick Lamarr's target audience for his Super Bowl halftime performance. I am normally not cranky, but I could not understand one word of what he was rapping, and wish I knew what he was all about without having to have it explained to me. The power of pre- intense electronic intervention in our musical environment is the actual direct experience, viscerally, and the ability to understand and be moved by that experience. Catharsis, as the ancient Greeks so wisely discussed.