Harry Nilsson

The oft-overlooked singer/songwriter/genius interpreter dropped this ace in 1971. Screaming along to "Jump Into the Fire" is about as much cathartic fun as a person can handle in one night and "Without You" is about as much operatic sentimentalism as a normal person should be able to handle in a lifetime. "Coconut"” will be your child's favorite song forever.

In which the whimsy and vocal pyrotechnics of Aerial Ballet and Pandemonium Shadow Show (now cunningly collapsed into a disc called Aerial Pandemonium Ballet) are apotheosized under the direction of popmeister Richard Perry. The bathrobed recluse who shows his unshaven face on the cover (his well-stocked fridge is on the back) veers from kitsch fantasy both romantic ("Without You") and comic ("Coconut") to terrified evocations of everyday existence (the cockeyed antemeridian triptych--"Gotta Get Up," "Driving Along," and "Early in the Morning"--that kicks off side one). The two-and-a-half years since his last real LP, Harry, have been worth it--if only every artist could learn to mark time until a good one was ready. (Grade - A)