Various Artists This is the Town:
A Tribute to Nilsson, Volume 1
(2014, The Royal Potato Family Records)
Songwriter and powerhouse vocalist Harry Nilsson, one-time favorite artist of both Paul McCartney and John Lennon, died in 1994, leaving behind a catalog of chart-topping pop songs, acclaimed soundtrack work, and critically lauded, off-beat collaborations. The hits—"Without You," "Everybody's Talkin'," and "One" (famously covered by Three Dog Night)—remain perennials, but they only scratch the surface. This Is The Town, an immensely satisfying, 20-track Nilsson tribute, goes a long way toward broadening recognition of his lesser-known work, while also offering imaginative reinterpretations of the instantly recognizable material.
Gotta Get Up - Annie Nilsson
This collection is the brainchild of Catskill producer Kenny Siegal (front man of Johnny Society, here covering "Mr. Richland's Favorite Song"), and he's curated a fine, eclectic group for the task. Langhorne Slim's rollicking, boogie woogie "Early in the Morning" kicks things off in a primal vein, but when Jenny O performs her multi-layered rendition of the parlor-pop gem "1941," the sly, sophisticated Nilsson universe really begins to take shape. Nilsson's daughter Annie, who also provided the album's cover art, delivers the mini-masterpiece "Gotta Get Up," hewing close to her dad's original arrangement. Rasputina's hypnotic, fuzz-cello-heavy "Sweethaven" presents an otherworldly alternative to the original, while Tracy Bonham's sprightly, Broadway-bound "Everybody's Talkin'" features a surprise violin solo. Regardless of the instrumentation, everything on This is the Town, lovingly performed and produced, conveys Nilsson's uncommon talent, gone too soon. Royalpotatofamily.com.
