Nilsson for Fnck's Sake
 

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Harry Nilsson

Welp… I wrote a nice long piece about his guy in my journal and got zero responses, and reviewed one of his albums in my other journal and got very few responses, but nevertheless I can't believe there's not thread dedicated to him on MB. An amazing pop songwriter and without a doubt one of the greatest male vocalists of the 20th century, Harry Nilsson definitely fits the mold of the musician's musician. Once cited by the Beatles as their favorite artist as well as their favorite "band", he was also the songwriter of "One" (made famous by Three Dog Night) and "Coconut", and his version of "Everybody's Talkin'" is the one that made the song famous.

A perpetual outsider, never really "cool", Nilsson was nevertheless one of the towering figures of English language music during the 60s and 70s. In many ways, the closest comparison I can come up with for Nilsson is Isaac Brock. Like the Modest Mouse frontman, he excelled at writing music that was often humorous and self-effacing, but with a raw emotional undercurrent of despair. He came from a rough background and battled personal demons throughout his mercurial existence, but despite that (or maybe because of it) he succeeded in releasing some of the most beautiful, heartbreaking music of his era. I mean who else can do vocals that manage to be both immeasurably sad and a hilarious impression of a trumpet simultaneously?

Some examples from throughout his career:

Nilsson Schmilsson and Nilsson Sings Newman (his interpretive tour de force) are among the most perfect, beautiful records ever made. Never get tired of listening to those. I need to hear more of Harry's later works, such as Knnillssonn, which I've read was his personal favorite.

Harry Nilsson...YEAH!

Once The Monkees chose "Cuddly Toy," he was advised to quit his Night Job at the bank. One of the best decisions ever.



Another one for Monkees fans...

Favourite/ recommended albums? I have Harry and Nilsson Schmilsson but to be honest they have never really grabbed me aside from my favourite tracks.

In my personal opinion, Knnillssonn, The Point, Aerial Ballet, and Pussy Cats are his best albums, in that order. The two albums you mention are good but fairly uneven.

Knnillssonn is brilliant, by far my favorite of his albums. He was definitely right to have considered it his best. The vocals are, without a doubt, above and beyond any of his albums, the production is flawless, and the songwriting is a mixture of the finest moments of The Point and Aerial Ballet—raw, emotional, funny, beautiful, bittersweet, all the things that make his greatest songs great.

Thanks, I'll be sure to check them out.

Something I like about Nilsson is that many of his songs have some kind of humorous naivetè to them. At least I feel they do! Plus, he was very creative in his songwriting. He's a fun guy to get into.

Nilsson is definitely underrated. I just watched The Point with my son. Great album as well as a really good cartoon movie.