Day 265: Harry Nilsson – Aerial Ballet

Today feels like the day to explore my third Harry Nilsson album. I listened to Nilsson Schmilsson on day 59 and Son of Schmilsson on day 229 and I really enjoyed both, so I thought I’d listen to Aerial Ballet. Partly that’s also because I recently watched Midnight Cowboy and Harry Nilsson’s version of “Everybody’s Talkin’” from this album features pretty prominently on the soundtrack – what a film, ahead of its time and also a horrible watch.

Album cover courtesy of RCA Victor

Aerial Ballet was released in 1968, and it contains some of his most enduring songs, like the aforementioned “Everybody’s Talkin’” and “One”. It was Nilsson’s third album, which started gaining popularity a year after its release when Midnight Cowboy came out. The album was apparently also where the band Aerosmith got its name, with drummer Joey Kramer saying that listening to the album was what gave him the idea to workshop names with “aero”.

Maybe more than the two previous one I listened to, this album shows why Nilsson was sometimes called the American Beatle. Apparently he also played an early version of the album to John Lennon after Lennon played “Revolution” to him. The album was originally released with a sticker with a quote from John Lennon, saying that Harry Nilsson is his favourite performer.

When it comes to the subjects he’s exploring, Aerial Ballet is a little bit more serious than the prior two albums I’ve listened to. It starts off with “Daddy’s Song”, which is about his father who abandoned their family when he was three years old. There’s also “Little Cowboy”, a song that’s based on a lullaby that his mother sang. The latter part of the album deals quite a lot with loneliness. But there’s still a sense of whimsy to the album and he doesn’t fail to make a joke or two. It’s not a heavy or a serious album, and the softness and lightness of the sound does a lot to masquerade the vulnerability of it.

There’s more depth to this one than there is to the other two I’ve heard so far, and it’s a bit more intricate in every way. It’s good enough to make you think that Harry Nilsson is still a bit underappreciated. Or maybe I’m generalising because he’s just been underappreciated by me, but still – I’m now a big fan of Harry Nilsson, and Aerial Ballet is my favourite I’ve heard from him yet. 9/10.