This February 23, George Harrison would’ve turned 82. But, as is often the case, the universe had a different plan in mind, and – instead – the former Beatle left us at age 58 way back in 2001.
But despite his early exit, Harrison left behind a staggering amount of “stuff to listen to,” much of which is – inarguably at this point – historically important, if not the fodder of legend. In this feature, we’ve attempted to pinpoint – album by album – his greatest songs, solos, guest appearances and production credits.
We’ve started the timeline at 1963, excluding anything “unofficial” (sorry, Star Club, BBC and Decca!) but including his most impactful cameos. No, it’s not complete (not gonna happen!), but all the biggies (and a few smallies) are here. Dig in!
Enter, Beatlemania....
The Beatles – Please Please Me (1963)
The Beatles' debut album was drawn mostly from the group’s stage act. Completed on February 11, 1963, with minimal vocal overdubbing, producer George Martin added piano (Misery) and celesta (Baby It’s You) later.
John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison conformed to their stated roles of rhythm, bass and lead guitar respectfully, Lennon holding down the chord side on his Gibson J160-E or Rickenbacker 325, with Harrison adding syncopations, fills and solos on his Gretsch Duo Jet or Chet Atkins Country Gentleman.
Kicking off with Paul’s “One, two, three, four” count-in, I Saw Her Standing There sounded raw, sexy and exciting. Featuring George’s R&B-style fills and a solo typical of its time, it remains one of the greatest debut-album openers.
Ask Me Why finds George playing subtle Gretsch fills, with double-stops, chord stabs and a jazzy major 7th arpeggio to finish. Harrison sings two of the album’s 14 tracks, the better of which is Do You Want to Know a Secret, with his and Lennon’s J160-E’s plugged into their new Vox AC30s.
The album’s zenith sees Harrison providing the riff to Lennon’s one-take throat killer, Twist and Shout, an equally brilliant closer to one of pop’s most significant records. [NM]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: I Saw Her Standing There, Do You Want to Know a Secret, Ask Me Why
The Beatles – With the Beatles (1963)
After the triumph of their debut album and a slew of hit singles, there was bounty in the pot for the follow-up. Album opener It Won’t Be Long immediately reveals the record’s more polished and “produced” sound.
With eight band compositions including Don’t Bother Me, Harrison’s first writing credit, and some well-chosen covers, With the Beatles also makes the most of the group’s superb three-part vocal harmonies.
Paul McCartney’s All My Loving, his best composition so far, is a musical tour de force driven by his loping bass and Lennon’s relentless “triplets” rhythm guitar.
Harrison’s Chet Atkins-style solo, mostly played in sixths, is a mini marvel that reveals his unerring ability to conjure concise 'melodies within melodies'
Harrison’s Chet Atkins-style solo, mostly played in sixths, is a mini marvel that reveals his unerring ability to conjure concise 'melodies within melodies.'
Another perfect case in point is Till There Was You; over Starr’s bolero-style drums George weaves a classical guitar break using diminished runs and dashing arpeggios (he repeated it, note perfect, albeit on his electric Gretsch, on the band’s first Ed Sullivan Show appearance in early 1964).
Devil in Her Heart, another Harrison vocal, demonstrates more melodic savvy, with lilting Spanish-style intro and outro solo in thirds. George’s big feature here, though, is on Chuck Berry’s Roll Over Beethoven, where he tightens up Berry’s signature licks to supply perhaps the definitive version of the song.
Also culled from the With the Beatles sessions were the group’s next single’s A- and B-side – I Want to Hold Your Hand, the track that propelled the band to superstardom in the U.S., and the beautiful three-part harmony ballad, This Boy. [NM]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: All My Loving, Don’t Bother Me, Till There Was You, Roll Over Beethoven
The Beatles – Hard Day's Night (1964)
The album that kicks off with that chord! Harrison plays an Fadd9 on his Rickenbacker 360/12, doubled by Lennon on acoustic, with Paul playing a D bass note and George Martin adding a sustained piano chord.
Martin doubled Harrison’s Rickenbacker solo on piano, and George stylishly arpeggiated his Fadd9 to see out the song. The 12-string features on several tracks, complementing Lennon’s rhythm or adding breaks to I Should Have Known Better, the solo of which he ends on a neat-sounding sixth.
Harrison unleashes his José Ramirez classical for Paul’s And I Love Her, creating the statement intro that McCartney said dramatically aided the song’s impact. In the verses George picks out three-note arpeggios, and as the song changes key from E/C#m to F his solo mirrors the tune with genuine panache.
But this is an unabashed “pop” album, so Harrison’s guitar is used to color, punctuate and highlight and – while universally hailed as one of their finest albums – it really stands out on the aforementioned numbers. [NM]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: A Hard Day’s Night, If I Fell, And I Love Her
The Beatles – Beatles For Sale (1964)
Recorded in the midst of Beatlemania and constant touring, Beatles for Sale was snatched together from recording days here and writing sessions there. Harrison’s contributions include his cover of Carl Perkins’ Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby, with nods to his idol in the solos and a tight finishing lick.
Also in the country vein is Harrison’s work on Lennon’s I’m a Loser, where the coarse twang of his Gretsch Tennessean can be heard in the fills and Perkins/Chet Atkins-style solo.
On Baby’s in Black, George’s fills and solo are more experimental, with lazy bends and slurs and an almost out-of-tuneness that adds to the song’s dark nature. On I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party he provides more Perkins-style licks and a nicely paced solo. George’s Rickenbacker 360/12 came out for Eight Days a Week with its groundbreaking fade-in guitar lick. [NM]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: I’m a Loser, Baby’s in Black, Eight Days a Week
The Beatles – Help! (1965)
If Beatles For Sale was their “country” album, Help! represented the Beatles’ Dylan phase. Acoustic guitars, contemplative lyrics and the addition of new instruments and effects gave the album its singular vibe.
On the upbeat title track, Harrison created one of his signature licks, a descending run on the middle four strings. On strings five and four, starting at the seventh fret, was a rundown in chromatic minor thirds, but with the third and second strings played open.
As for guitar innovations, on The Night Before John and George doubled the solo in octaves, while for I Need You Harrison introduced the DeArmond volume pedal to enliven the A-Asus2-Asus4-A sequence.
On You’re Gonna Lose That Girl, George played his new Sonic Blue Fender Strat for the solo but aborted it due to the guitar’s heavy strings. He successfully re-recorded it later. [NM]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: Help!, The Night Before, I Need You
The Beatles come of age
The Beatles – Rubber Soul (1965)
Widely heralded as bridging the gap between four moptops and the technically groundbreaking and socially aware group they were becoming, the Beatles also laid down the double-A-side single We Can Work it Out/Day Tripper during the sessions.
Harrison supplied two compositions: Think for Yourself, which McCartney dominated with his overdubbed fuzz bass, and If I Needed Someone, the electric 12-string riff that took back from the Byrds the sound he’d unwittingly gifted them.
With no tour distractions, the band treated the studio like their personal music laboratory, searching for sounds that matched their ever-growing maturity.
McCartney’s Drive My Car sees Paul playing the quirky guitar intro and slide solo. Harrison suggested he double the bass part with arpeggios on his Strat’s lower strings, following the chords and ending with the Hendrixy A7#9 over which they sang “Beep-beep, beep-beep, yeah.”
For Lennon’s Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown), George introduced a sitar. Although a neophyte on the instrument that can take an Indian classical musician a lifetime to master, his mirroring of John’s vocal melody foresaw the psychedelia and prog-rock that were just around the corner.
On Nowhere Man, George creates a chord-based solo on his highly EQ’d Strat (possibly doubled with John’s), while for Paul’s Michelle he adds a warm-toned jazz-style break taught to him by Martin. [NM]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: If I Needed Someone, Nowhere Man, Drive My Car
The Beatles – Revolver (1966)
Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield called Revolver “the best album the Beatles ever made, which means the best album by anybody.” Paperback Writer and Rain were recorded for Revolver but released as a single instead.
Having busted so many barriers with Rubber Soul, the way was clear for the band, with Martin plus enthusiastic young engineer Geoff Emerick, to create something unprecedented. And such was Harrison’s progression that Taxman was deemed strong enough to open proceedings.
Featuring George’s spiky riff and 7th and 7#9 rhythm, it was McCartney, however, that supplied the sensational solo. “He did a little Indian bit on it for me,” Harrison said.
Although the sitar-led Love You To was Harrison’s greatest achievement on Revolver, the only guitar present is his distorted Bb chord against the song’s droning C key signature. On Lennon’s radical Tomorrow Never Knows” and dreamy I’m Only Sleeping, we hear another Beatles innovation.
Emerick turned the tape over so it ran the other way: George composed his guitar parts so that when the reel was flipped back, they’d be heard in reverse. It created an eerie but beautiful sound. I Want to Tell You, another Harrison original, kicks off with a twangy, angular riff played on his Strat; it most definitely inspired the Monkees’ Pleasant Valley Sunday.
Harrison reprised the Rickenbacker 360/12 for his solos in McCartney’s Here, There and Everywhere, but he and Paul shared guitar duties on And Your Bird Can Sing. The tone of their Epiphone Casinos, played in harmony against Lennon’s own Casino, is another brilliant moment. [NM]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: Taxman, I’m Only Sleeping, Love You To, And Your Bird Can Sing
The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
This album is viewed by many as the Beatles’ finest 39 minutes, 36 seconds. Although it was McCartney’s concept, and largely dominated by his songs (and fabulous bass playing), Harrison’s guitar still played a major role.
But on his magnum opus, the Hindu-influenced Within You Without You, he contributed only acoustic, leaving all the other instrumentation to London-based Indian musicians.
Harrison’s more notable six-string contributions to Pepper include his beautiful electric 12-string intro to With a Little Help from My Friends plus some fantastic harmonized fills and a well-thought-out solo in McCartney’s Fixing a Hole.
On John’s psychedelic masterpiece Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds he doubles Lennon’s vocal in the bridges as a sarangi player would, while in the choruses his Leslie’d Strat follows McCartney’s bass line. On Getting Better he overdubs a 15th-fret G octave on top of a third-fret Csus4 chord to give the song its bright attack.
The title track’s reprise is a whole-band effort, with George and John’s heavy rhythm guitars and plenty of highly distorted fills from Harrison. On the album’s legendary closer, A Day in the Life, Harrison plays only maracas (and along those lines, that’s Paul playing the blazing Good Morning Good Morning solo).
The double A-side Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever were recorded during the Pepper sessions and were originally intended for the album. George Martin described their omission as “the worst mistake of my professional life.” [NM]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS:With a Little Help from My Friends, Fixing a Hole, Getting Better, Within You Without You
1967 to 1970: A magical mystery tour
The Beatles – Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
The original U.K. double EP of six new songs to accompany the band’s 1967 Christmas TV special might have stood as the Beatles’ farewell to psychedelia. But Capitol demanded a U.S. album, so 1967’s singles, plus All You Need Is Love, bulked MMT up to album status.
On I Am the Walrus and Penny Lane, there’s little guitar of note, while on Fool on the Hill George merely strummed 12-string acoustic. For Flying, he played tremolo rhythm guitar then overlaid the “sliding sixths” idea he’d revisit for Don’t Let Me Down.
Strawberry Fields Forever is awash with orchestral instruments, Mellotron and studio trickery, but George’s solo makes use of string bends, open strings and trills.
For the Our World broadcast, All You Need Is Love was played partly live to an audience of around half a billion. George’s Strat solo ends with a “clunk” that (oddly) wasn’t fixed during the final mix. [NM]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: Flying, Strawberry Fields Forever, All You Need Is Love
George Harrison – Wonderwall Music (1968)
This unassuming little record represents a slew of firsts. It’s George’s first solo album. It’s the first solo album to be released by any Beatle (unless you count 1967’s The Family Way, but that’s technically a McCartney/Martin project).
It’s the first album to be entirely produced by George. It’s the first time Harrison and Eric Clapton recorded together. And because it beat the White Album (more on that soon) by three weeks, it was the first album to be released via Apple Records, the band’s new label.
On top of all that, its title inspired a 1995 Oasis hit, and – with all its Indian music and musicians (in addition to all its Western music and musicians) – it arrived decades ahead of the world-music scene of the ’80s. But for all its firsts, Wonderwall Music is, well, underwhelming.
But when you consider that it’s just an instrumental soundtrack album – for Wonderwall, an interesting little film by Joe Massot (the same gent who co-directed Led Zeppelin’s The Song Remains the Same) – you’re easily able to adjust your expectations and welcome it as a bit of “bonus ’60s George.”
Make that – on some songs – bonus ’60s George plus Ringo, plus Clapton. Unlike later big-budget soundtrack albums, there’s no hit song here – no Live and Let Die, For Your Eyes Only or My Heart Will Go On.
The closest thing to a catchy, standalone tune that you might hear on SiriusXM’s The Beatles Channel is the oddly pleasing Party Seacombe. And Red Lady Too is pretty cool (too). [DF]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: Party Seacombe, Ski-ing, Wonderwall to Be Here
The Beatles – The White Album (1968)
The band’s double, so-called White Album saw them drift away from psychedelia and revert to more straightforward songs while retaining groundbreaking production ideas. We’ll mention only the tracks to which Harrison added significant impact.
After Starr had walked out of the Back in the U.S.S.R. sessions feeling unloved, McCartney played drums and Harrison supplied the bottom end on Fender Bass VI. He also played the guitar solo and fills, but McCartney added the tremolo-picked 17th-fret A note over the last verse.
Harrison contributed four compositions, and Savoy Truffle was a nod to Clapton’s love for Good News chocolates
Lennon’s Dear Prudence sees John using the fingerstyle pattern taught to him by Donovan in India. Harrison devised a glorious solo played in octaves then rising in arpeggios to the top fret of his Les Paul.
Harrison contributed four compositions, and Savoy Truffle was a nod to Clapton’s love for Good News chocolates. The track is heavy with Harrison guitar, doubling the vocal melody and with a tasty, searing solo.
While Clapton famously helped rescue While My Guitar Gently Weeps with his stunning first-take soloing, George’s only guitar contribution was his strummed Gibson J-200.
The band’s favorite track is Lennon’s Happiness Is a Warm Gun, a composite of song snippets that Harrison helped John forge together. George plays stabbing chords and, most notably, the writhing, distorted solo on his Bartell fretless guitar.
Other great moments are Harrison’s acoustic Long, Long, Long and his solo on Paul’s mighty Helter Skelter. [NM]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: Savoy Truffle, Long, Long, Long, Happiness Is a Warm Gun, Helter Skelter
The Beatles – Yellow Submarine (1969)
The Beatles were contracted to supply four songs for an animated film that fulfilled their three-movie deal. Although recorded before the White Album, it didn’t hit the shops until two months later.
Side one featured the four new tracks and two previous releases; the title track, on which Harrison played no guitar, and All You Need Is Love. Side two comprised orchestral arrangements from George Martin.
Of the four remaining tracks, Harrison’s Only a Northern Song sees him playing Hammond organ but no guitar, and on McCartney’s throwaway ditty Altogether Now he strummed acoustic only. However, his own Indian-inspired It’s All Too Much is littered with guitar.
The song begins with Hendrix-style feedback and sounds like George’s Bigsby-equipped Epi Casino rather than the Strat that some have suggested. Although Lennon and Harrison are credited as lead guitarists, we think it’s mostly George.
That leaves the album’s best cut, Hey Bulldog, where Harrison plays the blues scale riff on his Gibson SG then doubles it higher up before going into his spiky solo. Although credited to Lennon, it’s surely George, John only underpinning it with typical “rhythm/lead” double-stops. [NM]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: It’s All Too Much, Hey Bulldog, All You Need Is Love
Jackie Lomax – Is This What You Want? (1969)
This brief stop in our timeline represents another rung on the “producer George” ladder. Jackie Lomax – formerly of Liverpool rockers the Undertakers ((Do The) Mashed Potatoes, anyone?) – had a big, booming voice and should’ve been much more famous than he actually was.
And you’d think Harrison’s production of this Apple Records release – sessions for which took place in London and LA (with George thus becoming the first Beatle to record in the U.S.) – would’ve helped a bit.
Um, it didn’t. What’s even crazier is that the album features musical contributions by Harrison, McCartney, Starr, Clapton, Nicky Hopkins, John Barham and Klaus Voormann, not to mention members of LA’s Wrecking Crew; on top of that, lead-off single Sour Milk Sea was written by Harrison and features every Beatle besides Lennon, making it (arguably) more of “a Beatles song” than some of the stuff on the White Album and Let It Be.
Sour Milk Sea tends to get all the attention (such as it is) these days, but be sure to check out the title track (the red-headed stepchild of I Am the Walrus) and Harrison’s very out-front “backing” vocals on Going Back to Liverpool. [DF]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: Sour Milk Sea, Is This What You Want?, Going Back to Liverpool (included on later reissues)
The Beatles – Abbey Road (1969)
Abbey Road shows the band at yet another musically creative peak. Harrison brought the album his two best compositions, Here Comes the Sun – with its flat-picked 7th-fret capo figure – and Something, which contains his finest “tune within a tune” solo.
On Come Together, while John played the lead break following Paul’s Fender Rhodes solo, George created languid phrases with deliberately slow vibrato over the fade-out. And for Ringo’s Octopus’s Garden he whips around the frets of his “Rocky” Strat on the intro and rosewood Tele for the slicing main solo.
The guitar highlight is, of course, the three-way battle between Paul, who played first (Casino), George, who went second (Les Paul) and John who brought up the rear (Casino) on The End.
Played live in two-bar sections, it highlighted their distinct styles and approaches. Studio engineer Geoff Emerick said, “They looked like they had gone back in time, like they were kids again, playing together for the sheer enjoyment of it.”
But could George top this? Of course he could, and his exquisite solo after Paul’s “and in the end” couplet displays total understanding of what was required and is a fitting way to sign off. [NM]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: Something, Here Comes the Sun, Octopus’s Garden, The End
The Beatles – Let It Be (1970)
Although (mostly) recorded before Abbey Road, Let It Be was held back due to the group’s dissatisfaction with the mixes. Lennon and Harrison suggested Phil Spector have a go at making things sound less scrappy, but his over-egging of the pudding angered McCartney, who later released a de-Spectored version, 2003’s Let It Be… Naked, with the orchestrations removed and John’s Don’t Let Me Down reinstated.
On McCartney’s Two of Us, Harrison’s riffy rosewood Tele licks complement the song’s lighthearted, folksy nature. Harrison added wah-wah rhythm to Across the Universe, while on I Dig a Pony, which is the live Apple rooftop version, George doubles John’s riff and adds country-style sixth fills and an angular solo.
Of the album’s two Harrison compositions, I Me Mine is the more guitar-forward, with his acoustic, plus distorted electric guitar intro, riffs and another of those distinctive, jagged solos. For You Blue is notable for George’s tight J-200 acoustic picking and Lennon’s Hofner lap steel solo. Let it Be’s title track featured Harrison’s C major pentatonic solo.
On the album version it’s a hard-edged, not overly musical tone, whereas the single featured a more pleasing, Leslie-effected take. For Long and Winding Road, Harrison’s Leslie’d Les Paul is all but buried, but McCartney rekindles it on Naked. [NM]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: Two of Us, I Me Mine, Let It Be, Dig a Pony
The former Beatle turns Dark Horse: Harrison in the '70s
Billy Preston – Encouraging Words (1970)
From the moment Billy Preston galvanized the Beatles’ Let It Be sessions in early 1969, he and Harrison became fast friends and collaborators. Preston was all over All Things Must Pass and the Concert for Bangladesh, while Harrison co-produced and played on both of Preston’s Apple Records releases.
Because the title track was a hit, his debut album, That’s the Way God Planned It, is better known. But this 1970 follow-up is more consistent.
If you need further proof of Harrison’s generosity as a collaborator, he gives Preston first dibs on two of his best songs from that period
Preston was a facile and fierce keyboardist, so it makes sense that Harrison would naturally fall into more of a supporting role here.
But there are standout guitar moments throughout – the fast, funky strumming and Steve Cropper-style hammered chord inversions on You’ve Been Acting Strange, the wah-wah fills laced into Use What You Got, the Leslie-swirled picking and fuzz tones on Sing One for the Lord (which George co-wrote). For more guitar power, Eric Clapton and Delaney Bramlett are also part of the all-star session crew.
If you need further proof of Harrison’s generosity as a collaborator, he gives Preston first dibs on two of his best songs from that period – My Sweet Lord and All Things Must Pass (Encouraging Words was released a full two months before All Things Must Pass).
Preston takes the former straight down the aisle of a rollicking southern Baptist church, while he invests the latter with grandeur and classical flourishes. The two friends were definitely in tune musically and spiritually.
As Preston said, “I want to give people something that they’ll really remember, to help their lives. And what I’m talking about is God – a good solid message that makes you think.” [BD]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: All Things Must Pass, Sing One for the Lord, You’ve Been Acting Strange
George Harrison – All Things Must Pass (1970)
Consistently constrained by his distinctly third-fiddle role in the Beatles, upon the band’s ultimate dissolution Harrison the songwriter came into his own (and then some) on this mammoth triple album.
Packed with choice material, much of which had been accumulated during his latter tenure as a Beatle, many tracks had been simmering on his back burner for some years.
Isn’t It a Pity and Art of Dying date from as far back as ’66. I’d Have You Anytime
(co-written with Bob Dylan in Woodstock, New York) and Let It Down stem from late ’68. Meanwhile, an entire batch of material – All Things Must Pass, Hear Me Lord, the brash McCartney-targeted Wah-Wah – found its genesis during the Beatles’ Get Back rehearsals of early ’69.
Driven and inspired, Harrison remained prolific throughout his transmutation from Beatle to solo entity (What Is Life, Behind That Locked Door, Beware of Darkness), but it was the album’s lead single, My Sweet Lord, that demonstrated the veritable sea change in Harrison’s approach to guitar playing.
Total immersion in studying sitar with Ravi Shankar had coincided with Harrison losing interest in the apparent possibilities of his lead instrument, but via Robbie Robertson’s slide-mimicking, fluid lead work on the Band’s Music from Big Pink and slide exponent Delaney Bramlett (who actually instructed Harrison in the ways of slide playing during 1969’s Delaney & Bonnie and Friends tour, although some say Dave Mason had a hand in it as well), he constructed a mellifluous signature style that was to largely define the remainder of his career. [IF]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: All Things Must Pass, Beware of Darkness, Wah-Wah, My Sweet Lord
John Lennon – Imagine (1971)
Can you imagine the seeming awesomeness of “long-haired, cross-legged guitar picker” George Harrison’s life in the very early ’70s? His songs and guitar playing could be heard on the Beatles’ Let It Be, his own All Things Must Pass and The Concert for Bangladesh (more on that soon), songs by Gary Wright (Two Faced Man), Badfinger (Day After Day), Harry Nilsson (You’re Breakin’ My Heart), Billy Preston, Doris Troy, Ronnie Spector and Ringo Starr (again, more on that soon).
Oh – and then there’s Imagine, John Lennon’s best-known (if not outright best) solo album.
Harrison actually plays on half the album, adding brilliant slide solos to Gimme Some Truth, Crippled Inside (this one on a resonator) and How Do You Sleep? while providing some sympathetic backing to I Don’t Wanna Be a Soldier and Oh My Love.
Harrison’s slide approach and tone would change over the years (compare 1971’s How Do You Sleep? to 1976’s True Love to Belinda Carlisle’s Leave a Light On from 1989), but his playing on Imagine represents the high point of that make-believe thing called George Harrison on Slide, Phase 1. [DF]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: Gimme Some Truth, Crippled Inside, How Do You Sleep?
Various – The Concert for Bangladesh (1971)
A year after the epic, three-disc All Things Must Pass made a wave or two, Harrison followed it up with yet another triple-discer – The Concert for Bangladesh, an album fed by two charity shows recorded on August 1.
We’re intentionally keeping the spotlight on Harrison’s studio work, but we can’t ignore this monstrosity’s many fine points, including:
• The first-ever live, “by a Beatle” recordings of “Something,” “Here Comes the Sun” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” on which Harrison finally plays a bit of lead guitar alongside Eric Clapton, the guitar star of the original 1968 recording.
• The first joint U.S. on-stage appearance by George and Ringo in five years – i.e., since the Beatles’ Candlestick Park show in August 1966. Five years is essentially meaningless today, but in the much more musically fertile late ’60s and early ’70s, five years felt like a lifetime. And not just for a guinea pig.
• More Ravi Shankar than you can shake a stick at.
• A spirited live performance of Starr’s Harrison-produced 1971 single, It Don’t Come Easy, which features sparkling, Leslie-infused guitar work by George.
This seems as good a time as any to mention that Harrison’s fretwork also graced two other Starr tracks from this era, 1971’s Early 1970 and 1972’s Back Off Boogaloo (produced by Harrison), which – regardless of whether or not anyone agrees with me – features one of his greatest slide solos of all time. [DF]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: Something, It Don’t Come Easy, Here Comes the Sun
George Harrison – Living in the Material World (1973)
Having successfully unbound himself from the creative limitations symptomatic of his former life as Beatle George, Harrison set his sights on his other ongoing obsession, the search for spiritual enlightenment. But nirvana-dashing distractions uniquely associated with being an ex-member of the formerly Fab Four weren’t that easy to shake.
Throw the massively commercially and artistically successful All Things Must Pass monolith into the mix, and expectations of its vinyl successor were unhelpfully stratospheric. The first indicator of what was to come from the most keenly anticipated album of the year arrived in the shape of Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth).”
Outwardly self-explanatory (George asking his Lord for guidance, with a side order of universal fraternity and – as is his usual modus operandi – some sort of indication that he’s actually there), it captures a George still searching for enlightenment and possibly a little help on the career front. ‘Help me cope with this heavy load,’ he pleads soulfully, as only a man contractually obliged to deliver yet another hit record can.
![George Harrison - Don't Let Me Wait Too Long (2024 Mix) [Official Audio] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/VJAcuL8G2FA/maxresdefault.jpg)
Harrison’s exhortations are again accompanied by a trademark My Sweet Lord-esque slide, plaintively mimicking human supplication (see also the karma-tastically pacy The Lord Loves the One (That Loves the Lord)). So, yes, there’s God, but being George (remember Taxman), there’s also Mammon with Sue Me, Sue You Blues bemoaning acoustically the ferociously litigious nature of ex-manager Allen Klein.
Living in the Material World itself contrasts materialism with spirituality to the dual accompaniment of A-list Western rockers (a name-checked Ringo included) and Indian classical tabla player Zakir Hussain.
But the Harrison slide is probably put to best use on Don’t Let Me Wait Too Long, a no-nonsense Brill Building-style pop song that really ought to have been a single. So did the album sell? By the truckload. [IF]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth), Don’t Let Me Wait Too Long, The Light That Has Lighted the World, The Lord Loves the One (That Loves the Lord), Living in the Material World
Ringo Starr – Ringo (1973)
While there was significant, widely documented acrimony behind the ultimate breakup of the Beatles, all evidence would appear to suggest that no one ever managed to successfully fall out with Ringo.
Clearly as likeable as his lugubrious public image would have us believe, when he put out calls for assistance to the great and the good in advance of recording his third solo album, they were all answered in the affirmative.
Its opening track, Lennon’s I’m the Greatest, is arguably the closest the Beatles ever truly came to fully re-forming
Ringo features contributions from (among others) Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Rick Danko, Steve Cropper, Martha Reeves, Harry Nilsson, Marc Bolan and – most notably – John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison. It was the first and only time all four Beatles turned out for a former band member’s solo album.
Its opening track, Lennon’s I’m the Greatest, is arguably the closest the Beatles ever truly came to fully re-forming (you’ve got Lennon, Harrison and Starr, not to mention Klaus Voormann and, for added authenticity, Let It Be keyboardist Billy Preston); in fact, it feels like it’s only a Giles Martin “tinkering” away from being a future Number 1 (overdub a McCartney bass line and harmony, stick Lennon’s guide vocal upfront, and watch the cash roll in).
Harrison’s work on Greatest recalls some of his own greatest Fab moments from descending Help! arpeggios to sharp Back in the U.S.S.R. rhythmic stabs; it’s as dead-on as even the Rutles could have managed.
Other standout Harrison moments include Photograph, a co-write with Starr upon which he contributes up-front chiming 12-string acoustic; his “Sunshine Life for Me (Sail Away Raymond),” a decidedly countrified folk-rock, proto-Americana knees-up featuring David Bromberg and various members of the Band fiddling fiddles and plucking banjos as if their lives depend on it while Harrison adds Vini Poncia-abetted gang vocals and fluid picking; and album sign-off, You and Me (Babe).
Co-written (by Harrison) with former Beatles roadie Mal Evans, (Babe) provides a sentimental coda to Ringo’s all-star bash (an M.O. he clearly warmed to, if his various subsequent All-Starr Band tours are anything to go by) that saw neat supporting flourishes – including a further series of bold attention-grabbing arpeggios and a solo that, while celestial, has no intention of overstaying its welcome – from Harrison, prior to a fourth-wall-breaking, credit-listing spoken-word farewell from everybody’s favorite Liverpudlian drummer. [IF]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: You and Me (Babe), I’m the Greatest, Photograph, Down and Out (non-album B-side)
George Harrison – Dark Horse (1974)
Things weren’t great in Harrison’s life during Dark Horse’s creative process. There was the unexpected criticism levelled at Material World, a long-percolating split with first wife Pattie Boyd that had spilled over into soap opera (she conducted affairs with Eric Clapton and Ronnie Wood as George found solace in the arms of Ronnie’s wife Krissy and Ringo’s wife Maureen).
Then there was all the post-Apple, post-Klein, post-My Sweet Lord plagiarism litigation. Plus, pulling together his own record label (also called Dark Horse), the drink, the drugs and the laryngitis he contracted during the latter period of recording, that carried over into a widely anticipated, if ultimately badly received, ’74 tour with Ravi Shankar.
But misery often engenders surprisingly fertile creative ground, and Dark Horse has its moments, not least its title track. Weirdly placed near close of play, it’s an inoffensive acoustic ditty, often weighed down with academic interpretations it doesn’t really deserve.
So Sad, laden with Here Comes the Sun-contrasting grey, wintry imagery, captures a post-Pattie George at his most despondent (cue lashings of lachrymose slide).
Harrison history wouldn’t be any poorer for the loss of either a largely wretched near-cover of the Everlys’ Bye Bye Love or the repetitions of Ding Dong, Ding Dong, but these clangers are more than offset by Simply Shady, a wordy, distinctly Dylan-esque examination of karmic consequences, rich in stinging, country rocking guitar asides with a lead vocal that actually benefits from the short-term ravages of laryngitis, and Far East Man, a co-write with Ronnie Wood that cogitates upon the power of friendship. Dark Horse failed to dent the U.K. album chart. [IF]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: Simply Shady, So Sad, Far East Man, Dark Horse
Splinter – The Place I Love (1974)
Splinter's overlooked debut album actually came out a few months before Dark Horse, but we’ve taken some liberties here because it’s easier to explain The Place I Love in the context of Dark Horse. Ya see, The Place I Love was actually one of the reasons Dark Horse was rushed, not to mention one of the (alleged) causes of his infamous case of laryngitis.
It’s the sorta thing that makes you think he could’ve put out a flawless album in 1974 if he somehow could’ve combined the best parts of The Place I Love with the best parts of Dark Horse
He simply put so much of himself into the album – contributing 95 percent of the guitars, plus bass, harmonium, percussion, mandolin, Moog and backing vocals; assembling the band, which features usual Harrison suspects Klaus Voormann, Willie Weeks, Billy Preston and Jim Keltner; recording it at Friar Park, his home studio; and releasing it on Dark Horse Records, his own label.
He didn’t write any of the songs, but that doesn’t mean the album isn’t full of beautiful Badfinger- and late-Beatles-esque songplay, the spine-tingling highlight of which is probably the addictive China Light.
In terms of guitar, check out Somebody’s City; it’s interesting to hear Harrison employing his Strat and easily identifiable 1974 Dark Horse sound on someone else’s song.
It’s the sorta thing that makes you think he could’ve put out a flawless album in 1974 if he somehow could’ve combined the best parts of The Place I Love with the best parts of Dark Horse.
Anyway, for a few more “Wait! That’s George sounding exactly like George but playing on someone else’s song!” moments, check out Situation Vacation and the heart-melting slide on China Light, which – have you noticed? – we keep mentioning.
Around this same time, George also produced (and played on) Ravi Shankar’s Shankar Family & Friends, which only supports the case that he really was burning the candle at both ends in mid ’74. [DF]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: China Light, Somebody’s City, Situation Vacant
George Harrison – Extra Texture (Read All About It) [1975]
Harrison certainly wasn’t above revisiting his invariably profitable Beatle George persona should circumstances demand it, and considering the degree to which Dark Horse had stiffed in the marketplace, demand it they did.
So Harrison combined every ounce of his creative power and mercenary acumen and basically threw everything at Extra Texture, his final album for Apple.
Largely dispensing with the services of his Dark Horse band (built around a core of Billy Preston, Willie Weeks, Andy Newmark and Tom Scott), Harrison relied on David Foster, Gary Wright and Leon Russell (keys), Jim Keltner (drums), Jesse Ed Davis (guitar) and Hamburg chum Klaus Voormann for Extra Texture’s more commercial material.
Aside from freshening things up with a distinct whiff of Smokey Robinson-inspired soul, there’s significantly less spiritual yearning for universal karma and a lot more trad George.
Not taking any chances, lead single You was co-produced by Phil Spector, pivots on a dynamite hook and features that most simplistic of all Beatles stand-bys, a chorus that repeats the word “love” until every listener succumbs to the inevitable and gets their wallets out.
Sharing its feel and message of tolerance with Isn’t It a Pity, The Answer’s at the End echoes All Things Must Pass before This Guitar (Can’t Keep from Crying) mimics
While My Guitar Gently Weeps to demonstrate that the bad reviews Harrison’s ’74 tour garnered were so hurtful that even his guitar broke down.
Featuring excellent solos from Jesse Ed Davis, it’s the standout six-string-based element of a largely piano-centred record. It returned Harrison to the U.K. top 20. Mission accomplished. [IF]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: You, The Answer’s at the End, Can’t Stop Thinking About You
George Harrison – Thirty Three & 1/3 (1976)
While primarily released on a slice of vinyl that revolved at 33 and 1/3 revolutions per minute, Harrison’s seventh solo album was also coincident with his having attained that particular age. It also marked something of a return to form.
Ill fortune might still have dogged his days outside the studio – hepatitis set in shortly after recording commenced, and during production his My Sweet Lord case was ultimately found in favor of the plaintiff – but, backed by a watertight band, his artistic output suffered no ill effects.
Urban country/funk-fuelled openerWoman Don’t You Cry for Me, with its roots that date back as far as Harrison’s ’69 slide epiphany, is a stormer; it perfectly suits its soul-centred ’76 zeitgeist, Harrison’s slide tessellating perfectly with Willie Weeks’ slapped bass, Alvin Taylor’s tight-but-loose drums and David Foster’s driving post-Superstition clavinet.
Dear One is a light (Hindu monk/yogi/guru) Paramahansa Yogananda-inspired near-solo ditty perked up significantly by Richard Tees’ keys.
This Song, written following a week in court trying to convince an NYC judge that My Sweet Lord wasn’t a mere cynical rip-off of the Chiffons’ He’s So Fine, is defined by its bittersweet plagiarism-based lyric, but it’s Billy Preston’s piano and Tom Scott’s sax solo that elevate it into the arena of the excellent.
Harrison was never more comfortable than as a member of a band, be it as a Beatle or a Traveling Wilbury, and on high-calibre compositions like See Yourself, the Eric Idle-sparked surrealism of Crackerbox Palace and It’s What You Value, the Thirty Three & 1/3 studio band sounds like a solid working unit rather than a cast of sessioneers putting in the hours. [IF]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: Crackerbox Palace, This Song, Woman Don’t You Cry for Me, True Love, Dear One
George Harrison – S/T (1979)
“Sky cleared up, day turned bright” an unusually optimistic Harrison sings on Blow Away, the first single from an eponymous effort that garnered unanimous critical approval.
George was evidently in the pink; he’d married Olivia Arias and become a first-time father, to Dhani, during the album’s gestation. Consequently, while contemporary opinion likened George Harrison positively to his All Things Must Pass solo zenith, it offered little darkness of which to beware.
Shot through with infectious optimism and featuring a politely insistent hook, a signature guitar intro from Eric Clapton and Stevie Winwood on synth (and backing vocals), Love Comes to Everyone (eventually covered by Clapton and Winwood in 2005) is a portent of the mega-commercial, coffee-table-smooth rock that came to dominate the coming decade.
Written in ’68 to debunk unfounded accusations thrown at the Maharishi by his fellow frontline Beatles and previously recorded during the fraught sessions for the White Album (it’s available on Anthology 3), Not Guilty takes on a keys-driven (Winwood again, with Neil Larsen) featherlight jazz inflection.
Here Comes the Moon, Soft-Hearted Hana and Your Love Is Forever boast McCartney levels of likeability, but it’s Blow Away – with its ample portions of inimitable slide and Beatles-era cheeriness – and a Phil Spector-mimicking Gary Wright co-write If You Believe (oddly reminiscent of contemporary ELO) that truly set a seal on the album’s well-deserved reputation as a mid-career Harrison essential.
That, again somewhat bafflingly, only managed to garner relatively modest chart action. [IF]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: Love Comes to Everyone, Blow Away, If You Believe, Dark Sweet Lady
The '80s comes for Harrison
George Harrison – Somewhere in England (1981)
After 1970’s invocation of My Sweet Lord, George Harrison never really stopped praying on his albums. Sometimes it was in the background. But when it found its way to the foreground, as on Life Itself, the standout track here, it could make even an atheist feel devout.
With its circular chord progression and gospel-like melody, the song yearns upward. And Harrison’s slide acts as a second voice, answering his lead with a sympathetic ache.
Harrison needed prayer power in 1981. He was at odds not only with a changing music scene, but Warner Bros., who rejected the first version of the album as “too laid back” (Blood from a Clone was Harrison’s bitter riposte). It was only when he lyrically tweaked the already-recorded All Those Years Ago to be a tribute to recently deceased John Lennon that they heard a hit.
It is a hooky tune, and features Ringo and Paul (not to mention Wings’ Linda McCartney and Denny Laine), but what remains puzzling is, after the ultra-tasteful slide licks throughout, Harrison then forfeits the solo to that wonky synth. Surely it deserves a Beatle-esque guitar break.
More satisfying is the rockabilly pluck of That Which I Have Lost and Save the World, which conjures up Savoy Truffle with jaunty fuzz and plaintive single-line work.
Of Harrison’s solo albums, this sounds the most dated and distant. That’s due to the excessive use of chorus effects, perfunctory songwriting and the inclusion of musty covers Baltimore Oriole and Hong Kong Blues. [BD]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: Life Itself, All Those Years Ago, Save the World, That Which I Have Lost
George Harrison – Gone Troppo (1982)
“The say I’m not what I used to be / All the same I’m happier than a willow tree,” Harrison sings on Mystical One. In that one couplet, he addresses the two most common criticisms of his 10th studio album, which are – it’s his worst (it’s definitely not), and it’s his happiest (well, why begrudge the once-melancholy Beatle a breezy moment?)
If there’s anything detrimental here, it’s the sequence. The weaker material – the island-flavored Wake Up My Love, the silly ’50s doo-wopper I Really Love You – makes Side One feel slight
If there’s anything detrimental here, it’s the sequence. The weaker material – the island-flavored Wake Up My Love, the silly ’50s doo-wopper I Really Love You – makes Side One feel slight. It’s rescued somewhat by the mostly instrumental Greece, with Harrison’s subtle gathering of volume swells, bell-like harmonics and dual slides rendering a dappled postcard.
The much weightier Side Two reminds us of how singular his songwriting could be. Mystical One features those deft, major-to-minor harmonic shifts that are instant George. Album standout Unknown Delight, an ode to his wife Olivia, feels like a sequel to Something; Harrison even briefly quotes a figure from it in his exquisite, shivery solo.
Circles, a meditative tune written in India in ’68, is rescued from oblivion and given a synth-heavy treatment; hey, at least those synths were played by Deep Purple’s mighty Jon Lord.
And let’s not forget that the whimsically catchy Dream Away was both the theme song for Terry Gilliam’s Time Bandits and a prescription for creativity. “Measure the mystery and astound,” he sings. [BD]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: Unknown Delight, Mystical One, Dream Away, Greece
Carl Perkins & Friends – Blue Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session (1986)
Rock ’n’ roll pioneer Carl Perkins did a fine job when assembling the talent for the televised October 1985 concert that was meant to showcase his classic Fifties tunes, many of which were covered by the Beatles. You had your Clapton, your Dave Edmunds, your Ringo and your Rosanne Cash.
But Perkins’ biggest “get” was George Harrison, who was practically a recluse at that point. So Perkins was technically the star of the show, but Harrison was – you know what I’m sayin’ here – the star of the show.
The former Beatle, sporting a late-’50s Gretsch 6120 – and delay so thick and friendly that Cliff Gallup and Brian Setzer were probably salivating – bopped his way through Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby, which he and the Fabs recorded for Beatles for Sale. Your True Love, which the Beatles tackled during the Get Back sessions, is another winner.
Also right around this time, Harrison’s otherwise-lost cover of Bob Dylan’s I Don’t Want to Do It appeared on the soundtrack to Porky’s Revenge; two mixes were released, one of which highlights Jimmie Vaughan on guitar.
“[Harrison] was great,” Vaughan told us in 2011. “We were trying to be cool, like, I wanted to go ask him all these questions. I asked a couple, and then I kind of shut up because I didn’t want to be just another guy pestering him.” [DF]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby, Your True Love, Glad All Over
George Harrison – Cloud Nine (1987)
In 1974, when John Lennon was a guest DJ on WNEW in NYC, one of the records he played was ELO’s Showdown. In a bit of cosmic foreshadowing, he said, “I call them Son of Beatles.”
Lennon didn’t live long enough to see that son grow up to become an honorary Beatle. Jeff Lynne would produce John’s fleshed-out demos turned Beatles tracks, Free As a Bird” and Real Love. But Harrison’s 11th album was where he first entered the story.
George was coming off a five-year hiatus, and he hired Lynne, who he’d never met, as creative co-pilot (“It’s handy to have someone to bounce ideas off of,” he said.)
It was a smart move. Harrison sounded refreshed, he had his first hit album in over a decade, and Got My Mind Set on You and the Beatles pastiche When We Was Fab were all over the radio and MTV.
But there was a trade-off. Any artist who works with Lynne – from Dave Edmunds to Ringo Starr to Bryan Adams – can end up sounding more like ELO than themselves. And Lynne’s sonic fingerprints are all over this record – the arid, bluesy Cloud 9, the celestial synths and Xanadu-like churn of This Is Love, the lush vocal stacks on Devil’s Radio.
The ELO-ness can be so distracting that it even (sometimes) overpowers the presence of starry guests Ringo, Elton John and Eric Clapton.
What’s more difficult to explain is how Lynne’s entrance marked a shift in George’s guitar playing. The previous decade and a half’s lyrical solos, the honeyed dual slide harmonies started to give way to a leaner, bluesier approach.
In a career that saw much stylistic evolution – from rockabilly picking to Indian sitar to psychedelic fuzz to lyrical slide – it’s still a mark of Harrison’s touch that the variation that began on Cloud Nine is immediately identifiable as him. [BD]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: Fish on the Sand, Devil’s Radio, When We Was Fab, That’s What It Takes, This Is Love
Supergroups, solo highlights and the Beatles re-revisited
Traveling Wilburys – Vol. 1 (1988)
In early 1988, Warner Bros. asked Harrison to come up with a B-side for This Is Love, a single from Cloud Nine. At the time, he and Jeff Lynne were hanging out with Tom Petty and Roy Orbison at Bob Dylan’s studio in L.A.
So as long as he was surrounded by his pals, George thought, ‘Why not enlist their help?” They wrote and recorded Handle with Care in a day. Harrison knew it was too good to be a B-side. “The only thing I could think of was to do another nine and make an album,” he said.
So they did. Written and recorded in 10 days, the album captures an infectious live energy – friends having fun. Of course, with such distinctive singers, the emphasis naturally stays on the songs and the vocal round robins.
But amidst the lush acoustic strumming from all five, George steps out with a few tasteful lead moments – the Carl Perkins-style rockabilly licks on Rattled; the fuzzed, bleating slide on Margarita; the plaintive melodic twang on Congratulations.
Supergroup is a word that gets overused. And often, there’s a calculated impulse behind their formation. The Wilburys remain the most organic and musically joyous of them all (they even adopted cheeky fake names).
“If we had tried to plan it, or said, ‘Let’s get this band with these people in it,’ it would’ve never happened,” Harrison said. “The thing happened just by magic.” [BD]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: Handle with Care, Rattled, Heading for the Light
George Harrison – The Best of Dark Horse (1989)
A greatest-hits compilation assembled by the artist instead of the label, this features familiar hits, plus deeper cuts such as Here Comes the Moon and That’s the Way It Goes. But the real attraction is the inclusion of three new tracks.
Poor Little Girl, with its catchy call-and-response chorus and pizzicato strings, is cut from the same cloth as Cloud Nine – George-meets-ELO. The minor-key Cockamamie Business is a takedown of showbiz corporate corruption (“Didn’t want to be a star, just wanted to play guitar”).
And then there’s the real jewel, Cheer Down (which first appeared on the Lethal Weapon 2 soundtrack). Co-written with Tom Petty, it shares a groove with I Won’t Back Down and pays tribute to Wilbury bandmate Roy Orbison with its swooping melodicism.
In the final minute-and-a-half, George cuts loose with a slide solo that folds in everything from early rock ’n’ roll double stops to Indian raga-style licks. It’s a tour-de-force and one of his all-time best guitar moments. [BD]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: Cheer Down, Poor Little Girl, Cockamamie Business
Traveling Wilbury's – Vol. 3. (1994)
Two months after the first Wilburys album was released, Roy Orbison died from a heart attack at 52. As a way to say things couldn’t be the same without him, the remaining members changed their nicknames and wrote a tribute to their departed Lefty in You Take My Breath Away.
This sequel favors rockabilly romps, like She’s My Baby (featuring Gary Moore at his blues-shreddy best), Where Were You Last Night? and Wilbury Twist. George gets some tasty licks in on Poor House, where his slide mimics a pedal steel, the 12-string chime of The Devil’s Been Busy and New Blue Moon, with its harmony slide echoing My Sweet Lord.
It’s not as winning as the debut, but 35 years on, it’s hard to disagree with Jeff Lynne’s assessment: “All these amazing characters in the wild, just shouting words and writing them down, strumming a few chords. It’s a rare experience. Even I just go, ‘Wow! What are all these guys doing together?!’” [BD]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: The Devil’s Been Busy, She’s My Baby, Where Were You Last Night?, Inside Out
George Harrison – Live In Japan (1992)
In late 1991, Harrison hitched a ride to Japan with Eric Clapton and his band, including guitarist Andy Fairweather Low and bassist Nathan East, resulting in Harrison’s first tour since 1974 – and his only live album besides The Concert for Bangladesh, which is more of a “George Harrison & Friends” thing anyway.
As we said a few pages ago, we’re here to talk about the studio albums; however, we simply can’t ignore…
• Harrison’s only official live performances of a slew of Beatles-era Harrisongs, including I Want to Tell You, If I Needed Someone and Old Brown Shoe. We even get the White Album’s Piggies, for Chrissakes.
• If you want to hear George playing slide guitar in a live situation, look no further. And we mean that literally; this is it – the only officially released live album featuring George Harrison on slide guitar. At least he made it count; check out Cloud 9 and Cheer Down.
That said, Harrison actually hired Fairweather Low to play some of the tour’s more intricate slide parts, which isn’t too difficult to fathom since Harrison was in frontman mode for most of the set.
“Though I don’t play slide and never did, I knew this was a life-changing moment – one of those moments where everything’s going to change if it happens,” Fairweather Low told us late last year.
“I thought, well, I’m either going to turn up at the rehearsal and they’re going to realize I’m an absolute no-go, or I can phone George and own up.” Let’s just say it turned out just fine.
• Is this the ultimate version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps? From a normal person’s POV, no; you’ll want to stick with the White Album track. But from the POV of someone who thinks Harrison – and not Clapton – should’ve played the solo in the first place, yes indeed.
While the Bangladesh version features some decent interplay between Clapton and Harrison, it’s kinda messy. 20 years later, they nailed it. [DF]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: Cloud 9, Cheer Down, I Want to Tell You, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Isn’t It a Pity, Dark Horse
Alvin Lee – Nineteen Ninety-Four (1994)
Harrison teamed up with his Thames Valley neighbor – former Ten Years After guitarist Alvin Lee – a few times (Lee plays on Harrison’s Ding Dong, Ding Dong and Splinter’s Gravy Train and Haven’t Got Time; Harrison plays on Lee’s On the Road to Freedom), but their mid-’90s hookup takes ye olde guitar-shaped cake.
First there’s the bizarrely delicious few seconds of Harrison playing slide on the intro to John Lennon’s bluesy Abbey Road standout, I Want You (She’s So Heavy). Then there’s The Bluest Blues, which is, hands down (whatever that means), one of Harrison’s best, most emotional slide guitar performances.
As GW wrote in 2017, “It’s a little crazy to hear Harrison playing blues slide guitar, but there it is. In his solo, which starts at 2:15, the former Beatle plays several throaty passages that recall his wicked playing on Lennon’s How Do You Sleep?” [DF]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: The Bluest Blues, I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
The Beatles – Anthology-era recordings 1995 / 1996 / 2023
In the mid ’90s, George, Paul and Ringo were reunited with John’s voice, courtesy of a cassette’s worth of demos Lennon recorded in the late ’70s at the Dakota. The results were the Jeff Lynne co-produced Free As a Bird (1995) and its lesser-known follow-up, Real Love (1996). The beauty of both tracks is that they somehow manage to sound like true group recordings, with everyone getting a chance to shine – especially George.
His brazen Bird solo break – which glides on a jet stream of lush Abbey Road-esque Paul/George vocal harmonies – is a soaring slide masterpiece delivered with a touch of overdrive that finds him truly owning the moment.
He sounds a bit more like Beatle George on Real Love, having some fun – slide-free, with his custom Bernie Hamburger guitar – on the bouncy fills and bendy solo.
The Fab Three worked on another track back in the day – Now and Then – but Lennon’s voice was far too deeply intertwined with the tinny piano on the original demo (plus, rumor has it George was never a big Now and Then fan). Fast-forward nearly 30 years, and – lo and behold – the technology required to extricate Lennon’s voice from the demo suddenly exists.
As does – as of late 2023, 22 years after Harrison’s passing – Now and Then, aka “the last Beatles song.” In terms of the visual proof, George simply provides a bit of strumming on his (or Paul’s) Gibson acoustic. Sadly, he didn’t play the song’s slide solo (Paul did), and his spot-on intonation is, um, missed. [DF]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: Free As a Bird, Real Love
George Harrison – Brainwashed (2002)
The first thing you hear is George saying, “Give me plenty of that guitar.” And sure enough, this is a roundup of his bountiful gifts as a player – from beautifully layered and precise rhythm feels (Any Road) and rockabilly-style licks (Vatican Blues) to lyrical slide playing (Stuck Inside a Cloud) and Indian-influenced meditations (the exquisite, Grammy-winning Marwa Blues).
Released a year after he passed in 2001, his final album had songs that stretched back over a personally challenging decade. Harrison endured financial problems and court cases (over HandMade Films), three different cancer diagnoses and courses of treatments and, horrifically, an attempted murder by an intruder in his home. Through it all, this project was a place of calm and sanity to which he returned.
Toward the end of the ’90s, his health declining, Harrison realized he might not live to see its completion. So he left extensive – and poetic – notes for his son Dhani and Jeff Lynne to finish it.
“Sort out middle of Brainwashed; cut down yew trees at back of lodge,” went a typical entry. With that in mind, the pair worked during the year after he passed to provide what Dhani called “a cradle for George’s voice and guitar.”
That sensitive approach keeps the focus on the songs, which encompass all the many sides of George – Buddhist, cosmic consciousness traveler, black-humored curmudgeon, gardener, guitarist, former Beatle – while he considers this world and the next.
As he sings on Rising Sun – Until the ghost of memory trapped in my body, mind / Came out of hiding to become alive. Another way of saying – George is forever. [BD]
HARRISON HIGHLIGHTS: Any Road, Stuck Inside a Cloud, Marwa Blues, Rising Sun, Brainwashed
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