(Harry) Nilsson - Everybody’s Talkin’

"Everybody's Talkin'" was written and originally recorded by Fred Neil in 1966. It wasn't a hit, but it caught the ear of Harry Nilsson, who covered it in 1968 on his second album for RCA, Aerial Ballet. RCA released it as a single in 1968. It bubbled under in Aug-Sep 1968, peaking at #113. Not a hit. After it was included in the big Dustin Hoffman/Jon Voight movie Midnight Cowboy in 1969, RCA released it with a new B-side and a new catalog number. It charted in Aug 1969, eventually peaking at #6. (My opinion: Harry Nilsson's first two albums for RCA, 1967's Pandemonium Shadow Show and 1968's Aerial Ballet, are spectacular displays of pop at its finest. I recommend both.)

Hit stereo version

The drums are panned right. The vocals are centered and are essentially mono (the vocals almost completely cancel in an out-of-phase-sum test). There's little or no reverb on the vocals.

This version appeared on the stereo Aerial Ballet LP (1968), the commercial 45 in 1968, the commercial 45 in 1969 (which was the hit) and the promo 45 in 1969.

I think this version first appeared on CD on the RCA multi-artist compilation Nipper's Greatest Hits The '60s Vol. 2 (1988). The volume levels are a wee bit low (probably 2 or 3 dB of headroom), but it sounds just fine here. The same analog transfer is used on:

• RCA's Harry Nilsson collection All Time Greatest Hits (1989)
• Time-Life's Classic Rock Vol. 12 1969 The Beat Goes On (1989; both original release and RE-1 reissue) - both shorten the tail of the fade by about 3 beats
• Time-Life's Superhits Vol. 7 1969 (1991) - shortens the tail of the fade by about 4 beats
• Time-Life's AM Gold Vol. 1 1969 (1994) - the whole CD is identical to Superhits but with new packaging, shortens the tail of the fade by about 4 beats
• Heartland/Warner Special Products' 2-CD Hooked On A Feeling (1995) - shortens the tail of the fade by about 2 beats
• Time-Life's Treasury Of Folk Music An All-Star Hootenanny Volume Two (1996) - fade not shortened
• Time-Life's 2-CD Singers And Songwriters Vol. 6 1960s (2001) - fade not shortened
• Time-Life's 2-CD Singers And Songwriters Vol. 20 The Folk Years Yesterday's Gone (2002) - fade not shortened
• Time-Life's AM Gold Kind Of A Drag (2021) - fade not shortened

I have other analog transfers of the same mix:

• Time-Life's 2-CD Singers And Songwriters (1990) - same length as Nipper, but a little more background noise
• Time-Life's Singers And Songwriters Classics (2001) - shortens tail of the fade by about 3 beats
• the UK 2-CD multi-artist collection Sampled Vol. 4 (2003) - same length as Nipper
• RCA/Legacy's The Essential Nilsson (2013) - runs 0.9% faster than Nipper

According to Discogs, the Aerial Ballet album appeared on CD in Japan in 1992 and in the US in 1995. I don't have either of these releases.

Of the many CDs listed above, I prefer RCA/Legacy's The Essential Nilsson (2013). It really doesn't sound all that different from the Nipper disc, but I believe it's a fresh analog transfer from very low-generation source tapes. I chose this one over Nipper because in an out-of-phase-sum test, the vocals get more cancellation. (That tells me that the left and right channels are synchronized well and volume-balanced well.) Plus, the collection is mastered by Vic Anesini and sounds great overall.

Mono version

Everything's drenched in reverb.

This version appeared on the (non-hit) 1968 promo 45. I found a mono version of the full Aerial Ballet album on Qobuz, and it's the same version. I don't know if the Qobuz version of the mono LP really matches the 1968 mono LP, but the mono version is there for the taking, seemingly from a tape source.

It appears that the mono LP is part of RCA/Legacy's The RCA Albums Collection (Box Set) from 2013.

Non-hit 1969 Midnight Cowboy soundtrack version(s)

There were two versions on the soundtrack, with printed times of 2:30 and 1:54. Both were in stereo, and neither was the hit version.

The Midnight Cowboy soundtrack was on United Artists Records, not RCA. The albums feature the text "NILSSON appears through the courtesy of RCA Records" on the rear artwork and some pressings of the record labels.

Non-hit 1971 remix from Aerial Pandemonium Ballet album

In 1971, Harry Nilsson decided to remix a bunch of songs from his first two RCA albums and release them as the album Aerial Pandemonium Ballet.

The drums are centered and in mono (they cancel in an out-of-phase-sum test). The vocals have some stereo reverb.

Non-hit 1994 remix from Personal Best collection

It's not credited anywhere as a remix, but it runs about 12 beats longer than anything that came out before it, and it's clearly a different mix.

The drums are panned right. The vocals have more stereo reverb than the 1971 Aerial Pandemonium Ballet mix. Overall, this mix sounds more crisp than the earlier mixes, which is not surprising.

Amazingly, this mix found its way onto Time-Life's 2-CD Flower Power Age Of Aquarius (2007).

Edited by crapfromthepast

Most or all the songs from Harry's earliest albums were remixed for "Personal Best".

I don't have the vinyl myself for any of these older tracks.

I think the 1968 45 is the stereo version for two reasons: (1) My copy of the Top Pop Singles book says that the 1968 and 1969 45 are the same version, and (2) I see from some collectors' notations that they this is the promo version (not necessarily the commercial 45).

I couldn't find a YouTube video of anyone playing the 1968 45 (it's a really uncommon 45).

Please let us know what you find.

davidclark wrote: I've also just listened to "One" and the version I had (source unknown) has a bass right from the beginning while one playing on YouTube (with the "Aerial Ballet" cover) has NO bass there - it comes in later. The mono version has the bass coming in even later! Sheesh!

Bass from the beginning is the more recent 90s remix. I think the remix engineers must have
missed the pun of the original mix (starts with one instrument and then a second instrument
joins in after the line "two can be as bad as one").