LAURA NYRO - Time and Love : The Essential Masters (2012) RM | HDCD | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

As a 16-song, single-disc best-of, this does the job very nicely for those who want Nyro's best and most famous songs in one place. Only nine tracks into the CD you've already heard "Sweet Blindness," "Wedding Bell Blues," "And When I Die," "Blowin' Away," "Eli's Comin'," "Stoney End," and "Stoned Soul Picnic," which should be enough to convince anyone that Nyro was a major singer/songwriter. An argument could be made that, as an album-oriented performer whose career spanned about three decades, this is too brief a sampling of her discography, and too lopsided, as just one of the songs was recorded after 1970 (at which point she had yet to reach her 25th birthday). Still, the hard facts are that Nyro's best recordings and compositions were those from the beginning of her career. If you want greater breadth, there's the two-CD Stoned Soul Picnic: The Best of Laura Nyro compilation. But if a best-of's all you want, you don't lose much by springing for Time and Love instead, as disc two of Stoned Soul Picnic really isn't that good. Another good reason to consider this the first choice: Time and Love uses the original 1968 studio version of "Sweet Blindness" (a 1976 live rendition was used on Stoned Soul Picnic). Richie Unterberger
Tracklist :
1    Sweet Blindness    2:36
Written-By – Laura Nyro
2    Wedding Bell Blues    2:53
Written-By – Laura Nyro
3    And When I Die    2:38
Written-By – Laura Nyro
4    Blowin' Away    2:19
Written-By – Laura Nyro
5    Eli's Comin'    3:58
Written-By – Laura Nyro
6    Goodbye Joe    2:40
Written-By – Laura Nyro
7    Stoney End    2:43
Written-By – Laura Nyro
8    It's Gonna Take A Miracle 3:22
Written-By – B. Weinstein, L. Stallman, T. Randazzo
9    Stoned Soul Picnic    3:47
Written-By – Laura Nyro
10    Lu    2:44
Written-By – Laura Nyro
11    Save The Country    4:30
Written-By – Laura Nyro
12    When I Was A Freeport And You Were The Main Drag    2:46
Written-By – Laura Nyro
13    Blackpatch    3:35
Written-By – Laura Nyro
14    Time And Love    4:18
Written-By – Laura Nyro
15    Sexy Mama 2:41
Written-By – A. Goodman, H. Ray, S. Robinson
16    Up On The Roof 3:15
Written-By – G. Goffin - C. King