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Over two years ago, Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music released A Little Magic, A Little Kindness: The Complete Mono Albums Collection from the late Laura Nyro. The centerpiece of that two-disc anthology was the world premiere CD release of the original mono version of Nyro's Verve Folkways debut, More Than a New Discovery. Now, that rare and superior mix is making its way to limited edition vinyl as our first release of 2020.
Seldom has the title of a debut album been more apt than the one that graced Nyro's 1967 release, More Than a New Discovery. This was not the mere first foray of a budding talent. Instead, the album introduced a fully-realized, remarkably mature (at the age of 19) singer-songwriter whose singular fusion of pop, jazz, R&B, soul, Broadway, and folk sounds created some of the most beloved songs in modern popular music. Real Gone Music and Second Disc Records are proud to reissue, for the first time ever on vinyl (and in homage to Laura's favorite color), More Than a New Discovery in a violet vinyl edition limited to 1,250 copies. It's due on January 10, 2020.
More Than a New Discovery premiered the songs that Barbra Streisand, Blood Sweat and Tears, and The 5th Dimension would all take up the charts, including "Stoney End," "And When I Die," "'Blowin' Away," and perhaps the most famous song Nyro ever wrote, "Wedding Bell Blues." Both Verve and, later, Columbia Records reissued this album as The First Songs with new artwork, a different sequence, and added reverb. This limited edition restores the original cover art and album sequence, and offers the rare, dedicated mono mix from the very first version of the album as remastered from the original tapes by Vic Anesini at Sony's Battery Studios. If you've only heard this album in its familiar stereo version, you haven't heard it at all.
Lacquer cutting for this release has been handled by Clint Holley at Well Made Music. As the original Verve Folkways iconography is no longer available in association with this title (as Columbia Records purchased the album from Verve decades ago), John Sellards has designed the artwork with some very special touches in the style of a period Columbia mono promotional release. That's still not all. We've added a new insert featuring photos and notes by The Second Disc's Joe Marchese which place the record in context of Nyro's remarkable career.
Whether More Than a New Discovery is an old friend or, indeed, a new discovery, you can look for this upcoming vinyl release on January 10, 2020 at the links below!
More Than a New Discovery [Limited Violet Vinyl Mono Edition] (Verve Folkways LP FT-3020, 1967 - reissued Second Disc Records/Real Gone Music RGM-0962, 2020) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
- Goodbye Joe
- Billy's Blues
- And When I Die
- Stoney End
- Lazy Susan
- Hands Off the Man (Flim Flam Man)
- Wedding Bell Blues
- Buy and Sell
- He's a Runner
- Blowin' Away
- I Never Meant to Hurt You
- California Shoeshine Boys
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I bought this album on CD as an import on Rev-Ola (Australian??) with the original title, artwork & sequence, not sure if it's in mono or stereo...but yeah, this album is genius, as was Laura...I may get this violet vinyl or that mono collection, we'll see...but it never gets old...
While the Rev-Ola CD premiered the original artwork and sequence on CD, it was in stereo and derived from the Columbia "First Songs" tapes, not the original "More Than a New Discovery" masters. (I still have the first, incorrect pressing of the Rev-ola with the "First Songs" sequence, too. They soon caught the error and re-pressed.) I couldn't agree more about Laura's genius, and this incredible album. Vic Anesini has done a beautiful job mastering it.
Two years ago Sony (Jp) released a Blu-spec cd (SICP 31105 JASRAC) with both mono and stereo version if MTAND in one cd plus a bonus track. Could it be the "definitive" version of first Laura Nyro's work?
The (quite nice) Japanese editions of MTAND and ELI were based on our U.S. release A LITTLE MAGIC, A LITTLE KINDNESS: THE COMPLETE MONO ALBUMS COLLECTION for which we unearthed the mono master tapes of both albums for the first time. Sony Japan took our mono presentations along with the previous stereo releases for both titles to create their combined mono/stereo editions.
Too bad it won’t be smellable vinyl like the first pressing of Eli was! Still very much looking forward to this lovely violet pressing. I just Pre-ordered mine. Thanks for keeping Laura’s rich musical legacy alive and available for all to love and hear again in such pristine, carefully & lovelingly preserved form for us diehards to enjoy all over again. Cheers!