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
Pandemonium Shadow Show / Aerial Ballet / Aerial Pandemonium Ballet
FIRST RELEASED: ’67 / ’68 / ’71.
HIGHLIGHTS: This three-fer has Harry’s first two albums, which he later reworked and condensed into a 1971 hybrid also included here. Of the 40-odd cheekily psychedelic Beatle-pop cuts on this two-disc set, Everybody’s Talkin’ and One are obvious standouts. But there’s also a wonderfully crafted folk-rock medly of Fab Four tunes using You Can’t Do That as a foundation, a poignant cover of She’s Leaving Home (recorded days after Sgt. Pepper came out), and a suitably Phil Spectorish reworking of River Deep, Mountain High.
EXTRAS! EXTRAS! Four B-sides and leftovers, including a cut co-written by Canadian Bob Segarini.
