Luca Perasi, known for his many books about Paul McCartney's recorded works, turns his sights here on George Harrison's eponymously titled 1978 solo LP and, in typical fashion, tells us everything we'd want to know about it.
As Perasi relates, the writing and recording of George Harrison came at a transitional time for the former Beatle. After the initial chart success and acclaim of All Things Must Pass, the Concert for Bangladesh and hit singles such as "My Sweet Lord" and "Give Me Love," Harrison lost his bearings, a bit. His marriage broke up, his "Dark Hoarse" tour (nicknamed such due to the state of his voice) was a critical disaster, his dad died, he was drinking and drugging and drifting away from his spiritual center.
But, by the late 1970s, George and his circumstances began to shape up. He remarried to Olvia Arias and the couple had a son, he deepened his commitment to taking care of the sprawling gardens and landscaping of his Friar Park Estate, and he became a regular presence on the F1 circuit, befriending racers and cheering them on. He was happier and having more fun, and George Harrison conveys that.
Perasi follows this trajectory and details the recording of the album, song-by-song, including details of the writing and recording of each, including information about personnel and recording dates and locations. Much of his information comes from a lengthy interview with producer Russ Titelman along with press and broadcast interviews with Harrison from the period.
He also contrasts Harrison's approach to recording during this period with McCartney's. While Paul was focused on the charts, with Wings' in-progress Back to the Egg album incorporating punk and New Wave influences, George was just doing what he wanted to do, making low-key music that he enjoyed playing, not worrying about what else might be going on in the music world. That approach, to some extent, has earned the LP with a reputation for being overly mellow and MOR, yet, as Perasi also relates, it received many positive reviews at the time of its release.
I have a deep affection for the LP, as it's the first solo Harrison album I owned, and I got it shortly after its release when its hit single "Blow Away" was riding the charts. These days, however, the record tends to get overlooked. Hopefully, Perasi's book will help rectify that and lead people to revisit this strong, interesting album, or to check it out for the first time.
Paperback, 142 pages. Available via Bookshop.org
Comments
Post a Comment