Laura Nyro - Smile (1976)
Tracklist front / back album covers
"Sexy Mama" (Al Goodman, Sylvia Robinson, Harry Ray) - 2:41
"Children of the Junks" - 2:49
"Money" - 4:59
"I Am the Blues" - 5:44
"Stormy Love" - 4:29
"The Cat Song" - 2:34
"Midnite Blue" - 3:05
"Smile" - 5:36
Japanese remastered version with bonus tracks
"Sexy Mama"
"Children of the Junks"
"Money"
"I Am the Blues"
"Stormy Love"
"Cat Song"
"Midnite Blue"
"Smile"
"Someone Loves You" (Demo) (Bonus track)
"Get Me My Cap" (Demo) (Bonus track)
"Coffee Morning" (Demo) (Bonus track)
Laura Nyro Band Members / Musicians
Laura Nyro - vocals, piano, guitar, wood block
John Tropea, Hugh McCracken, Joe Beck, Jeff Mironov, Jerry Friedman, Greg Bennett - guitar
Will Lee, Richard Davis, Bob Babbitt - bass
Chris Parker, Allan Schwartzberg, Rick Marotta - drums
Jimmy Maelen - tambourine, wood block
Nydia Mata, Carter C.C. Collins - congas
Rubens Bassini - shaker
David Friedman - vibraphone
Joe Farrell, Michael Brecker, George Young - saxophone
Randy Brecker - trumpet
Paul Messing - triangle
Nisako Yoshida, Reiko Kamota - koto
Don Puluse, Tim Geelan - engineer
Jay Messina, Lou Waxman, Stan Tonkel - assistant engineer
Ed Lee - artwork
Patty Newport - photography
Smile is the 6th album by New York singer, songwriter and pianist Laura Nyro. It was released in early 1976, following a four-year hiatus from the music industry during which time she both married and divorced, and lived away from the spotlight. She dedicated the album to her mother.
The music of Smile is smooth jazz-pop, and Nyro was reunited with producer and arranger Charlie Calello, who had worked with Nyro on her 1968 opus Eli and the Thirteenth Confession.
Musically, Smile finds Nyro exploring Chinese culture with traditional Asian instrumentation and lyric allusions, particularly on the mildly controversial "Children of the Junks". Elsewhere, she rails against the music industry ("Money") and sings of her new laidback lifestyle away from the glare of the media.
Despite her long absence, Columbia Records had re-signed Nyro and the album became a small chart success during 1976, peaking at #60 on the Billboard 200, then known as the Pop Albums chart. It produced her first full-band tour in 1976, which was documented the following year on the live album Season of Lights.
