Published 10:00 pm, Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Before his death on January 15, 1994 at the age of 52, the career of Harry Nilsson was one of the most unique stories in pop history. For one matter, Nilsson famously never toured and made few concert appearances. Instead, from 1967 to 1977, he made RCA Studios at 6363 Sunset Blvd.
in Hollywood his personal laboratory where he crafted some of the most innovative music of the era.
Normally defined as a singer-songwriter, Nilsson's first splash was his Grammy-winning performance of "Everybody's Talkin'" from the 1969 film, Midnight Cowboy. He didn't compose that one, Fred Neil did. Likewise, Nilsson's biggest hit, 1971's "Without You" was a cover of the Badfinger song written by Pete Ham and Tom Evans. On the other hand, Nilsson wrote "One," the first hit for Three Dog Night, The Fifth Dimension recorded his "Rainmaker, and The Monkees performed "Cuddly Toy" and "Daddy's Song." Among his TV and film compositions, Nilsson wrote the theme song for ABC television's The Courtship of Eddie's Father. His 1971 soundtrack for The Point! yielded another hit for the composer, "Me and My Arrow."
Still, "singer-songwriter" remains too limiting a term to categorize Nilsson. Yes, during his early years he had glorious, golden pipes that he could multi-track into a one-man choir. Yes, he had a distinctive vocal style that could soar through the octaves and capture the spirit of old hit parade standards, baroque pop, Broadway, or rock jams like "Jump Into the Fire." In addition, Nilsson was no mean keyboard player, especially on piano. Lyrically, he excelled at sketching character portraits or telling deceptively simple stories of innocent childhood. But on top of all that, along with longtime collaborator George Tipton, Nilsson was a superb arranger able to painstakingly mold ideal settings for his songs, both instrumentally and vocally.
Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/lifestyle/blogcritics/article/Music-Review-Harry-Nilsson-The-RCA-Albums-4936294.php
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