In 1971, Laura Nyro was one of the acts asked to perform at a series of final farewell concerts for the legendary Fillmore East club in New York City. 　　The 23-year-old Bronx native obliged and performed spellbinding sets. This performance from May 30 of that year captures Laura in the prime of her early years, but is slightly disappointing for its over-reliance on cover versions. 　　Laura was working on her fifth solo LP at the time, which would become Gonna Take A Miracle, released in November 1971 and featuring soul trio Labelle on backing vocals. The album was an album of soul standards, so it is understandable that Laura chose songs like "Walk On By," "O-o-h Child," "Ain't Nothin' Like the Real Thing," "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," and "Spanish Harlem" to perform. 　　Of her original songs, she performs staples like "Timer," "Emmie," and "Lu," but misses out some dramatic material from 1969's masterpiece New York Tendaberry. Perhaps Laura felt that the material from that album would not fit well in her soulful, relaxed vibe of the evening, but she does break away in the middle to perform perhaps the highlight of the CD, a startling rendition of "Map to the Treasure," taken from 1970's Christmas and the Beads of Sweat. 　　This album, which has been recovered from 33-year-old tapes and is therefore not of pristine quality, is atmospheric but does tend to drag towards the end because all emphasis is on Laura and her piano - there is no other instrumentation. It's not the best introduction to her music at all, because she rarely ever used solo piano as accompaniment (only on New York Tendaberry), and her voice is not as dramatic as it can be. 　　The album is, however, a must for Laura completists, because it features an early version of "I Am The Blues," which made it onto 1976's jazzy Smile album, and two unreleased epics called "American Dove" and "Mother Earth." 　　Overall, a fantastic album with great liner notes, and so far the only live CD documentation of Laura's great early years. After Gonna Take A Miracle, she didn't release any new material for more than four years and her schedule remained intermittent, but she is undoubtedly one of the greatest singer/songwriters.