Before
Harry Nilsson became
Nilsson and started recording his string of excellent RCA albums, he was a part-time fixture on the L.A. music scene, one of the many hopefuls trying to crack the commercial coconut. In between cutting vocal tracks for television and radio commercials, he often found the time and opportunity to record some real tracks, and some of these efforts are represented here. Frankly, some of these sound like demos, but
Nilsson's ability as a vocalist par excellence is readily apparent. Tracks like "Good Times," "Sixteen Tons," and several others have a true period charm. The resulting album is akin to
the Byrds' Preflyte, another simple, wondrously lo-fi collection that clearly shows you where it all began. ~ Matthew Greenwald