Nilsson Sings Newman
It’s happened again. I saw this album on the Wikipedia list of albums released in February 1970 and kind of dismissed it. It didn’t strike me as something I’d enjoy, even though I’ve long admired Randy Newman’s songs. Anyway, I put it on for a quick listen and was captivated.
The album consists of Harry Nilsson singing 10 Randy Newman songs. Almost the only accompaniment is Newman himself on a beautifully played and recorded piano. As far as I can tell, all of the voices are Nilsson, often multi-tracking himself. Sometimes his comments to the recording desk are left in the stacked harmonies, adding a layer of whimsy to a serious project.
If you know Randy Newman’s early songs, then this album is a treat. It would be a cliché to say that Harry Nilsson makes these songs his own, but sometimes only a cliché will do. I had no idea of this album’s existence before this project and I regret that enormously. To rectify things, I broke off from writing this to find and buy a secondhand copy on cd. I expect to play it a lot.
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