Hmm, we seem to be going off topic here. Scold me or move me to another thread if you need to, mods.
barely 2 years later he makes a complete hash of it - his only solo of the night - at the Concert For Bangladesh.
There is no question that George played the solo for "Something". Geoff Emerick makes a point of his amazement of George pulling this off against the full orchestra, which made for a very expensive take. I think what you saw live was George's stage fright. He got out of the habit of playing live, and became very nervous. His voice chokes up and his whole body tenses when he has to play live; it's painful for me to watch him. I think he got out of practice and, because he didn't like touring much (to put it mildly), he never saw a need to recondition himself to accept it. At the Prince's Trust concert, for example, when he was having a great time, he describes how he noticed this guy in the audience just going crazy, and George thought, "Is he a wacko? Am I going to end up like John?" Nope, live was just not his thing.
Did george feel uncomfortable with the new beatles sounds, or was he just good at old fashioned rock and roll ?
Carl Perkins had the opinion that George ought to have been a country/western player, because he seemed to favor that style. I often wonder if George might have been a happier person if he'd taken that route-- ended up the supporting guitarist for some "name", which he could just play in a band and not have to be a star in his own right.
One of the things I really enjoy about the
Live at the BBC tracks is how happy and confident George sounds, not just in his playing, but his singing. At some point, when the Beatles started becoming "big", George grew self-conscious. It took him a long time to get over it, but I think he did a pretty good job at last. He sounds relaxed and confident on
Cloud 9 and
Brainwashed. It's almost like he was saying, "Thank God I don't have to impress anyone anymore, and just be myself." And his natural talent shines through.
