More Than a New Discovery

More Than a New Discovery is the debut album by Bronx-born singer, songwriter, and pianist Laura Nyro. It was recorded during 1966 and released early in the following year on the Verve Folkways imprint of the Verve Records label.

The name of the label was later changed to Verve Forecast, and the album was re-issued on that label as The First Songs in 1969. This re-issue has a different track order and revised cover design. It peaked at #97 on the Billboard 200, then known as the Pop Albums chart. Starting with this release, the song "Hands Off the Man" was retitled "Flim Flam Man (Hands Off the Man)".

Columbia Records re-issued The First Songs with all-new cover art (featuring a rose illustration) in 1973.

In 1999, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2008, Rev-Ola Records released a remastered version of the original album on Compact Disc with the original song order and the original cover art.

Production
Nyro signed a contract with Verve Folkways after she gained recognition when Peter Paul and Mary recorded her song "And When I Die" in 1966.

The album was recorded in the fall of 1966 with Herb Bernstein as arranger and Milton Okun producing. There was some uncertainty about Nyro's ability to lead the musicians by playing piano. As a result, pianist Stan Free was hired, and Nyro was encouraged to play the guitar instead, which she rejected.

Songs
"Wedding Bell Blues" was released as a single in September 1966 and remained on the "Bubbling Under" segment of the Billboard Hot 100 (then "Pop Singles") for 12 weeks, peaking at #103.

For the single version of "Stoney End", Nyro was forced to rework some of the lyrics that referred to the Bible, because Verve felt it would cause too much controversy.

The album included several songs that would become hits for other artists. Blood, Sweat & Tears scored with "And When I Die" (US #2), the 5th Dimension with "Wedding Bell Blues" (US #1) and "Blowin' Away" (US #21), and Barbra Streisand with "Stoney End" (US #6) and "Flim Flam Man" (US #82).

Personnel

 * Laura Nyro – guitar, keyboards, vocals, songwriter
 * Jay Berliner – guitar
 * Stan Free – piano
 * Bill LaVorgna – drums
 * Buddy Lucas – harmonica
 * Lou Mauro – double bass
 * James Sedlar – French horn
 * Herb Bernstein – arranger, conductor, flugelhorn
 * Technical
 * Milton Okun – producer
 * Jean Goldhirsch – assistant producer
 * Jerry Schoenbaum – production supervision
 * Val Valentin – director of engineering
 * Harry Yarmark – engineer
 * Murray Laden – photography