Nilsson Schmilsson - NILSSON****

Gotta Get Up/Driving Along/Early In The Morning/The Moonbeam Song/Down/Without You/Coconut/Let The Good Times Roll/Jump Into The Fire/I'll Never Leave You

Harry Nilsson achieved his commercial breakthrough in a big way with the transatlantic chart topping, Grammy winning single Without You. The accompanying album Nilsson Schmillson heralded a major change of style for this previously considered rather quirky vocalist. (US:3 UK: 4)

“Nilsson represents one of the most stupid ideas in rock music. That changing from one musical genre to another has some merit. It doesn't. Developing your own sound has merit. Going from faux-tropicalia to country-pop proves only lack of focus and taste. On top of that he's a corny and insipid singer with no discernible musical skill other than being popular.”

“Nilsson's big commercial breakthrough came with this Richard Perry produced album. Helped by the massive success of the single Without You, it seems as if Perry's layered production technique was the final piece needed in the jigsaw puzzle to see Nilsson at last burst into the mainstream, although his wilfulness saw him fail to follow through and become a truly major artist. Most of my favourite Nilsson songs are on his quirky, more innocent first two albums but this wonderfully diverse record perhaps holds up better as an album than anything he ever did after it.”

“It would be safe to assume that this is the most well known of Harry Nilsson’s output. It’s easy to see why. Clocking in at just a little over half an hour, you get ten songs that showcase his eclectic talent, honed to perfection by Richard Perry’s skilful production. Complaints have been made that this album is all over the place. In this case I find that to be a major plus. It covers numerous genres because Harry was talented enough to do it. On top of that his vocal range is on full display.”

“Say what you want about the high schmaltz factor, but his cover Without You,, melodramatic arrangement and all, is worthy of the acclaim that it has received. Nilsson's voice was built for this kind of song and when your version is considered definitive, you must be doing something right.”

“Nilsson's huge breakthrough album probably hasn't aged as well as a lot of his earlier albums, but that has a lot less to do with the quality of the songs/production and a lot more to do with the fact that this was pretty much the blueprint for 1970s pop: it retained enough of the whimsical, free nature of 1960s psych-pop but had a glossier, smoother production that put a lot more emphasis on the performance.”