Harry Nilsson

Harry Nilsson's majestic debut shows how talented he was at everything from crafting melodies to singing to writing sweet but often dark, cutting lyrics. Nilsson also seemed to know about every era in pop and could inject different ideas into his songs. No wonder the Beatles picked this as their favorite album during the year everyone was going gaga over Sgt. Pepper's. This didn't sell, but such tunes as "1941," "Sleep Late, My Lady Friend" and the ingenious Beatles melody "You Can't Do That" ended up earning Nilsson plenty of Hollywood movie work and paved the way to future stardom.