Harry Nilsson - Aerial Ballet
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On this episode, we look at Harry Nilsson’s 2nd album for RCA, 1968’s Aerial Ballet. After signing with RCA, he received adulation from many of popular music's most notable figures, including the Beatles who called him their “favorite band” during a press conference. The man never toured or even really played in front of a live audience. Instead, he found solace in the studio where he could rely on his real strength: his 3 and 1/2 octave voice and his ability to create what was at the time, pioneering vocal overdub experiments.
Nilsson was a bit of an anomaly in that he found greater success with other people’s songs, while he watched other artists’ versions of his tunes sore up the charts. . This album is a prime example. It features one of his biggest hits, a cover of Fred Neal's "Everybody's Talking" (used in the movie, Midnight Cowboy), and his own song “One,” which became a huge hit for Three Dog Night just a year later.
Musically, Aerial Ballet draws on several influences, including jazz, 60s pop, and the Great American Songbook tradition. Yet it is a deeply personal and confessional album, with songs about his estranged father, the longing for permanence in a changing world, and love's pitfalls.
THINGS WE DISCUSSED ON THIS EPISODE
Here’s an advertisement for the first performance of “Nilsson's Aerial Ballet” which was actually an act created by Carl Emanuel Nilsson, Harry Nilsson's great-grandfather that utilized a device that made ballet performers appear to dance in mid-air.
In 1964, John Marascalco released “All for the Beatles” under the Nilsson pseudonym “the Foto-Fi Four” celebrating the Beatles’ arrival in the US. The song was later packaged with a synchronized standard 8 mm film showing footage of the Beatles first arriving in the United States so that you could play the song and film synchronously and released under the new name: "Stand Up and Holler.”
Nilsson clowns it up in front of a billboard on Sunset Strip announcing the arrival of his album Aerial Ballet.
The Monkees were early Nilsson adopters having recorded his song “Cuddly Toy” for their 1967 LP Headquarters. The 1st picture is of Michale Nesmith checking our Nillson’s first RCA LP Pandemonium Shadow Show. The 2nd is of Mickey Dolenz and Nilsson “making a deal.”
The Monkees purchased the exclusive rights to the “Daddy’s Song” - the first track on Aerial Ballet - to use in their 1968 film, Head. Nilsson claims he was unaware of this arrangement. Nevertheless, because of this, the “Daddy’s Song” was removed from all subsequent releases of Aerial Ballet.
The producers of the movie Midnight Cowboy had been using Harry Nilsson’s version of “Everybody’s Talkin’” as a placeholder in their film when they asked him to write a song specifically for the movie. In response, he penned “I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City,” which sounded a little to familiar to the song they already had been, so they decided to just use “Everybody’s Talkin’” instead. For his part, Nillos included “I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City” on his next LP Harry.
In the fall of 1968, just after the release of Aerial Ballet. Nilsson appeared on an episode of Playboy After Dark which was a syndicated show that depicted a party at Playboy Founder Hugh Hefner's The party was attended by various celebrities and Hefner would chat with them and encourage them to perform for the party.
He performs “Good Old Desk” and “Together” off of Aerial Ballet, and “Cast and Crew” from the movie Skidoo, for which he had been asked to write the soundtrack.
Watch a clip from the absolutely wonderful 1971 BBC special "The Music of Nilsson where he performs “Walk Right Back,” “Cathy's Clown,” and “Let The Good Times Roll” with two other Harry Nilssons. You can watch the whole thing (which is highly recommended here).
Nilsson had his biggest chart success with his cover of Badfinger’s “Without You,” a worldwide number-one hit. He also won his second Grammy for Best Vocal Performance in 1973 for his version of the song
(Pictured L to R) Harry Nilsson, Pet Ham and Tom Evans (Badfinger).
The Point! was a multimedia event created by Nilsson based on a fable he dreamt up while he was acid (as he would confirm later). It included a narrative song cycle that was released as an album, as well as a made-for-TV animated feature that was broadcast on ABC in prime time. It is a story of tolerance about a boy named Oblio who is the only round-headed person in the Pointed Village, where by law everyone and everything must have a point, and as a result, he is ostracized by the town only be welcomed back in the end. Initially, the voice of the father in the film was provided by Dustin Hoffman. Later versions of the film have the father voiced by Ringo Starr and Alan Thicke.
Nilsson became friends (or at least freindly) with all of the Beatles.
Here’s Nilsson and John Lennon horsing around.
Nilsson starred as the lead in the Apple Corp production of the movie Son of Dracula. By all accounts, the movies is unwatchable, but the musical interludes are worth checking out. In the clip below, John Bonham is on drums and Peter Frampton is playing Guitar.
While Nilsson was friends with all of the Beatles, he and Ringo Starr shared a special bond. Ringo was Nilsson’s best man for his second wedding.
(Pictured L to R) Ringo Starr, Harry Nilsson, and Keith Moon of the Who.
