Oooooh. Spoilt for choice. Extra Texture and 33& 1/3 were eye- wateringly dull. But Dark Horse was just plain bad. Bad songs and bad performance. (laryngitis or no). Have any other albums by The Big Three failed to chart (in the UK)?
I haven't heard them all, but from what I have it's Dark Horse. Purely because of the voice. Couldn't he have waited?
I'm not sure, but the tour was booked and ready to go. And no point touring if you don't have an album to flog. The whole thing (tour and album) was a sad mess. Probably cancelling was out of the question. I'm not sure if even in fine voice (and lets face it, even then George isn't the strongest singer around) the album would have been that good. I think he was always going to be up for a hiding over that album/tour. Food for thought about his 1970 potential. I forget that he was regarded as the boy wonder - the star who had been suppressed by the evil egos of Lennon and McCartney
Food for thought about his 1970 potential. I forget that he was regarded as the boy wonder - the star who had been suppressed by the evil egos of Lennon and McCartney
I think around the time of Concert For Bangladesh he was just about the biggest star on the planet, but never really capitalised on it. But then he's always come over as a reluctant star, so maybe he wasn't that bothered.
True, a tour needs an album to flog, but I'll never understand why he didn't postpone the tour? Maybe he was trying to capitalise and it all went belly up.
True, a tour needs an album to flog, but I'll never understand why he didn't postpone the tour? Maybe he was trying to capitalise and it all went belly up.
Hard to understand that one. Interesting that post- Beatles both John and George went off on tangents (politics and religion) that ultimately did their careers no good (maybe even destroyed them). But Paul just carried on doing what he and The Beatles had done so well - knocking out songs with fine melodies and ambiguous lyrics, and did bloody well out of it.
Thanks for putting up this poll, Bobber! I'll fill it out as soon as I've heard all of George's solo albums. I've heard most of them now, but I'm still filling in my gaps. Considering I'm a relatively new fan, I hope you'll forgive the delayed response. I want to be accurate!
I think around the time of Concert For Bangladesh he was just about the biggest star on the planet, but never really capitalised on it. But then he's always come over as a reluctant star, so maybe he wasn't that bothered.
It's so hard to tell his true feelings about this. According to studio notes I've read--George Martin, perhaps?--George was astonished by the success of ATMP. He set about to make an album of stuff he was personally interested in, such as Krishna consciousness, and never in a million years expected anyone much beyond the devotee audience to particularly care. As for his secular tunes, like "Let It Down" (which is a personal favorite of mine), he'd already been assured by Paul and John that these songs were unworthy for inclusion on a Beatles album, and they ought to know when a song is lame, right? So he made the album basically as a labor of love, and it shows.
As far as Bangladesh, I have the DVD of that concert. In the extras, George is being interviewed with Ravi. I believe this takes place a week before the concert, as that's when he announced it. Anyway, he is clearly astonished (and terrified) that the tickets sold out so fast. Some guy says that the love of the Beatles seems to have been transferred to Harrison, and George acknowledges that appears to be true, "but I don't know why it should." Apparently in George's mind, Beatles and GH were so separate, why would the rest of us lump them together?
So (as he later acknowledged himself) he never set out to manage his career. He acted from the heart, just to get out his songs (basically for himself) and then to help the refugees (for Ravi). By the time he figured out he was a big star on his own, he probably had no idea what to do. I imagine his early success went to his head and he thought he was just extra lucky or something and could do whatever he wanted, and people would love it. Then again, he was always waging spiritual war with his ego, which probably clouded his judgment when it came to achieving commercial success. It's really tough to say.
All you've got to do is choose love. That's how I live it now. I learned a long time ago, I can feed the birds in my garden. I can't feed them all. -- Ringo Starr, Rolling Stone magazine, May 2007
For all I know, Ringo might be a yogi disguised as a drummer! - George Harrison
George solo stuff has never really been pop chart music ,he has always recorded what he wanted to. And ive loved it all untill i bought EXTRA TEXTURE ,till this day i cant bring myself to play it
Vote For the best Prog Album on this forum ! . But you have to join first
Is there a rule--the fancier the cover the worse the music? I bought Extra Texture on vinyl way back when--that nifty cover--and it's second rate. "You" seems like a copy of "What is My Life" and the rest seem like copies too. And that Legs song just ain't that funny like the reviewers say it is.
I actually like 33 and 1/3. Its got some good music with more than just the Hari-Krishna stuff. I also think his version of "True Love" is a great Cole Porter cover. George shoulda done a whole album of classic covers (like Hoagie Carmichael too)--like Willie Nelson's Stardust.
But on the whole the 70s albums are great or at least competent. The early 80s stuff like Somewhere in England is alot worse to me.
But then I love the Wilbury stuff and Brainwashed. And a good producer like Jeff Lynne did a pretty damn good job with Cloud Nine.
George solo stuff has never really been pop chart music ,he has always recorded what he wanted to. And ive loved it all untill i bought EXTRA TEXTURE ,till this day i cant bring myself to play it
Then what are "MySweet Lord" "What Is Life" "Ding Dong Ding Dong" "Got My Mind.." "All Those Years Ago"and "You" but stabs at pop chart music? I can't find the quote, but he said of either Ding Dong or You that he wrote it in minutes and was the kind of pop song he'd always wanted to write. I think he would have loved chart success, but just wasn't up to it.
I voted for Dark Horse which i suppose a lot of people agree with, it's quite a poor album. I think some of the songs could have made better but songs like Bye Bye Love, Hari's on Tour, or Ding Dong Ding Dong really spoil the album so much i think. Dark Horse is really good track & so is Maya Love but the album just runs dry for me. I didn't like Somewhere in England that much either but i've recently been listening to it again & actually like it more & more.
"sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come."
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