1968–87: solo career
Early solo work
Before the Beatles' break-up Harrison had already recorded and released two solo albums: Wonderwall Music and Electronic Sound, both of which include mainly instrumental compositions. Wonderwall Music, a soundtrack to the 1968 film Wonderwall, blends Indian and Western instrumentation, while Electronic Sound is an experimental album that prominently features a Moog synthesizer.[59] Released in November 1968, Wonderwall Music was the first solo album by a Beatle and the first LP released by Apple Records.[60] Indian musicians Aashish Khan and Shivkumar Sharma performed on the album, which contains the experimental sound collage "Dream Scene", recorded several months before Lennon's "Revolution 9".[61]
In December 1969 Harrison participated in a brief tour of Europe with the American group Delaney & Bonnie and Friends.[62] During the tour that included Clapton, Bobby Whitlock, drummer Jim Gordon and band leaders Delaneyand Bonnie Bramlett, Harrison began to write "My Sweet Lord", which became his first single as a solo artist.[63] Delaney Bramlett inspired Harrison to learn slide guitar, significantly influencing his later music.[64]
All Things Must Pass
Main article: All Things Must Pass
After years of being restricted in his songwriting contributions to the Beatles' albums, Harrison released All Things Must Pass. It was a triple album,[65] with two discs of his songs and the third of recordings of Harrison jammingwith friends.[56][66] Regarded by many as his best work, the album topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.[67][68][nb 5] The LP produced the number-one hit single "My Sweet Lord" and the top-ten single "What Is Life".[70]The album was co-produced by Phil Spector using his "Wall of Sound" approach,[71] and the musicians included Starr, Clapton, Gary Wright, Preston, Klaus Voormann, the whole of Delaney and Bonnie's Friends band and the Apple group Badfinger.[56][72][nb 6] Ben Gerson of Rolling Stone described All Things Must Pass as being "of classic Spectorian proportions, Wagnerian, Brucknerian, the music of mountain tops and vast horizons."[74] Author and musicologist Ian Inglis considered the lyrics of the album's title track "a recognition of the impermanence of human existence ... a simple and poignant conclusion" to Harrison's former band.[75] In 1971 Bright Tunes sued Harrison for copyright infringement over "My Sweet Lord" owing to its similarity to the 1963 Chiffons hit "He's So Fine".[76] He denied deliberately plagiarizing the song, but lost the court case in 1976 as the judge ruled that he had done so subconsciously.[77]
In 2000 Apple Records released a thirtieth anniversary edition of the album and Harrison actively participated in its promotion, giving an interview during which he reflected on the work: "It's just something that was like my continuation from the Beatles, really. It was me sort of getting out of the Beatles and just going my own way ... it was a very happy occasion."[78] He commented on the production: "Well, in those days it was like the reverb was kind of used a bit more than what I would do now. In fact, I don't use reverb at all. I can't stand it ... You know, it's hard to go back to anything thirty years later and expect it to be how you would want it now."[79]
The Concert for Bangladesh
Main article: The Concert for Bangladesh
Responding to a request from Ravi Shankar, Harrison organized a charity event, the Concert for Bangladesh, which took place on 1 August 1971, drawing over 40,000 people to two shows in New York's Madison Square Garden.[80] The goal of the event was to raise money to aid starving refugees during the Bangladesh Liberation War.[81] Shankar opened the show, which featured popular musicians such as Dylan, Clapton, Leon Russell, Badfinger, Preston and Starr.[81]
A triple album, The Concert for Bangladesh, was released by Apple Corps that year, followed by a concert film in 1972. Tax troubles and questionable expenses later tied up many of the proceeds, but Harrison commented: "Mainly the concert was to attract attention to the situation ... The money we raised was secondary, and although we had some money problems ... they still got plenty ... even though it was a drop in the ocean. The main thing was, we spread the word and helped get the war ended."[82] The event has been described as an innovative precursor for the large-scale charity rock shows that followed, including Live Aid.[83][nb 7]
Living in the Material World to George Harrison
Living in the Material World (1973) held the number one spot on the Billboard album chart for five weeks, and the album's single, "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)", also reached number one in the US.[85] In the UK, the LP achieved number two, spending 12 weeks on the charts with the single peaking at number 8.[70] The album was lavishly produced and packaged, and its dominant message was Harrison's Hindu beliefs.[86] In Greene's opinion it "contained many of the strongest compositions of his career".[87] Rolling Stone's Stephen Holden declared the album "vastly appealing" and "profoundly seductive ... [it] stands alone as an article of faith, miraculous in its radiance."[88] Other reviewers were less enthusiastic, describing the release as awkward, sanctimonious and overly sentimental, a reaction that left Harrison despondent.[89]
In November 1974 Harrison began his 45-date Dark Horse Tour, becoming the first ex-Beatle to tour North America.[90] In addition to performances by Harrison with an ensemble of musicians such as Preston, Tom Scott, Willie Weeks, Andy Newmark and Jim Horn, the tour also included traditional and contemporary Indian music performed by "Ravi Shankar, Family and Friends".[91] Despite numerous positive reviews the consensus reaction to the tour was negative, with complaints about the content, structure, and length; the show's duration of two and a half hours was seen as excessive at the time.[92] Some fans found Shankar's significant presence a bizarre disappointment, having expected to see only Harrison perform, and many were affronted by what Inglis described as Harrison's "sermonizing".[93] Further, he reworked the lyrics to several Beatles songs, and some of the substitutions were seen as "gratuitously offensive".[93] His laryngitis-affected vocals also disappointed fans and critics, who began calling the tour "dark hoarse".[94] Harrison was so deeply bothered by the caustic backlash that he did not tour again until the 1990s.[93] The author Robert Rodriguez commented: "While the Dark Horse tour might be considered a noble failure, there were a number of fans who were tuned-in to what was being attempted. They went away ecstatic, conscious that they had just witnessed something so uplifting that it could never be repeated."[95] Leng called the tour "groundbreaking" and "revolutionary in its presentation of Indian Music".[96]
In December Harrison released Dark Horse, an album that earned him the least favourable reviews of his career.[97] Rolling Stone called it "the chronicle of a performer out of his element, working to a deadline, enfeebling his overtaxed talents by a rush to deliver a new 'LP product', rehearse a band, and assemble a cross-country tour, all within three weeks."[98] The album reached number 4 on the Billboard chart and the single "Dark Horse" reached number 15, but they failed to make an impact in the UK.[99][nb 8] The music critic Mikal Gilmore described Dark Horse as "one of Harrison's most fascinating works – a record about change and loss".[100]
Harrison's final studio album for EMI and Apple Records was the soul music-inspired Extra Texture (Read All About It) (1975).[101] He considered it the least satisfactory of the three he had recorded since All Things Must Pass.[102] Leng identified "bitterness and dismay" in many of the album's tracks; his long-time friend Klaus Voormann commented: "He wasn't up for it ... It was a terrible time because I think there was a lot of cocaine going around, and that's when I got out of the picture ... I didn't like his frame of mind".[103] He released two singles from the LP: "You", which reached the Billboard top 20, and "This Guitar (Can't Keep from Crying)", Apple's final original single release.[104]
Thirty Three & 1/3 (1976), Harrison's first album release on his own Dark Horse Records label, produced the hit singles "This Song" and "Crackerbox Palace", both of which reached the top 25 in the US.[105][nb 9] The surreal humour of "Crackerbox Palace" reflected Harrison's association with Monty Python's Eric Idle, who directed a comical music video for the song.[108] With an emphasis on melody and musicianship, and a more subtle subject matter than the pious message of his earlier works, Thirty Three & 1/3 earned Harrison his most favourable critical notices in the US since All Things Must Pass.[108][nb 10]
In 1979, following his second marriage and the birth of his son Dhani, he released George Harrison. The album and the single "Blow Away" both made the Billboard top 20.[110] The album marked the beginning of Harrison's gradual retreat from the music business, and the fruition of ideas introduced on All Things Must Pass. In 1978 the death of his father in May and the birth of his son in August had influenced his decision to devote more time to his family than to his career.[111] Leng described the album as "melodic and lush ... peaceful ... the work of a man who had lived the rock and roll dream twice over and was now embracing domestic as well as spiritual bliss."[111]
Somewhere in England to Cloud Nine
The murder of Lennon on 8 December 1980 disturbed Harrison and reinforced his decades-long concerns about stalkers.[112] It was also a deep personal loss, although unlike McCartney and Starr, Harrison had had little contact with Lennon in the years before his death.[113][nb 11] Following the murder, Harrison commented: "After all we went through together I had and still have great love and respect for John Lennon. I am shocked and stunned."[112]
Harrison modified the lyrics of a song he had written for Starr to make it a tribute song to Lennon.[114] "All Those Years Ago", which included vocal contributions from Paul and Linda McCartney, as well as Starr's original drum part, peaked at number two in the US charts.[115][116] The single was included on the album Somewhere in England in 1981.[117] Harrison did not release any new albums for five years after 1982's Gone Troppo received little notice from critics or the public.[118]
During this period he made several guest appearances, including a 1985 performance at a tribute to Carl Perkins titled Blue Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session.[119][nb 12] In March 1986 he made a surprise appearance during the finale of the Birmingham Heart Beat Charity Concert, an event organized to raise money for the Birmingham Children's Hospital.[121] The following year, he appeared at The Prince's Trust concert at London's Wembley Arena, performing "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Here Comes the Sun".[122] In February 1987 he joined Dylan, John Fogerty and Jesse Ed Davis on stage for a two-hour performance with the blues musician Taj Mahal.[123] Harrison recalled: "Bob rang me up and asked if I wanted to come out for the evening and see Taj Mahal ... So we went there and had a few of these Mexican beers – and had a few more ... Bob says, 'Hey, why don't we all get up and play, and you can sing?' But every time I got near the microphone, Dylan comes up and just starts singing this rubbish in my ear, trying to throw me."[124]
In November 1987 Harrison released the platinum album Cloud Nine.[125][126] Co-produced with Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra, the LP included Harrison's rendition of James Ray's "Got My Mind Set on You", which went to number one in the US and number two in the UK.[127][128] The accompanying music video received substantial airplay,[129] and another single, "When We Was Fab", a retrospective of the Beatles' career, earned two MTV Music Video Awards nominations in 1988.[130] Recorded at his estate in Friar Park, Harrison's slide guitar playing featured prominently on the album, which included several of his long-time musical collaborators, including Clapton, Keltner, and Jim Horn, who recalled Harrison's relaxed and friendly demeanour during the sessions: "George made you feel at home, in his home ... He once had me sit on a toilet and play my soprano sax, and they miked it at the end of the hall for a distant sound. I thought they were kidding ... Another time he stopped me in the middle of a sax solo and brought me 3 p.m. tea—again I thought he was kidding."[131] Cloud Nine reached number eight and number ten on the US and UK charts respectively, and several tracks from the album achieved placement on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart – "Devil's Radio", "This Is Love" and "Cloud 9".[127]
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