''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 commercial success in the early 1970s. His work is characterized by pioneering vocal ove ...

, and 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 2007 ...

s, years before they became commonplace in the late 1970s and 1980s onwards.

Background

With the successes of "

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

" 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 netw ...

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

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

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 ...

'' 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 ...

''), then out of print, was considered. Nilsson thought that his early albums already sounded a bit dated by 1971. So he went back into 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 flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

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

Ten Little Indians "Ten Little Indians" is a traditional American children's counting out rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 12976. The term "Indians" in this sense refers to Indigenous North American peoples. In 1868, songwriter Septimus Winner adapt ...

", "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 Philadelphia's other major newspaper ''The Philadelphia Inquirer''. 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 ''Bo ...

'', 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 senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

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 (March 16, 1936 – July 7, 2001) was an American folk singer-songwriter active in the 1960s and early 1970s. He did not achieve commercial success as a performer and is mainly known through other people's recordings of his material&n ...

) – 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 (born Harvey Philip Spector; December 26, 1939January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by ...

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 " Do Wah Diddy Diddy", " Da Doo Ron Ron", " Then He Kiss ...

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 Diddy" ...

) – 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)'' #" One" – 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