Nilsson Biography

[Mooger Fooger]

Just to let you know the Nilsson book arrived yesterday and there are many many references to the BBs and notably Van Dyke Parks. This is going to be a very intense and interesting read!!

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Sweet....I just started getting into his music, and any Nilsson/BW stories would be very interesting to hear...er...read.

[Mooger Fooger]

If you haven't seen it this is well worth getting:

http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Nilsson-Everybody-Talkin-About/dp/B003VZNAUS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372744861&sr=8-1&keywords=who+is+harry+nilsson+and+why+is+everybody+talkin%27+about+him

and you probably already know about the big box set coming July 26...

[alf wiedersehen]

If you haven't seen it this is well worth getting:

http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Nilsson-Everybody-Talkin-About/dp/B003VZNAUS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372744861&sr=8-1&keywords=who+is+harry+nilsson+and+why+is+everybody+talkin%27+about+him

and you probably already know about the big box set coming July 26...

The documentary is also up on Netflix right now. I planned on watching it, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Also, I'm pretty excited about the box set, which is long overdue. Also, a word to the wise, the box set is only 50 pounds on the U.K. site, which is about 75 USD, instead of the 120 USD version on amazon.com

[Mooger Fooger]

And also for hardcore Harryheads, "Flash Harry" will also finally see CD release complete with bonus tracks. Until now this album has only been available on japanese vinyl.

http://www.amazon.com/Flash-Harry-Nilsson/dp/B00DJYK3X8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372752800&sr=8-1&keywords=flash+harry+cd

[alf wiedersehen]

And also for hardcore Harryheads, "Flash Harry" will also finally see CD release complete with bonus tracks. Until now this album has only been available on japanese vinyl.

http://www.amazon.com/Flash-Harry-Nilsson/dp/B00DJYK3X8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372752800&sr=8-1&keywords=flash+harry+cd

They're also reissuing it on a limited run of vinyl.

[hypehat]

As a massive Nilsson fan, I can't really listen to Flash Harry - it seems so uninspired. He doesn't even sing 'Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life' with a sense of humour. He just sounds a bit too far gone. If he had the form he had on Knnillsson, it'd be better. I Don't Need You is also passable, but Nilsson can always sing a torchy ballad with some elan...

But yeah, it's got a rock song about buying a prostitute and another called 'How Long Can Disco On?', which is a pun over the same two chords Harry has used since 1973. If it was 2013, they'd play those songs at his intervention. 

Also, the production is nads. Which makes me sad, as it was Steve Cropper, right?

I prefer the Popeye demos/soundtrack, much better examples of Harry's songwriting gift. A two disc set of them would be a no-brainer....

[Rocky Raccoon]

Brian's version of "This Could Be the Night" on the Nilsson tribute album is one of my favorite solo recordings of his.

[Jim V.]

As a massive Nilsson fan, I can't really listen to Flash Harry - it seems so uninspired. He doesn't even sing 'Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life' with a sense of humour. He just sounds a bit too far gone. If he had the form he had on Knnillsson, it'd be better. I Don't Need You is also passable, but Nilsson can always sing a torchy ballad with some elan...

But yeah, it's got a rock song about buying a prostitute and another called 'How Long Can Disco On?', which is a pun over the same two chords Harry has used since 1973. If it was 2013, they'd play those songs at his intervention. 

Also, the production is nads. Which makes me sad, as it was Steve Cropper, right?

I prefer the Popeye demos/soundtrack, much better examples of Harry's songwriting gift. A two disc set of them would be a no-brainer....

I don't know, I kinda like Flash Harry. Some of it's unmemorable, which is odd, because usually whether Nilsson is good or bad, it's memorable.  So yeah, in that regard, it's probably up there with ...That's The Way It Is for being kinda blah. Which kinda sucks, because Knnillssonn is my favorite album of his, as he was on point both singing and writing-wise. But regardless, I'm looking forward to it being reissued finally. Great to have Nilsson's final album issued on CD. And I personally like "How Can Disco On". And "I've Got It" for that matter.

Also hypehat, I'm assuming you've heard "Animal Farm", which dates from the early '90s. I think that's one of his best songs, and it's a shame that it hasn't been released anywhere besides that publishing promo thing.

Brian's version of "This Could Be the Night" on the Nilsson tribute album is one of my favorite solo recordings of his.

Yeah, Brian really does bring the goods on that one. A rockin' song. You can tell it mattered to him.

[hypehat]

Yeah, Animal Farm & UCLA are pretty great - wish the rest of the 90's sessions sounded as good as them, slightly too laboured/really chintzy keyboard sounds. The thing with his voice is that whilst it alternated between completely shot and passable towards the end, he could still work it a bit if he wasn't too damn drunk/not joking around. His voice lost a lot of humour, or at least the destruction of his voice removed a lot of his ability to convey it. Have you heard Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah from a Disney tribute in like, 1988?

 http://fortheloveofharrynilsson.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/harry-ringo-herb-alpert-hal-willner.html

His last great vocal performance, he sounds almost like his old self!

[alf wiedersehen]

Yeah, Animal Farm & UCLA are pretty great - wish the rest of the 90's sessions sounded as good as them, slightly too laboured/really chintzy keyboard sounds. The thing with his voice is that whilst it alternated between completely shot and passable towards the end, he could still work it a bit if he wasn't too damn drunk/not joking around. His voice lost a lot of humour, or at least the destruction of his voice removed a lot of his ability to convey it. Have you heard Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah from a Disney tribute in like, 1988?

 http://fortheloveofharrynilsson.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/harry-ringo-herb-alpert-hal-willner.html

His last great vocal performance, he sounds almost like his old self!

Yea, Harry had an incredible voice. It's too bad he lost (what he called) his rubber band like singing ability.
But, then again. If you're going to trash your voice, I can't think of a better way to do it than the way he did.

Also, it's kind of sad that he thought if John knew about his ruptured vocal chords, John would abandon him and the p*ssy Cats album.

[hypehat]

Have you seen the documentary? His first wife says something along the lines of 'Harry had this immense talent, the most talented person I've ever met, but he had no  self esteem.' I can imagine not wanting to throw a session with your idol (choice other quote from the doc - 'The Beatles are THE ONLY BAND') if it meant admitting some sort of defeat. Kind of like not performing live - he got laughed off the stage once as a teenager, so he's never going to do THAT again.

The thing being of course, even Phil Spector wouldn't criticise a singer for stopping a recording session because there was blood on the mic!

I mean, I'm going to be a little bit controversial and say that Harry losing his voice is possibly a greater 'tragedy' (if you'll pardon the hyperbole) than Brian losing his. The evidence of the decline hurts much more on Harry's records. At least Brian could get another guy in to do the high part and he still had a lot of his range when he could be arsed, but Harry lost almost everything in the 70's.

[Jim V.]

Yeah, Animal Farm & UCLA are pretty great - wish the rest of the 90's sessions sounded as good as them, slightly too laboured/really chintzy keyboard sounds. The thing with his voice is that whilst it alternated between completely shot and passable towards the end, he could still work it a bit if he wasn't too damn drunk/not joking around. His voice lost a lot of humour, or at least the destruction of his voice removed a lot of his ability to convey it. Have you heard Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah from a Disney tribute in like, 1988?

 http://fortheloveofharrynilsson.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/harry-ringo-herb-alpert-hal-willner.html

His last great vocal performance, he sounds almost like his old self!

Yeah, the rest of his '90s stuff besides "Animal Farm" and "UCLA" is horrendous. They are either just plain bad (like that "245. lb Man" song) or embarrassing rip-off's (like "Try, Try, Try"). It saddens me to think that Harry though that an "All You Need Is Love" rip-off was the right direction for him. But in his defense, I'm pretty sure Mark Hudson (who produced the final sessions) said that the only non-demo, reasonably finished stuff to leak or come out was "Animal Farm" and "UCLA". So I'm still hopeful that maybe there is still the core of one last good Nilsson album still in the vaults. Or at the worst, throw those two great songs on a nicely done best-of.

I mean, I'm going to be a little bit controversial and say that Harry losing his voice is possibly a greater 'tragedy' (if you'll pardon the hyperbole) than Brian losing his. The evidence of the decline hurts much more on Harry's records. At least Brian could get another guy in to do the high part and he still had a lot of his range when he could be arsed, but Harry lost almost everything in the 70's.

I don't know about this though. I think Harry sounded probably freakin' great on Knnillssonn. I don't think he really sounded like a pale shadow of Harry Nilsson until some of those embarrassing late '80s/early '90s tunes. And even on that "Blanket For a Sail" recording from the early '90s, he sounded pretty decent, just an older Nilsson. And "Animal Farm", well honestly you could stick that on an earlier album of his, and it still woulda fit fine, he sounded great.

Whereas with Brian, on 15 Big Ones and Love You, dude sounded like an entirely different person than the guy who sang "everybody's goin' surfin'!" or even the guy that sang "I'm thinkin' bout-a this whole world". By the M.I.U. he kinda sounded like you'd think an older version of Brian Wilson would sound. But by the '80s until probably Imagination, it's really hard to see how you have a guy who sounds anything like what people thought "Brian Wilson" sounded like. Now I'll be honest, and I think since Imagination he has shown he can still deliver a classic, soft Brian vocal along the lines of "Please Let Me Wonder".....but only a few things, namely "Summer's Gone", "Cry", "Listen To Me", and a few others. I will say this though, I think Brian lately has been at his vocal best since 1974 in my opinion.