In 1973, the world sawGeorge Harrisonas the Beatle who was winning the break-up.
Hed finally broken free of the Fabs and gotten everything hed ever wanted.
Well, not exactly.
Guitarist George Harrison, fomerly of the rock and roll band “The Beatles”, performs onstage with an electric guitar at the Cow Palace on November 6, 1975 in San Francisco, California.Larry Hulst/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
As my editor Jon Dolan has so brilliant put it, it got wrongly reverse-engineered intoGone Troppo.
The Harrison estate never seemed over-eager to acknowledge it.
But its time has finally come.
George steps back from the epic scale ofAll Things Must Pass.
Its a band album, with the second-best band he ever had.
But he was in low spirits at this point.
For all his religious moralizing, his private life was sex-and-drugs chaos.
After his hard work for Bangla Desh, he felt betrayed.
Then there was his never-ending Beatles legal mess, which inspired Sue Me, Sue You Blues.
The sitar gives that haunting Indian drone effect.
Tasteful, as they say.
Who Can See It is much livelier than the album version and its Take 93?
Guess George didnt need Paul around to create his own White Album-style studio chaos.
But he gets a spiritual boost from his band.
Why didntDark Horseget pushed back until Georges voice recovered?
Because he was desperate to capitalize on his disastrous 1974 solo tour, which he also wasnt ready for.
The songs vanished from the radio.
The public decided that George blew it all on one classic solo album, then fell off.
But so much light and life came back into his music after he met his wife Olivia Arias.
But that meant sleeping on some great music.
AndLiving in the Material Worldisfull of George Harrison moments worth rediscovering.
