116. Laura Nyro — Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (1968)

1. I’ve not heard Laura Nyro before, but this album immediately welcomed me in with its boppy pop tunes. This is a fun one. If the music weren’t fun enough, apparently she insisted the lyrics sheet that came with the album be perfumed beforehand (and apparently it still has a pleasant scent). That’s fun!
2. Ah, hell. I started writing this four days ago, and work’s gotten in the way, which means this whole project has been put on hold And I like this album, but not enough to derail the entire project. I’ll say this, to be clear: it’s an album that pops between genres in a cool way, with a lot of really good songs, that gets a little old by the end.
3. Recommended songs: “Luckie,” “Lu,” “Sweet Blindness,” “Eli’s Coming,” and “Stoned Soul Picnic.” These are all great tunes.
4. Apparently this is Paul Schaffer’s (David Letterman’s old band leader) desert island album, the one that he’d pick as the only album he could hear for the rest of his life. High praise!

One Essential Song:

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