Laura Nyro is now the hippest thing in music. By the end of the year she may be the hottest as well…. "Eli and the Thirteenth Confession" describes, in 13 songs, ("Eli" and "The Confession" are two of them), a young woman's passage from childhood to maturity. The initial reviews were uniformly ecstatic, but the reviewers obviously had trouble fitting Laura into existing categories…. Her music—all of which she writes, arranges and sings to her own accompaniment has been called rock, jazz, soul and classical….

Like Bob Dylan, another writer who was discovered only after other artists began recording his songs, Laura Nyro is a poet. Dylan's images are rich literary constructions accompanied, troubadour-fashion, by music; Laura's poetry, however, is a totally musical form in which lyrics and melody are inseparable. She chooses words for their tonality, and the singer's voice becomes one instrument among many. Laura's lyrics...