This came out in 2003 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Much of ’70s singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson’s fame seemed to come secondhand. As a singer, the golden-voiced New Yorker is perhaps best known for the Midnight Cowboy theme Everybody’s Talkin’ — which he didn’t write — and the novelty number Coconut. As a composer, his most enduring song might be One — though Three Dog Night had a bigger hit with the tune. And as a pop culture icon, he’s known mainly as John Lennon’s sidekick during the Beatle’s 1974 ‘lost weekend’ in L.A. Still, Nilsson’s influence on contemporary music — particularly the quirky, literate pop of artists like Ben Folds, XTC, Rufus Wainwright and Hawksley Workman — is undeniable. To give credit where it’s due, BMG has reissued virtually the entire Nilsson catalog, some 15 albums spread across 10 CDs. I sifted through them all so you don’t have to.
Harry Nilsson
A Little Touch of Schmilsson In The Night & More
FIRST RELEASED: 1973.
HIGHLIGHTS: One of many about-faces Nilsson pulled in his career, A Little Touch Of Schmilsson finds him abandoning rock shlock for Tin Pan Alley shmaltz. Backed by an orchestra and aided by veteran arranger Gordon Jenkins, Harry croons gorgeously rendered chestnuts like For Me And My Gal, It Had To Be You, Always and Makin’ Whoopee!, making this an album even grandparents will dig.
EXTRAS! EXTRAS! The & More refers to a handful of tracks — including Over The Rainbow, It’s Only A Paper Moon and Make Believe — that were originally released separately.
