Laura Nyro - Go Find The Moon: The Audition Tape

Previously unissued 1966 audition tape from Laura Nyro. In the summer of 1966, an 18-year-old Laura Nyro auditioned for Milt Okun, one of the most respected music producers of the day, and Artie Mogull, a noted A&R man. After the session, these eventual music business legends were so blown away that Mogull became her manager, and Okun signed on to produce her debut record More Than Just A Discovery. The first song she performed, “And When I Die”, achieved success with the cover by Blood, Sweat, & Tears, reaching #2 on the Billboard Charts in 1969. Nyro certainly wrote other future smashes delivered to the charts by artists like Three Dog Night (“Eli’s Coming”), The 5th Dimension (“Stoned Soul Picnic,” “Save The Country,” and “Wedding Bell Blues”), Barbra Streisand (“Stoney End”), and more, but it was Nyro’s heart, soul, songwriting brilliance and magnificent vocal talent that drove music fans to discover her own work.

Go Find The Moon: The Audition Tape puts the listener in the room at the very beginning of Nyro’s legendary career. It was natural. It was organic. It was pure Laura Nyro. Available now, for the first time, it includes “And When I Die,” as well as songs she never officially released, and versions of classics, delivered with Nyro’s deft and distinctive touch. released in cooperation and with approval from the Laura Nyro estate. Released in cooperation and with approval from the Laura Nyro estate.

Restored and mastered by Grammy-winning engineer Michael Graves, and produced for release by Grammy-winner Cheryl Pawelski and George Gilbert, it is available on LP, cut at 45 rpm, with liner notes from journalist Jim Farber. From Farber’s notes: “Here, Laura Nyro led the way, with a performance that captured an artist who, however young, was, at root, already fully formed.”

1. AND WHEN I DIE

2. LAZY SUSAN (FALSE START)

3. ENOUGH OF YOU

4. IN AND OUT

5. GO FIND THE MOON

6. LUCKIE/STUDIO TALK

7. WHEN SUNNY GETS BLUE (FRAGMENT)/KANSAS CITY (FRAGMENT)/I ONLY WANT TO

8. BE WITH YOU (FRAGMENT)

9. LAZY SUSAN