Much has been published, justifiably so, about the fiftieth anniversary of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, one of the best albums ever released by The Beatles. However, another significant event occurred in 1967 concerning the Fab Four, possibly even more important than Pepper, which has been unfortunately ignored on its fiftyth birthday.
Just a few weeks after that record hit the store shelves, members of the quartet heard for the first time the singer that both John Lennon and Paul McCartney would identify as their favorite American recording artist. Both of them, as well as George Harrison and Ringo Starr, would for the first half of the Seventies collaborate with Harry Nilsson.
How big was Nilsson 's influence on The Beatles after they met him in 1967? A look at the early solo albums by the four members can clearly demonstrate, for he worked closely with all of them.
Nilsson collaborator Klaus Voorman was a key contributor to George Harrison's first albums, All Things Must Pass and Dark Horse. Harrison himself figured prominently on Son of Schmilsson, the follow-up album to the hugely successful Nilsson Schmillson album that contained the number one single "Without You."
Ringo Starr became one of Nilsson's closest friends, serving as best man at the second wedding of the singer. Ringo remembered him in "Harry's Song" from his 8-album Liverpool 8 years after Nilsson died of a heart attack.
As close as he was to Starr, Nilsson had even gotten closer to John Lennon after the breakup of The Beatles. The two buddies were virtually inseparable, even teaming up for the Pussycats album.
What has been less discussed is the uncanny resemblance in the solo records of the two men, albums that segue effortlessly from ragtime to waltz and from rock to love ballad. Nilsson Schmillsson and Lennon's Imagine are now together with each other's most successful solo album.
Each album spawned a piano ballad as its biggest hit, Nilsson's "Without You" topping the charts and Lennon's title track. Those soft tunes are complemented by bouncy album mates like "Gotta Get Up" from Schmillsson and "Crippled Inside" from Imagine.
Neither artist ignores his rock and roll roots, however, as heard on Harry's hit Jump Into the Fire "and John's" It's So Hard. "Both men pay homage to childhoods spending listening to the waltz music of their mothers, a genre reflected in Nilsson's "The Moonbeam Song" and Lennon's "Oh My Love."
Perhaps the quality that really allowed the two men to bond was humor, which is also represented on their most similar albums. "Coconut" was Nilsson's light-hearted hit with just one chord throughout, while Lennon reveled in more introspective fun in "Oh Yoko."
In addition to the varied genre comprising the two albums, the sessions themselves must have been similar. Many of the musicians who played on Schmillsson also performed on Imagine, giving each disc a friendly, familiar vibe.
Listening to the two records in succession, one understands Lennon's response during the opening ceremony at Apple Records. A reporter asked him to name the American artist he most respected, and he answered Nilsson. Later in the day when McCartney received the same query, Paul without hesitation named Nilsson.
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August 12, 2017
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