DAVID BIANCULLI

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WHO IS HARRY NILSSON (AND WHY IS EVERYBODY TALKIN’ ABOUT HIM?)
April 3, 2017  | By David Bianculli

AXS TV, 12:00 p.m. ET

 

This 2010 documentary profile of Harry Nilsson, an engrossing and enlightening piece of work, is written and directed by John Scheinfeld, who probably got interested in this story, and this famously reclusive and impulsive musical star, when working on his 2006 documentary, The U.S. vs. John Lennon. Lennon and Nilsson became (very) fast friends – they were together, drunk, the night Lennon heckled the Smothers Brothers during their infamous comeback nightclub appearance. But Nilsson, who produced the brilliant animated ABC telemovie The Point and a string of wonderful record albums in the early 1970s, always was a mysterious figure: never toured, almost never appeared on TV, yet was so well-regarded that he almost made it as a member of what was being considered by Lennon as a new post-McCartney version of the Beatles, with Nilsson and Eric Clapton stepping in. Eric Idle has some marvelous stories about Nilsson, too, as does Jimmy Webb, and Nilsson’s former producers, and even his loved ones – even when some of their stories are more than casual, and less than flattering. If you remember and enjoy the music of Harry Nilsson, don’t miss this. It also includes some ultra-rare footage of Nilsson’s British TV specials, including him performing live, with orchestra, recording his gorgeous LP of standards, A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night.

 
 
 
 
 
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