Nilsson - C or D?

duit on mon dei and sandman are definitely a mixed bag (at best?)

the outtakes stuff is pretty exciting no?

I've heard most of the demos/outtakes from Pussycats, Nilsson Schmillson, Aerial Ballet and Pandemonium Shadow Show (not too fond of the latter tbh) - but yeah the rest sounds interesting

http://bp0.blogger.com/_3D4uW44cDSw/SHoYn-3F0gI/AAAAAAAACD4/xmrz11_oCO4/s1600-h/PROMO+Knnilssonn+Mask1.jpg

best novelty promo item ever?

whoops that didn't work. this thing i mean:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3D4uW44cDSw/SHoYn-3F0gI/AAAAAAAACD4/xmrz11_oCO4/s400/PROMO%2BKnnilssonn%2BMask1.jpg

for me the appeal is the later albums, most of which I've never been able to hear/find. I have a bunch of the extras from previous reissues of the early/peak period stuff, but I've never heard any of the albums after Son of Schmillson (except for Knilllssson, which is pretty good)

I might want the biography more.

I think this is my favorite Nilsson outtake

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhj85VNUT_k

the glory of the beat-up vinyl is that some of these albums have got really fun sleeves (inners *and* outers)

Better than the albums themselves arguably!

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

he still looks young there, but it wasn't too long before he died :(

I had to look up who EJ Gold was, interesting career there

"jump into the fire" is so fantastic, i've just listened to it on repeat for a while

Interesting article on a sports website from a guy seemingly obsessed with Nilsson

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9529179/the-legacy-harry-nilsson

thanks for that!

it's probably just the bass and the echo effects but does "jump into the fire" sound kind of dub-y to anyone else?

dub-y and, weirdly, a bit like the minutemen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p6TNytFsNY

Still waiting for Amazon to deliver mine, it's now 10 days late

I see the Mercury album got a recent re-release also.

fortheloveofharry.blogspot.com/

I don't got 'permission' to go in here anymore, what to do?

So far, I'm up to "Sandman", and I've not noticed a massive drop in quality..

You haven't played "How to Write a Song" yet then

Possibly not.

Actually, I had: It's not the greatest song on the album, but it ends well.

Also, the 'extra track' "A Tree out in the Yard" sounds a lot like Joe Strummer with the Mescaleros.

"The Flying Saucer Song" is shite too

Thought I'd check out the lyrics:

http://www.songlyrics.com/harry-nilsson/the-flying-saucer-song-lyrics/

LOL, Harry thought it was one of the best things he'd ever written... Jesus, but cocaine is a dangerous drug

Actually, the one on "Sandman" is a little better than the 'extra' version on Pussy Cats.

Was litening to the "Pussy Cats" one first, thought it "funny" but wondered how anyone would listen to it more than once. A b-side, maybe.

The "Sandman" would just bear repeat, but a b-side nonetheless...

More like a z-side. Talking of cocaine, I do love "The Ivy Covered Walls"... and "Something True" of course.

What I don't understand is that his vocals are almost as pure and unblemished as in his heyday on both those tracks but definitely so on "The Ivy Covered Walls", so he must have had good and bad days

Well, yeah.

The legend goes, he never played live, and he shot his voice 'competing' with Lennon.

Had both those things been opposite, he could well have shot his voice that way.

http://www.bustle.com/#/articles/102638-what-song-is-in-the-by-the-sea-trailer-perfect-day-is-both-an-ideal

See, when you hear a vocal and think "That's very Nilsson", its usually because it *is* Nilsson.

I read the Nilsson bio earlier in the summer, it was a good book and had a lot of interesting details, but boy was it depressing! He was a mess for a long time and it is painful to read through the details of his very long decline.

All That Jazz turned me onto Perfect Day.

I read the Nilsson bio earlier in the summer, it was a good book and had a lot of interesting details, but boy was it depressing! He was a mess for a long time and it is painful to read through the details of his very long decline.

Haven't read it but his childhood didn't sound like a bed of roses either.

Finally properly getting into Pandemonium Shadow Show after owning it for ages and ages. Lovely lovely album. I think of him so much as this shambling Seventies guy, it's refreshing to see him back in the setting of 1967, a twee sort of fellow, capitalizing on the Summer of Love's affair with penny-farthing times and Davy Jones stylings (re: "Cuddly Toy") even as it's clear he has much more of a stake in pre-war pop than probably any of his contemporaries. "She's Leaving Home" does more for this album than it does for Pepper's easily, "1941" is more affecting and insightful than either "Cat's in the Cradle" or "Lonely Boy," and "She Sang Hymns Out of Tune" prefigures "Without You" as a song that seems like such a Nilsson song it's hard to accept that it's actually a cover. Lovely record.

yeah it's a great album. the "River Deep-Mountain High" here is excellent, in particular when he shouts

AND NOW I'M GONNA BE AS FAITHFUL AS THAT PUPPY

and I'm like YES I'M GONNA BE THAT FAITHFUL TOO, as faithful as that puppy too

and you're not sure if he's pulling your leg, like does he "mean" it? like a puppy? LIKE A SCHOOLBOY LOVES HIS PET! my oh my

but all you have is the song, and what a song, and that's what he means.

Have always preferred Nilsson pre-Nilsson Schmilsson tbh, not that later Nilsson isn't great too, tho less consistently.

I really don't like that first album, I guess pre-war pop is a hard-sell for me - all those tack pianos and stiff oompah rhythms

There's not really that much 'pre-war' POP on the first album, it's fairly diverse, there's more of it on "Harry".

Can't explain that POP there lol.

Yeah, that's fair... guess I was thinking more the ~sensibility~ though that's tough to pin down evidence for. It just seems very disconnected from 1967, except for this one thread of everybody no matter how hard and scuzzy having one light, melodious pastiche of the olden days tossed somewhere on side B (see: Good Trip or Bummer? U.S. Psych Bands Doing "Old-Timey" Songs on Their Albums though I imagine you all know what I mean). And even where Nilsson isn't doing something specifically old-timey, the light touch and the clear, clean recordings mean that the old-timey numbers don't jump out as not being of-a-piece with the rest. It's very different from what he'd do on, say, Touch of Schmilsson in the Night but it still feels out-of-its-time, to me.

OTOH there's the argument that the wild psychy rock world was itself never 100% dominant, I mean lots of people('s parents) were still buying records by old squares in 1967. I was thinking the other night of trying to square Nilsson with Manilow somehow, Nilsson as Manilow minus the consistency of show-biz instincts, but plus a way better voice, something. It didn't really hold up though. I was pretty hungry at the time.

The material split between Aerial Ballet (a better album on the whole imo) and PSS kinda run together for me - I agree they fall into that "Psych Bands Doing Old Timey Songs" thread category (a la the Association's "Wasn't It a Bit Like Now" or VD Parks' "Song Cycle"). A whole album (or nearly a whole album) of that stuff grates on me, the affectation just isn't something that really gets me emotionally, it just feels like little kids playing dress up in grandma's clothes or something.

lol I see I am the first post on that thread

and no mention of "Auntie Grizelda" for shame

recent fave nilsson rarity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5CWyZhlheM

Never thought of Auntie Grizelda as part of that whole business to be honest! More like dressing up as a psychedelic rock band, plus "antics," for the kids. See also important early Doctor Casino release Are there more songs like "Him Or Me (What's It Gonna Be)," "Your Auntie Grizelda," and "My Uncle Used To Love Me But She Died?" And if so, what are they? .

Watching "Midnight Cowboy" and was reminded how classic Nilsson was.

"Spaceman" is better than "Space Oddity" and "Rocket Man" you know

OTM

Picked up the Flash Harry reissue from a few years back and have to say it's better than I was ever led to believe. Lovely sound, some nice songs, Nilsson's pipes aren't in great shape but it's pleasant. People who like Knnillssonn and can tolerate Eric Idle will find this enjoyable.

Just finished "Nilsson: The Life Of A Singer-Songwriter" by Alyn Shipton which I got out of the library. For an artist who died 25 years ago and who kind of flew under the radar in a lot of ways, it’s extremely well-written and researched and ultimately pretty heartbreaking.

There are tons of great stories in here – including a crazy hitchhiking story when he was super young. The drama in his backstory alone—being told by his mother that his dad was dead when he had actually started another family, discovering in his forties that his parents had given birth to another brother—is pretty amazing. It’s not hard to understand what drove his music and self-destructiveness.

There’s also a lot of good detail on the music itself and insight from his various collaborators (Richard Perry, VDP, Perry Botkin) on how (and why) he really sabotaged his own career. It really paints Son of Schmilsson as a pivotal record in him turning his back on stardom – I knew about “You’re Breaking My Heart,” but less about him refusing to write a hit, do second takes and tone down dirty lyrics. Perry tells one story of trying to get him to only release the second, more romantic half of “The Most Beautiful World in the World” but Harry insisted that the cod-reggae first half be included and ending the record with the lines:

And over your shoulder
You look back to see if it's real
Tell her she's beautiful
Roll the world over
And give her a kiss and a feel

Also lots of great detail on his mid-70s party records, Popeye shenanigans in Malta, stage and film work in the 80s. Like most of these things, it’s pretty depressing in parts, but also fascinating in that he was creative, productive and witty to the end, beloved by an enormous group of friends and utterly uncompromised. You want to be sad but as the author notes, it’s hard to think the guy didn’t wrench every minute out of his 52 years.

thanks for sharing that

nilsson sings newman is so fucking good