Enigmatic and erratic singer/songwriter Harry Nilsson, who died in 1994, would have been 65 years old on June 15, and Sony/BMG has chosen the occasion to re-release two albums from the early seventies and a new greatest hits collection. The two re-releases — 1972's Son of Schmilsson and 1973's A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night both include "bonus" tracks. The former includes four, including three that were previously unreleased. The latter includes six tracks withheld from the original vinyl album, but previously available on a European CD.

First, the bad news. With Little Touch, the ponderous presence of Gordon Jenkins, the apparent impotence of producer Derek Taylor (in his debut as a record producer), and Nilsson's abdication of the whole thing to both of them doomed it from the start. After the first couple of tracks, it's impossible to just relax and listen because Jenkins and his huge orchestra (139 pieces) and even huger charts keep jumping out from behind the door and startling the hell out of you with pseudo-clever, cloying abandon. I know that diehard Nilsson fans will disagree, and Little Touch debuted to mostly favorably notices back in the day. Nonetheless, the nearly complete absence of anything resembling rhythm and the obvious dominance of the arranger/conductor don't bode well for an album that should have been about a great singer singing great songs.

It's said that the six bonus tracks are the result of there being studio time left to kill, and everyone having such a great time they went on and recorded the additional material, knowing they wouldn't be able to fit all of it on an LP. Thank God for that, because the extra tracks, including "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" and "Over the Rainbow" are just evidence that they should have quit with the first 12.

It's just an ugly mess, and a damned shame that a great vocalist, armed with a collection of great songs, gets lost in Jenkins' ego fest. Try Rod Stewart or even Linda Ronstadt if you want rock-star-sings-standards, and let this collection fade back into the obscurity it richly deserves.