Actually, if you don't want to buy any of Harry Nilsson's other albums, then this is the one to have...but I fail to see how anyone who gets this could NOT want to get more.
This is a fine compliation, featuring most of Harry's best songs, with a great, informative booklet garnished with lots of cool pictures-many of which this longtime Nilsson fan had never seen before. All in all, a nice package and well worth the money, especially if you're checking out Harry Nilsson for the first time.
BUT!
Be advised that IMO two things drag this set down-one, there's entirely too much emphasis on the early, pre-Nilsson Schmilsson stuff and far too little of the post-NS. I have always found Harry's dissolute-era music much more interesting (Pussy Cats and afterwards), and precious little of it made the cut. The excellent Sandman was particularly shorted, with only "(Thursday) Here's Why I Did Not Go To Work Today" making the cut. I could have done with a few more "Something True"s or "Zombie Jamboree (Back to Back)"s and a few less "Vine Street"s and "Miss Butter's Lament""s. I realize that's just personal preference, but there you go. And yeah, yeah, I know Harry himself had a hand in choosing the tracks, but BMG also had final cut and I blame them for many of the omissions, as well as my other gripe: whoever decided to break up the Schmilsson tryptich of "Gotta Get Up", "Driving Along", and "Early In The Morning"-omitting "Driving" all together and putting the other two songs on seperate discs should be rewarded with a brick...those three songs flowed together so well on the original LP, and are diminished somewhat seperately.
These complaints aside, it's still two whole discs of Harry, and that's always a good thing.
(4.0 / 4.0)
(3.0 / 4.0)
