A Little Touch of Nilsson in the Night

Many rockers of the 60's and 70's, like Rod Stewart, Linda Ronstadt and Carly Simon, later issued albums where they went 'retro', covering pop songs of the 30's and 40's. The irony was not missed; rock n' roll was a revolutionary break from tradition; these returns to the past seemed like the musical equivalent of 'Wrong Way Corrigan'. But, at least once, merging the old & new traditions paid off big time. The first--and still the best--album in this genre was Harry Nilsson's 'A Litle Touch of Schmillson in the Night'. Unlike the others, Nilsson didn't turn to the past after the hits stopped coming; he took his retro turn at the height of his career, still basking in the success of Nilsson Schmillson (and the Grammy he won for his performance of one of the songs on the album, 'Without You'). He chose the Gordon Jenkins orchestra (one of Frank Sinatra's favorites) to collaborate with--a very wise choice that worked beautifully. The recording of the album was actually filmed by the BBC, and some of the songs can be seen in the following YouTube clips. In the first clip, 'Nevertheless'; in the longer second clip, 'I'm Always Chasing Rainbows', 'I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now' and Irving Berlin's heart-rending 'What'll I Do' (complete, with the original prologue).