User Contributed Dictionary
Verb
nested- past of nest
Extensive Definition
Nested is the seventh studio album
by Bronx-born
singer, songwriter, and pianist Laura Nyro,
released in 1978 by Columbia
Records.
Following on from her extensive tour to promote
1976's Smile,
which resulted in the 1977 live album Season of
Lights, Nyro retreated to her new home in Danbury,
Connecticut,
where she lived after spending her time in the spotlight in
New
York City.
Nyro had a studio built at her home, and recorded
the songs that comprised Nested there. The songs deal with themes
such as motherhood
and womanhood, and it
is a notably more relaxed Nyro that sings on the album. The
instrumentation is laidback and smooth, similar to that of Smile,
but perhaps less jazz-inspired and more melodic.
Nyro was assisted in production by Roscoe Harring, while Dale Ashby
and Pop Ashby were chief engineers.
Critics praised the album as a melodic return to
form, and Nyro supported the album with a solo tour when she was
heavily pregnant with her son Gil, who was born two months after
the album was released. Despite acclaim and a melodic, arguably
more commercial sound, Nested was not a commercial success and
became Nyro's first album since her 1967 debut
More Than A New Discovery to miss the Billboard
200, then known as the Pop Albums chart.
Such was its commercial failure that for years it
remained out of print, and is unquestionably Nyro's least-known and
most rare studio album. After the birth of her son in August 1978,
Nyro retreated once again from the limelight after a three-year
return to raise her son. She would not record for another five
years, and her recording pattern became increasingly intermittent.
Nested is recognised as one of Laura Nyro's most underrated
works.
Overview
Nested is the first of two "maternal" Laura Nyro albums, and Nyro appears to revel in her new domesticity. Her marriage had broken down, but she had found love again and the sound is notably more relaxed than before.Felix
Cavaliere returns to play piano and organ on some songs, while
Nyro produces with Roscoe Harring. The origins of Nyro's political
and social explorations in her lyrics of the 1980s and 1990s can be
traced back to Nested.
Track listing
Title Time "Mr. Blue (Song of Communications)"
(Nyro) 5:01 "Rhythm and Blues" (Nyro) 2:57 "My Innocence" (Nyro)
3:24 "Crazy Love" (Nyro) 4:18 "American Dreamer" (Nyro) 4:08
"Springblown" (Nyro) 4:24 "The Sweet Sky" (Nyro) 3:32 "Light"
(Nyro) 2:53 "Child in a Universe" (Nyro) 4:09 "The Nest" (Nyro)
2:27
Miscellanea
- Nested was briefly released on CD in Japan only and was out of print for many years. On April 8, 2008, it was reissued on CD in the U.S. in remastered form by Iconoclassic Records.
- It was her first album in 11 years not to make the American pop charts.
- It was her final album for more than five years, as she brought up her son, who was born two months after the album release.
- Nyro supported the album with a tour while heavily pregnant.
External links
- Michele Kort's biography Soul Picnic: The Music and Passion of Laura Nyro (ISBN 0-312-20941-X)