It has always been difficult to pin down exactly what it is that Nyro does (purely in terms of music and lyrics), and that is all to the good in the making of a pop star. Unlike so many of the rock singers and players, she evinces practically no Eastern influence in her music; it is American through and through, both white and black. There's a lot of blues in it—but one feels it didn't all come from the original source—and a great deal of Forties swing. Taken all together, with her somewhat lesser gift for words, her typical flights into the upper ranges of her voice, and the multi-voice backing choruses of her arrangements, there is a very individual and likable style. The problem is it doesn't go anywhere—except around again.

Because Laura Nyro as singer is tied to Laura Nyro as songwriter and...