Friday, March 11, 2011

Harry Nilsson--Without You (1972)

    Harry Nilsson (just known as Nilsson to most), was probably at his peak due to a series of excellent albums in the late 60's and early 70's. Just a few years later, between his poor behavior (being John Lennon's drinking buddy in the mid 70's), and rupturing one of his vocal chords, he lost a lot of commercial ground. He never returned to those heights again.   
    The group Badfinger had one of the most tragic stories in all of rock music. Their career being a series of bad management, bad decisions,and just plain bad luck which led eventually to the deaths of both principle songwriters by suicide.
    None of those things were in view in 1972 when Nilsson chose the Evans/Ham song, "Without You". It showed off Nilsson's fantastic range as a vocalist and Badfinger as a group that was more than a Beatles clone. In a few years, these gains would be pretty much forgotten, but almost 40 years later we show respect to these great artists.

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