Buying George Harrison

[webby]

Hi,

Been thinking about getting All things must pass, but should I be looking elsewhere as an introduction to George? Obviously, I know his work with the Beatles, but only some of his solo stuff.

Any tips?

Thanks,

Lee

[The Grand Wazoo]

Hi there, Lee.
I've got a copy of 'All Things Must Pass'. I bought it a few years back & I've just played it for the first time in a very long time.
It's a great album!

It was the first thing he did after the break up of 'that band' so he had a lot of stuff to get out of his system after being held back by Lennon & McCartney.
The musicians are pretty much a who's who.....

....Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, John Lennon
Klaus Voormann, Carl Radle, Gary Brooker, Dave Mason, Gary Wright, Bobby Whitlock, Ringo Starr, Alan White,Peter Frampton, Billy Preston, Bobby Keys Jim Price, Jim Gordon.............and more.........including a tale from one who was there that Rick Wright from Pink Floyd (uncredited) played organ

Harrison remastered it just before he died. The remastered edition has an extra re-recorded version of 'My Sweet Lord' with Sam Brown on backing vocals. The remastered version which I have is on heavy vinyl.

[webby]

Thanks Chris,

I take it you don't have any others or else you'd have mentioned them.

[The Grand Wazoo]

Well, I've got 'Living in the Material World' & 'Dark Horse' too, but 'All Things...' is my favourite.

[Alex_UK]

Thanks for this Chris - after rather enjoying Abbey Road's Harrison contributions this is a good one for me to try too. The flipside is that Beatles et al including Harrison are not Spotifiable so another purchase... Oh well!

[The Grand Wazoo]

I think he had the most consistantly good solo career out of all of them - Dark Horse indeed!

'Material World' is a bit grumpy & religious
'Dark Horse' is a little more bouncy! (But he had a throat infection when it was recorded so some folk called it Dark Hoarse)

[DSJR]

My own impressions of All Things is of a light "country" album, rather than a rock one. Pleasant, but a bit old fashioned for me (I prefer the "pop prog" stuff from this period personally).

The only other GH album I know a little of is "Cloud 9," which I never bought... The singles from it were the WEAKEST tracks as I recall.

A tragedy the man is no longer with us...

[Ashmore]

Aside from 'All Things...', I would recommend:

'Brainwashed', his last album, completed after his death I believe. Somewhat lavishly produced. Full of well-crafted songs, the odd Indian interlude and an affectionate rendition of the 'Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea'.

'Living in the Material World' - a nice mix of uplifting stuff (eg Give Me Love, reminiscent of Here Comes the Sun), a bit of grim post Beatles trauma (Sue Me Sue You Blues) and a (perhaps over-)generous dollop of religious/spiritual ballads.

'Wonderwall Music' - doesn't stand critique on the same terms as other albums, but this Beatles era movie soundtrack gives you some great melodic fragments and leaves you with a wonderful sense of the era.

'Somewhere In England' - a collection of nicely done George pop and includes his tribute to John Lennon.

Then for me it heads downhill. I don't much like 33 & 1/3, or Cloud Nine. I wouldn't bother with 'George Harrison' or 'Extra Texture' and I find 'Electronic Sound' unlistenable.

Don't forget the Concert for Bangladesh and the Travelling Willbury stuff. Not solely George of course, but he features very prominently.

Simon

[Alex_UK]

Remastered 2CD version of All Things Must Pass just delivered by the postman so will see how that goes (and sorry for hijacking your request Lee!)

[Ashmore]

You can't go wrong with 'All Things...' Alex, it's a great album. I especially like the jam sessions on the second disc (side six of the original album release as I recall).