HARRY NILSSON - JUST WILD ABOUT ,.. THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY

 There are many people on Youtube today claiming to Love Harry Nilsson ,..

The Big trouble is many of these same people are simply "Romanced" by the Life and times of Harry long ago ,. ..

This WAS the man that hung out with John Lennon, Kieth Moon, John Bonham, Alice Cooper and some of Hollywood's gnarliest partiers ,..you name them ,. ,.. Mickey Dolenz COMES ROCKETING straight to mind ,..etc,..

But it seems ,, NONE OF THESE GUYS COULD PARTY !!

AT LEAST ,..NOT LIKE HARRY !

NOW,..

I LOVE HARRY NILSSON !,..

So never take me wrong ,..

You won't find a bigger fan ,..

I spend hours laying in the hot bathtub listening carefully to "Every" Nilsson album,..

And I always come to one painful conclusion ;

Harry is WAY WAY OVER-RATED !

SURE,.

THE GUY COULD SING GREAT

BUT QUITE OFTEN , Even the dumbest of people are gonna quickly find that most of Harry's songs stumble as they try hard to "break new ground" rather than just rock with huge melody like say ,..The Who

or

The Beatles, etc,..

HARRY never quite hits it out of the park 

and with in most of what he does,.. His songs will fall flat to most people ,..sadly ,..

Not even on 1971's Nilsson Schmilsson ,.. or Pussy Cats With Lennon ,. .. in 74'

He ends up only a genius ,..to those "in the know" which is just inescapable ,.. 

His lead vocals can soar

( On the 1971 Song "I'll Never Leave You" ,..here is one insane example !) ,..

He displays glimpses of mind blowing

effortlessness ,..

Yet ,..

Harry also comes off as "Way TOO ahead of his time" ,.. which is probably one of his biggest problems ,.. His music seems to be 'inventing' all the things we hate about the 1970's ,..Only Harry WAS doing this ,..Deep way back IN THE 1960'S !! THERE was something about Harry that few could explain way back then or put their finger on ,.. certainly John Lennon was like this in his view of Harry ,.. perhaps this was one of the curses that plague Mr. Harry Nilsson indeed ,..and stealthly drag him down ,.. as it also made him the Legend too ! and all at the same time !

Harry's talents could be unremarkably brilliant and draw wide eyed gasps but that are also quickly too forgotten ,.. almost as if just some American idol type generic singer,.. 

And often , he seems to be exploring some weird kinds of "vocal gymnastics' that no others can come close to ,..

He is often way too genius for his own good and his lack of playing live is not just financially deadly but also creatively stifling ,.. and possibly unknown to Harry Himself ,..

He is too much of a vocal chameleon and far too hyper diverse ,.. you often cannot tell the song you are listening to is by the same artist you just heard moments ago ,.  HE MOVES AROUND STYLISTICALLY A LOT ,..AND LIKE NO ONE ELSE EVER !

His presence to go with his vocals can be riveting ,.. indeed ,.

but ALSO often in what will be "forgettable" songs to most listeners,..

Harry can come off as monitonal and lacking range for a guy who supposedly is so full of vocal expertise ,..

And as the years roll on , his partying definitely starts to take a toll on what was

an amazing crooner,.. 

and

Harry's lyrics can be very dark and he almost gets into Frank Zappa territories as he paints horrifying musical pictures that are way past grotesque at times ,.. a quality I love about Harry ,..and others do too !  But 'some' will quickly run from ,.. ( screw them !!) 

I have known about Harry Nilsson since I was 5 years old in 1970 ,..

I distinctly remember the life and times of those days in America somehow - stressful , tension filled Vietnam shit ,. ,..and growing up hearing "Me and my Arrow" , "Without you" and all the other great stuff, ..before delving into "buying" all Harry albums back in the early to mid 1980's at second hand record shops ,..and thus 'really' began 'learning" about all things Harry ,..

I "had" to dwell in the wisdom of the dude who partied with and became super friends with Kieth Moon !! etc ! Of course, I cannot forget how Harry's music "was EVERYWHERE" when i was a little kid growing up in Torrance / Redondo Beach back in the day , To many of US , THERE was no one like "Nilsson" both all over radio and TV ,.. yet he still just felt like "one of us" ,.. a huge celebrity that certainly WAS NOT !

And Harry would grow to become one of my life's favorite "Disappointments" ,...

BUT !!

HARRY would ever so slyly ,..become my Number One influencer

for my own music !

So,..

In honor of Harry !

I would NEVER claim a style or cling to any format,.. I would keep things as eclectic and esoteric and as POSSIBLE BABY !

HARD TO DEFINE !

THAT'S HARRY !

AND THAT'S G.E. AND ME TOO !!

It took me years to really appreciate 'Pandamonium Shadow Show" Harry's 1967 Second album but really the 'debut' to most folks ,..

 ,..I hated it at first ,..buying it in 1983 and at age 18 ,.. of course at the time, only recognizing that Beatles tribute "You can't do that" where Harry praises his favorite band with endless Lennon McCartney snippets woven in,. ,..finishing of course uttering ,.."Beatles forever",..

'You can't do that" ,..Harry's version ,..was a song that I grew up hating ,.. I thought the vocals sucked,..etc,.. and I hated the idea of some American chap sending up the Fab four with all his love,.. to me, it sounded almost Canadian ,..it sounded like ,..

Treason ,..

Only ,..one day ,..long ago,..I discovered that this version ,..was BY HARRY !!

AND INSTANTLY ,..MY OPINION CHANGED,..

i BEGAN to love the song !! 

Forsaking all I had ever thought before,.

Similar to when I discovered that ,... that horrible version of Summertime Blues that I despised,..was

BY THE WHO !!

Harry could come off as dull and drab maybe even repetitious and boring  ,.. explanations for why the pop scene often so evaded him,..

But Harry could also seem Artsy Fartsy in ways that came off as amazing and way beyond genius sublime ,.. too !

His music was "all over the place" filled with variety and hyper diverse sounds !  ,.( Don't believe me ?? LISTEN TO THE ALBUM 'HARRY' FROM 1969 !!' ,.. it's way much more than just "The Puppy Song"  ),..

As i grew,.. Harry grew with me ,.. and just when I was beginning to really finally appreciate the guy ,.. I suddenly heard the news that ,.

Harry died in 1994,.

I was 28,..

And headed for 29,.

And Harry sadly ,.

Would not be there

to go travel through life,.

With me,..

It hit me that day ,..

I was gonna have to make it ,. 

"Without Harry'

Without You,..

In recent times,.

I have come to learn all over again about Harry

of course via Youtube,..

And it frustrates me so much 

all these young people from today

and indie kids ,..

writing about Harry

and claiming he is just such the great singer

and how they love him,.

well,.

They don't know Harry ,..

Only i do ,..

And I can tell you

that

Harry was not all that great

He was sadly very average ,..

ACTUALLY ,..

its real weird ya see,..

Harry was very under-rated

and OVER-rated

and all at the same time

a paradox that makes Harry so unique and special,.

You have to do surgery as you listen to Harry music

MENTAL SURGERY !!

YOU HAVE TO 'MAKE' HARRY GOOD !

IN YOUR MIND !

AND THEN,.

WITH YOUR IMAGINATION,.

HARRY GETS GOOD !!

AND THEN

HE GETS 

REAL GOOD TOO !

That's just Harry ,..

And that's just the way it is ,..

As for any new thoughts that I get on Harry ,..

I guess i'm just gonna have to,,.

Do em' ON MONDAY !! 

HARRY'S weaknesses were his strengths ,..and his strengths ,..were his weaknesses ,.. He was the ultimate contradiction !!! 

RIP

MY FRIEND

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