“It was typical of George to draw people together…”
GEORGE HARRISON WAS ONLY HITTING HIS STRIDE WHEN THE BEATLES ended. The start of his solo endeavours in 1968 coincided with his rise to greater prominence within the band, and in the immediate post-Fab era he continued to blossom. All Things Must Pass, “My Sweet Lord”, The Concert For Bangladesh and “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)” elevated him to solo superstar status in the early ’70s. Thereafter, his career was tidal, powerful waves of creativity subject to the waxing and waning of his enthusiasms in the face of competing interests: spirituality, gardening, fast cars, films. Harrison was in many ways a reluctant solo artist, often happiest in collaboration, yet his vision was stubbornly individual and his music branded with his forceful personality. Whether channelled through rock, pop, soul, country or Indian music, his wire-cutter vocals, signature slide-guitar motifs and mix of spiritual yearning, no-nonsense truth-telling and earthy humour was utterly distinctive. Here, Harrison’s closest collaborators reveal the intimate stories behind the music, a tale encompassing death rides in yellow Porsches, lascivious jazzers, Dylan worship and an unforgettable recording session on the day John Lennon died. Through it all, “George was always himself,” says his former bandleader Tom Scott. “He was consistent in the space he occupied. His simplicity was beautiful.”
GEORGE HARRISON WONDERWALL MUSIC APPLE, 1968
Harrison’s soundtrack to Joe Massot’s film about a mad professor and a Biba girl called Penny Lane is released three weeks before the ‘White Album’. With cameos from Eric Clapton and Peter Tork, it’s the first Fab solo record, the first album on Apple and a world music crossover before its time.
JOHN BARHAM [MUSICIAN/ARRANGER]: Wonderwall… was primarily an extension of his love of Indian music. George became a pupil of Ravi Shankar and he impressed me as being a very respectful and disciplined student. He seemed at ease with the sitar. There were already obvious influences on Beatles songs like “Within You Without You” and “Blue Jay Way”.
DAVE MASON: George was an early adopter! He had done those wonderful Indian tracks on Revolver and Sgt Pepper, and was learning with Ravi Shankar. He gave me the sitar he’d first learned on. I used it on “Paper Sun”, Traffic’s first single.
BARHAM: Joe Massot offered him complete freedom in creating a music score for the film, and he took advantage. But it was obvious that George was still intensely involved in his creative work with The Beatles. When we were doing Wonderwall, The Beatles were using the same studio; they had it block-booked. There were times when George’s sessions finished and the other three Beatles would come in for an evening session. When this happened, George would become re-energised and go into a world apart with the other three that nobody else seemingly could enter. At one session I found a flugelhorn lying around the studio. It turned out to be Paul McCartney’s.
“He gave me the sitar he’d first learned on”
DAVE MASON
ROY DYKE [DRUMS, THE REMO FOUR]: We recorded backing tracks at Abbey Road to accompany certain points in the film. George had timed it all with a stopwatch: “We need one minute and 35 seconds with a country & western feel.” Or, “We need a rock thing for exactly two minutes.” Nothing was really written. We’d talk over ideas he wanted, play something, and he’d say, “That’s good, keep that. I like the piano there.” It was very experimental. There were different tracks with different atmospheres, and a few different sessions. The Indian musicians were recorded in Bombay. At another session he used Eric Clapton, who did a great riff on “Skiing”. I heard he borrowed a five-string banjo from Paul McCartney for Peter Tork to use!
Big Jim Sullivan, who was recording with Tom Jones at Abbey Road, happened to drop in and played bass on “On The Bed”. [] a free atmosphere, the sessions were very] techniques. He had dropped in on one of Ravi Shankar’s recording sessions for the BBC/Jonathan Miller production of at the Shepherd’s Bush BBC Centre, which I worked on. At the session we were recording a scene where Ravi soloed and I played an Indian texture on piano. George was fascinated by the combination of sitar and piano, and subsequently at his house in Esher he asked me to play one of my own compositions based on texture . He looked and listened very closely. Later at one of the sessions he very abruptly sat down at the piano and with great intensity started playing his own over a chord sequence. We had many discussions about Indian philosophy and spirituality. I’m convinced that George was one of the very few people I’ve ever met who was on a spiritual journey.
