Harry Nilsson: The Point! LP

Although Harry Nilsson might be most famously remembered as John Lennon's drinking partner during his separation from Yoko Ono, he has a back catalog that most musicians would be envious of. The reclusive singer-songwriter released more than an album a year during the period between 1966 and 1977. Falling somewhere in the middle of his career, The Point was essentially a fable, extolling the trials and tribulations of a round-headed person named Oblio growing up in a "Pointed Village" where by rule of order everyone and everything in the land was to have "a point." Following the success of the album it was adapted into an animated short film for ABC by Fred Wolf (who would later go on to produce Puff The Magic Dragon). The Point contained the hit single, "Me And My Arrow" which was sampled for Blackalicious' "Blazing Arrow." How did Nilsson get to the idea of The Point in the first place? "I was on acid," he says, "and I looked at the trees and I realized that they all came to points, and the little branches came to points, and the houses came to point. I thought, 'Oh! Everything has a point, and if it doesn't, then there's a point to it.'" Fully remastered from the original recordings. Includes fully restored comic storyboard, the same that was included with the original vinyl release.

• Music Label: Get On Down 2012

reviewed by The Voice 07/2012