The relationship between
Harry Nilsson and
John Lennon is legendary. They were notorious booze hounds and carousers, getting kicked out of clubs for misbehavior and generally terrorizing L.A. during
Lennon's "lost weekend" of 1974. They wanted to make an album together -- hell, anyone working at such a peak would -- and the result was
Pussy Cats, a
Nilsson album produced by
Lennon. Almost immediately,
Nilsson got sick, resulting in a ruptured vocal cord. Not wanting
Lennon to stop the sessions,
Nilsson never told his friend, stubbornly working his way through the sessions until he lost his voice entirely. These are the sessions that make up
Pussy Cats, an utterly bewildering record that's more baffling than entertaining. Like many superstar projects of its time, this is studded with contributions from friends and studio musicians, all intent on having a good time in the studio -- which usually means hammering out rock & roll oldies. In this case, it meant both
Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" and the children's song "Loop de Loop," which gives a good idea where
Nilsson was at. Through its messiness,
Pussy Cats winds up showing how he and
Lennon violently careened between hedonism and self-loathing. Of the new songs, the inadvertently revealing "All My Life" is the strongest, followed by the sweet "Don't Forget Me," yet this is more about tone than substance. It's about hearing
Nilsson's voice getting progressively harsher, as the backing remains appealingly professional and slick. It doesn't quite jibe, and it's certainly incoherent, but that's its charm. It may not be as wild as the lost weekend itself, but it couldn't have been recorded at any other time and remains a fascinating aural snapshot of the early days of 1974. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine