George Harrison: Search & Destroy

and no one else on Earth has that sweet sound he got on the slide roundabout 1969.

and no one else on Earth has that sweet sound he got on the slide roundabout 1969 onwards.

The only other one of his I have is Living In The Material World which is one of those records that almost mechanically alternates between tracks that make you want to put it on and tracks that make you keep flipping past in the bin. "Don't Let Me Wait Too Long" is probably the best thing on there, would have slid in to ATMP very very nicely. And of course "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)" which is short on lyrics but is lovely and head-sticky, and I like his vocal on it, so hey.

One night I randomly caught the drag-racing-themed video clip for the later "Faster" on VH1 Classic. That's probably worth hearing at least once - the "Faster than a bullet from a gun!" line is really cool, unfortunately the song overall is really aimless and dull. I fear that probably describes a lot of the 70s and 80s Harrison, which is why I haven't really delved much further, and this thread isn't giving me much inspiration to. Surely ILX has at least one rabid defender of Extra Texture?

Oh, and as for his Beatles work: his own compositions are about an even mix of very good ("Taxman," "Something," "Savoy Truffle") and embarassingly bad ("I Need You," "Piggies"). His guitar playing on the other hand is consistently essential, and fun to listen for because you can hear it getting better and better with each successive album. Get to Revolver and he pretty much epitomizes what I think rock guitarists should play like and sound like. Not such a fan of the slide stuff later on but it has its moments.

Unheralded greatness: George as backing vocalist! He's the Michael Anthony of the 60s, the absolutely essential ingredient in so many songs I don't know how to pick an example. "I'm Down" is probably the best use of him as the straight man. His lead vocals are sometimes awkward, sometimes so perfect you can't imagine the song without them - see "Don't Bother Me," "Love You To." Also check "Roll Over Beethoven" as it appears on Live At The Hollywood Bowl, where he has McCartney putting some enthusiasm into backing him up, it's great.

In short - I think the conventional wisdom is right. One great album (near excellent), inconsistent as a songwriter outside of that, but very consistently perfect as guitarist and team-member where-ever he appears.

omg I love love love this song

Thank you, Tim! Don't know if it's because of the horns, acoustic 12 string, sad lyrics or what, but this song has always been my favorite from ATMP.

xpost: kyle, I think this was not George (Martin's) shining moment. I like the slow tremelo Harrison used here, but it seems to be overplayed with at the console. wtf do I know? I do enjoy the song though.

For point of comparison, check out "Another Girl," where he tears it up on the same kind of call-and-response gap. "For I have got" BRANDOWN DA DOWN DOWN... etc. Now obviously "I Need You" is a different sort of song but it just feels as if so little energy was brought to bear on it. In George's defense, I would suspect that this was more for lack of interest from the other Beatles/George Martin than from himself...

Title song from Dark Horse LP
"You" from Extra Texture
whole 33 1/3 LP
whole s/t LP from 1979
"Blood from a Clone" and "All Those Years Ago" and "Teardrops" from Somewhere in England LP (and I wish they'd put out those four tracks that got edited out when the record company had him rework the album - "Lay His Head" and those)
whole Gone Troppo LP

but "love you to" is one of the songs that absolutely spoils revolver for me. the lyric "make love all day long/make love singing songs" makes me laugh uproariously!

Actually, Tim, I believe "Yes It Is" also employs a volume pedal. And I'm pretty sure "Love You To" does as well.

Nice to see the fantastic "What Is Life" get so much love here.

yeah - that lyric's obviously ridiculous when you can get the whole thing over in 20 minutes maximum, including foreplay, right?

My guess is that George was already becoming well-immersed in Indian art and traditions by this time. In Indian art you can indeed see conjoined couples singing to each other. And the Kama Sutra, of course...

Not mentioned so far: Search: his lead playing on a lot of the Hamburg album, really tough jagged lines, like he's using a razor blade instead of a pick, the best he ever sounded.

That lyric reminds me of those mid-late 90s sex instruction shows that were suddenly everywhere on UK TV, with presenters like Toyah Wilcox (no, really) saying things like:

"Why not try singing to your partner when you make love?

It used to popular in indian culture - we're trying to bring it back."

The Trypes did a really good version of this. In typical Feelies format, the lyrics kind of blend into the rest of the song.

"Love You To" > "Within You Without You"

No love for "don't bother me"?

Ouch.

For a short time I had a cassette of his "Dark Horse Years" greatest hits, until the tape got screwed up at the very beginning of a long Greyhound ride. Some great stuff on there - "Gone Troppo," "Crackerbox Palace," "Here Comes The Moon," "Blow Away." Could really do without the 'thoughtful' stuff, especially the 'all your money doesn't make you happy' trip on "Cheer Down." But some really nice material - wish it had had "Faster" on it but hey.

"Crackerbox Palace" may have been the first music video I've ever seen...I recall George popping out of a pram which was being pushed by a woman with John Lennon glasses...

I still own that Dark Horse tape; it's all you need own from the era. "Cheer Down" is terrific -- god, the guy needed collaborators.

"Blow Away" would make a solo Beatles CD-R comp.

Proof that McCartney wasn't a control freak is that mewling, turgid pomposity like "While My Guitar Noisily and Repititiously Whines" and "Something"(genius lyric - "I don't kno-o- ow, I-I-I don't know") was allowed on their albums.

"Something" has been recorded in, what is it?, 300-400 different versions or Something. So I guess there must be Something to it....

So, if there is any song that summarizes George Harrison solo it's "That Is All."

On the Living In the Material World, it's this histrionic atrocity with one of the man's worst vocals ever (and that's saying something). Witness:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTb0SurR2p4

Thankfully, I got to know the song as the lead track on Harry Nilsson's 1976 ...That's the Way It Is record, which reveals the song to be one of the best, most lovely things George ever wrote. Witness:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9jmq_8oTLI

http://thisiheard.blogspot.com/2009/12/george-harrison-dream-away-1982.html

i like that harrison vocal
xpost

this is weird

http://www.youtube.com/user/pizzatimeplayer

But destroy a lot of the rest, and destroy his ethos above all: it's the Sham 69 of hippiedom, the ugly meme that discredits all the good stuff.

― Robin Carmody, Friday, August 31, 2001 12:00 AM (9 years ago)

wonder what the hell this was supposed to mean.

I think it was an accusation that there was too much dogma in his lyrics.

Does Robin post here anymore? He was all over ILM in its early days -- and he has a nice British name.

A musician friend and I discussed George on Saturday; he was even more violent in his dismissal. "The guy's almost as bad a crank as Lou Reed, except he had the fortune never to record Berlin.

I remember when a friend played me "It's Johnny's Birthday." I thought they were singing "This song is worthless." I agreed.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Saturday, August 19, 2006 9:

lol

Remove Living in the Material World and Somewhere in England from his discography and I don't think anyone ever makes that accusation, Alfred.

A musician friend and I discussed George on Saturday; he was even more violent in his dismissal. "The guy's almost as bad a crank as Lou Reed, except he had the fortune never to record Berlin.

I thought George came off really well in the Anthology series - maybe a bit dismissive of The Beatles legacy, but he seemed to really have good humor about it.

He had moments of Cranky Old Dad that mitigated Ringo and Paul's sentimentality -- gestures and remarks you imagine John would have made -- but I always remember this moment when the three are jamming on stools and Paul, obviously having a ball, says, "Another one?" and George aims the briefest of evil scowls at him, as if he's thinking, "It's not 1969, motherfucker."

Download zip file of "Beware of Abkco", solo demos for "All Things Must Pass." Love this, could even bring some of the haters around:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YLWVTLIV

Been listening to some of the albums I never loved. I think, even when it's not my favorite stuff, he didn't really indulge in just creating filler. Like on Extra Texture, I feel like I kinda get what he was going after with those songs and that there always seems to be some degree of musicality to the compositions that I find interesting at least.

Somewhere in England sounding pretty good to me lately.