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When I worked the counters at Reckless Records in Soho, London and their Islington branch - Laura Nyro and her high-pitched voice was always a Marmite listen for punters – you either loved it or you needed to leave the room. Here in 2026, five and half decades after these albums - Nyro is still something of an unsung hero amongst aficionados.
But I'd argue that her quietly joyous collaboration with the Soul-Trio Labelle in 1971 (under the supervision and production chops of Gamble & Huff and Tom Bell arrangements - all three pre their Philadelphia International Records fame with The O'Jays, Harold Melvin, Teddy Pendergrass and MFSB) produced an all-covers-album corker that deserves reappraisal – an LP that seems to eternally languish in the forgotten racks of yesteryear - and "Gonna Take A Miracle" should not.
And as if to reinforce her legend, those natty dudes over at Columbia/Sony have only gone and unearthed four previously unreleased and astonishingly good live renditions with Laura at her Piano in front of a rapturous crowd (May 1971 at Fillmore East in the Village Area of New York). Out there on her own, Nyro holds the rockers enrapt with Rock-Soulful covers – impressive. Let's get to the details…
US released 25 June 2002 - "Gonna Take A Miracle" by LAURA NYRO and LABELLE on Columbia/Legacy CK 85762 (Barcode 886977077227) is an Expanded Edition CD Reissue and Remaster with Four Bonus Tracks (Previously Unreleased Live Recordings) that plays out as follows (41:49 minutes):
1. I Met Him On A Sunday (1:49 minutes) [Side 1]
2. The Bells (2:59 minutes)
3. Monkey Time/Dancing In The Street (4:54 minutes)
4. Desiree (1:50 minutes)
5. You've Really Got A Hold On Me (4:04 minutes)
6. Spanish Harlem (2:51 minutes) [Side 2]
7. Jimmy Mack (2:55 minutes)
8. The Wind (2:53 minutes)
9. Nowhere To Run (5:02 minutes)
10.It's Gonna Take A Miracle (3:22 minutes)
Tracks 1 to 10 are her fifth studio album "Gonna Take A Miracle" – released November 1971 in the US on Columbia KC 30987 and in the UK on CBS Records S 64770 – Produced by Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff -
BONUS TRACKS:
11. Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing (0:58 minutes) segues into Track 12
12. (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman (3:00 minutes)
13. O-o-h Child (1:30 minutes) – segues into Track 14
14. Up On The Roof (3:11 minutes)
Tracks 11 to 14 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED live recordings recorded 30 May 1971 at the Fillmore East, New York with Laura Nyro unaccompanied on Piano. Track 11 is an Ashford & Simpson song made famous by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell in 1968 on Tamla
Track 12 is a Carole King & Gerry Goffin song made famous by Aretha Franklin in 1967
Track 13 is a Five Stairsteps Soul song from 1970 written by Stan Vincent
Track 14 is a Carole King & Gerry Goffin song made famous by The Drifters in 1964 on Atlantic Records
Musicians:
LAURA NYRO – Lead Vocals and Piano
LABELLE – Patti LaBelle, Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash
ROLAND CHAMBERS and NORMAN HAINES – Guitars
LENNY PAKULA – Organ
RONNIE BAKER – Bass
LARRY WASHINGTON and NYDIA MATA – Congas, Bongos
VINCE MONTANA – Percussion
JIM KELTNER – Drums
TOM BELL, LENNY PAKULA and ROBERT MANN – Strings and Arrangements
A team of three trusted names handled the audio – ELLEN FITTON and SETH FOSTER (Engineering) with MARK WILDER (Mastering) – and having played compromised LPs from 1971 for years – the virtually hiss-less clarity they have achieved is shockingly lovely. The sound is not dead but warm and inviting – not compressed but alive. Suddenly their vocals on the gorgeous Marvin Gaye associated Originals song "The Bells" at 1:52 minutes combined with the strings is breathtaking (Patti letting rip too). The 8-page booklet has a short introduction to the LP and its making by AMY LINDEN explaining Nyro worshiping at the altar of Patti LaBelle's lung power – Gamble & Huff at the controls pre-Philly-fame. There are lovely photos, songwriter credits (no lyrics) and Reissue Credits and even a Previously Unused LP mock-up on the last page that was quite right rejected (hideous stuff). It is odd though that the LP issue date is not mentioned (let alone catalogue number) or which song was originally done by who on a whole album dealing with cover versions, but the real fireworks comes with the sound. Songs...
Her fifth album "Gonna Take A Miracle" from Nov 1971 opens with hand-claps and voices - Nyro and Labelle giving in some Acapella Shirelles for their 1958 '…dated him on Tuesday, kissed him on Thursday, he didn’t come Friday…' tale of teenage woe - "I Met Him On A Sunday". Such a cool scene-setting and at only 1:49 minutes it then segues into the sublime – a soft piano and her impassioned vocals for the Marvin Gaye gem (when he was with The Originals, a January 1970 US 45 for them on Soul Records) "The Bells". Even when it ends and heads out with that quiet passage, the Remaster keeps it sweetly unencumbered. Just a beautiful rendition.
Time to bop y'all with a double dose of Mayfield and Motown magic – the Curtis Mayfield written Major Lance hit vs. a Martha & The Vandellas smash - "Monkey Time/Dancing In The Street" meshed into one frantic bopper. But it's at this point that I think (others disagree) the whole project made a mistake. The double-dancer "Monkey Time/Dancing In The Street" is manic and feels too crowded. But when she goes into the less-than-two minute "Desiree" – another gorgeous slowie – you start to think that slowies is what the entire album should have been – an ultra-mellow display of entirely sweet Soul interpretations. The whole album – variants on ballads. When Gamble and Huff introduce Tom Bell strings arrangements to "You've Really Got A Hold On Me" – it really works – but then towards the end they speed up the song and kind of ruin it for me.
Side 2 returns to conga and bass sweetness with a cover of the Ben E. King Atlantic Records hit "Spanish Harlem" – brass saunters in towards the fade out but not enough to drown or detract – a fab opening to Side 2. Time to shimmy again, "Jimmy Mack" – and you can feel the four ladies digging it as they ooh and aah their way through the hurry back lyrics (Jimmy needs to get home fast). Stunning is the only word to apply to the lonesome echo of "The Wind" – an obscure 1954 Vocal Group 45 by Nolan Strong & The Diablos on Fortune Records which Nyro and Labelle strip back to just hurting vocals. A great example of injecting Soul into something that was Doo Wop - R&B transformed into something truly beautiful. But just like "Monkey Time…" on Side 1 – the Side 2 manic moment comes with "Nowhere To Hide" – its five minutes of trade-off hollers is too much. Thankfully, they end with another smooching beauty in "It's Gonna Take A Miracle" – a 1965 Soul outing for Sheila Ross and The Royalettes on MGM Records. Then we get something spectacular…
Most Bonus Tracks never feel like bonuses – but here Legacy unearthed four live performances where Nyro and only her Piano enthrals an almost silent audience who react with wild applause in-between songs digging her 'feel so tired' emotional singing. The remaster is lovely and if I am honest, I have returned to "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" far more often than I have the faster cuts on the LP (it takes a special vocalist to take on Aretha Franklin and win).
A very cool CD Reissue and Remaster and here in 2026 it seems inexplicable that Columbia and Legacy did not do "Christmas And The Beads Of Sweat", "First Songs" and "Smile" in 2002 – although 5 November 2025 did see a Remaster of "Smile" (from 1976) with three bonus tracks on Sony International SICP 6721 (Barcode 4547366 766165) and "Nested" (from 1978) with one bonus track on Sony International SICP 6722 (Barcode 4547366766172) as part of their 18-titles strong Hidden Gems In 70s Series.
Perhaps one day, Laura Nyro will fill the same hipster reverential shoes as Karen Dalton, Judee Sill, Anne Briggs or Jo Ann Kelly – I hope so. In the meantime, check out why devotees speak her name with a thump in the heart and a flush on the cheek…
June 2002 LAURA NYRO CD Remasters
US Columbia/Legacy Expanded Edition CD Reissues & Remasters
1. Eli And The Thirteenth Confession (April 1968 2nd Studio LP) – CD reissue is Columbia/Legacy CK 85763 (Barcode 696998576322) – Three Bonus Tracks
2. New York Tendaberry (September 1969 3rd Studio LP) – CD reissue is Columbia/Legacy CK 85764 (Barcode 886972413822) – Two Bonus Tracks
3. Christmas And The Beads Of Sweat (November 1970, 4th LP) – not issued in this series – Early un-remastered version is CK 30259
4. Gonna Take A Miracle (November 1971, 5th LP) – CD reissue is Columbia/Legacy CK 85762 (Barcode 886977077227) – Four Bonus Tracks
NOTE: More Than A New Discovery (Jan 1967 US Debut LP on Verve Forecast Records - reissued in the 1970s on CBS Records and Columbia as First Songs), Christmas And the Beads Of Sweat (Nov 1970) and Smile (Feb 1976, 6th LP) were NOT included in this Remaster Series.
