Harry Nilsson - in memoriam.

Last month it was twenty years since the passing of one Harry Edward Nilsson - often referred to as simply Nilsson, a singer-songwriter extraordinaire.
Over the past couple of years a renewed interest in the man and his music has resulted in a feature length documentary, a book, as well as a boxed CD set containing his complete RCA catalogue.
Although most fondly remembered as an excellent songwriter, it is all the more ironic that Nilsson's greatest successes as a performer came with songs written by other people, namely Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talkin'" and Badfinger's "Without You".  A number of artists also covered Nilsson's songs and it is my intention with this little tribute to highlight the best of those...in no particular order.

One of Nilsson's earliest admirers in the mid '60s was producer Phil Spector, who placed at least three of Nilsson's songs with artists he produced - although said songs were to remain unissued for 25 years.  Here are a couple of those:



Brian Wilson also loved this song and recorded his own version for a Harry Nilsson tribute album issued shortly after Harry's death in the mid '90s.

 

The Monkees were also early Nilsson fans via their then-producer Chip Douglas who had been a member of the Modern Folk Quartet before joining the Turtles for a short stint.  These couple of songs also appeared on Nilsson's first two solo albums for RCA:

 

British girl singers Lulu and Sandie Shaw also seem to have been listening to the first two proper Nilsson albums since each of them covered songs from those albums.  Unfortunately Lulu's excellent cover of "Without Her" (Renamed "Without Him" for the obvious reasons) is not available on YouTube. 

 

 



And Three Dog Night had a monster hit with Nilsson's "One" in 1969.  Undervalued Motown chanteuse Chris Clark covered it later that same year.  Aimee Mann also did a passable cover in the '90s.

 





Originally written for Welsh songstress Mary Hopkin in 1968, '70s teen idol David Cassidy took "The Puppy Song" all the way to number one in the U.K. in 1973, as a double A-sided single coupled with "Daydreamer".  Cassidy, clearly a massive Nilsson fan, also covered "This Could Be the Night" a couple of years later, and "The Story of Rock & Roll" a year or two after that.

 

Even Sinéad O'Connor has tackled Nilsson.  Her fine cover of "The Lord Must Be in New York City" popped up on the "You've Got Mail" soundtrack, which was a lot better than the movie itself.

 



 

"The Story of Rock & Roll" was, apparently, first offered to The Monkees although The Turtles ended up recording it - undoubtedly thanks to Chip Douglas.  Harry is rumoured to have played piano on The Turtles' studio version.

 

 

 

The Ronettes, The Shangri-Las and The Supremes all recorded a version of Nilsson's Girl Group opus "Paradise".  I have a tremendous difficulty picking one version in favour of the other two.  However, The Supremes' 1972 Jimmy Webb-produced possesses a certain understated charm...

 



 

In spite of all of the excellence entered above, it is better to start the excursion into all things Nilsson with the original source.  And as previously mentioned there are currently avenues aplenty to begin the journey.  Enjoy it.

 

Recommended listening: "Nilsson: The RCA Albums Collection" (17 CD's) (Sony Music/RCA/Legacy, 2013)

 

Recommended reading: "Nilsson: The Life of a Singer-Songwriter" by Alyn Shipton (Oxford University Press, 2013)

 

Recommended viewing: "Who is Harry Nilsson (And Why is Everybody Talkin' About Him)?" (Lorber Films, 2006)  Directed by John Scheinfeld.  DVD issued in 2010. 

  

 

Davy Jones

DAVY JONES

(1945 - 2012)

Remembered.

It is always sad to hear of one of your musical heroes' passing.  After all, in many cases you've grown up with their music; it has been a constant presence throughout your life. 
Thus today, upon learning about Davy Jones' untimely death at 66 from a heart attack, one's thoughts inevitably turn to the past: to one's youth specifically.  Music having been such a big part of my life for as long as I can recall, The Monkees' music has been there longer than most other.
I can very vaguely remember The Monkees' T.V. series being on in the late '60s, but being born in 1964, I was certainly way too young to acknowledge and appreciate them at the time.

As a teenager I dug feverishly into my older sisters' record collections when they weren't around...and usually without their knowledge.  And I seem to recall a snowy winter's day in '77 or '78 when I came across The Monkees "Greatest Hits".  And to make a long story short, I've been a fan ever since...

The Monkees were controversial from the very beginning - to say the least.  People either loathed or loved them.  Sure, they were "manufactured", but still recorded some of the most memorable pop songs of the '60s - many of which were written by some of the best songwriters of ANY era.  Goffin/King, Neil Diamond, Harry Nilsson, Boyce/Hart, Paul Williams, etc. and so on.

Davy being the only Brit in the band, having been a star of stage and screen in his homeland from a very young age (he appeared on the same Ed Sullivan Show as The Beatles in 1964, as a member of the Broadway cast from "Oliver!" - he received a Tony nomination for his performance - which he had previously performed in London), he became instantly recognizable to American T.V. audiences due to his accent first and foremost, as well as his physical stature (He was short, which became a running gag throughout The Monkees' two years on the air). 

The Monkees were an immediate hit and Davy, in particular, was the popular pin-up choice.
  

The Monkees' history is very well documented elsewhere, so I see no reason to dwelve any deeper into their remarkable history here. 

Nonetheless, their mid-period albums such as "Headquarters" (1967 - The first album they were allowed to play their own instruments on),  "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd." (1967), "The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees" (1968) as well as the soundtrack to their film "Head" (1968 - Co-written by one Jack Nicholson),  are all certified late '60s pop classics.

But inevitably when the T.V. series went off the air their popularity waned and by 1970 the game was up.

Solo careers were launched all around and Davy's debut post-Monkees effort was 1971's "Davy Jones" on Bell Records. 

A nice enough bubblegum album, "The Road to Love" is one of its strongest cuts.

But in spite of a memorable guest appearance on "The Brady Bunch", sales were disappointing and Davy's solo career never really took off.

During the '70s Monkees reunions and semi-reunions (Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart) were attempted, but with diminishing returns.

In the early '80s Davy returned to solo work and briefly became a big star in Japan.

During the mid-'80s The Monkees' old T.V. series started to enjoy a revival in re-runs on American cable stations, MTV in particular, and the old Monkee music was also up for a timely reappraisal and critical re-evaluation. 

Thus the time for a reunion was ripe and in 1986 Arista Records issued a new compilation album on CD - then a new format - which also contained a couple of recently recorded Monkee tunes, including their version of the Mosquitos power pop classic "That Was Then, This is Now"...

  

For the past 25 years Monkees reunions (usually minus Michael Nesmith, though) have been a regular occurrence.

In between those Davy always returned solo work (his last show was a couple of weeks ago) as well as the occasional T.V. and film gig.  His first love, horses (he was a jockey in his younger days), was never far from his heart and mind either.

Rest In Peace "Someday Man" - You will be missed!

A trivial footnote: Without Davy, there wouldn't have been a David Bowie.  Bowie, initally known as David Jones, was forced to change his name to something else as soon as Davy Jones became a household name.  Hmmm.