| Season of Lights | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Live album by | ||||
| Released | June 1977 | |||
| Recorded | Various locations, 1976 | |||
| Length | 69:39 (double LP) 41:00 (single LP) | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | Laura Nyro | |||
| Laura Nyro chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   link |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B− [1] |
Season of Lights... Laura Nyro in Concert is the first live album by American singer-songwriter Laura Nyro.
Columbia Records issued the album in the summer of 1977, taking the songs from various locations on Nyro's 1976 tour in support of her most recent studio album, Smile . Although the album had no strict producer, Nyro is credited as the "musical director." Dale Ashby was engineer and mixer, assisted by Don Pulse and Ken Robertson.
The album documents Nyro's first full-band tour, with her playing guitar, piano, and other keyboards, backed by a group of musicians including John Tropea on guitar and Richard Davis on bass. The atmosphere of the album is laidback, smooth, and jazz-inspired, musically similar to the explorations on Smile. Nyro re-arranged many songs to fit her new band's sound, such as slowing down "Sweet Blindness" or making "And When I Die" funkier.
The album was originally intended to be a double-LP set consisting of 16 songs, and this version was sent to some outlets as a promotional copy and as a Japanese import. Instead, Columbia released a single-LP set of 10 songs. Reissue imprint Iconoclassic Records released a remastered version of Season of Lights, including all sixteen songs plus a bonus solo version of "Timer," on CD in August 2008.
The album peaked at #137 on the Billboard 200 chart, then known as the Pop Albums chart. It was Nyro's penultimate US chart entry after a run of seven successive charting albums stretching back to 1968's Eli and the Thirteenth Confession , before her final chart entry in 1984.
All tracks composed by Laura Nyro
| Track | Length | Original album |
|---|---|---|
| "The Confession" | 3:11 | Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (1968) |
| "And When I Die" | 4:03 | More Than A New Discovery (1967) |
| "Upstairs By A Chinese Lamp" | 4:56 | Christmas and the Beads of Sweat (1970) |
| "Sweet Blindness" | 3:47 | Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (1968) |
| "Captain Saint Lucifer" | 5:55 | New York Tendaberry (1969) |
| "Money" | 6:04 | Smile (1976) |
| "The Cat Song" | 4:22 | Smile (1976) |
| "When I Was a Freeport and You Were the Main Drag" | 3:42 | Christmas and the Beads of Sweat (1970) |
| "Timer" | 6:15 | Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (1968) |
| "Emmie" | 3:56 | Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (1968) |
| Track | Length | Original album |
|---|---|---|
| "Money" | 6:04 | Smile (1976) |
| "Sweet Lovin' Baby" | 2:20 | New York Tendaberry (1969) |
| "And When I Die" | 4:03 | More Than A New Discovery (1967) |
| "The Morning News" | 2:32 | previously unreleased |
| "Upstairs By A Chinese Lamp" | 4:56 | Christmas and the Beads of Sweat (1970) |
| "I Am the Blues" | 7:00 | Smile (1976) |
| "When I Was a Freeport and You Were the Main Drag" | 3:42 | Christmas and the Beads of Sweat (1970) |
| "Captain Saint Lucifer" | 5:55 | New York Tendaberry (1969) |
| "Smile" | 4:07 | Smile (1976) |
| "Mars" | 3:24 | Smile (1976) - coda to "Smile" |
| "Sweet Blindness" | 3:47 | Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (1968) |
| "The Cat Song" | 4:22 | Smile(1976) |
| "Emmie" | 3:56 | Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (1968) |
| "The Confession" | 3:11 | Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (1968) |
| "Timer" | 6:15 | Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (1968) |
| "Midnite Blue" | 4:05 | Smile (1976) |
Laura Nyro was an American songwriter, singer, and pianist. 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 strong emotive vocal style and 3-octave mezzo-soprano vocal range.
Second Childhood is the second album by the singer and songwriter Phoebe Snow, released in 1976. Second Childhood was certified gold by the RIAA on July 9, 1976.
Stoned Soul Picnic is the third album by American pop group The 5th Dimension, released in 1968. Early versions of the album had a lyric sheet inserted in the sleeve.
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.
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.
Smile is the sixth album by New York singer, songwriter and pianist Laura Nyro. It was released in early 1976, following a four-year hiatus from the music industry during which time she both married and divorced, and lived away from the spotlight. She dedicated the album to her mother.
More Than a New Discovery is the debut album by Bronx-born singer, songwriter, and pianist Laura Nyro. It was recorded during 1966 and released early in following year on the Verve Folkways imprint of the Verve Records label.
Nested is the seventh studio album by Bronx-born singer, songwriter and pianist Laura Nyro, released in 1978 on Columbia Records.
Mother's Spiritual is the eighth studio album by New York City-born singer, songwriter, and pianist Laura Nyro and her ninth original album in total, including the 1977 live album Season of Lights.
Laura: Live at the Bottom Line is the second live album by New York City-born singer, songwriter, and pianist Laura Nyro and her tenth original album in total, including the 1977 live album Season of Lights.
Caravanserai is the fourth studio album by Santana, released on October 11, 1972.
Nightbirds is an album by the all-female singing group Labelle, released in 1974 on the Epic label. The album features the group's biggest hit, the song "Lady Marmalade", and it became their most successful album to date.
John Tropea is an American guitarist.
Greatest Hits is a compilation album by the band Blood, Sweat & Tears, initially released in February 1972.
Album III is the third full-length album from Loudon Wainwright III. It was originally released in 1972 on Columbia Records. Album III would spawn Loudon Wainwright's most popular hit single, "Dead Skunk", one of the many 'novelty songs' sprinkled throughout Wainwright's career. Although Wainwright has maintained an ironic, sometimes sepulchral sense of humor, "Dead Skunk", despite its commercial success, has dogged him ever since, as he comments on 1985's album I'm Alright, "Were you embarrassed about 'Dead Skunk'"?
Miles Davis at Fillmore is a 1970 live album by jazz trumpeter Miles Davis and band, recorded at the Fillmore East, New York City on four consecutive days, June 17 through June 20, 1970, originally released as a double vinyl LP. The performances featured the double keyboard set-up Davis toured with for a few months, with Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea playing electronic organ and Fender Rhodes electric piano, respectively. The group opened for Laura Nyro at these performances.
"Stoned Soul Picnic" is a 1968 song by Laura Nyro. The best-known version of the song was recorded by The 5th Dimension, and was the first single released from their album of the same title. It was the most successful single from that album, reaching No. 3 on the U.S. Pop chart and No. 2 on the Billboard R&B chart. It became a platinum record.
Helen Reddy is the second studio album by Australian-American pop singer Helen Reddy, released on November 8, 1971, by Capitol Records. Reddy's selections include tracks by singer-songwriters Carole King, John Lennon, Randy Newman, and Donovan. It debuted on Billboard magazine's Top LP's chart in the issue dated December 4, 1971, and had a seven-week chart run in which it got as high as number 167. On March 29, 2005, the album was released for the first time on compact disc as one of two albums on one CD, the other album being I Don't Know How to Love Him, Reddy's debut LP that originally came out in the spring of 1971.