Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Harry Nilsson Available Now
Recently someone loaned us a copy of the Mobile Fidelity pressing of this album, the one they did on two discs cut at 45 RPM in 2021, mastered by that notorious hack, Krieg Wunderlich.
Our last shootout took place all the way back in 2021. Although I listen to this title regularly, unfortunately it does not sell all that well, so we haven’t been making the effort we should to find copies and offer the best of them to our customers.
Why the album is not more popular is a question we ask about a number of titles on our site. We love the music and we love the sound, as can be seen from what we (and Allmusic) had to say about a very good sounding pressing back then:
- This is one of Nilsson’s best albums, sonically and musically. (With Ken Scott at the board at Trident Studios the sound just has to be good, doesn’t it?)
- Son of Schmilsson has more than half a dozen of the best songs Nilsson ever wrote, and should make it a Must Own for every right thinking audiophile with sophisticated tastes in popular music (we hope this means you)
- 4 1/2 stars: “… this is all married to a fantastic set of songs that illustrate what a skilled, versatile songsmith Nilsson was. No, it may not be the easiest album to warm to — and it’s just about the weirdest record to reach number 12 and go gold — but if you appreciate Nilsson’s musicality and weirdo humor, he never got any better.”
So true!
The MoFi, however, is a joke next to a properly-mastered and properly-pressed RCA vintage release. Our notes for it read:
- Big but flat
- Voice is recessed and lacks richness
- Rock songs, track one in particular work OK but
- Ballads lose all the magic
What good is a Harry Nilsson record where the voice lacks presence and richness?
Or one in which the ballads don’t sound good?
Or one that sounds flat?