GEORGE HARRISON
UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP - HIPPB001673501.1
2012
This is an LP which complemented the "Living in the material world" documentary from Martin Scorsese last year.
The first thing I noticed was "Volume 1" after the title which made me think "Oooh, could this be part of a set?" After a bit of digging online however, it appears that, as of now, there is no volume 2.
Firstly I must comment on the quality. The vinyl was sealed, yet once opened it was covered in all kinds of bits, dust & grit. I wasn't too happy about that!
A large sticker on the front of the LP boasts that the record is 180g heavyweight vinyl for the audiophile. Wonderful!
Actually, not wonderful at all - background noise can be heard although not intrusive.
It may as well have been pressed during the 3 day weeks of the 1970's where vinyl seemed to get thinner & thinner to save costs regardless of quality.
However, it must be noted that these tracks are rather sparse & mainly acoustic, so any background noise could well show through.
The artwork is the same as Scorseses documentary, although it looks like the magenta ink was running low as Harrisons face is a little green looking! The same can be said for the image on the record label too which was a bit blurry with misregister.
Having bought the Bluray of "Living in the material world" I have to say that the packaging of this vinyl comes nowhere near to it in terms of quality.
Giles Martin, son of Beatles producer George Martin, has mastered these tapes from Harrisons studio at Friar Park & has done a good job. I compared them to the unreleased bootleg recordings I had & they are certainly a lot clearer & more balanced.
There are 10 songs on this album which are all demos. 6 of the songs appeared on "All Things Must Pass", 2 were saved for later albums & 2 covers (one Bob Dylan & one Everly Brothers track).
I enjoyed hearing the majority of these songs in their infancy. It felt quite fresh even though they are songs that i've heard hundreds of times. I'm sure that as I acquaint myself with this album, I may indeed prefer some of these versions - as I now do with John Lennons "Double Fantasy Stripped" album from a few years ago.
After hearing the album & looking at my clock I was a little disappointed to see that hardly any time had passed. The album is near enough dead on 30 minutes long. I own some 12" singles that play for as long as that so I do feel a little cheated but it is a lovely collection to hear in this demo form. It is very charming indeed.
I do hope that there is a plan to issue more volumes in the future & possibly begin an anthology of Harrisons work including those tracks written during The Beatles time too.
Below is a link from YouTube of the demo version of "Woman Don't You Cry For Me" which appeared on the 1976 album "Thirty Three And A Third".
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