Nilsson Album-by-Album Thread*

I've always loved Harry Nillson, probably since his music from Midnight Cowboy in 67. I co-authjored a Beatles book called the Beatles England, a sort of travel guide in 1982. and was at The Beatlefeast in Los Angeles promoting it. Harry was there because he was big on Gun Control after Lennon was shot. It really affected him BIG TIME. I had the pleasure of hanging out with him twice in the Bar at the Bon Aventure Hotel. We talked about music, Lennon and the Beatles and gun violence. We probably talked for three hours or more and it was wonderful. Yes he was **** faced and this was when his singing voice was gone. He'd drink almost a bottle of brandy (I couldn't keep up) each of the two times we met up and I was in awe of his passion. But you could tell that he'd probably never make another great album. But it us still such a wonderful memory for me.

 

No, it's on the far right in the part I picture, but a little unclear. Next to it are The Original Cast Recording of The Point (great album!!) and a Yoko tribute. Sadly don't have the Popeye soundtrack though...

 

The debut was a disapointment me when I finally found a copy, because I had already Aerial Pandemonium Ballet, which features arguably the highlights: 1941 and Without Her.

But boy I love Harry and look forward to discuss the rest of his output.

 

I have the Popeye LP and CD.

 

Let me just set something in place right now.

Harry's last name is spelled N-I-L-S-S-O-N.

That is all.

 

Tell gracenote data base that. It comes up differently all of the time

 

Alright!
Makes my Nilsson collection look stupid.

But I can't wait 'til we get to SKIDOO. Anyone ever see that film? It's available on amazon ...

 

NILSSON - AERIAL BALLET



A1 Good Old Desk 2:22
A2 Don't Leave Me 2:18
A3 Mr. Richland's Favorite Song 2:12
A4 Little Cowboy 1:20
A5 Together 2:08
B1 Everybody's Talkin' 2:41
B2 I Said Goodbye To Me 2:13
B3 Little Cowboy 0:49
B4 Mr. Tinker 2:41
B5 One 2:50
B6 The Wailing Of The Willow 1:57
B7 Bath

From Wikipedia:

Aerial Ballet is the third album by Harry Nilsson released in 1968.
Aerial Ballet was Nilsson's second album for RCA Victor, and was titled after the highwire circus act of his grandparents. It consists almost entirely of songs written by him, including "One", which later became a Number Five hit for Three Dog Night. (The song's opening line, "One is the loneliest number", is a common phrase to this day, but very few people know who coined it.) The title of the album has been given by Joey Kramer as the inspiration for Aerosmith's name and wings motif.[citation needed]
The most familiar track from Aerial Ballet is its one cover song, Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talkin'". It was released as a single in North America in 1968, and reached the top forty in Canada—but initially flopped in the US. However, the song was subsequently selected for use in the Oscar-winning film Midnight Cowboy and became one of Nilsson's biggest hits as a performer, hitting the US top ten in 1969. Another song, "Little Cowboy", later featured in The Courtship of Eddie's Father, was written by Nilsson's mother.
The original opening number for Aerial Ballet was "Daddy's Song", but this track was removed (apparently without Nilsson's awareness) after the first copies were issued, because The Monkees had recorded a cover version to be featured in their film Head, and had paid $35,000 for exclusive rights to the song. The CD reissue restores "Daddy's Song" (with the Monkees' contract long expired) to its rightful place in the lineup.
When Nilsson visited the Beatles in London during 1968, John Lennon played Nilsson "Revolution" and selections from the (then-upcoming) 'White Album', and Nilsson in turn played to Lennon (who had spent thirty-six hours listening to Nilsson's first album) a demo cut of this record.

1. "Daddy's Song" (Nilsson) – 2:19
   About Nilsson's own experience, as a child of divorced parents. The Monkees bought exclusive rights to the song during 1968, which was featured in their movie Head, and was deleted from this album after the first run of copies. It was returned to the lineup for the CD reissue.
2. "Good Old Desk" (Nilsson) – 2:22
   Guest-starring on Playboy After Dark, Nilsson told host Hugh Hefner the song was really about its initials... "G-O-D". Even though Nilsson later admitted that he was just joking around, it is still commonly believed that the song actually is about God.
3. "Don't Leave Me" (Nilsson) – 2:18
4. "Mr. Richland's Favorite Song" (Nilsson) – 2:12
   A rags-to-riches to has-been story of a pop singer. Mr. Richland worked in music publishing, and liked this song best of the album selection.
5. "Little Cowboy" (Nilsson) – 1:20
   A lullaby by Nilsson's own mother, as he sings in the intro.
6. "Together" (Nilsson) – 2:08
7. "Everybody's Talkin'" (Fred Neil) – 2:41
8. "I Said Goodbye to Me" (Nilsson) – 2:13
   A veiled song about suicide.
9. "Little Cowboy" – reprise (Nilsson) – 0:49
10. "Mr. Tinker" (Nilsson) – 2:41
11. "One" (Nilsson) – 2:50
    Possibly the most covered original song of his entire catalogue, "One" is a fairly straightforward song about loneliness and the desperation it brings. Three Dog Night covered it in 1969 with a completely different arrangement, bringing it to #1 on the chart – the arrangement being used for John Farnham's version, also recorded in 1969. Aimee Mann and Jon Brion covered it again in 1994 as an homage to Nilsson's original and the Three Dog Night version for the tribute album "Everyone Sings Harry". A further rearranged version was recorded by Richard Patrick's Filter in 1998 for the X-Files film soundtrack. Progressive Metal band Mastodon recently recorded a version for the video game Army of Two advertisement campaign. The song and ad can be found on YouTube.The Three Dog Night version is also found in the animated Disney movie Recess: School's Out.
12. "The Wailing of the Willow" (Nilsson/Ian Freebairn-Smith) – 1:57
    Nilsson was teamed with a co-writer.
13. "Bath" (Nilsson) – 1:44
    An innocent-sounding song, about coming home from an overnight visit to a brothel.

 

So...are these mostly tracks unique to that sampler?

And if you want to buy the building where that publisher was located, you can, for only $5.5 million:

http://www.loopnet.com/xNet/MainSit...spx?LID=17885952&linkcode=13850&FromPPPP=true

 

Wow! Now, that is cool...Never have seen this one. How's the sound quality? Did it come in a plain white sleeve? And lastly, where did you come across this?

To keep this thread in the right direction:

There is so much released music from Harry's catalog that will be discussed in this thread that I am looking forward to hearing all of the knowledge and opinions.

Harry's first three albums on RCA are unlike any artist's releases of that era. Very, very unique.

Pandemonium and Ariel are light, airy, breezy and fun.

By the time the Skidoo and Harry material were released you can kind of sense that the "vaudeville" stuff was running dry and he was slipping more into a more rock and roll vein. His "Rainmaker" kinda points the way. But that is discussion for the next album!

Keep this thread going for a long, long time, please!

 

That's the problem with databases created by the masses. Everything gets dumbed down and it's the reason I don't use Wikipedia very much. It's only as good as what's put into the system and though things do get caught and corrected, it depends on when you access information that it can be trusted at any level. You certainly need to know a little about the subject before accepting "facts" on these kinds of websites.

 

Thanks for all the info. I've been on a major Harry kick and this thread came at the right time. I'm assuming everyone is familar with For The Love Of Harry blog. There's a lot of great stuff there as well.

 

Aeriel Ballet is a giant leap forward in Nilsson's art and career; without it I don't think we'd be talking about him now. It has two of the three songs that defined his career to the larger world, "One" and "Everybody's Talkin'," both on the same album side. And that's the weaker side, too!

The better songs on Pandemonium Shadow Show are pretty terrific, but it's an up-and-down affair. These songs are all great, they are richer in terms of lyrics, and they are catchy as hell. Check out the "doo-wah" opening of "Good Old Desk" or Harry's scat fade out in "Mr. Richland's Favorite Song." Nothing on this album lasts as long as you want - think of "Together", a song about the evanescence of relationships that itself whisks by like a summer breeze - and that of course is a big part of the reason it is so successful.

The notion of childhood obvious gets explored on Pandemonium, too, but this time the lens is on the child, from the album cover of Nilsson in a child-like drawing, looking about 13, to the songs. "Daddy's Song" is "1941," but written from the kid's point of view and deeply disturbing in its sunny, oblivious cheerfulness. My heart just sinks for that poor kid every time. "Don't Leave Me" is obviously the same subject from a slightly different angle, but even more emotionally harrowing if that's possible.

Even the songs not about childhood specifically are given a sheen of playful, childlike innocence by the producer. "Good Old Desk," for example, has the same feeling about it a boy might have had escaping into his playroom after a long, boring day with the relatives. "Mr. Tinker" is something you could hear a girl singing playing hopscotch, even if it's a song about the generation gap. "Bath" sounds like a child resigning himself to a scrubbing, so it's pretty hilarious to know what the lyrics are really about.

Finally, Nilsson's songwriting was just at a fantastic peak. I have albums of his I like more, but he never wrote a collection of songs as great as this. Hardly anyone has.

 

-----------------------------
I just bought that: 3 albums on 2 cds as a UK import from MusicMars off Amazon for $10 including shipping, NEW. Cool beans.

 

Aerial Ballet is a MAJOR leap forward for Harry. It holds together so well. I always loved how "Mr. Richland's Favorite Song" just charges right out of the gate. Harry's cover of "Everybody's Talkin'" still sounds fresh today.

 

Today on my Internet radio show, "Come To The Sunshine," (which goes live today @4pm (pacific) on www.luxuriamusic.com) I talk with arranger/composer/musician/publisher Perry Botkin, Jr. about his work in the mid-1960's with Harry Nilsson, and what it was like to write with Nilsson, the New Nilsson Songs demo LP and much more.

We also spin tracks by The Ronettes, The New Establishment, Tommy Boyce, Mojo Men, Thorinsheild, Sunday Funnies, The Shangri-las, Gil & Johnny, Tom Northcott, Electric Prunes, Jennifer Warnes, Harper's Bizarre, the Looking Glass, Collage and Robin Ward.

Along the way he tells stories of his path in music through the Los Angeles studio scene, working at Gold Star Studios and with such luminaries as arranger George Tipton, Leon Russell, The Incredible Bongo Band, Phil Spector, Lenny Waronker, Dave Hassinger, Van Dyke Parks, Randy Newman, Johnny Cole, Steve Douglas and many more in a one-of-a-kind glimpse into this golden era of recording and creativity.

Hope you can join me us today, or some afternoon soon!

Until then, hope your day is filled with happy sounds and peaceful thoughts.

Very best,


Andrew Sandoval

P.S. My new book on the Bee Gees is now available for Kindle! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1389517282&pf_rd_i=507846

 

Part II of my Nilsson collection, the official CD releases:

Does anyone have any good recommendations for issues I don't yet have, like the DCC version of The Point! I'm still looking for?

 

Part three of my Nilsson collection, some sheetmusic:


Does anyone happen to have the Nilsson Together songbook shown on the back of The Point? Or any other songbooks for later albums? Would love to see some pictures of those! I picked these three songbooks up new (!) at my local music store last year, they had been lying there untouched since the early 70s!

 

I prefer the Personal Best versions of the Aerial Ballet tracks....they are remixed and sound a lot better than the RCA remasters, just my opinion!

 

This was when Harry started to come into his own. Just listening to the first three songs and their mature, smooth arrangements tells you that this guy has some really complex ideas about music and an implicit understanding of orchestral color, tone, and textures. There's still the lure of Tin Pan Alley songs tugging at his brain, but he's branching out and clearly looking at other forms of music. Together is excellent, it takes the strings and really makes them fit an uptempo song. One is just fantastic--he suddenly shifts gears and goes for a stripped down approach, just the keyboard and the orchestra. Everybody's Talkin' and its folky kind of overtones almost seems out of place.

 

Watched it on youtube. Hours I will never get back. Just total excrement. I couldn't believe how horrible the opening ten minutes were. And seeing Carol Channing in her underwear nearly caused me to have surgery on my retinas.

 

No one ever talks about "HARRY" in the white albumish plain cover, what a great album!
One of his best and appreciated by music people at the time! WOW what an album

Rainmaker great track! his version of Mr Bojangles! Harry was quite an artist good songwriter sometimes
but before he blew his voice out he could do such great interpretations as he did on Mr Bojangles

 

The best HARRY CD is the one on DCC.

 

Yes! Our host did a great job with this one. Smooth and natural. Bonus tracks, too! The bonuses are single versions that I was never able to get my hands on. Thanks Steve!

Harry's "Harry" is Harry's last gasp at a little dance hall music. And, his voice is still that rubbery chiorboy instrument that was soon to change and deepen.

Soon to come: the superb "Nilsson Sings Newman"...

 

I'm a little late on this thread.

Pandemonium Shadow Show is one of my favorite Nilsson albums. I recently bought an early pressing in stereo and it definitely renewed my love for it. I think it's a fascinating record in sound considering it was recorded in 1967. There really is a lot of stuff happening in those tracks, but remains subtle and never takes away from the song except in "River Deep Mountain High." However, a big sound is the point of that particular track.
I can definitely see why the Beatles would have liked him. I think the album is a classic and one of his best. This era with Rick Jarrard and George Tipton I enjoy more than the Schmilsson Perry stuff. Just my tastes though!

There's plenty of great early stuff beyond PSS. His first single "Wig Job" for Mercury in 1963 isn't so bad. Check out his song both the Shangri Las and Ronettes covered called "Paradise." There's a short demo of it on that giant bootleg set. Also I'm a big fan of "This Could Be the Night" released by the Modern Folk Quartet. And then there is the album Spotlight On Nilsson which has some decent songs on there.

As for Aerial Ballet: this is probably the first full album I heard from Nilsson and is probably my favorite. The sound is a little less produced than PSS. The arrangements become more sparse and his singing and writing shines through. There's a lot of great songs from this period that never made it onto any actual albums like "Wasting My Time," "Sister Marie," "Wandering Lonely," and "Girlfriend" (which would be turned into "Best Friend" for The Courtship of Eddie's Father). There's a great outtake floating around of "Mr. Richland's Favorite Song" done at a Monkees session. Apparently there is more of Nilsson at these sessions and perhaps one day Andrew Sandoval will get the green light to let these appear.

On a personal note, it was my brother that had a cassette of Nilsson (some tracks from a greatest hits) that really got me into him. It was hearing the original versions of "Cuddly Toy" and "One" that gave me this ghostly haunt of a feeling. Nilsson for me was like finding a new soul. I know it sounds cheesy, but some artists really hit you and Nilsson is one of those.