[Laura Nyro] was a natural magnet for opprobrious epithets, a stark tragedienne who, though hailed as a new songwriting genius, was christened the "Bronx Ophelia." Her loose songs were bursts of inspiration, quotations from American pop songs. They were held together by her audience, who grasped the thin thread of common culture and her idiomatic constructions, which, from another viewpoint, would have seemed to be no more than word salads.

At the start of her career she made Eli and the 13th Confession, a concept album around the growth of a girl to maturity in thirteen songs, hopscotch style through anguish and elation. Old rock 'n' roll from doo-wop groups, the symbols of the Catholic Church, the rhythm of New York City flashing by like stations from a subway car, and a mood of giddy, muddled infatuation were gathered like a bouquet of flowers.

Acceptance by the public...