'Unknown Delight - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of George Harrison' is available to buy now by clicking here!
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Hello and
welcome to the ninth in a planned series of discussions of all the surviving TV
footage we can find of each and every AAA band. George Harrison represents
something of an enigma when it comes to TV appearances; sometimes the 'quiet
Beatle' shies away from any promotion for any of his albums for a long period
of time - at other times the 'quiet Beatle' just couldn't stop talking. As a
result this list ebbs and flows like nobody's business, depending on the era
and the album George was promoting. Though this list isn't as lengthy as those
for John and Paul, for both of whom talking came naturally and who turned
almost everything they did into music videos irrespective or not of whether
they were doing anything worth filming at the same time, George's list is still
rich with gems, from his ready wit in interviews to his offbeat humour in some
of the best AAA music videos of the lot. Which should come as no surprise -
after all he's the only musician I know of who ran his own film company, with
many useful contacts made down the years playing a key part in this list.
The good news is
that, unlike many an AAA band out there, pretty much everything George ever did
in front of a camera exists somewhere - after all, The Beatles were big enough
news by their split in 1970 for TV networks everywhere round the world to keep
anything they did (a huge contrast to our discussion of 'Beatles TV Clips' a
few months ago, with several UK and US clips sadly lost forever). The bad news
is that so many of these are still so hard to come by - while what appeared on
the 'Dark Horse Years' DVD compilation of 2001 was very welcome indeed, it was
a mere fraction of the material that's out there in terms of interviews and
music videos, meaning that an awful lot of this list is currently unavailable.
Despair not though, dear readers, for I have been busy compiling as many
'Youtube playlists' as I can for clips that are not currently available which
can be visited by one and all by going to our Youtube directory at https://www.youtube.com/user/AlansArchives
and searching for the playlist you want (there's oodles of Beatles clips too,
alongside most of our AAA bands and our own videos starring singing dogs in top
hats). We haven't bothered putting direct Youtube links to everything here
because, well, these clips have a habit of arriving and disappearing under
various names but we'll try to keep these playlists as up to date as we can and
in the meantime let's hope that a 'Dark Horse Years Volume Two' DVD collects
them all together in the future! Please note that for the purposes of this
article we're only including 'TV' material - we've already written reviews of
the Bangla Desh shows and the 'Living In The Material World' documentary
elsewhere, while we've also chosen to treat 'All Things Must Pass' as the cut
off point for George's solo career to save us repeating anything from our
Beatles book. Right with that lot over with, here we go...
1)
Smothers Brothers Comedy
Hour (US TV November 1968)
Well,
that was a waste. George turns up for a two minute cameo on this legendarily
unfunny American comedy show not to say anything of great import but basically
to say hello. The brothers mention that they thought The Beatles’ recent promo
videos of ‘Hey Jude’ and ‘Revolution’ were the best presented they had seen the
band do, to which George is non-committal. He does get in a funny gag where he
tries to ‘introduce’ the brothers to each other (‘you don’t look how I imagined
you!’ they say to each other) and George leads the regular gag about when the
audience should clap (because, well, it’s hard to tell when to applaud a show
this funny). George is in his brief clean-shaven period in between his two Beatle-period
moustaches, looking much as he does at the end of the ‘yellow Submarine’ film.
This is, I believe, his only solo TV appearance while The Beatles were still
together.
2) Dick Cavett Show (US
TV 1971)
The
AAA's favourite chat show host was having a difficult year in 1971 when he
managed to secure his second Beatle (John and Yoko had had a ball a few months
earlier - and Cavett's show had been the only American show brave enough to
broadcast their 'Woman Is The Nigger Of The World' single, so the couple
probably passed their recommendation off to Harrison). In the last year Cavett
had lost two of his favourite and most regular guests to drug overdoses - Jimi
Hendrix and Janis Joplin - and experienced the shock of a 72-year-old health
food expert dying on his show (not live but so close to transmission time the
series had been cancelled a week with no show). Still nervous after the Lennon
programme, which got the host into huge trouble with his sponsors, Cavett is
visibly worried what might happen next and clearly expects his guest to be
doing most of the talking - but George, still unused to American TV, is on equally
nervy form himself, twiddling with a bit of string between his fingers and
living up to his reputation as the 'quiet one' with one-word answers and
grunts. Most of the show is spent talking about the 'Bangla Desh' gigs but
George is already tired of it, moaning about how difficult the Inland Revenue
are being about the tax and even looking into the camera at one point, shaking
his fist and saying 'sue me, Bhaskar!' referring to the then-head of EMI (given
George's many court-cases down the years this will become a running joke
throughout his other interview appearances, with most of the clueless
interviewers not getting the joke). Along the way George, unwilling to talk
about Beatles or BanglaDesh and with only the Ravi Shankar film 'Raga' to
promote, performs as part of his friend Gary Wright's group rather than doing a
song of his own and plugs the Lennon single released too close to Christmas
'Happy Xmas (War Is Over)', which is nice of him. George discusses Beatlemania
rumours that the band were all bald ('it's all truth' he deadpans) and talks -
sort of - about what he said to John the last time he saw him ('He said hi and
I said hi - I must be the most boring person you've ever had on the show!') The
part most Beatle fans remember? Dick's comment that Yoko was sat in his chair,
leaving George to jump up as if electrocuted and grin apologetically at the
camera after he does so!
3) [64] Ding Dong Ding
Dong (Music Video 1974)
Sadly missing from the 'Dark
Horse' DVD, 'Ding Dong Ding Dong' is George's first and perhaps his funniest
music video. The clip gives fans a rare chance to see the grounds of his Friar
park mansion as he and a group of friends dress up as pirates and mime the
vocals, George alternating his costume with every verse (including his Ed Sullivan
Beatles suit from 1964, his Sgt Peppers costume from 1967 and one verse sung
nude except for a guitar and a pair of furry monster feet!) The result is
nicely matched to the carnival new year's spirit of the music but given the
context (Patti and Eric Clapton have just run off together, leaving George
alone in his mansion) is it just me or does this video come with a subtext that
says 'look at what you're missing now you're not here!' while George's sense of
fun is clearly making up for the religious solitude that had distanced the
couple.
4) [26] What Is
Life?/[65] Dark Horse (Live 1974)
A brief compilation of
George's 'Dark Horse' tour exists - and is every bit as wild and messy as
critics always claimed. A hoarse George looks happy enough in a bright yellow
shirt and blue dungarees, with Billy Preston trying to cover for his failing
vocal chords while the band do a good job of trying to gee up an unhappy crowd.
In between a less hectic but still lively 'What Is Life?' and nicely soulful
'Dark Horse' we follow George back stage while he gargles and holds a press
conference (the source of the famous quote 'I'd rather Patti was with Eric than
some dope!')
5) Rutland Weekend
Television (UK TV Comedy Show 1975)
'Thirty pieces of...parrot!'
Eric Idle's comedy specially put on for England's smallest country (though
beamed to the rest of the country) was the source of 'The Rutles' parody of The
Beatles, but just as funny though less well known is George's own appearance
with 'Nasty' ie 'John' aka 'Eric Idle'. The host is very pleased to have a
world famous singer on the show - but George's agent has been telling him lies,
he'd fed up of always being asked to sing his hits and he thought he was on the
show to be an actor and play the part of a pirate. He's even come dressed for
the part and keeps interrupting the other sketches to ask when he'll be on
before storming off ('No pirate sketch? Well up yours then!') We also see him
chatting to Neil Innes aka Paul aka Dirk, who admits that he'd love to help
George but he 'has no power' in this special because Eric's a big ego-maniac.
Finally, at the close of the show, George seems to be playing ball and strums
the lengthy opening to his big hit [23] 'My Sweet Lord', but the song he sings
next is not exactly spiritual, as he gets his own back on his hosts after all
and, umm, alters the song ever so slightly. All together now: 'I'd like to be a
pirate, a pirate's life for me, all my friends are pirates and we sail the BB
seas, I've got a jolly Roger, it's big and wide and vast, so get out your skull
and cross bones and I'll run it up your mast!' (which, in 1975 TV terms, is
sailing pretty close to the wind!) George's reputation has just gone up big
time!
6) 33 1/3rd: The Granada
Interview (Promotion 1976)
Here's George, thirteen
years on from The Beatles' breakthrough hit, speaking to interview Joel Siegal
saying that he's never really considered stopping but reckons he might 'by 37,
38...' (which is about 'Somewhere In England' time). He tells Joel he's 'been
more of a lawyer than a musician recently' relating to the court cases for
Apple and over 'My Sweet Lord He's So Fine' and admits that he's have been
hopeless at anything else: 'I'd never have been a welder!' He's quick to back
up the Rolling Stones who Siegal considers 'too old' and disagrees that the
Beatles of 1963 seemed young and energetic ('we even had short hurr!') Part of
the clip, with George speaking about the court case over 'My Sweet Lord', was
borrowed as an intro for [81] 'This Song' on the 'Dark Horse Years' DVD.
7) [86] Crackerbox
Palace (Music Video 1976)
Another rare chance to see
what the grounds of Friar Park looks like, this ode to madness features George
at home surrounding by a bunch of his dearest (and weirdest) friends. In the
course of the video he appears as a baby in a pram, is part of a 'gnome chorus'
who dance on the string of 'stepping stones' along his water feature (which,
when seen from the house, looks as if his guests are walking on water) and
holds a party outside on his lawn in between a giant maze which recalls the
rear sleeve of 'Living In The Material World'. Deeply odd, but very funny and
very George, thankfully included on the 'Dark Horse Years' DVD.
8) [81] This Song (Music
Video 1976)
Thankfully included on the
'Dark Horse Years' DVD too, this third music video was a witty response to the
'My Sweet Lord' plagiarism court case which features George in the dock singing
his track 'This Song', a witty response from 'Thirty Three and a Third'
spoofing the whole debacle. Appearing in front of the strangest looking jury
ever seen, George is handcuffed by a hell's angel security guard while trying
to play the guitar. Meanwhile a stenographer plays her typewriter like a piano
and the judge bangs along with his gavel and at the end a party breaks out
while George gets rather violently whisked away. The video also recalls one of
the earliest music videos ever made for the classic Rolling Stones single 'We
Love You' when Jagger and Richards feared they wouldn't be able to promote the
song on TV (because they were about to be locked up!) and appear in a
court-room in a parody of Oscar Wilde's 'obscenity' trial. One of George's
funniest videos.
9) Disco (‘This Song’ UK
TV 1976)
In a
sign of the times, George makes his only 1970s TV performance as a performer
rather than as an interview subject to promote his latest single, which
promptly flops anyway. Though George is, by Beatle standards, slumming it on
this daytime BBC2 music programme he looks as if he’s having a great time,
laughing his head off at the start of the clip. However, even though this is a
comedy song, George seems to switch this persona off and sings this track with
a scowl instead, looking lost as he mimes on a plinth with only a guitar for
company. The lack of musicians seems particularly odd when we get to the ‘funny
voices’ part. Notably, George never did this again – the closest we come in
this list is his appearance in ‘Water’ playing a fake song in a fake band for a
fake-serious film!
10) [92] Blow Away
(Music Video 1979)
A much simpler video for a nicely
simplistic song, this one is full of shots of clouds and George playing the
guitar (with an Elvis style knee action!) and for the first half appears to be
the most 'normal' of all the Harrison videos out there. However, somewhere in
the second half it all gets weird as computer trickery allows George to sit
aboard a giant white swan, atop a blown up wagging dog (the sort of toy you
used to see in the back of car windows) and appear next to a colossal nodding
bird (presumably a baby toy for then-toddler son Dhani). What a shame this
video was missed out of the 'Dark Horse Years' compilation - both song and
video are true classics of the Harrison canon.
11) [93] Faster (Music
Video 1979)
George's love of Formula One
goes back a long way. As well as investing money in future world champion Damon
Hill to allow him to pursue his dream of racing, George was good friends with
three time world champion Jackie Stewart, who took him for a memorable drive in
this video for George's F1 song, intercut with real F1 footage (quite a feat in
its day, given that even back then Bernie Ecclestone kept a tight control over
how much footage was used and where). George dedicated the song on the album to
Ronnie Petersen, who'd died in the Italian Grand Prix of 1978 and Niki Lauda,
who'd survived an awful crash at the German grand prix of 1976 which left him
badly burnt. However neither appear in the video, which seems to use footage
from the 1979 season (where Lauda was at Brabham). This video also appeared in
the 'Dark Horse Years' DVD.
12) Good Morning America
(US TV 1981)
'This show is brought to you
by DreamWhip and Gello brand instant pudding, together they make dream pie -
delicious!' A good guide to why George just didn't do TV very often, this is a
twenty minute American interview via satellite (which inevitably breaks down
partway through) where you can tell his hackles are rising as he gets
interrupted by continual advert breaks, news bulletins and the sort of items
that make the UK 'The One Show' look normal (You interrupted George to talk
about pig picking?!) George denies being a recluse, tries to describe what the
hell the plot of his Handmade Film 'Time Bandits' is all about, speaks about
missing Lennon, the intensity of the Beatle years ('a concentrated type of exposure
and I overdosed on the fame of it') and gardening ('the flowers don't answer
you back!')
13) [101] All Those
Years Ago (Music Video 1981)
A simple, straightforward
video of old Beatles clips for a song that couldn't really have been done any
differently - seeing a smiling miming George would have been against what this
video was all about. The videos start with shots of George as he is now (well,
as he was in 1981 anyway), before moving onto Lennon in 1980 and gradually back
to the very beginning with baby pictures of the pair before ending with the
'stairs' clip from 'Magical Mystery Tour'. Whoever put this together clearly
only had access to the usual store of the same old Beatles pictures though and
is a little too insistent on cutting Paul and Ringo out of the action, meaning
that this teary farewell of a video isn't quite as moving as perhaps it ought
to be.
14) Water (Film 1985)
George appears in a Handmade
Film spoof of his own 'Concert For Bangla Desh' as Billy Connolly, a Caribbean
local, puts on a charity concert to raise money to send greedy American
capitalists back where they belong. While the film isn't quite as funny as it
ought to be (who on earth hires the wooden Michael Caine to do comedy for
heaven's sake?) the ending is excellent as not just George but Ringo and Eric
Clapton appear in an all-star band to perform the Connolly song 'Freedom'. The
clip of George and Eric trying not to catch each other's eye and get the
giggles is priceless.
15) Carl Perkins, George
Harrison, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton And Friends (US Concert 1985)
George's first appearance on
stage for eleven years came at a guest night honouring his old idol Carl
Perkins. Dressed in a similar denim to what he wore on the sleeve of 'Abbey
Road', George doesn't look as up for the occasion as the other guests but still
seems to be Carl's favourite given his idol's hugs and proud looks to camera.
After all, Beatles don't just honour anybody. Along the way the pair revive
some Perkins/Beatles favourites including 'Glad All Over' and 'Honey Don't.
Ringo and Eric inevitably appear too.
16) Shanghai Surprise
(Film 1986)
In addition to 'Water', the
second handmade film to feature George was the doomed Shanghai Surprise'.
George's cameo comes during the 'club scene' of the film where Madonna and Sean
Penn take refuge, with George dressed up like a cross between another of his
idols Cab Calloway and the waiter's uniform Lennon wears in 'Magical Mystery
Tour', complete with slicked back hair. He looks deeply uncomfortable as well he
might - the director only asked him to do it the night before and the song
[126] 'The Hottest Gong In Town' was written at short notice (and sounds like
it too). In addition two music videos were put together to promote the film:
[134] 'Someplace Else' (a song re-recorded for 'Cloud Nine' as well as being
used in the film) and [124] 'Shanghai Surprise' itself, both of them featuring
clips from the film with George recording the soundtrack alongside Vicki Brown,
the wife of his friend and 50s skiffle idol Joe Brown. Thankfully there never
was a video for [125] 'Zig-Zag', more horrific incidental music used in the
film.
17) Today Show (US TV
1986)
Another odd American TV
appearance, this time in person, spread across three separate days. The
interviewer is exactly the sort of person George has spent the past fifteen
years avoiding and misses many of his jokes, but George is on good form and has
plenty to say. While ostensibly on to promote Handmade Films' latest features
'Water' and 'Shanghai Surprise', Harrison is more keen to talk about philosophy
('you can transcend any problem really and all problems are only relevant to
this form of consciousness' 'nothing
exists - the past is gone and the future doesn't exist until you get to it, so
you just have to do your best' 'If they're gonna have Mozart and all those
people in music classses they might as well have The Beatles'. And, tellingly
given what happens, this comment on Russia producing their first Beatles
singles after American influence over there: 'In another twenty years they may
get out of Afghanistan!') George is at his most irate talking about the British
press who falsely report about him snubbing Julian and Sean Lennon ('it's
Rupert Murdoch and all his gang!') and denies rumours about having a toilet
that cost $3500 and plays 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds' before talking about
the Beatles getting kicked out of Manilla (this interview's angry 'sue me'
fists are at Murdoch and Imelda Marcos!)
18) Australian Grand
Prix (Australian TV 1986)
George
happened to be in town for his favourite hobby in 1986 and agreed to an
interview with the local broadcasters. Asked about his music he admits to being
a ‘one hit wonder with lots of things bubbling under’ but brightens up by
talking about the way ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Out’ turned the Beatles recording
of ‘twist and Shout’ into a hit ‘with people asking who this hip and happening band
are and telling them to go back out on the road!’ George is in top deadpan mode
as when asked about a Beatles reunion he says ‘why would anybody want to see
the three of us hobbling around?’ and when asked what he remembers most about ‘the
old days’ says ‘I remember all the money we were being ripped off from managers
and publishers!’ He says that he saw
Paul only a month ago but disagrees that McCartney was the one pushing for The
Beatles to get back together. George says that he decided last week that he
wants to make a new album and says ‘I haven’t told Ringo that but he’s going to
be on it!’ George sadly doesn’t get asked about F1 much but for those who were
wondering it was an exciting one: Alain Prost won and went on to take the title
a race later, but only after pole-sitter Nigel Mansell’s tyre blew and Keke
Rosberg’s car broke down after several laps at the front.
19) Prince's Trust (UK
Concert 1987)
George's 'proper' return to
the stage came at an all-star charity gig which oddly wasn't raising money for
something George truly believed in but Prince Charles' hobby of helping
under-privileged kids he'll rule over one day but which he can't be arsed to
actually meet (it's not as if he has anything better to do). To be honest he
could have funded the charity from his own work as a landlord for half of
Southern England his horrible Duchy Original Biscuits, but instead it's the
musicians doing all the work as normal. George acquits himself well with
performances of 'Here Comes The Sun' and 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' plus a
stint supporting Ringo on 'With A Little Help With My Friends' but doesn't
appear to be enjoying himself much and his last UK performance on stage is
marred by poor sound and a grotty band. Eight year old Dhani, enjoying his
first chance to see his dad be applauded for his work was said to be horrified
- 'why didn't you play any proper Chuck Berry music?' he's meant to have asked
his dad backstage, to which his dad grinned and patted him on the head. As for
the opening version a capella of ‘God Save The Queen’ – yuck!
20) Channel X (UK TV October
1987)
'They say the quiet ones of
the group are always the ravers - is that true?' 'Erm - could be!' The weirdest
entry on this list features a twenty-seven-year old Jonathan Ross desperately
trying to interview George down his local pub alongside a rather quiet John
Peel ('I always thought he was from Liverpool but he's posh, from down
Heswell!') 'We would have been doing things like that' says George when asked
what he'd do if he hadn't been famous and avoiding the awful Jonathan Ross band
setting up inside the pub. He adds that he's given up wearing tight leather
trousers and winkle-pickers, is saddened that Madonna didn't have a sense of
humour on the set of 'Shanghai Surprise' (though he likes Sean Penn) and is
shocked to learn that this most unprofessional interview is actually going out
live on telly. The most revealing sentence though is that the Beatles split
'because there were too many people getting into the group, they should have
been The Beatles and The Beatles' wives!' Cue hand-written credits and the
worst sounding orchestra in the history of television while George gets back to
his pint and tries to pretend this never happened, hoping it will all be
forgotten. And it probably would have been had Youtube not been invented...
21) [137] Got My Mind
Set On You (Music Video x 2 1987)
There were two videos of
Harrison's Rudy Clark cover, one made for the teenagers (an awful video
featuring George and Jeff Lynne 'playing' inside an arcade machine played by
two very hammy extras and an excellent one featuring George apparently playing
quietly in his living room). Along the way his house comes alive: the walls
start jumping, the books keep falling off the shelves and a moose's head starts
playing a sax solo before the single most hilarious moment of any Harrison
video when George apparently gets up off his seat to do a double back flip
(careful viewing reveals a cutaway just before we go from the close up to the
long shot). As George claimed in a video, it's hilarious because it's the last
things his fans would ever expect him to do - and yet manages to look like the
sort of thing every music video back in the day was full of anyway. Both
versions are included in the 'Dark Horse Years' DVD.
22) [132] When We Was
Fab (Music Video 1987)
Another priceless video,
with George's nips of nostalgia well suited to an inventive video directed by
Kevin Godley (once of AAA band 10cc). In the course of the video George gains
an extra hand (which is, erm, handy) which then eats an 'apple' laden with not
just Biblical but Beatle symbolism, Ringo drives up in a van labelled 'fab
gear' and gets out the longest keyboard known to man (so long it actually takes
two of him to carry it) and the bass is played by a 'walrus'. The video ends
with George levitating during the 'Indian chant' of the song's tagline as he
grows ten arms and vanishes. Modern viewers, more accustomed to this sort thing
might scorn (especially the way someone walks past the camera every time a cut
needs to be made) but in 1987 this video was sensational and it's still one of
the very best music promos around, nicely getting the 'Beatley' flavour and
deservedly included on the 'Dark Horse Years' set.
23) [131] This Is Love
(Music Video 1987)
A final music video from
'Cloud Nine' is less inventive than the first two but features lots of nice
shots of a happy looking George playing in the sun in what looks suspiciously
like Hawaii but is apparently Britain - blimey, it doesn't look like that near
me I can tell you. George is dressed in denim again, his 'Abbey Road' look.
However this video is probably more important for what George was up to when
the cameras weren't rolling - this is the day the idea for the song [144] 'Any
Road' (released on 'Brainwashed' in 2001) came into his head and he spent most
of the car journey and snatched minutes during filming to write it down. Like
the other two 'Cloud Nine' songs this track was included on the 'Dark Horse Years'
box set.
24) Michael Aspel And
Company Show (UK TV 1988)
'I'm even more normal than
normal people!' I'm surprised that this half hour show isn't better known among
Beatlemaniacs. For starters George appears with a rather drunken Ringo, acting
for most of the show as his straightman and for another this is the second
longest interview he ever gave. He denies being the 'Howard Hughes Of Henley',
argues with Ringo about being a raver ('Yes but I stopped in 1964!' 'Well I
only stopped in 1980!'), says that it can take ten minutes to 'power walk' his
garden or 45 minutes to 'saunter', the days in India (where Ringo came with a
case of baked beans and asked for eggs which weren't allowed in the vegan
society, with the locals hiding the eggshells so 'God' wouldn't see), admits to
being 'cheeky so and sos', discusses Thomas The Tank Engine and most movingly
their belief that Lennon's spirit lives on (he's meant to have come to Ringo
one day to tell him to 'cheer up and stop being so depressed!') Though both men
are keen to say that they're 'happy' when asked by the ever thoughtful Aspel
(the British equivalent of Dick Cavett) how they're feeling these days, Ringo
seems deeply unhappy, twitching and smoking and jumping on everyone's lines
with jokes only he understands. It was seeing this show - and others in the
same period - back that persuaded Ringo his drinking was getting out of control
and he ought to cut back and George looks like a concerned elder parent, not a
younger Beatle.
25) Wogan (UK TV 1990)
George makes a rare and
Olivia an even rarer appearance to promote their recent Romanian Aid charity
album 'Nobody's Child', the only time they ever appeared together on TV. A
thoughtful George, with his hair the longest it ever became, says that he's
there simply because he felt he ought to do something while Olivia speaks of
her shock at going out to Romania to oversee the money and see the devastation
for herself. Apparently choosing the song 'Nobody's Child' was the hardest part
of the process and Harrison confirms that he did know it from the Lonnie
Donegan cover though it was Joe Brown he called up to ask for the chords.
26) Rapido (Interview US
TV 1990)
More promotion for the
Traveling Wiburys, with George's last interview for some time finding him on
defensive form ('it's all in other people's heads, this mystery and intrigue'
is his comment on The Beatles) and comments that John's death isn't as sad for
Harrison as other people because he knows 'the soul goes on - and that's
something I know, not just something made up to make me feel good'. He sounds
relieved to be free of his Warner Brothers contract but is already missing the
Wilburys, dropping the interesting clue that fifteen songs were written for the
first album (so far only twelve have been released). Clips from videos for
'When We Was Fab' and the rarer Wilbury songs 'She's My Baby' and 'Nobody's
Child' are also included.
27) Live In Japan (1992)
Although the tour in Japan
was professionally filmed, as far as I know the full film has never been seen.
Instead four songs were included in the 'Dark Horse Years' DVD: performances of
'Cheer Down' 'Devil's Radio' 'Cloud Nine' and 'Taxman'. The performance sounds
better than the souvenir CD ever did - George sings some of these tracks with
grit in his voice instead of the over-slick feel of that album, although he
still looks as if he's having a rotten time of things and can't wait to get
home, singing part of the set with his eyes closed. Note too how few guitar
solos George plays, splitting duties about half and half with Eric Clapton who
sticks firmly to the back of the stage.
28) Live At The Royal
Albert Hall (April 1992)
Ten years before the ‘Concert
For George’ , Harrison played his last British concert as a Beatle and his
penultimate show of all (the last being, inevitably, a Dylan tribute show six months later). The gig wasn’t professionally
shot, George probably not expecting it to be anything significant although as
his only British performance that year following his tour of Japan it was quite
a big deal at the time. The same problems as the Japanese material is true
here: the arrangements are soggy, the performances lifeless and these are far
from the best songs in George’s catalogue. However the band behind him do know
what they’re doing a little more, with Clapton much more on the money and it’s
nice to see Dhani on stage with his dad for the only time (then aged fourteen,
Harrison senior wouldn’t take him to Japan with him but agreed to let him on
stage the next time he played his ‘local’). Though clearly shot in fuzzy film
and from quite a distance, this is a great souvenir to have in any condition.
The last song George sang on stage in Britain is an epic version of ‘Roll Over
Beethoven’ that soon turns into a monster jam and goes on forever, like the ‘Apple
Jam’ disc in ‘All Things Must pass’ but not even that good.
29) George and Ravi: Yin
and Yang (UK TV, May 1997)
Broadcast on British TV to
promote the ‘George and Ravi’ collaboration ‘Chants Of India’, this is a
likeable if rambling joint discussion between the pair recounting how they met,
what they thought of each other and their passion for Indian music. You don’t
learn much you didn’t know already, but there is a story that George wanted to
meet Ravi in person rather than the press wanting to make a ‘gimmick’ out of it
and Ravi talking about the first time he head George’s playing on ‘Norwegian
Wood’ and admits that ‘I was not much impressed by it you know…but I admired
the effort!’
30) VH1 Interview (1997)
'Finding out what happens we
die is the only thing really that's of any importance and everything else is
secondary'. What turned out to be George's last ever televised interview and
his last performance in public was given on something of a whim. With no
product to promote except for a Ravi Shankar album and secretly diagnosed with
cancer, VH1 assumed that George wouldn't speak for very long. Instead he spoke
for an hour, perhaps feeling that this might be his last chance to get the main
point of what he'd been saying for some thirty-five years across although only
half of it was broadcast at the time, the rest being screened for the first
time after his death (luckily he beat the cancer at the time, only for it to
return in 2001). He talks about Ravi 'this little feller with an obscure
instrument' being the first person who ever really impressed him, speaks at
length about his theory about the duality of life and nature ('our bodies are
manifesting pure bodies but the sap is pure knowledge, we have to tap into that
to understand it'), talks about money bringing some freedoms but wanting to 'go
beyond all that', speaks at length about Bangla Desh (he didn't expect Eric or
Dylan to show and ended up with 'too many guitar players') and politics and
standing for the Maharishi Meditation Natural Law Party ('No matter who you
vote for the Government always gets in!' is one of George's best quotes of them
all). Near the end he performs a song he's had rattling around for ten years
without a home which will appear on his final record 'Brainwashed' ([144] 'Any
Road'), the Traveling Wilbury number 'If She Belonged To Me' (sung on the
record by Dylan) and finished with a rousing [35] 'All Things Must Pass'. A
worthy way to say goodbye, well nearly goodbye because there's still time
for...
31) [23b] My Sweet Lord
2000 (Promotion and 2000)
'What was your first thought
listening back thirty years on?' 'I thought - *intake of breath* - too much
echo!' George didn't make a video for his re-release of 'My Sweet Lord' in 2000
but did chat for ten minutes or so about the album - though that hasn't stopped
one enterprising fan putting a video together out of the footage from this
documentary and Pan's People dancing to the song on Top Of The Pops. Highlights
include George re-creating his 'All Things Must Pass' album cover on his lawn
(he's even kept the gnomes!) and trying to remember the pose thirty years on
and George fiddling with the engineering desk in his house. There's a nice
cartoon of the 1970 'George' getting attacked by bulldozers to create the 2000
'George' too, which should have been longer. A welcome last chance to see
Harrison making music.
32) What Is Life? (Music Video 2016)
A really weird one, this, to
close with. The Harrison estate commissioned this new promo film to help promote
the ‘Living In The Material World’ book and figured this popular single never
did have a music video to go with it. George almost certainly wouldn’t have
liked it though: it’s the cliched tale of a 1960s girl in yellow wearing a mini-skirt
running through a playground, a garden, a graveyard and a wood until during the
song’s ‘false ending’ she meets up with a boy dressed exactly the same (except
the mini-skirt, obviously) and dancing just like she is. It is, I think it’s
fair to say, a missed opportunity unless you’re putting together a ballet based
on George’s music or you really like the colour yellow.
And that's it for another issue - we've come to the end of our series of Harrison articles now but we'll be starting a new run on The Hollies next week so join us then if you can - and if you can't we'll wait for you. Ciao for now!
'Wonderwall Music' (1968) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/george-harrison-wonderwall-music-1968.html
'All Things Must Pass' (1970) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-42-george-harrison-all-things.html
'Living In The Material World' (1973) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/news-views-and-music-issue-58-george.html
'Dark Horse' (1974) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/news-views-and-music-issue-127-george.html
A NOW COMPLETE LIST OF GEORGE HARRISON ARTICLES TO READ AT
ALAN’S ALBUM ARCHIVES:
'Wonderwall Music' (1968) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/george-harrison-wonderwall-music-1968.html
'All Things Must Pass' (1970) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-42-george-harrison-all-things.html
'Living In The Material World' (1973) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/news-views-and-music-issue-58-george.html
'Dark Horse' (1974) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/news-views-and-music-issue-127-george.html
'Extra
Texture (Read All About It)' (1975) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/george-harrison-extra-texture-read-all.html
'Thirty-Three
And A Third' (1976) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/george-harrison-thirty-three-and-third.html
'George Harrison' (1979) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-74-george-harrison-1979.html
‘Somewhere In England’ (1981) http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/george-harrison-somewhere-in-england_20.html
'George Harrison' (1979) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-74-george-harrison-1979.html
‘Somewhere In England’ (1981) http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/george-harrison-somewhere-in-england_20.html
'Gone
Troppo' (1982) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/george-harrison-gone-troppo-1982.html
‘Cloud
Nine’ (1987) https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/george-harrison-cloud-nine-1987.html
'Brainwashed'
(2002) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/george-harrison-brainwashed-2002.html
'Hidden
Harrison - The Best Unreleased Recordings' http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/george-harrison-hidden-harrison-best.html
Live/Compilation/Spin-Off
Albums Plus The Occasional Wilbury http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/george-harrison-live.html
Non-Album
Recordings 1968-2001 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/george-harrison-non-album-recordings.html
Surviving
TV Appearances 1971-2001 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/george-harrison-surviving-tv.html
Essay: Why The Quiet Beatle Always Had So Much To Say https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/george-harrison-essay-why-quiet-one.html
Essay: Why The Quiet Beatle Always Had So Much To Say https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/george-harrison-essay-why-quiet-one.html
Five
Landmark Concerts and Three Key Cover Songs https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/george-harrison-five-landmark-concerts.html
