Customer Reviews

Harry Nilsson - Greatest Hits

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If you already own either of RCA's previous hits collection (1978's All-Time Greatest Hits or 1995's exhaustive 2-disc Personal Best), there isn't much reason to add this to your music library. If, however, you don't have either of those anthologies, this is a terrific overview of one of the most powerful singer/songwriters of the seventies.

Nilsson did not have a lot of hits, but he was a prolific songwriter and many artists covered his songs, including Three Dog Night (they had their first Top 10 hit with "One"), David Cassidy (He had a U.K. No. 1 with "The Puppy Song"), Blood Sweat and Tears (who recorded "Without Her" for their debut), and the Monkees ("Cuddly Toy"). Oddly, two of Nilsson's biggest hits ("Without You" and "Everybody's Talkin'") were written by others.

While Nilsson may not have been a superstar in terms of hits or record sales, he was one of the best artists of the decade. This collection is a fitting tribute to an artist who deserves wider recognition. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

In 1968 Paul McCartney and John Lennon said that Harry Nilsson was their favorite American singer. This recommendation was powerful given that McCartney and Lennon were the most successful rock music composing team of the era, as well as being members of the most successful rock group of all time. Paul and John's recommendation characterized Nilsson; he was the singer and songwriter that other singers and songwriters admired. While Nilsson was not as popular as many of his contemporaries, he had his contemporaries' admiration, and many of his contemporaries covered his compositions.

The list of groups that have made hits of Nilsson songs is lengthy, including the Monkees, the Yardbirds, Three Dog Night, Herb Alpert, and Blood, Sweat and Tears. Harry even did covers of other artist's music, such as "Everybody's Talkin'," which became the theme song to "Midnight Cowboy," and "Without You."

Nilsson had a sense of humor that was often ironic and subtle. As an example, seek out the meaning behind "Cuddly Toy." The mellow sound and the topic provide extreme, bizarre contrasts.

This collection of music is a rarity, an excellent overview of a great artist. Well worth having if you can appreciate the skill of an excellent composer who can also sing.

Harry Nillson is by far the most ingenius songwriters of the 60's. He inspired so many singers and songwriters over the decades it is hard to think what we would have done without him.

I think my favorite song on this album is "You're Breaking My Heart"...I know, not well known but an absolute knee slapper!!! Totally caught me off guard.

The other songs are sure to make you smile, remembering where you were and what you were doing at the time you first heard it. "Everybody's Talkin'", "The Lord Must Be In New York City", "Cuddly Toy", etc.. are the standards we baby boomers grew up on.

I originally owned "Nillson Smillson" and played it till it wore out. Am so glad I chose to replace it with this version of the best...

Hopefully this will stay in print and not be replaced by "Everybody's Talkin': The Very Best Of". For another 3 bucks (as of this writing), you get 21 songs here instead of just 14 there. (And a cooler cover photo too.)

Two songs on VBO are not here: "Turn Your Radio On" and "All I Do Is Think About You." However, the nine (9) songs here that ain't there overwhelmingly tip the scales to this set. Listening to "1941", "Cuddly Toy", and "Girlfriend", among others, you can almost picture John Lennon jotting Harry's name down on his "List of Future Drinking Buddies."

I'm glad this set includes "As Time Goes By", a minor hit from a standards album (A Touch of Schmillson in the Night) that at the time was actually an UNcommercial move. In the '00's, Nilsson's contemporaries are finding their audience only responds to cover albums while ignoring their new material.

I'm not sure why the new comp was released; RCA/BMG could have just left the older, less-remastered Greatest Hits in print at a bargain price. Anyway, this is the better choice of what's out there now. If you like this, you may want to seek out "Personal Best", a 2-CD anthology which I believe has also slipped out of print.

You've probably heard and enjoyed many a Harry Nilson track and not even known it.
This Cd will bring you up to speed on one of the great composers of the late 60's/early 70's. And I do say composer, and correctly too. Nilson's baroque leanings are heavy in the earlier tracks, turning to a more mainstream taste in the middle and finishing with some rich, "been there/done that" late triumphs.
The CD includes a very nice write up in the liner notes, a quick history of old Schmilson, wherefrom and why. I got a big kick out of hearing the original song that eventually became the theme for one of my favorite shows The Courtship of Eddie's Father (am I dating myself?), as well as a tune or two from The Point (you'll remember) as well as a couple classics from the first Nilson i ever bought: Nilson Shmilson.
Sort of a cross between Phil Spector, John Lennon and Beck.
Great stuff, check it out.

What is genius? I would offer Harry Nilsson's Greatest Hits as a possible example...
This guy, who is unfortunately still too unknown, is clearly adept at so many styles and types of songs that going from one track to another can be surprising, just as it is satisfying.
Get this. And his individual albums too.
Two well known song's are "Everybody's Talkin'," definitive as Midnight Cowboy's anthum, "One," made famous by Three Dog Night and powerfully covered by Aimee Mann for Magnolia, and "Without You," a large and emotional love song, covered by many including Mariah Carey.
But "Me and My Arrow," "Jump Into the Fire," "I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City," "1941," and "Spaceman," among others are also stellar songs.
This is a terrific album.

What a strange career Harry Nilsson had. Avoiding most public appearances due to extreme stage fright, he limited his performances to studio recordings that (especially in his earlier albums) layered multi-track overdubs of his angelic voice over some of the most purely melodic and witty songs in modern pop.

In typical Nilsson-like irony, although he was a wonderful songwriter, his biggest hits were either cover versions of inferior songs written by others (the mystery of why Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talkin'" became a huge hit over Nilsson's own masterpiece "I Guess the Lord Must Be In New York City" is something that will haunt me to my grave,) or novelty tunes such as "Coconut." This, plus his reluctance to perform live and his self-destructive ambivalence towards stardom (take note of most of the lyrics in "Son of Schmilsson,") kept him from achieving the general fame he deserved.

I'm delighted to see that a number of his albums are now available on CD. Perhaps these reissues will help his delightfully eccentric talents gain a wider, albeit posthumous, renown.

I first became aware of Harry's Music when I first heard Everybody's Talking on the Radio when it first came out !! I thought it was a new Glen Campell song but my sister told me it was Harry Nilsson and from that day I became a true fan !!!
This is a great album of some of Harry Best Songs including Cuddly Toy( later recorded by the Monkees ) & Puppy Song which these 2 songs were left off Personal Best Cd !!!! Im glad they added Girlfriend which became My Best Friend for the Courtship of Eddies Father Title Song for that Show !!! Once your Hooked on this Cd you'll be wanting to hear more of his stuff in which most of his albums have been reissued so sit back and enjoy!!!

Ah, Nilsson was fabulous and so under-appreciated today. I loved him as a child in the 70's and grew up on his dulcet-toned voice filtering through the house. I figured anyone that hung out with Ringo and John Lennon had to be the apex of cool, and he certainly was that. This album encompases his greatest hits as well as some of his lesser known ballads. Not only could Harry write beautiful songs, he sang some awesome cover versions, such as "Over the Rainbow," which would give even Judy Garland a run for her money.

I think the most lovely track here is "Remember," which had a brief revival when it was included in the trivial Tom Hanks movie, "You've Got Mail." This introduced Nilsson to a generation who was robbed of his talent through his premature and untimely death. This is a good collection of his work. I can't imagine anyone with good taste not appreciating this man's body of work. Beautiful stuff.

Great album if you only own one Nilsson record, except "Jump Into The Fire" is the short AM radio version. What brain surgeon at the record company decided to edit Harry's masterpiece? Otherwise, a great bit of music.