Big fan of Harry for many years What is the name of this documentary? |
The documentary is named "Who is Harry Nilson, And why is everybody talking about him ?" |
You might check out "The Point" an animated film built on a Nillson concept album of the same name. I haven't seen it in decades, and I have no ideas whether it's still available, but I seem to recall admiring the music and the creativity of the filmmaking.
Marty
PS I also distinctly recall that my mom loved the song "Without You" (from the album Nillson Schmillson) when she was usually horrified by the LOUD music coming from my room. I think it gave her hope about my future. |
I agree. Excellent documentary. I thought I knew quite a bit about Harry, but learned much more.
Highly recommended! |
I've long been a fan of Harry Nillson. He also paled around with John Lennon in Lennons' wilder days.
The title of this doc. reminds me of a film my late father took me to see years ago called "Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?" which left me amazed and uncertain of what I had just viewed on the big screen. A flawed experiment for Dustin Hoffman for certain.
Harry Nillson was certainly a unique talent
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067980/ |
I really enjoyed the Nillson documentary as well. Believe it's available on Netflix streaming. |
Did you know that Cass Elliot and Keith Moon both died in Harry's flat in London? Years apart but in the same room. After Keith died he was so upset he sold it to Pete Townshend. |
PS I also distinctly recall that my mom loved the song "Without You" (from the album Nillson Schmillson) when she was usually horrified by the LOUD music coming from my room. I think it gave her hope about my future.
Martykl Hey Marty, what did mom think of Harry's followup album and especially "Your Breakin My Heart." My mom told me to "turn that off." |
I loved seeing how he got the inspiration to write "One (is the Loneliest Number) after placing a call and hearing the metronomic tone of the busy signal coming back through the receiver. Remember that sound? What a brilliant melodist and a sad crazy party monster. I really enjoyed seeing this. Thanks for the mention! |
I loved Nillson...some of his records have parts I have to skip over, but I recently bought a new copy of "Nillson sings Newman" and it's all great. "The Point" is great theater and music...saw it in the 70s. |
You put the lime in the coconut!!! |
Swanny, I agree about the 'sad crazy party monster'. The movie was actually heart breaking to watch towards the end. After it ended I just sort of sat there speechless. I wonder what his career would have been like if the Beatles didn't say he was their favorite group? If they hadn't done that, he wouldn't have made Nilsson Schmilsson and we would have probably never heard of him. On the other hand, Nilsson Schmilsson appears to be what started the downward spiral. I think the toughest part of the movie for me was to hear about the screaming contest he had with John Lennon while making Pussycat that basically shredded his vocal chords. To me that was nails on a chalkboard. |
Hey Marty, what did mom think of Harry's followup album and especially "Your Breakin My Heart." My mom told me to "turn that off."
Timrhu,
"Turn that off" or "Turn that down" was like a mantra in my home. Applied to pretty much everything other than "Without You". I also recall my dad hearing "Roxanne" and saying "You're kidding, right? He gets paid for that?".
Now, as the karma wheel turns, I get to listen to my daughter and her 7 year old friends groove incessantly on Katy Perry. What goes around.... |
DonJr-sincere, very very sincere, thank you for making me aware of this movie. I just sat here and watched it. I am touched, moved, saddened, in awe, so many emotions. Thank you much-richard |
Yes, thanks for starting this thread. I havent watched it yet, but I bought it for my wife to give to me for Christmas. She's so thoughtful! |
You're welcome. It sounds like it brought out the same emotions for you that it did for me and many others.
Winoguy, yes your wife is very thoughtful and that's a great idea. I might do the same thing with some music. |
just saw this documentary and was inspired to check out his recorded work. always thought nillson was to soft/aor to garner my interest, but on more critical listening have concluded that he really was a melodic genius and arguably the best white singer of his era. someone in the film that he influenced the beatles as much as they influenced him, and that may be correct--mccartney's solo work in particualr sounds sounds very heavily indebted to him.
on a largely unrelated note, check out "last days here", a documentary about the drug-crazed lead singer of the obscure (but actually outstanding) heavy metal band pentagram. interesting and weird, with a surprisingly happy ending. |
On another kind of unrelated note, the biographical film "Control" is about the rise and fall of Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division. This is a very good, but really sad film. Highly recommended. |
Saw it last year on Netflix--highly recommended. |
I've been a fan of Nilsson back when he actually sang. Check out 'Nilsson, Schmilsson', my favorite of all of his works. His take on those old standards are simply wonderful.
All the best,
Nonoise |
NoNoise,
His take on the standards was called " A Little Touch of Schmilsson In The Night " |
I stand corrected Winoguy17. I was just too lazy to go through my CDs and got them mixed up.
All the best,
Nonoise |
thanks donjr for the recommend....saw it right after you posted...alotta great memories back there, cheers |
Don't go near his forum! Oh wait, that's Steve Hoffman. |
