movin' on up

I don't think about albums in this way as much as I used to, but if I were to list my favorite albums Of All Time and compare that to what the list might've been a year or two ago, two albums would've moved up into the top tier: Nilsson's Schmilsson and Robert Wyatt's Rock Bottom.

Nilsson was someone I only discovered this year, but I've been listening to Wyatt / Soft Machine for over a decade. I'd be doing pretty well if each year I found one or two more top-tier albums.

Nilsson Sings Newman's 12 Songs

Getting into Harry Nilsson and Randy Newman have been two of the better things I've done this year. I knew Randy Newman was writing songs for others in the late sixties; he penned the intro to Van Dyke Park's Song Cycle, "Vine Street" as well as some songs for Harpers Bizzare and similar bands. And even though he had his first solo album in 1968, it wasn't until Nilsson came out with Sings Newman that Randy was introduced to a wide audience.



It seems hard to imagine why Nilsson would've done such a thing at that point in his career. He had some success with his first three albums and his big single that he didn't write, "Everybody's Talkin'" but Nilsson Schmilsson was still to come. So maybe he hadn't reached the peak of his success but he was definitely on the way up when he drops an album of songs written by some no-name guy, Randy Newman. Just the idea of doing that seems unheard of in today's world of constant self-promotion.



Listening to Randy Newman is strange. He has a unique style and relies on similar melodies in some songs, most of which (for me and others around my age, I expect) well-associated with the Toy Story movies. I know that may be unfair, but it's hard to listen to songs like "Yellow Man" or "My Old Kentucky Home" or whatever without thinking of Woody and Buzz Lightyear. Still, I've severely enjoyed his early albums, which can usually be found for under five bucks at vinyl stores.

Nilsson - Pandemonium Shadow Show and Aerial Ballet

So after having not enjoying Nilsson's Son of Schmilsson, I'm glad I went the other way in his discography, as his first two albums are pretty swell. These two were loved by the Beatles, and it's easy to see why, with all the Beatles-baiting here, especially on Pandemonium Shadow Show.

Apparently at the height of Nilsson-mania, or around the time of his Grammy for "Everybody's Talkin', " Nilsson re-worked material from these two albums, re-recording some parts and crafting new intros, and merged these two albums into one album, Aerial Pandemonium Ballet. I think I'll explore his other albums, like Harry and Nilsson Sings Newman before I get to that one, though. [For some reason I've also been on a bit of a Newman kick lately.]

I'm glad I came across Nilsson; his brand of ambitious, if sometimes indulgent brand of singer-songwriter, pop/rock style places him a similar league to one of my faves, Todd Rundgren. But Todd never had a lullaby like this:

dead ends

Gong - Camembert Electrique
Hawkwind - Space Ritual

I suppose the genre here is space rock. Gong was formed by a co-founder of Soft Machine, which seemed promising. And Hawkwind was a name I saw as an influence of several prog and even (inexplicably) some punk bands. But really both albums are of the wankish prog/hippie jam band variety; I have little tolerance for that.

Nilsson - Son of Schmillson

Most of what I had read about this album characterized it as the indulgent follow-up to his most popular work. That description also fits two of my favorite albums, the Clash's Sandinista! and Todd Rundgren's A Wizard, A True Star. But if Schmillson sounded just as charming as Nilsson looked on the cover of that album--waking up in a bathrobe, hash pipe in hand--then Son of Schmillson sounds like what he probably smelled like later that day. Perhaps I'm going in the wrong direction with his discography; from now on I will only venture into the albums leading up to Schmillson.

'O'Rang - Herds of Instinct

This band is basically the rhythm section of Talk Talk, and the album was 'written' in much the same way as later Talk Talk albums: improvised sessions were recorded then pieced together. But unlike Talk Talk, they didn't really have a rough blueprint prior to the sessions. Also, the sound here is much more diverse than Talk Talk's. Later Talk Talk albums were already treading delicately on a tightrope above a vast pit of pretentiousness; 'O'rang's more esoteric approach is just as audacious but not quite as skillful.