George Harrison

This was originally released as a three record set as Harrison had a backlog of songs that didn't pass muster with John or Paul (the superb title track among them!), along with a barage of new material. The beauties include "Isn't It a Pity," "What is Life" and the international No. 1 "My Sweet Lord," which remained a radio staple for the rest of the 1970s. Harrison's working relationship with producer Phil Spector was anything but easy, but Phil he knew when to go orchestral and when to keep things simple. Brilliant, though George didn't try as hard after this.

In those haylcyon days when Beatles did not have destinies, only personalities, and every
Beatle fan had a favorite Beatle, John once satirized his mates as "wide-eyed Paul, cozy
Ringo, and skeleton George." George, overshadowed as he was by two enormous egos,
and lacking Ringo's openess, was the hardest to know. I remember him as shy, aloof, "Don't
Bother Me" George, whose luck it was to come down with a sore throat on the g... More >

As a slave of the very "MAYA" (pidgin Hindi for the concrete world) Harrison warns against, I am obliged to point out that playing headsie with the Universal Mind is not introspection and that the International Pop Music Community is not a group. Presumably, the featurelessness of these three discs--right down to the anonymity of the multitracked vocals--reflects Harrison's notion of Truth, and he's welcome to it. But he's never been good for more than two songs per album, and after "My Sweet Lord" I start to get stuck. (Grade: C)