For The Love Of Harry - The Nilsson Thread

[Balboa]

Thanks for the link - I'll check it out.

Today is a Nilsson day here - I'm going to spin a bunch of his records. I love this thread.

Edit - I should pull my thoughts together more, I've had 'Son of Schmilsson' on all week - I can't tell you how much I love Harry Nilsson and his music. The whole package from start to finish; I've gone into a funny phase with music where I just want to go deep with certain artists, read about them, look at the album artwork, listen to the lyrics, really absorb the whole thing - Harry is one of those artists, and his career was so great and varied that I get a lot out of digging in.

[Davey the Fat Boy]

I'm bumping BCB's finest thread in honor of Harry Nilsson's birthday.

[Sneelock]

Happy Harry Nilsson Day!
I'll make the Brandy Alexanders, Davey could you stop at the store and pick up a box of sanitary napkins?

[Sneelock]

Thanks for the link - I'll check it out.

Today is a Nilsson day here - I'm going to spin a bunch of his records. I love this thread.

Edit - I should pull my thoughts together more, I've had 'Son of Schmilsson' on all week - I can't tell you how much I love Harry Nilsson and his music. The whole package from start to finish; I've gone into a funny phase with music where I just want to go deep with certain artists, read about them, look at the album artwork, listen to the lyrics, really absorb the whole thing - Harry is one of those artists, and his career was so great and varied that I get a lot out of digging in.

what a nice post. I'm so glad people still do this.

[Snarfyguy]

Is there a decent biography of the man?

[Sneelock]

I don't think so.
in fact, the only book I can think of about him was a murder mystery where he's a character.
I think it's called "the harry nilsson mystery' or something like that. it wasn't half bad.

in that book, Yoko wouldn't let Harry up to see her after Lennon was shot. I don't know if that's true or not. the Harry Nilsson in that book goes and gets drunk.

[Snarfyguy]

the Harry Nilsson in that book goes and gets drunk.

Bracing realism!

[Charlie O.]

in that book, Yoko wouldn't let Harry up to see her after Lennon was shot. I don't know if that's true or not.

Not true - he did visit with her.

I seem to recall he also did a lot of work on that Yoko tribute album Every Man Has A Woman, so I doubt there was any bad blood between them.

[Quaco]

Absolutely, Harry of all people stayed close with YO. I think that is generally accepted as fact.

[Sneelock]

that's good to know. I really liked his tracks on that comp. I can't remember anybody else's in fact.
he seemed pretty well placed for something like a comeback.

bummer deal.

I guess the writer just pulled that stuff out of his ass. His "Harry" jumps off the page pretty good. I think he claims to have been one of Harry's drinking buddies. I wish I could remember what it was called but I guess it's no big deal since he didn't know what the hell he was talking about!

[Charlie O.]

Or maybe, since it was fiction anyway, he just decided to deviate from the known facts for fun...

[Charlie O.]

Checking Wiki's Nilsson entry in case it mentioned that book CFB's talking about (it doesn't), I found a couple other little tidbits I didn't know:

Nilsson's musical work after leaving RCA Victor was sporadic. He wrote a musical, Zapata, with Perry Botkin, Jr., libretto by Allan Katz, which was produced and directed by longtime friend Bert Convy. The show was mounted at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut, but never had another production.

In 1985 Nilsson set up a production company, Hawkeye, to oversee various film, TV and multimedia projects he was involved in. He appointed his friend, satirist and screenwriter Terry Southern, as one of the principals. They collaborated on a number of screenplays including Obits (a Citizen Kane-style story about a journalist investigating an obituary notice) and The Telephone, a comedy about an unhinged unemployed actor.

The Telephone was virtually the only Hawkeye project that made it to the screen. It had been written with Robin Williams in mind but he turned it down; comedian-actress Whoopi Goldberg then signed on, with Southern's friend Rip Torn directing, but the project was troubled. Torn battled with Goldberg, who interfered in the production and constantly digressed from the script during shooting, and Torn was forced to plead with her to perform takes that stuck to the screenplay. Torn, Southern and Nilsson put together their own version of the film, which screened at the Sundance Film Festival in early 1988, but it was overtaken by the "official" version from the studio, and this version premiered to poor reviews in late January 1988. The project reportedly had some later success when adapted as a theatre piece in Germany.

[Sneelock]

the Terry Southern book "Now Dig This" deals a little bit with the Hawkeye stuff.

there's an SNL book which really paints Southern as a loser/hanger on and Nilsson as his enabler. the "now Dig this" and maybe a Mark Hudson interview paints it more like a mutual admiration society. too bad Harry got ripped off so bad. he really did seem to have a lot of enthusiasms.

there's an old Goldmine interview where he talks about writing childrens books. I wonder if anything ever came from that?

[toomanyhatz]

With the RCA Box coming out I thought this deserved a bump.

It's an opportunity to talk about the records we haven't talked about yet now that this puts 'em back in print.

In particular I think That's the Way it Is and Knilsson are much better than I remember.

Flash Harry- not part of the box because it didn't come out on RCA- is supposedly coming out on Varese Saraband. It, on the other hand, is not very good.

[Nervous Ned]

I was inspired to pick up that 5 album box that came out a few years ago after reading this thread and watching the documentary. And was really pleased that I did. Some robust stuff particularly the 'Harry' and 'Ariel Ballet' albums. I also acquired the 'Knillson' album and can vouch that it is well worth the effort. True his voice seems to have lost a bit of its range but there is still much to enjoy.

[Quaco]

Is there a decent biography of the man?

Apparently now there is. I would be interested in this.

http://www.amazon.com/Nilsson-Life-Sing ... 060&sr=1-1

[toomanyhatz]

Anybody pre-order the box? Or planning to get it? It's out tomorrow.

Another question that occurs to me looking through the notes on it that maybe someone here knows the answer to- "Girlfriend," which was re-done as "Best Friend" (theme to 'The Courtship of Eddie's Father' TV show) is on the box, but "Best Friend" isn't. Anyone know why? Is the master too degraded? I know often things done for TV or film, if there was no official soundtrack, aren't archived properly.

[Matt Wilson]

I preordered it, but It's not supposed to arrive until next week.

[rorebhoy]

And mine just arrived from amazon

[Six String]

I ordered the box from Amazon UK so it won't arrive for a while. I have the bio but I've been to busy with other things to read it yet.