Harrison's Finest Solo

HARRISON'S FINEST SOLO

by Rip Rense

(First published in Beatlefan, September, 2001.)

My pick for strongest body of work by an ex-Beatle: George Harrison.

I've never understood how Harrison has been so short-changed, critically. His songs range from witty to graceful to barbed. They swing, they croon, they rock 'n' roll, they poke fun, they contemplate. The melodies are often lovely, even gorgeous ("Dark Sweet Lady," "Learning How to Love You.") The words are sometimes playful ("Blood From a Clone," "Soft-Hearted Hana") sometimes haiku-simple ("Love Comes To Everyone"), and touch on the profound ("Writing's On the Wall," "That's The Way it Goes.")

There is a laudable range of musical style: crisp blues/R&B ("Woman Don't You Cry For Me," "Deep Blue"), gentle ballads ("Sat Singing," "Your Love is Forever"), out-and-out rock ("Living in the Material World," "What is Life"), anthems ("Give Me Love," "If You Believe.") Harrison writes with delightful whimsy ("Gone Troppo," "When We Was Fab") acid-tongued commentary ("Save the World," "Devil's Radio"), and wry jest ("This Song," "It's What You Value.") There are nifty instrumentals, too, like "Hari's On Tour (Express)," "Greece," and the old-time jazzy "Zig-Zag" (Wonderwall's Indian music must be considered here, as well.)

There is really hardly a dispensible Harrison song in the whole catalogue, with the exception of his poorest album---the underdeveloped 1975 rush-job "Extra Texture," recorded when he was both ill and at low tide, emotionally.

Yes, it's somewhat flippant to compare his work with the other two songwriting ex-Beatles (come on, Ringo almost always has a lot of help---from Harrison, on his biggest solo hits.) Flippant, yes, but inevitable. . .

Lennon's work was often brilliant, although troubled and spotty after "Plastic Ono Band" and "Imagine." His return to recording showed renewed promise, and in some cases, an almost startling new musical sophistication ("Watching the Wheels")---partly the result of his increasingly piano-based songwriting. "Beautiful Boy" is just as delicate and charming a song as he ever wrote.

The fact that he was so horribly denied the chance to write more music after 1980, however, renders unfair any serious comparison of his solo work with the others.

McCartney's post-Fab music is infamous for its inconsistency. He's nothing if not prolific, but there is a huge amoutn of chaff among the wheat. For every grand "Mull of Kyntyre" and "Calico Skies," there are a half-dozen forgettable tunes like "Stranglehold" or "Winedark Open Sea." There is also a whole sub-genre of McCartney music that might as well be labelled "overblown huff-and-puff," featuring such overwrought emptiness as "Once Upon a Long Ago," "However Absurd," and "C'mon People"---and another sub-genre that can kindly be labelled "nonsense," featuring such embarrassments as "Morse Moose and the Grey Goose" and "To You." The man survived on reputation and sheer exuberance through the '70s---the sunny lyricism of "Ram" remains irresistable---but by his own admission did a lot of musical "searching" in the '80s, usually with dreary results. Here is a songwriter who would have benefitted from aiming for quality, not quantity; who with greater focus might have come close to matching his Beatles-era work. Who would have done well to take the advice offered by Harrison in his February, 2001 on-line chat, when asked for songwriting tips:

"Try and write some melodies. And some words that mean something."

Harrison often matched his best work with the Beatles, in terms of the quality of the compositions. "Someplace Else," from "Cloud Nine," for instance, approaches "Something," if not in production value or musical performance, in terms of song idea and structure. Perhaps this is an inappropriate assertion, given that a lot of George's watershed songs on "All Things Must Pass" were written during the Beatles days, but then, he has written equally appealing music in the years since. "That's The Way it Goes," "Crackerbox Palace," "Unconsciousness Rules," "Blow Away," "The Light That Has Lighted The World," "Life Itself," and almost anything on "Cloud Nine"---songs that span his career---might have fit very well, and even enhanced, "All Things Must Pass."

Harrison's contribution to the Traveling Wilburys cannot be overlooked. Despite the shared credits, there are some top-rank, mostly-George compositions on the two Wilburys albums, from the truly great "End of the Line" to the gentle "Handle With Care," the acid-tongued "The Devil's Been Busy," and the touching "Heading For the Light." Ever unselfish, he's also given away songs that could have almost certainly been Harrison hits: "It Don't Come Easy," "Photograph," (Ringo) and "Sour Milk Sea" (Jackie Lomax) being the most obvious. Not that being in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame really means anything, but his absence is a colossal absurdity.

When George Harrison writes a song, it's almost always because he has something to say. This is not true of McCartney, who is addicted to noodling around, whether he has any statement in mind or not. Harrison's solo songs, as a result of their earnest motivation, carry far more weight and meaning than most of McCartney's. George has much more in common with Lennon as a songwriter, in this regard, than McCartney does. Remember that it was Paul himself who rushed to George's defense in the face of criticism over his (correct) remarks denouncing much of today's product-music, saying something like "you don't just dismiss George Harrison."

That's for sure.

There is another aspect of Harrison's musicality that sets him apart from the other Beatles, and that is his deceptively powerful soloing. He didn't really quite discover his expressive style until after the Beatles broke up, the staggeringly affecting solo in "Something" notwithstanding. It was the combination of the slide guitar and the influence of the sitar, he has acknowledged, that created a style unique among guitarists. Through the increased ability to bend and sustain notes discovered in sitar and slide, he seems to have finally found freedom as a player. Harrison's playing brings to mind the old addage about Grateful Dead: "They're not the best at what they do---they're the only ones who do what they do." This is not to minimize, incidentally, his very artful comping; his trademark way of slow-picking chords until they become the spine of a song (as indelible a part of a Beatles record as Ringo's inimitable timekeeping.)

George has developed---and, what's more, still seems to be developing---a musical personality in his soloing, characterized by arching, patient melodies and a penchant for allowing notes to breathe that is without peer. Eric Clapton is a virtuoso of the first order, but I'd rather hear the surprises and melodiousness of a Harrison solo than the technical finesse of one by Clapton. Even Clapton's more delicate and nuanced playing---quite lovely---does not measure up, in terms of soulfulness, to a well-crafted Harrison turn. I remain amazed at the simplicity and poignancy of the solo in "The Light That Has Lighted the World," or even in Ringo's recent "King of Broken Hearts," for instance. The joyous new guitar lines on "My Sweet Lord, 2000" is playing of the heart, not fingers. The man has, despite having no ambitions in this area, established himself as one of the great guitarists of the day (and Jeff Lynne's favorite, by the way.)

The downside of Harrison's output is its lack. That simple. Why? Shortage of inspiration? Not likely, given that a number of never-developed demos from the "All Things Must Pass" sessions seemed quite promising ("Cosmic Empire," "Nowhere to Go.") Perhaps he is his own harshest critic. Or, as he has observed, not every song that comes to mind needs to be written. Whatever the reason, George just hasn't done enough, through the years---yet appears to be on the virge of compensating, as he has built up a reported 37 new songs for future release, in various stages of completion. If he finishes the planned re-release of the existing solo catalogue, with bonus tracks---and who knows, maybe updated versions a la "My Sweet Lord 2000"---Harrison's body of work will no longer suffer from criticisms of being too scant.

And in the coming years, I think it will suffer less and less from any kind of criticism at all.

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