Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Take a look at the price--- yep, for a THREE CD set!, January 17, 2001
I am no hardcore Nilsson fan. I'll say that right off the bat. I've always liked the songs of his that I knew, like "Jump Into the Fire"(brilliantly utilized by Martin Scorsese in "Goodfellas"), "Coconut"(featured prominently in Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs"), "Everybody's Talkin'"(used in the great film "Midnight Cowboy"). Being a huge Beatles fan, I knew that he was pals with John Lennon and Ringo Starr. But I never bought any of his albums.
Getting to the point, I've established my status as 'casual fan.' Usually that means I'll buy a 'best of' disc rather than run out and buy the whole catalog. IF YOU HAVE EVEN A CASUAL INTEREST IN HARRY NILSSON-- this is the package to buy. It's THREE CDS, and it'll cost you about the same as a single disc. Among these 3 discs are the ENTIRE "Nilsson Schmilsson" and "A Touch of Schmilsson in the Night" albums, and most of the tracks from the Lennon-produced "Pussycats" album are here also.
There is a two disc Nilsson Anthology called "Personal Best" which has a significantly different track listing, BUT it's also almost twice as expensive. If you want a cheap way to get into the music of Harry Nilsson, you can't beat this set. The only downside is the lack of any real liner notes- the insert is about as basic as you can get, it has songwriting credits and a short essay. NOTE-the price has been raised since the review was originally written - 12/15/06
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Can't beat it for the money, February 15, 2001
The previous reviewer did a great job of summarizing this Australian collection. I assume its not remastered, however the sound quality is fine. It is a rather haphazard, but unique collection of Nilsson's work with strong emphasis of material from Schmillson and A little touch (in fact both entire albums, the majority of Pussy Cats and miscellaneous cuts from early and later albums. Not bad at all - especially as an introductory purchase.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A decent release for the megafan, those new to Nilsson should go elsewhere, March 25, 2008
Legendary Harry Nilsson is a marginally comprehensive 3 disc Nilsson set that is inexpensive--it's got a lot of music but isn't really comprehensive because the music choices focus really on 3-4 records instead of his whole cannon. Therefore it likely isn't a very good starting point for people trying to dive into Harry's great work.
While it contains a lot of Nilsson's best: One, Everybody's Talking, Without You, Down, 1941, Me and My Arrow, Cuddly toy.....etc.
It also has several significant flaws that might turn away a novice Nilsson fan......
For one, the music is not presented chronologically, which for a guy who's star burned so brightly his first 6-7 years and then flamed out so quickly can be a major problem. His styles also changed rather significantly over those years too, which further exemplifies why a chronological presentation is the best way to compile Nilsson.
Another major problem is that it focuses much too heavily on the very dated and sloppy Pussy Cats record, and leaves one of the better/best songs from Pussy Cats off of this release (Old Forgotten Soldier, in lieu of the overproduced Subterranean Homesick Blues--which pales significantly to Dylan's and Rocking Around the Clock--which might have been fun to be there for, but it's less fun to listen to). Perhaps the thought was those 2 famous covers (along with the disappointing Save the Last Dance for Me) will help sell some extra copies).....As well as having the Pussy Cats record because of the Lennon connections (Even though it might be amongst the lesser works either of them ever did)...
Another mistake that is typical of compilations--but a shocking shame for a 3 disc set is all the GREAT Nilsson songs that are omitted, some of which are his BEST WORK: Think About Your Troubles, Are you Sleeping, Girlfriend, Love Story (You and Me), Yellow Man, Living Without You, You Can't Do That, Remember Christmas, and several more).
Finally, this disc includes the entire A Touch of Schmilsson In the Night in lieu of some of the classics above.....now I think A Touch of Schmilsson....is a fabulous album, but it's also such a specialised album that doesn't really fit with the rest of Nilsson's catalog....I think it's ok to add maybe 3 songs from this set ("As Time Goes By","It Had to Be You", "Makin' Whoppee" at least to get folks interested (especially when this album is 3 discs and then if interested have them buy that record individually (with all the bonus tracksAs Time Goes By).....but to include the entire record and not include the bonus tracks like "Somewhere Over the Rainbow and "It's Only A Paper Moon" does another disservice. At least they presented this stuff in the 3rd Disc all in a row, so that it stands out less, but even that disc with One, then Jump Into the Fire and The Puppy Song starting off makes little sense in terms of flow....
Overall, the music is strong for the most part. The Pussy Cats album in retrospect might turn off more "new to Nilsson" fans than it creates new fans, so I would really have skipped quite a bit of that and represented albums like the Point, his debut, and Nilsson Sings Newman far far more.
Basically while the price is ok and some of the music is fabulous, the issues with track listing, track editing from Nilsson's catalog and track presentation really make me say AVOID this disc more than say buy it.
Instead start with the fabulous 1 disc Nilsson's Greatest Hits Harry Nilsson - Greatest Hits which is easily the best 1 disc anthology out there (and better than Personal Best because of it's conciseness). Then add the 30th anniversary of Nilsson Sings Newman (Which is less than $7 today Nilsson Sings Newman: 30th Anniversary and that might be one of the best albums ever released.....these two alone are still cheaper than the 3 disc set above, and are materially better and should/will likely make you more a fan of Nilsson than this hodgepodge set.
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~ Harry Nilsson
~ Harry Nilsson
~ Plant, Robert/Krauss, Alison
~ Emmylou Harris
~ Radiohead
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by Harry Nilsson 
