40 years ago today RCA issued this TV commercial sans music for Nilssons then brand new LP Pussy Cats produced by John Lennon. The album cover features a visual rebus of sorts, spelling the word D RUG S, and was recorded in LA, under the influence of apparently quite a few. This was the period known as Lennons infamous Lost Weekend phase, and his then girlfriend May Pang even gets a production credit on the jacket. The time Lennon spent in LA outside the studio with Nilsson on pre-production was not always productive, including an incident at West Hollywood’s Troubadour club were they were 86d after some heavy drinking and heckling of the Smothers Brothers. Sir Paul Mccartney pops into the studio unexpectedly on March 28th 1974, and dubious excerpts from this session were later released as the bootleg LP A Toot and a Snore in 74. The muddled meandering music is unremarkable, but Lennon can be memorably heard loudly chopping & snorting cocaine and politely offering a toot to Stevie Wonder through the microphone. Late night parties and bootlegs aside, Nilssons voice throughout the actual Pussy Cats album is ragged, oft reduced to weary a gravelled croaking, possibly due to the fact Harry ruptured one of his vocal cords. To make matters worse, Keith Moon & roommate Ringo Starr were at the scene of this crime scene as well for many late night sessions. The two drunken drummers play together on separate drumkits during an uneven version of Rock Around The Clock that is so overblown in grandiose awful 70s style, that it actually requires Jim Keltner as the 3rd drummer to help hold it all together. As an historical aside, it may be relevant to note that Harry Nilsson owned the London flat where Mama Cass Elliot died. Subsequent to her death, Harry leased the apartment to Pete Townshend, who in turn, then leased it to Keith Moon after his divorce. Keith, of course, ends up getting wasted and dying in the same apartment as Mama Cass. Nilsson never returned to the “cursed” residence and asked it just be sold off, and Pete Townshend acquired it. Nilssons career never resumed its commercial favor after this period, and he was dropped by RCA in the later 70s. After the death of John Lennon, he became a crusader for gun control benefit campaigns, and made his last concert appearance September 1, 1992, when he joined former housemate Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band on stage at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, to sing Without You with Todd Rundgren having to handle the high notes. Harry Nilsson died in his suburban LA home of heart failure on January 15, 1994. youtube/watch?v=PyHihFU6zL8
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 02:25:10 +0000
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