Gonna Take a Miracle | ||||
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Studio album by Laura Nyro and Labelle | ||||
Released | November 17, 1971 | |||
Recorded | May – June 1971 | |||
Studio | Sigma Sound Studios, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | |||
Genre | Soul | |||
Length | 33:05 (Original) 41:46 (2002 Reissue) | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Producer | Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff | |||
Laura Nyro and Labelle chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Christgau's Record Guide | B− [2] |
PopMatters | (favorable) [3] |
Rolling Stone | (favorable) [4] |
The Village Voice | B− [5] |
Gonna Take a Miracle is the fifth album by New York City-born singer, songwriter and pianist Laura Nyro, with assistance by vocal trio Labelle. It was released on Columbia Records in November 1971, one year after its predecessor Christmas and the Beads of Sweat . The album is Nyro's only all-covers album, and she interprets mainly 1950s and 1960s soul and R&B standards, using Labelle as a traditional back-up vocal group.
Nyro had originally had the idea to do a covers album during 1970, and on her tour to support the Christmas and the Beads of Sweat album, she introduced several of the songs that later appeared on Gonna Take a Miracle, including "Spanish Harlem" and "Dancing in the Street".
Gonna Take a Miracle remains a critics' favorite Laura Nyro record for its laidback atmosphere and impressive soul grooves and musicianship as well as classic Philadelphia soul production from Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. It was her last commercially successful album, peaking at #46 on the Billboard 200, then known as the Pop Albums chart, as well as #41 on the Black Albums chart.
The album was Nyro's last for over four years as she turned her back on the music industry to get married and live a rural life away from the spotlight. Her work with Patti LaBelle on the album formed a lifelong friendship.
In 2005, music magazine The Word voted Gonna Take a Miracle among the 60 Best Underrated Albums of All Time.
Nyro first met Patti LaBelle in 1970 when she was about to give an interview to LaBelle's manager Vicki Wickham. Wickham brought LaBelle along to the interview, where she engaged in deep conversation with Nyro. They went on the road together, with LaBelle cooking for Nyro.
The album was recorded in May and June 1971 at Sigma Sound Studios. The producers were Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. Patti LaBelle and her vocal partners in Labelle, Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash, were brought in as backing singers.
Nyro was the main selector of material for the album, and chose songs she was influenced by growing up in the Bronx of the 1950s and 1960s.[ citation needed ] The songs include The Shirelles' "I Met Him on a Sunday", The Originals' "The Bells" (written by Marvin Gaye), Smokey Robinson & the Miracles' "You've Really Got a Hold on Me", Ben E. King's "Spanish Harlem", The Charts' "Deserie/Desiree", Major Lance's "The Monkey Time" (written by Curtis Mayfield)., and The Royalettes' "It's Gonna Take a Miracle".
The album balances the grittier numbers with the more ethereal soul ballad "The Wind" and the sultry love ballad "Désiree". Nyro, Labelle and Gamble and Huff mixed genres including doo-wop, soul, R&B, pop and gospel. "Despite Gamble and Huff's presence on the project, Nyro remained fully in charge," wrote biographer Michele Kort. [6]
During the summer of 2002, the Legacy imprint of Columbia Records reissued the album in remastered and expanded format. The additional tracks were all recorded live at New York's Fillmore East and were later issued on the live album Spread Your Wings and Fly: Live at the Fillmore East May 30, 1971. They are "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing", "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", "Ooh Child" and "Up on the Roof", all fitting with the covers theme of the original album.
The reissue features photographs and recording details as well as new liner notes by Amy Linden and a back-cover personal recollection by Patti LaBelle. The reissue was released alongside similar versions of Eli and the Thirteenth Confession and New York Tendaberry , and were produced and directed by the same Columbia/Legacy team.
Labelle was an American funk rock band that originated out of the Blue Belles, a girl group who were a popular vocal group of the 1960s and 1970s. The original group was formed after the disbanding of two rival girl groups in the area around Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, and Trenton, in New Jersey: the Ordettes and the Del-Capris, forming as a new version of the former group, then later changing their name to the Blue Belles. The founding members were Patti LaBelle, Cindy Birdsong, Nona Hendryx, and Sarah Dash.
Patricia Louise Holt, known professionally as Patti LaBelle, is an American R&B singer and actress. She has been referred to as the "Godmother of Soul".
Laura Nyro was an American songwriter and singer. She achieved critical acclaim with her own recordings, particularly the albums Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (1968) and New York Tendaberry (1969), and had commercial success with artists such as Barbra Streisand and the 5th Dimension recording her songs. Wider recognition for her artistry was posthumous, while her contemporaries such as Elton John idolized her. She was praised for her emotive three-octave mezzo-soprano voice.
Nona Bernis Hendryx is an American vocalist, record producer, songwriter, musician, and author. Hendryx is known for her work as a solo artist as well as for being one-third of the trio Labelle, who had a hit with "Lady Marmalade". In 1977, Hendryx released her self-titled debut solo album, a commercial failure that resulted in Hendryx being released from her recording contract. In the early 1980s, Hendryx sang with experimental funk group Material, achieving the hit "Busting Out".
Eli and the Thirteenth Confession is the second album by New York City-born singer, songwriter, and pianist Laura Nyro, released in 1968.
New York Tendaberry is the third album by New York City-born singer, songwriter and pianist Laura Nyro. It was released in the autumn of 1969, on Columbia Records, some eighteen months after its predecessor, Eli and the Thirteenth Confession. It was helmed by her, with the assistance of producer and engineer Roy Halee. The cover photograph was taken by David Gahr.
Christmas and the Beads of Sweat is the fourth album by New York-born singer, songwriter, and pianist Laura Nyro. The album was released on the Columbia Records label in November 1970 after Nyro had recorded it in the early summer with producers Felix Cavaliere and Arif Mardin. Whilst Nyro had handed over production reins, she was still in control of the project and co-arranged her compositions.
Sarah Dash was an American singer. She first appeared on the music scene as a member of Patti LaBelle & The Bluebelles. Dash was later a member of Labelle, and worked as a singer, session musician, and sidewoman for The Rolling Stones, and Keith Richards.
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"The Bells" is a 1970 single recorded by The Originals for Motown's Soul label, produced by Marvin Gaye and co-written by Gaye, his wife Anna Gordy Gaye, Iris Gordy, and Elgie Stover.
Alessandro Carmelo "Teddy" Randazzo was an American pop songwriter, singer, arranger and producer, who composed hit songs such as "Goin' Out of My Head", "It's Gonna Take a Miracle", "Pretty Blue Eyes", and "Hurt So Bad" in the 1960s.
I'm In Love Again is the sixth studio album by American singer Patti LaBelle in 1983. It was released by Philadelphia International Records and Sony Music Entertainment on November 25, 1983, in the United States. LaBelle's commercial breakthrough, it featured her first top ten R&B hits, "Love, Need and Want You" and "If Only You Knew", the latter topping the R&B chart in early 1984. It was later certified gold for selling half a million copies and paved the way for her pop breakthrough in late 1984 with the dance hit "New Attitude".
Back to Now is the seventh and latest studio album by American female vocal group Labelle, released on October 21, 2008. The album is the group's first in over thirty years though they had sung on songs together on occasion.
Pressure Cookin' is the third album by American singing trio Labelle, released in August 1973. This release was their first and only for RCA Records, and was critically raved due to the songs that songwriter and member Nona Hendryx composed. The album is also notable for being the first album released following lead singer Patti LaBelle giving birth to her only child, son Zuri Edwards.
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