''Aerial Pandemonium Ballet'' is a 1971 album by

Harry Nilsson Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994), sometimes credited as Nilsson, was an American singer-songwriter who reached the peak of his success in the early 1970s. His work is characterized by pioneering vocal overdub experi ...

which reimagined recordings from his early albums ''

Pandemonium Shadow Show ''Pandemonium Shadow Show'' is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson, released in December 1967 on RCA Victor. Background The album was the first product of Nilsson's three-year, $50,000 recording contract with RC ...

'' (1967) and ''

Aerial Ballet ''Aerial Ballet'' is the third studio album by American musician Harry Nilsson, released in July 1968. Overview ''Aerial Ballet'' was Nilsson's second album for RCA Victor, and was titled after the highwire circus act of his grandparents. It ...

'' (1968). It is one of the first-ever

remix album A remix album is an album consisting of remixes or rerecorded versions of an artist's earlier released material. The first act who employed the format was American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson ('' Aerial Pandemonium Ballet'', 1971). As of 200 ...

Background

With the successes of "

Everybody's Talkin' "Everybody's Talkin (Echoes)" is a song written and recorded by the American singer-songwriter Fred Neil in 1966 and released two years later. A version of the song performed by the American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson became a hit in 1969, ...

" and ''

The Point! ''The Point!'' is the sixth studio album by American songwriter and musician Harry Nilsson, released in late 1970. It was accompanied by an animated film adaptation directed by Fred Wolf, which aired in early February 1971 on the ABC-TV networ ...

'' creating demand for Nilsson recordings, a reissue of his first two

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

albums (''

'' and ''

''), then out of print, was considered. Nilsson thought that his early albums already sounded somewhat dated by 1971, so he returned to the studio with the master tapes, remixed, tweaked, and re-recorded vocals, and came up with a new consolidation that he titled ''Aerial Pandemonium Ballet''. ''Aerial Pandemonium Ballet'' includes four songs from ''Pandemonium Shadow Show'' ("1941", " Without Her", "

River Deep - Mountain High A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of its course if it run ...

", and "Sleep Late, My Lady Friend") and eight songs from ''Aerial Ballet'' ("Daddy's Song", "Good Old Desk", "Don't Leave Me", "Mr. Richland's Favorite Song", "Together", "

", "

One 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

", and "Bath"). The songs from ''Pandemonium Shadow Show'' not included in ''Aerial Pandemonium Ballet'' are "

Ten Little Indians "Ten Little Indians" is an American children's Counting-out game, counting out rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 12976. In 1868, songwriter Septimus Winner adapted it as a song, then calledTen Little Injuns, for a minstrel show. Lyr ...

", "Cuddly Toy", "She Sang Hymns Out of Tune", "You Can't Do That", "She's Leaving Home", "There Will Never Be", "Freckles", and "It's Been So Long". The songs from ''Aerial Ballet'' not included in ''Aerial Pandemonium Ballet'' are "Little Cowboy", "I Said Goodbye to Me", "Little Cowboy (Reprise)", "Mr. Tinker", and "The Wailing of the Willow".

Reception

Robert Adels of the ''

Philadelphia Daily News ''Philadelphia Daily News'' is a tabloid newspaper that serves Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper is owned by The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC, which also owns ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', a daily newspaper in Philadelphia. The ''Dail ...

'' stated that the album was "the most sensitive stuff he's ever recorded." The ''Richmond Review'' called the album "lively". A less positive contemporary notice came from John Laycock of the ''

Windsor Star The ''Windsor Star'' is a daily newspaper based in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Postmedia Network, it is published Tuesdays through Saturdays. History The paper began as the weekly ''Windsor Record'' in 1888, changing its name to the ''Bor ...

'', who stated that while "Everybody's Talkin'" and "1941" didn't "need any help", "nothing could save some of the others" and "If nothing else, this patchwork shows how wise he's been to stick to wit and whimsy in his more recent stuff.” More recently,

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...

on allmusic.com describes the result as "just old tunes presented in slightly new, slightly off-putting ways."

Track listing

All music and lyrics by

except where noted #Introduction – 0:09 #"1941" – 2:37 ''(Slowed down track & remixed)'' #" Daddy's Song" – 2:07 ''(New vocals, guitar/piano/out of sync)'' #"Mr. Richland's Favorite Song" – 2:07 ''(New background vocals & remixed)'' #"Good Old Desk" – 2:30 ''(Slowed down track & remixed)'' #"

" (

Fred Neil Fred Neil (born Frederick Ralph Morlock Jr.; March 16, 1936 – July 7, 2001) was an American folk singer-songwriter active in the 1960s and early 1970s. He is mainly known through other people's recordings of his material – particularl ...

) – 2:42 ''(Dumped second voice & remixed)'' #"Bath" – 1:50 ''(New Vocals & Re-EQ'd original track)'' #" River Deep – Mountain High" (

Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (December 26, 1939 – January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter who is best known for pioneering recording practices in the 1960s, followed by his trials and conviction for murder in the 2000s. S ...

Jeff Barry Jeff Barry (born Joel Adelberg; April 3, 1938) is an American pop music songwriter, singer, and record producer. Among the most successful songs that he has co-written in his career are " Tell Laura I Love Her" (written with Ben Raleigh and a ...

Ellie Greenwich Eleanor Louise Greenwich (October 23, 1940 – August 26, 2009) was an American pop music singer, songwriter, and record producer. She wrote or co-wrote "Da Doo Ron Ron", " Be My Baby", " Maybe I Know", " Then He Kissed Me", " Do Wah Diddy Did ...

) – 3:57 ''(New vocals & remixed)'' #"Sleep Late, My Lady Friend" – 2:37 ''(Remixed)'' #"Don't Leave Me" – 2:12 ''(Remixed)'' #"Without Her" – 2:08 ''(New vocals & remixed)'' #"Together" – 1:37 ''(New vocals, edited out bridge & remixed)'' #"

" – 2:18 ''(Remixed and significantly edited - the original was 2:50)'' #Closing – 0:20

References

{{Authority control Harry Nilsson albums 1971 remix albums RCA Victor remix albums Albums produced by Rick Jarrard Albums produced by Harry Nilsson