"GEORGE HARRISON AND OTHER BORES"

That was the headline leading into the review of George’s eponymous 1979 album, which I took as a personal offense at the ripe old age of 14. [For the life of me I can’t remember who the other bores referred to, but I’m thinking McGuinn, Clark and Hillman or some other 60s-era reincarnation.]


The review was in Stereo Review, a magazine that my older brother – as good an audiophile as I ever knew – subscribed to. [It was cheap, even for back then: $4.99 for the whole year if I remember correctly!] I never read the articles about the equipment, but I sure did enjoy the album reviews, which usually started off with judgments about the artist’s performance (poor/good/very good/excellent) and the overall recording (same ratings categories). There were also feature reviews (which didn’t get the ratings, for some reason or other), of which the GEORGE HARRISON album was one.


Now, GEORGE HARRISION was the first album of the quiet Beatle’s that I’d ever purchased; my older brother had ALL THINGS MUST PASS lp and CONCERT FOR BANGLA DESH on cassette, a cousin had LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD, a neighbor of mine had DARK HORSE and my parents had bought EXTRA TEXTURE and 33 1/3 for me. You can’t imagine the car I took with it every time I took it out of the jacket, and then the sleeve (with lyrics and a cool “in action” shot of George walking at some auto race) every time I played it. And played it. And played it.


I loved that album. To see it lumped in with “other bores” was appalling to me. It was the ultimate dismissal of something I enjoyed immensely. [Don’t worry: I’m not going to go overboard and call it a classic. I knew it wasn’t a classic then and it certainly isn’t now; it was special to me, that’s all.]


Let’s go track by track. Side One starts with…


“Love Comes To Everyone” – a great album opener. Clapton plays on it. Barely. Has a nice bit of energy as well. [Throwing out a big boo to whomever opted to include an edited version on the BEST OF DARK HORSE collection. What was the point in that?!]


“Not Guilty” – a holdover from the White Album sessions and one George had a lot of difficulty with originally (awkward timing, terrible phrasing and a horrendous lead vocal). Here, however, it’s slowed down and superbly executed. John and Paul were right not to include it on the White Album; George was right to revisit the song and improve it some 8+ years later.


“Here Comes The Moon” – a sequel of sorts, and a somber one at that, although the chorus is a tad jubilant (huh?). I always liked the descending riff, though, and it was easy for me to figure out on the guitar!


“Soft-Hearted Hana” – a great song! And it’s funny too. So what if it’s a retread of “Deep Blue?” I didn’t have that b-side and it certainly wasn’t played on the radio. The slow fade always threw me though (the speed alterations in the recording led me to believe my lp was defective).


“Blow Away” – a really sweet song. Way too repetitive though. Has a glorious slide guitar break though.


Side Two –


“Faster” – Now this is a great friggin’ song! The revving of the cars, the guitar assault, the verses, the chorus (“Faster than a bullet from a gu-un, he is fa-ster than ever-y-wuh-huh-hun…” and even the ending. Ka-pow. A real GH killer.


“Dark Sweet Lady” – beautiful love song with some gorgeous acoustic guitar picking by George. Not like anything else on the album musically, that’s for sure.


“Your Love Is Forever” – a bit of a downer, but actually a lovely song with an extended guitar opening that’s well thought out and played.


“Soft Touch” – a nice, peppy number with another great descending guitar riff (this time courtesy of an acoustic 12-string).


“If You Believe” – great album closer courtesy of George and co-author Gary Wright (of “Dream Weaver” fame). Great riff too, and one of the few songs where George belts out the verses.


So how does GEORGE HARRISON stand up in the GH canon? Well, it’s not as strong as 33 1/3, but it’s certainly better than SOMEWHERE IN ENGLAND and GONE TROPPO, its two immediate successors. Of the four mid-solo period George albums (his Dark Horse releases) it’s definitely a strong #2.


And it’s certainly not a bore.


Comments welcome.


Jeremy Boob

MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR - The Movie

It's awful. Let's get that out in the open immediately. On second thought...it's beyond awful. I've watched it sober and I've watched it - ahem - in an "altered" state or two, and it's still bad. Bad, BAd, BAD.

Bad as in: poorly written, poorly conceived, terribly directed (if you could call it that), terribly acted (if you can even call it acting) and seemingly long (and it's under an hour!). This runaway train of a movie is something I rarely acknowledge to budding Beatles fans because I'm afraid to douse their budding flames.

As a kid, this film was a mystery to me. A mystery because I'd heard of it but was never able to see it. A HARD DAY'S NIGHT, HELP and YELLOW SUBMARINE had the occasional tv airing, but not MMT (ironic, considering it was made for television). [LET IT BE I was able to see courtesy of The Movie Channel on cable, believe it or not, and I did so 25+ times. There wasn't much to air back then on cable I guess!] The one time I was close to seeing it was at a local theater which had slated screenings during the summer at 2:00 p.m. (why? No clue). The problem was that it was only on Wednesdays, and my parents just weren't available for drop-off at the local cinema.

When I finally did see MMT it was on laserdisc, a laserdisc which had amazing stereo sound but so-so picture transfer. The framing always seemed to be a bit off as well. [Was MMT shot in the standard Brit aspect ratio of 1:66 x 1? I don't know, but that sure would account for what I believe are cropping issues.] The music sure did sound great coming through my stereo I have to say, and I still play that laserdisc just to hear the songs sound so good. How they sounded coming through a tinny tv set in late 1967 I can only imagine! To be fair though, I've never heard anyone really complain about the limited technology involved in watching the Beatles on tv back then. "Sure the Ed Sullivan appearance was amazing! Too bad about the sound though." I THINK NOT!

But back to MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR. In the DVD for THE BEATLES ANTHOLOGY Paul defends it by saying (1) he'd heard that Steven Spielberg cited it as an influence and (2) it's the only extant performance of "I Am The Walrus." Has anyone ever been able to corroborate (1)? I'd love to see where that was referenced. And as for (2)...I wouldn't call it a "performance;" it's really a lip-sync'd clip with some heavy editing (it's not tied to the film in any way, that's for sure!).

So don't let anyone ever tell you that MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR works on any level as a movie. Because it doesn't!

All comments welcome.

Best,

Jeremy Boob

STILL WITH THE BEATLES

First off I'd like to say thanks to all who have made comments in the past few weeks regarding my postings. While many of you had differing opinions I must say they were executed eloquently. Much obliged.

That said...I listened to WITH THE BEATLES a few days ago and it reminded me of something I read close to thirty years ago in Roy Carr and Tony Tyler's THE BEATLES: AN ILLUSTRATED RECORD (the first "Beatles Bible" I ever read...and reread...and reread...). Not having the book in front of me at the moment I hope you'll forgive me for paraphrasing: "and now, some ten years after its release, it still sounds as fresh as the day it was released." [I'm sure the actual quote is more articulate!] Today, some 40+ years after its release (11/22/63 in the U.K.), I couldn't agree more.

From the opening blast of "It Won't Be Long" - which has a great lick, one that George rearranged seven years later for "What Is Life" - to the leave-'em-beggin'-for-more closer "Money" I think one would be hard-pressed to find a more enjoyable pop album in the Beatles oeuvre. Let's take a quick look at the other tracks:

- "All I've Got To Do" - powerful Lennon vocal with some great harmonies from Paul and George;

- "All My Loving" - great guitar work!

- "Don't Bother Me" - a bit awkward, but still a George keeper;

- "Little Child" - suffers from a bad edit (two of 'em actually) but has some great piano and harmonica;

- "Till There Was You" - great guitar courtesy of George, and not a one-off either (they played it many times in concert and he handled it adroitly);

- "Please Mr. Postman" - one of their best cover songs ever, with some tremendous cymbals work from Ringo;

- "Roll Over Beethoven" - one of the top 10 covers of a Chuck Berry song ever (a darn shame the Fabs never recorded CB's "Memphis" cuz the BBC versions are killer);

- "Hold Me Tight" - a chugging guitar riff throughout, but I like it!

- "You Really Got A Hold On Me" - another great Lennon vocal;

- "I Wanna Be Your Man" - sure they gave it to the Stones, but it's a great one for Ringo to sing;

- "Devil In Her Heart" - would have fit perfectly on the PLEASE PLEASE ME lp (and that's not a complaint);

- "Not A Second Time" - great Lennon tune, but ever since Robert Palmer recorded it and wrote a second verse I can't help but think how much the Beatles version could have used one.

That's it. A killer album. I love it.

As always, comments welcome.

Jeremy Boob