Losst and Founnd

by Harry Nilsson

Overview

It's no secret that Harry Nilsson's last decade was not an easy one. Traumatized by the murder of John Lennon, Nilsson worked for gun control while he dabbled in projects for the screen and stage, issuing the occasional track as part of a various-artists compilation. When he died in 1993, it had been 13 years since he released Flash Harry, an amiable mess that wound up being his last studio album. Just because there was no new record in the stores didn't mean that Nilsson stopped writing and recording music. During his last years, he was working on a new album with producer Mark Hudson, a recording that stayed untouched (but was often bootlegged) for a good quarter-century before Hudson polished off the tapes for 2019's posthumous collection Losst and Founnd. Hudson was working with rough demos, so it took him some considerable effort to polish these 11 tracks for official release. He enlisted a crew of Nilsson pals, including Jimmy Webb and Van Dyke Parks, to flesh out the tapes, adding Kiefo Nilsson -- Harry's son who was only eight when his father passed -- to the roster of studio pros laboring to bring these tunes to completion. Remarkably, Hudson and friends wound up with a finished product that feels like a Harry Nilsson album. This hardly means that Losst and Founnd is an album without flaws. The seams are necessarily evident in its construction, with Harry's voice -- which, it has to be acknowledged, was a rough instrument in his last days -- sometimes buried by the new overdubs. It's also true that the source material is a bit scattershot, with Nilsson undercutting his loveliest moments with goofy novelties and clever exercises in nostalgia. This mix of sincerity and snark is part of the reason why Losst and Founnd actually feels like a Nilsson album: he relied on this blend on virtually every record he made after his 1971 commercial breakthrough Nilsson Schmilsson. Hudson respects this aspect of Harry's personality and, better still, he doesn't endeavor to make these recordings sound modern. Everything he's added to the existing tapes helps Losst and Founnd seem like an album Nilsson might have released during the George W. Bush era, thereby providing a bittersweet and necessary coda to his career. It also adds some very good songs to his catalog, including the symphonic saloon song "What Does a Woman See in a Man," the light and lovely "Lullabye," and the slyly witty "U.C.L.A.," which takes stock of a world in the midst of a disorienting change. Maybe it's not perfect, but it's more than enough to be an unexpected gift from Harry, one that he deserves as much as his devoted fans. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	11/22/2019
Label:	Omnivore
UPC:	0816651018222
Rank:	89363

Tracks

1. Losst and Founnd
2. Woman Oh Woman
3. U.C.L.A.
4. High Heel Sneakers/Rescue Boy Medley
5. Lullabye
6. Animal Farm
7. Listen, the Snow Is Falling
8. Try
9. Love Is the Answer
10. Yo Dodger Blue
11. What Does a Woman See in a Man

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Harry Nilsson   Primary Artist,Vocals,Timpani,Synthesizer,Piano (Electric),Vocals (Background)
Paul Santo   Slide Guitar,Guitar (Electric)
Randy Kerber   Keyboards
Klaus Voormann   Bass
Jimmy Webb   Piano
Mark Hudson   Bass,Percussion,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric),Vocals (Background)
Dan Moore   Percussion,Vocals (Background),Drums
Danny Lipsitz   Horn,Clarinet,Saxophone
Andy Martin   Trombone
Kiefo Nilsson   Bass
Lisa Margaroli   Percussion,Vocals (Background)
Melissa Hudson   Percussion,Vocals (Background)
The Chicago Dude   Drums
Mark Mirando   Vocals (Background)
Dan Higgins   Flute,Clarinet,Saxophone
Gary Burr   Bowls,Vocals (Background)
Jim Cox   Piano,Celeste,Accordion,Synthesizer,Electro-Acoustic Piano
Jim Keltner   Drums
Robert Schaer   Trumpet
Rick Zahariades   Dobro,Slide Guitar,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Billy Amendola   Percussion

Technical Credits

Steve Dudas   Composer
Jimmy Webb   Composer
Greg Allen   Design,Art Direction
Greg Calbi   Mastering
John Rosenberg   Contractor
Robert Higginbothem   Composer
John Arbuckle   Engineer
Danny Lipsitz   Horn Arrangements,Saxophone Arrangement
Lee Blackman   Executive Producer
Robert Hgginbotham   Composer
Mark Hudson   Composer,Liner Notes,Horn Arrangements,String Arrangements
Perry Botkin, Jr.   Composer
Yoko Ono   Composer
Harry Nilsson   Composer
Gary Burr   Engineer
Mario J. McNulty   Mixing
Jim Cox   Horn Arrangements,String Arrangements
Doug McKenzie   Cover Photo
Dave Eggar   String Arrangements
Oliver Straus   Engineer
Brad Rosenberger   Executive Producer
Dan Moore   Engineer