Nilsson was one of the great mavericks of pop. Blessed with a wonderful vocal range and a natural facility for writing memorable songs on guitar and piano, his biggest success came right about the time he filmed this 30 minute musical showcase for the BBC, just as his most successful album "Nilsson Schmilsson" was released. Famously, Nilsson never once went on the road to tour behind any of his records, even at the height of his success so it was quite a coup for the BBC to get him to ply his wares like this on camera.
And what a wonderful, idiosyncratic show it was. No one else (bar himself twice in triplicate and one of those in gorilla costume!) appears and he plays and sings entirely solo, just voice and guitar or piano. His performances are enchanting and captivating by turns and while there's humour in many of the songs, scratch the surface of the lyrics of some of the numbers here and you'll uncover lyrics of sadness and loneliness and in particular his abandonment by his father when he was still a child.
For a man who later in the 70's raised hell with the best (or worst) of them, it's refreshing to see and hear him here so healthy, the film capturing him really at the height of his powers. Just like him too to exclude his two biggest hits from the selection here, his covers of "Without You" and "Everybody's Talking", but they're not missed as he gives us a guided tour through his wonderfully melodic songbook to date, including gems like "Without Her", "One", "Life Line" and "1941", throwing in an Everly Brothers tribute and a fun animated sequence by way of diversions.
I was so pleased to track down this rare TV film and was absolutely entranced by it. If he'd safely played the music business game in the 70's he could have been one of the most successful singer-songwriters of the whole decade and if he was around today would no doubt be knocking out award-winning movie soundtracks like his contemporary Randy Newman. However, that wasn't Harry's game and he died too young aged only 54 some 20 years ago. Whether you're a Nilsson aficionado like me or just like tuneful pop music of a particular vintage, then Harry's your man and this disarmingly fine one-man-show couldn't demonstrate that much better if it tried.
