Sure, I'm stealing the title and sentiment from Mojo Magazine (http://www.mojo4music.com/blog/), but it's the last great music magazine. Sorry Rolling Stone, but you've been pretty shitty for some time now. And Alternative Press just leaves me feeling totally angry and old.
As we all know, music has the incredible power to soothe us or rile us up or spark discussion. Everyone has their top albums of all time, or things they can listen to forever and ever and not grow tired of. However, if you look back over your life, you can almost use albums as benchmarks by which to measure your very existence. Certain albums conjure memories and experiences, but ultimately, some albums forever change our opinions, and in some cases, our lives.
Son of Schmilsson by Harry Nilsson
I grew up with a father who would sing my brother and I to sleep with songs by Harry Nilsson from the soundtrack to
The Point
. The animated film was released shortly after The Beatles'
Yellow Submarine
and told the tale of a young man named Oblio who was banished from his home because he was different. The songs from the soundtrack are certainly interesting if not very odd, so by the time I was in my early teens I was familiar with the eccentricities of Harry Nilsson. By chance, I happened upon an old beat up LP of
Son of Schmilsson
in a thrift store when I was about 14, and knew that I had to at least check it out.
