"Without Her" shootout - what's your favorite version?

[Mike Blakesley]

So last night I was listening to some music by America and I decided to look up music by Gerry Beckley, one of their singers, on Wikipedia to see if he had anything new lately. (It can be confusing looking at Amazon Music "Unlimited" sometimes because they often make it hard to distinguish between an "album" and a "single" in their listings.)

In poking around the discography, I noticed that Beckley had done an album with Robert Lamm (of Chicago) and Brian Wilson (Beach Boys) in 2000. So I went and looked at that, and there was a song called "Without Her," written by Harry Nilsson, which I recognized as the same tune Herb had done on the Warm album. So I checked it out, and I think it's my new favorite version of the song. That's Beckley on the lead vocals.



After listening to this, I decided to check out other versions of the song. I found that Blood Sweat and Tears had covered it, and listening to that version, I have a feeling this might have been the version Herb heard when he discovered the song. A lot of the elements in the BS&T version made it into Herb's version, most notably the lonely piano sounds and the melody -- which BS&T changed up a bit from the Nilsson version, but Herb pretty much replicated.

BS&T version:


And last but not least, the original Nilsson version:


There are a few other versions of the song floating around too, most notably a "remixed" Nilsson version that adds more harmonies.

 

[Rudy]

Roon Player (pulling from Qobuz) shows 30 recordings in the database. I weeded out duplicates and came up with 25 versions. I threw them into a playlist, totaling 74 minutes.

Shootout time!

I found versions by Glen Campbell, Julie London, Ricky Nelson, Astrud Gilberto, Percy Faith, Johnny Mathis, Peter Lotis, Sal Salvador & Orchestra, Bola Sete, Al Kooper, George Benson, Chocolate Seastorm, Raw Trhills, Ken Peplowski, Johanna Warren, The Get You, Alyssandra Nighswonger, Gospel pour 100 Voix, Danny Johnson, and apparently a live version with Harry Nilsson/Daryl Runswick/The London Jazz Four...in addition to the three above. (Some artists in my list, and Nilsson himself, appear on "hits" anthologies among those weeded out.)

 

[Harry]

Since discovering it about eight or so years ago, I've liked Astrud Gilberto's version. It's on her I HAVEN'T GOT ANYTHING BETTER TO DO album.

 

[Rudy]

I couldn't wait until tomorrow to flip through the playlist. The Johnny Mathis version is a very similar arrangement, including the wood block in the quiet sections, and the orchestral swell. It was released in August 1969, two months past Herbie's version. The Peter Lotis version (Nov. 1970) also has the same type of arrangement (with some bonus trumpet fills)--Lotis was a South African broadcaster and singer.

That Beckley-Lamm-Wilson version is a nicely updated recording of the track.

Chocolate Seastorm seems to be like a 2000s-era lounge-type band, as they cover the song with a bossa nova beat. Raw Thrills goes back to Nilsson's version but gives it an odd alt-rock twist. Ken Poplowski, on the other hand, is a jazz clarinetist. The Get You reminds me of a late 70s punk band.

Quite a variety.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I checked out the Glen Campbell version. It's well done, as everything he did is. I had no idea this song was so well-covered. I mean, its a nice song and all but it's not as good as Nilsson's other "without" song, "Without You," which seemed to be everywhere at one point.