Harry Nilsson - Nilsson Schmilsson CDs • Vinyl Records • LPs • Music Albums

lyrically despairing "One," which Aimee Mann and others have subsequently rendered evergreen. As a singer, Nilsson got lucky when his wistful rendition of Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talkin' " became the theme for Midnight Cowboy.

Blessed with a tenor that could make angels weep and the smarts to know how to use it, Nilsson nevertheless failed to ignite the album charts until 1971's Nilsson Schmilsson. The hit single was Nilsson's powerful cover of "Without You," a previously overlooked cut written and first recorded by Badfinger. The rest of the album established Nilsson as a talent of unusual depth and scope: Years before public escapades with future drinking buddy Lennon confirmed Nilsson's personal excesses, Schmilsson plays like a study in bipolar disorder. Beginning with the manic "Gotta Get Up" and continuing with the equally breezy and busy "Driving Along," the mood takes a dip with the skeletal and enchanted "Early in the Morning" before plummeting with the bluesy "Down." Side Two starts out with the Caribbean giddiness of "Coconut," then goes bonkers with "Jump Into the Fire," a wailing seven-minute bass-and-drum tantrum recently covered live by dance rock's LCD Soundsystem. On the albums that followed, Nilsson ventured into standards and ragged rock, but he would never again be this consistent or popular.

The oft-overlooked singer/songwriter/genius interpreter dropped this ace in 1971. Screaming along to "Jump Into the Fire" is about as much cathartic fun as a person can handle in one night and "Without You" is about as much operatic sentimentalism as a normal person should be able to handle in a lifetime. "Coconut” will be your child's favorite song forever.