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| From | Billy Marsh <fender6@bellsouth.net> |
| Subject | Re: Laura and Todd |
| Date | Sat, 13 Aug 2005 15:24:54 -0400 |
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....from the mouth of the man himself ( *
*http://www.puremusic.com/todd1.html )
<snip>*
*
*
PM:* I once interviewed Becker & Fagen [Steely Dan], and they talked
about how their approach to chord voicings and harmony was influenced by
Laura Nyro. I know you've said you were influenced by her too. What
kinds of things about her writing affected you most?
*TR:* I think there is that more sophisticated R & B thing or the Burt
Bacharach side of pop music that involves not just chords that are
richer, major and minor sevenths and suspensions and things like that,
but the sort of melodic movement and the classical counterpoint
elements--that's one of the things that attracted me. But I know for a
fact that her influences were the more sophisticated side of R & B, like
Jerry Ragovoy and Mann & Weil and Carole King. That is Laura Nyro's
lineage. She was a source for that, in a sense, and she also had her own
very original and very jazz-influenced way of seeing things. It was that
extra layer that made her influential. A lot of those chords she got
from other people.
But beyond the elements of her composition, I always thought it was the
way she played her own material that really sold it. Nobody ever did a
cover version of a Laura Nyro song that was as good as her original
version. As time went on, she got into this more introspective, less
blatantly emotional approach to music and I sort of lost interest in her
after that. It wasn't as if she didn't still have all those elements of
her songwriting in there. I just don't think she was selling it in the
same way.
*PM:* Did you know her?
*TR:* I knew her fairly well. I met her right after /Eli & The
Thirteenth Confession/. I actually had arranged a meeting, just because
I was so infatuated with her and I wanted to meet the person who had
produced all this music. We got along, and we were kind of friendly, and
actually, after I met her the first time, she asked me if I wanted to be
her band leader. But The Nazz had just signed a record contract and I
couldn't skip out on the band, even though it was incredibly tempting.
Years later, she was having trouble getting into the groove on an album
called /Mother Spiritual./ She had worked with a lot of the old people
like Roy Hallee who had helped her get /Eli & The Thirteenth Confession/
recorded. She just wasn't making progress. She was stumped. And we had
never worked in the studio together before, but for the purposes of
getting her project completed, it worked. I managed to get her into the
room and get all the songs recorded. After that, I couldn't really stick
around for the mixing part. The pace at which she worked was so slow
that I couldn't stick for the duration. But I did get to work with her
and knew her for a good period of her professional life.
<snip>
- Billy
>
>Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 04:27:56 +0000
>From: cloudeleven@comcast.net
>To: audities@smoe.org, audities@smoe.org
>Subject: Laura and Todd
>Message-ID: <081320050427.28675.42FD76CB000E1253000070032205884484020A900A040A0B9A01040C@comcast.net>
>
>Gene wrote:
><Is the Laura/Todd connection touched on in the book at all?I believe, aside
>from mutual admiration ,that they were freinds.It is amazing to listen to
>those early TR solo albums and hear so much of her in there.
>thanks for the heads up on the Cosmic Rough Riders song.Have their first one
>but wasn't sure about any after that.>
>
>Laura and Todd were indeed good friends according to the book. Laura actually wanted Todd to head up her band at one time but he was starting his own band, The Nazz. She also asked him to produce some of Mother's Spiritual but they ended up clashing a bit, so he only played synth on that album. Interesting that Todd's obsession with Laura showed up on those early recordings, but to me he sounded more like Carole King on a lot of that stuff.
>
>Who ever it was that asked about 'The Girls' Song', that one was written by Jimmy Webb, another great talent. The 5th Dimension's album The Magic Garden, which that song is from, is a masterpiece. All Jimmy Webb songs, except for their version of Ticket To Ride.
>
>Rick G.
>------------------------------
>
>
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