Nilsson Album-by-Album Thread*

Wow Mike, what an honour to have you here! Can you shed some light on the way these backingtracks were created? Did Harry do a lot of overdubbing himself, or were the backingtracks fully realized in a Brian Wilson kind of way? Did Harry write out charts or chord sheets or did he just play the songs? And did he bring in reference records for certain songs or sounds? Was he involved in the technical side of recording? What was your favourite microphone on his voice?

 

How different is the LP version from the single version?

The RCA box is also missing the spoken interlude that appeared on Aerial Pandemonium Ballet, I believe.

 

The single re-dubbed the line 'pizzing me off'

 

My question, relating to my earlier post, would be: Were all the Point songs recorded as standalone songs with proper intros and endings? If so, I wish someone would dig through the vaults and release them.

 

Lotsa questions, good ones, too! I'll try my best to answer, feel free to ask if I've missed the gist of your questions. First of all, Harry was THE VOICE on both albums, and I believe, all of his albums. No charts, no chord sheets, no nothing, except his amazing ability to accompany himself, "A chorus of one." It was a second engineer's nightmare on 'Sings Newman' because we started running out of tracks and had to mix two/three tracks down and 'bounce' them to one to gain more room. Harry was no tech geek, he depended on us to be there. He did like mixing and sat at 'rough mixes' giving advice on what track was what, cripes, I'd love to see the track sheet again from 'Sings Newman', we lost count at 20 overdubs. We had some of his voices in tape-delayed echo and panned left to right, rising and falling as the song built and became just Harry, one voice. It's why that it took both Allen Zentz and I to be at the board, all faders full. If there was any 'secret', it was a hell of a headphone buss we had at Heider's and it took me to actually mix that as Harry laid on voice after voice after voice. If you listen close, you can hear Harry asking for a different headphone mix, since I'd gotten lost whether it was live or previous! Very seldom did Harry go sharp or flat, we got used to his facial expressions and were fast to react, which is one reason that album was able to be done, Allen and I had to be on our toes and fingers, and we lived each song! Used a Neuman U-47 tube mic, which I kept wrapped up, so only Harry could use it. 'The Point', compared to "Sings" was easy money, but, we finally got rid of the second engineer and moved the MM-1000 over next to me, so we could cut multiple voices 'on the fly'. I need a beer after this, feel free to ask anything about two of my all-time favorite records and, of course, a great pal and artist! I miss him.

 

No. Just Harry.

 

Each song was recorded as stand alone, but bear in mind, Harry was aware of the room he had with the visuals, the songs had to be tailored to match. He and I met with the visual guys a lot to check on the pacing.

 

I'd be glad to. Before Harry convinced me to come to RCA in Hollywood, I was in Seattle and Harry would send me tapes of the band tracks (that I did not record) with rough vocals on them. He would say, 'Can we get this track down to 2.38 min. or such'? I would take my trusty razor blade and cut pieces, here and there, to get the timing. When I got to RCA, we cut the 2" master tape accordingly. Splicing masters was not for the timid, you had one shot, but I was 'old school' and, being a musician, I could make the splices while still keeping the beat. We approached the audio as one would for a normal (Ha! Harry was not a 'Normal' artist) record, only within the boundries of it being a film track. One memory: I came down to RCA with my dog 'Sven" who, as far as I know, was the only dog permitted in the hallowed studios . Harry got a lot of inspiration from Sven and thus 'Oblio' was modified. I'll take a listen to the album, and see if there is anything I can comment (or remember) about.

 

I, honestly, don't know who else could have pulled it off. I had not listened to it for years and years, my wife got the CD, and we heard it on our so-so motor home spkrs., Brought tears to my eyes, all the memories of my time with Harry came rushing back!

 

The more I read about Harry the more impressed I am with him and that's saying a lot! The guy was a genius performer and my respect only increases with time.

 

I wish all of you could have been in the studio when I did 'Nilsson Sings Newman' and 'The Point' I could hardly pay attention to my engineering sometimes because he would, out of his brain, alone, weave such fantastic multiple, multiple "Nilssons"

 

I wish I could have been there too!

 

Cool, I never knew about the "Did Somebody Drop His Mouse?" documentary!

It start getting good around 7:30 in the studio.

 

I sure was pissed off when I heard the CD of 'Nilsson Sings Newman'. It was meant as a concept album, that is, from the beginning to ending, the listener got a 'journey through a life'. What did we get at the end? Out takes, stuff we dropped from the original record, that, IMHO, wrecked the feeling we meant all listeners to have at the end of side 'B'. I don't know if Harry was still alive or had any control of the re-master, but I'm sure he would have been as upset as I was!

 

Ah, OK. It seems that the ones with that house logo are his best albums, in my opinion. Kind of like a GM "mark of excellence" or something like that.

 

GOt it thx. I was interested in seeing the movie because of the Nilsson songs, but I think I have changed myh mind after the Phyllis Diller thing mentioned earlier

 

I don't know if this is the right thread to post this in, but a long-standing mystery has finally been solved. The bass player that is finger-synching to Klaus Voormann's handiwork in this clip is Rick Wills, according to Twitter's official Harry Nilsson feed:



Of course, the soprano sax player is Bobby Keys, playing along to his own recording.

 

Other than the Fisher King soundtrack where can I find this song on cd?

 

Promo only single in '91, and the Soundtrack (as you mentioned) are the only places this very nice track has shown up as far as I know.

Promo single has an edited version on the "A" side and the soundtrack version on the flip.

 

The Sound Track LP has:
08. How About You (swing version) (04:18)
Sung and Wistled by Harry Nillson

Besides the single, is their another version which is not the (swing version)?

.

 

Never have seen any other "versions" of this except the edit on the single.

 

Looked through the box figuring it was a bonus only not to find it.
What a fabulous cover, Harry was one of the best!

 

What made him so awful?

 

To be clear, I never met the man, but I've read he abused chemicals as much as those around him. Further, after John Lennon died, he took up positions that I personally find highly wrongheaded and offensive, but those are topics considered off limits in this forum. The documentary 'Who is Harry Nilsson' is a starting point to learn more.

 

I've watched it several times.