Best version of "Stoney End"

Maybe I will get static for not including the medley in which it appears by The 5th Dimension that I didn't locate during the first pass.

Barbra studio version or live?

Studio

Interesting that Diana's version was recorded before Barbra's– and produced by Bones Howe!– but remained unreleased for another 30 years.

https://www.barbra-archives.info/newpagef2f7757c

Oh gosh, they're all good but I'm going with Babs.

Laura was saddled with a studio backup band that she wasn't used to which I feel handicaps her slightly but she still does a great job.

But Babs gives it a little extra oomph and bite and feeling in the last verse and chorus and when I think of the song I think of her phrasing there.

Streisand said in her memoir that she had a hard time remembering the lyrics of the song, so when she did it live she wrote out the lyrics on the stage in chalk

Linda's version is beautiful but the one word of the chorus she changes... it should be insignificant but it rubs somehow

I wouldn't be surprised if the lyric "I can still remember him with love light in his eyes" was inspired by the Supremes song "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes" so it's cool to hear Diana sing the former.

There are many other versions out there that I didn't include, including one by Peggy Lipton I didn’t care for, an instrumental version by Maynard Ferguson that I did like and one by what seems to be a theater major undergraduate that seems pretty good.

clicked streisand so fast that I bruised my finger

I'm seeing that Darlene Love also released a version with the Blossoms, just after the Blossoms had sung backup on that Peggy Lipton version. She leaves out the word "Jesus" in hers.

I read about that but didn’t find it and listen to it yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrHyVMUKbso

Seems to be the exact same track as the Peggy Lipton version like it says.

Pretty good until the very end, when it gets great with a typical Darlene Love dramatic ending.

oh yeah this is spectacular stuff

Ha, have been waiting for you to show up.

Actually missed your bruised finger comment until just now. It went by even faster than you clicked.

Digging the Maynard Ferguson version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmMQk37MWds

There is a clear frontrunner for the reasons Josefa already stated, but would still be interesting to see if anyone makes the case for someone else.

Also been meaning to mention that there is yet another killer Joe Osborn bassline on the Streisand version, up there with his work on The 5th Dimension's "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In."

Reposting Lauro Nyro recording personnel info: https://www.albumoftheyear.org/song/552361-stoney-end

Laura Nyro's version for 45 release has different lyrics in the first verse:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M9WOa93n0A

Has anyone here seen any of the poll artists do "Stoney End" live?

I saw Streisand sing it in 2016 (Barclays Center, Brooklyn).

Setlist.fm doesn't have confirmation of Laura Nyro performing the song after 1971, although that's based on very limited data. It's kind of nice to know Nyro did perform it after Streisand had a hit with it.

Never had the pleasure, but glad that you did

Oddly enough, the 5th Dimension was the probably first version I heard, alongside a number of other Nyro songs. Having now listened to every version I can find (not something I routinely tolerate in one sitting) I'm no closer to an answer. Seems almost like an un-killable song. I find myself anticipating the "cradle me" (post-chorus?!) section in every rendition. It's amazeballs.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Nice

how can a poll about singing have Linda Ronstadt receive zero votes?

Stiff competition plus low turnout.

I believe I did opt for Babs in the end, but I'm thankful for the excuse to listen to a kerrazy number of other performances.

Any discoveries worth sharing?

Possibly not much beyond what you mentioned. It's more that the composition itself somehow sounds even better to me after immersion. :)

I have a biography of Laura Nyro that says Vonda Shepard performed "Stoney End" on the Ally McBeal TV show. This seems to be slightly wrong. Shepard sang other Nyro songs on the show, but it was Jennifer Holliday who sang "Stoney End" in a 2000 episode (3rd season).

The reason multiple Nyro songs made it to Ally McBeal was that show biz manager Gail Gelman was a big Nyro fan and also friends with David Kelley, the show's producer. Gelman managed Vonda Shepard, who sang regularly on the show. Gelman also was trying to start a record label to record a new Laura Nyro album at the time of Nyro's death.

Just now finally experienced another Babs meisterwerk, What's Up, Doc?

You just now saw the film?

Yes that's one of her shining moments. She herself never understood why it was so beloved.

I've been saving it up!

At the time it came out my mother and cousin went to see and it when they came home they literally could not stop laughing, as in they would try to talk and explain what they had just seen but as soon as they opened their mouths to speak they would just start laughing again. I figured it might be some kind of killer laugh that perhaps I should keep at arms length.

On another note, recent intense Peter Sellers watching made me appreciate Kenneth Mars mining some of the same territory a bit more.

Actually all the ripping clothes totally reminded me of The Pink Panther movies.

When push comes to shove I think that was her best film performance. That and her follow-up, the quirky Up the Sandbox, showed her in her best light.

What about the boxing movie, can't even remember the title, On the Ropes maybe.

Oh, The Main Event.

Go slow, if you want to watch that.

For Pete's Sake (1974) was filmed in my neighborhood. I pass the building which is her apartment in that film every day... but it's not a good film. In her memoir she had no memory of it, which sounds about right.

There was a split second when Michael Sarrazin seemed to be in everything.

Trying to recall some TV thing called Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or something.

Other thing I remember from that is "pork bellies!" iirc.

Guess it was Frankenstein: The True Story.

But for a couple of years there seemed to be a rule that you either had to have him or Martin Sheen.

Guess it was _Frankenstein: The True Story_.

She herself never understood why it was so beloved.

From her memoir:

Frankly, I didn't think some of the jokes were funny, which worried me.

Was I funny? Did Ryan and I set off sparks? I wasn't so sure.

And after a pre-release screening...

There were some laughs, but no one was rolling in the aisles. And suddenly I got nervous... maybe it wasn't just that I didn't get the jokes. Maybe the move actually wasn't all that funny.

And after all this, she gave away the 10% of the gross that was in her contract, which she calls "the stupidest deal I ever made in my life."

Probably the last thing was the enduring problem.

* Please note: UP THE SANDBOX has been postponed.

Apparently Martha Wainwright did "Stoney End" recently as part of one of her Laura Nyro tribute shows.

That reminds me that I attended a Laura Nyro tribute show outside at Lincoln Center back in 2012 that featured Melissa Manchester, Felix Cavaliere.(w/ Tony Wine on backing vocal), Sarah Dash and Nona Hendryx, Desmond Child, and a few lesser knowns. I had to look up which performer sang "Stoney End" and it turns out it was a solo singer-songwriter named Kate Fletcher, who had her own Nyro tribute show called "One Child Born." Don't know anything about her. There's a British folk singer of that name, but I doubt that's who it was.

Laura Nyro's son Gil Bianchini performed a rap at this event. It now occurs to me that I have seen Aretha Franklin's son rap and also Laura Nyro's son rap.

That tribute show sounds like it might have been pretty good.

This was the young newcomer version that I liked, but I think I prefer the streaming version a bit better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yv9kHYYH1I

Streaming version also has a full band with bass, guitar and drums.

really nice voice

*I misspelled Toni Wine of course

Hah, didn't even notice, but yeah.

really nice voice

Original material might be lacking though.

Now onto Babs singing "A Sleepin' Bee."

Up the Sandbox showing in January, I think.