Jelly Roll Morton may have penned “Whinin’ By Blues”, but no one actually nailed the whine quite like Harry Nilsson. What would have likely devolved into caterwaul in the hands of lesser vocalists, Nilsson employed as one of his signature vocal tics. Two best, and favorite, examples: the obvious – Nilsson’s take on Fred Neil’s [...]

Beginning today, and running for two weeks, you can stream the excellent Harry Nilsson documentary Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him?) in its entirety. Highly recommended. Also, be sure to read the interview we did with the filmmaker John Scheinfeld earlier this year. Film after the jump.

Aside from his entree into an enduring friendship with the Fabs, Nilsson’s re-arranged cover of the Beatles “You Can’t Do That“ (featured on his sophomore LP, Pandemonium Shadow Show) was also his first hit on the U.S. charts. In true Nilsson form the track is rife with multi-tracked vocals and peppered with twenty-something references to [...]

In the summer of 2007 the documentary Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him?) saw a limited engagement (read: single viewing) at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. I was fortunate to be in attendance, and for the next three years kept an eye out for a wider release and/or DVD distribution. [...]

Stay tuned for our interview with filmmaker John Scheinfeld per his documentary Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him?). In the meantime, check out Nilsson’s cover of John Lennon’s “Isolation;” a track I’ve has on steady repeat the past couple of months. A cover, it somehow surpasses John’s, excellent, original. A [...]

A few summers ago, at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, I caught a limited screening of Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him). It took a few years, but the documentary finally landed a DVD distribution deal and is  available to stream digitally via Netflix. Nilsson fans, you need to see [...]

First off, have you seen the documentary Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him?)? If not, you should get on that. This weekend the mailman delivered Songs From The Point, a collection of ‘indie’ artists each covering a track off the soundtrack to Nillson’s 1971 animated children’s story of the same [...]

“I was on acid and I looked at the trees and I realized that they all came to points, and the little branches came to points, and the houses came to point. I thought, ‘Oh! Everything has a point, and if it doesn’t, then there’s a point to it.’” — Harry Nilsson There was no [...]