{{more citations needed|date=April 2021}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox album | name = Aerial Ballet | type = studio | artist = Nilsson | cover = Aerial Ballet cover art.png | alt = | released = July 1968 | recorded = September 1967 – March 1968 | venue = | studio = RCA Victor (Hollywood, California) | genre = * Soft rock<ref name= "Pitchfork Staff 2017">{{cite web|last= Pitchfork Staff |title= The 200 Best Albums of the 1960s |website= Pitchfork |date= August 22, 2017 |url= https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-200-best-albums-of-the-1960s/|quote= But the more low-key aspects of ''Aerial Ballet'' reflect the soft rock that would become increasingly popular in the next few years...Nilsson’s unusual yet direct approach to making music: embedding lyrical gut-punches into catchy folk-pop riffs...|accessdate= April 15, 2023}}</ref> * folk-pop<ref name= "Pitchfork Staff 2017"/> * pop rock<ref name="AllMusic Rock 1997">{{cite book|last= Unterberger|first= Richie|chapter= Harry Nilsson|editor-last1= Bogdanov|editor-first1=Vladimir|editor-last2= Erlewine |editor-first2= Michael |editor-last3= Erlewine |editor-first3= Stephen Thomas |editor-last4= Unterberger |editor-first4= Richie |editor-last5= Woodstra |editor-first5= Chris|date= January 1, 1997|title= AllMusic Guide to Rock|publisher= Miller Freeman, Inc.|location= San Francisco|page= 658}}</ref> * baroque pop<ref name="AllMusic Rock 1997"/> * orchestral pop<ref name="AllMusic Rock 1997"/> * chamber pop<ref name="AllMusic Deming">{{AllMusic |class=album |id=mw0000560538|title= Family Tree - ''Miss Butters'' (1968) Review |last= Deming|first= Mark|access-date= August 14, 2024}}</ref> | length = 29:02 | label = RCA Victor | producer = Rick Jarrard | prev_title = Pandemonium Shadow Show | prev_year = 1967 | next_title = Skidoo | next_year = 1968 | misc = {{Singles | name = Aerial Ballet | type = studio | single1 = One | single1date = 1968 | single2 = Everybody's Talkin{{'-}} | single2date = August 1969 }} {{Extra album cover | header = 1980 Pickwick reissue cover | type = studio | cover = Aerial-ballet-pickwick.jpg | border = | alt = | caption = }} }} {{Music ratings | rev1 = AllMusic | rev1Score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref>{{cite web|author=Stephen Thomas Erlewine|author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/aerial-ballet-mw0000645332 |title=Aerial Ballet – Harry Nilsson | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=2014-03-25}}</ref> | rev2 = ''The Essential Rock Discography'' | rev2Score = 6/10<ref>{{cite book|author=Strong, Martin C. |year=2006|title=The Essential Rock Discography|publisher=Canongate|location=Edinburgh, UK|page=758|isbn=978-1-84195-827-9}}</ref> | rev3 = ''Rolling Stone'' | rev3Score = (mixed)<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Hansen |first=Barret |date=14 September 1968 |title=Records |magazine=Rolling Stone |location=San Francisco}}</ref> }}
'''''Aerial Ballet''''' is the third studio album by American musician Harry Nilsson, released in July 1968.
==Overview== ''Aerial Ballet'' was Nilsson's second album for RCA Victor, and was titled after the highwire circus act of his grandparents. It consists almost entirely of songs written by him, including "One", which later became a number five hit for Three Dog Night.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Staff |title=Chart History |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/three-dog-night/chart-history |magazine=Billboard |publisher=Prometheus Global Media, LLC |access-date=16 June 2019}}</ref> The title of the album has been cited by Joey Kramer as the inspiration for Aerosmith's name.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://aeronewsdaily.com/blog/2008/03/14/steven-tyler-interview|title=Interview with Steven Tyler|publisher=AeroNewsDaily|date=March 13, 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20080514055305/http://aeronewsdaily.com/blog/2008/03/14/steven-tyler-interview|archive-date=May 14, 2008|access-date=August 22, 2016}}</ref>
The most familiar track from ''Aerial Ballet'' is its one cover song, Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talkin{{'"}}. It was released as a single in North America in 1968, and reached the top forty in Canada—but initially flopped in the US. However, the song was subsequently selected for use in the Oscar-winning film ''Midnight Cowboy'' and became one of Nilsson's biggest hits as a performer, hitting the US top ten in 1969.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Harry Nilsson Chart History |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/harry-nilsson/chart-history/hsi/ |magazine=Billboard |publisher=Prometheus Global Media, LLC |access-date=16 June 2019}}</ref>
The original opening number for ''Aerial Ballet'' was "Daddy's Song", but this track was removed (apparently without Nilsson's awareness) after the first copies were issued, because The Monkees had recorded a cover version to be featured in their film ''Head'', and had paid $35,000 for exclusive rights to the song. Recent reissues restore "Daddy's Song" (with the Monkees' contract long expired) to its rightful place in the lineup.
When Nilsson visited the Beatles in London during 1968, John Lennon played Nilsson "Revolution" and selections from the then-upcoming ''White Album''. Nilsson, in turn, played to Lennon (who had spent thirty-six hours listening to Nilsson's previous album, ''Pandemonium Shadow Show'') a demo cut of ''Aerial Ballet''.
The album was reissued in 1980 on Pickwick Records (ACL-7075) with a different cover. The new art featured a biplane in a field, with the pilot standing in the foreground smoking a cigarette in a holder. The release had a printed stamp in the upper right corner announcing "Grammy Award Winner, Best Contemporary Male Vocalist, Everybody's Talkin{{'"}}. The tracklist also changed, with both "Daddy's Song" and "Bath" being removed.
== Track listing == {{track listing | headline = Side one | all_writing = Harry Nilsson, except where noted | title1 = Daddy's Song* | length1 = 2:41 | title2 = Good Old Desk | length2 = 2:22 | title3 = Don't Leave Me | length3 = 2:18 | title4 = Mr. Richland's Favorite Song | length4 = 2:12 | title5 = Little Cowboy | length5 = 1:22 | title6 = Together | length6 = 2:08 }} {{track listing | headline = Side two | title7 = Everybody's Talkin{{'-}} | writer7 = Fred Neil | length7 = 2:41 | title8 = I Said Goodbye to Me | length8 = 2:13 | title9 = Little Cowboy (Reprise) | length9 = 0:52 | title10 = Mr. Tinker | length10 = 2:41 | title11 = One | length11 = 2:50 | title12 = The Wailing of the Willow | writer12 = Harry Nilsson, Ian Freebairn-Smith | length12 = 2:00 | title13 = Bath | length13 = 2:24 }} {{track listing | headline = Bonus Tracks | title14 = Sister Marie | length14 = 3:01 | title15 = Miss Butter's Lament | length15 = 2:20 | title16 = Girlfriend | length16 = 1:50 }} *excluded from initial British copies
== Personnel == Credits per Allmusic:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/aerial-ballet-mw0000645332/credits |title=Aerial Ballet – Harry Nilsson | Credits |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=2020-10-05}}</ref>
{{div col}} * Harry Nilsson – vocals * Dennis Budimir – guitar * Al Casey – guitar * Michael Melvoin – harpsichord, organ, piano * Larry Knechtel – bass, piano * Lyle Ritz – bass * Jim Gordon – drums * Milt Holland – bells, mallets, tabla, timpani * Carroll Lewis – trumpet, flugelhorn * Ollie Mitchell – trumpet * Anthony Terran – trumpet, flugelhorn * Robert Enevoldsen – baritone horn, trombone * Dick Hyde – baritone horn, bass trombone * Robert Knight – baritone horn, bass trombone * Richard Taylor "Dick" Nash – baritone horn, trombone * George Roberts – baritone horn * David Duke – French horn, tuba * James R. Horn – flute * Bob Hardaway – woodwinds * Plas Johnson – woodwinds * John Lowe – woodwinds * John Rotella – woodwinds * Leonard Atkins – violin * Arnold Belnick – violin * James Getzoff – violin * Alfred Lustgarten – violin * Leonard Malarsky – violin * Wilbert Nuttycombe – violin * Jerome Reisler – violin * Charlotte Soy – violin * Darrel Terwilliger – violin * William Weiss – violin * Tibor Zelig – violin * Jesse Ehrlich – cello * Ray Kelly – cello * Jacqueline Lustgarten – cello{{div col end}}
'''Production and technical personnel''' * George Tipton – arrangements * Rick Jarrard – producer * Brian Christian – engineer * Grover Helsley – engineer * Allen Zentz – engineer * Hank McGill – engineer * Pat Ieraci – technician * Dick Hendler – artwork, cover illustration
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070928000357/http://www.harrynilsson.com/page-aerial-ballet-monophonic-lp.html Aerial Ballet at The Harry Nilsson Web Pages]
{{Harry Nilsson}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Harry Nilsson albums Category:1968 albums Category:RCA Records albums Category:Albums produced by Rick Jarrard Category:Albums arranged by George Tipton Category:Orchestral pop albums