George Harrison
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Living in the Material World
published: 19 /
12 /
2024
In our Re:View section in which we look back at albums from the past, Eoghan Lyng looks at George Harrison's third album 'Living in the Material World', which has just been released in a repackaged 50th anniversary boxset
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By 1973, George Harrison had established his credentials as a songwriter/performer par excellence with the back to back triumphs of All Things Must Pass and Concert for Bangladesh. Guided by Phil Spector's attentive ear, the solo Beatle issued two gargantuan records bolstered by gumption and conviction, but by Living in the Material World he was ready to captain the ship himself.Shorn of the overdubs, drama and ensemble that padded out Harrison's earlier works, the guitarist issued a record that reflected his passion, turmoil and wit over eleven striking songs. It proved to be his purest work, as well as his most satisfying to revisit.
From the off-set, Living in The Material World holds a cleaner sound, lacking Eric Clapton's bluesier,more guttural approach to performance (the former Cream frontman was probably too busy making a move on Harrison's wife to be of musical service.) The record opens with 'Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)', the songwriter's loveliest ballad since 'Something', before veering into murkier pathways with 'Sue Me Sue You Blues', a slide-heavy portrait of The Beatles courtroom dramas. Turning his attention to the band on the title track, Harrison cheerfully introduces Ringo Starr, all drum shuffles and pantomime. The jaunty 'Don't Let Me Wait Too Long' anticipates the composer's work with Jeff Lynne and The Travelling Wilburys, whereas 'The Lord Loves The One That Loves The Lord' presents Harrison's spiritual quest in extremis. His vocal limitations are evident on 'Try Some, Buy Some', bizarrely re-made by David Bowie in later years, but 'The Light That Has Lighted The World' stands as the album's standout, a delicate confection of memory and chiming piano. "Where there's so little chance to experience soul," he croons, his fingers pivoting the fretboard with stoic,steady concentration.
Tastily re-packaged, this anniversary set boasts a collection of alternative takes, of which an early rendition of 'Be Here Now' (take 8, to be precise) is the most alluring largely because it features some overt Indian instrumental passages that are absent from the mainstream rendition. Harrison does the count-in on 'The Day The World Gets Round(Take 22)' with the mock stylings from 'Taxman', rubbishing the oft-believed argument that the lead guitarist was the most disenfranchised of the four fab scousers. The boxset closes with a bouncy, blue-grass tune called 'Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond)'. Later recorded by Ringo Starr, this version makes for an interesting 'what-if' for myriad Beatle fans who like to play Beatle switcheroo in their spare time.
Harrison himself could have freed his timetables more thoughtfully, as he spent most of 1974 producing, writing or touring. By the time he returned to his beatified Friar Park by the end of the year, he noted he was on the verge of a breakdown,and only the lure of Beatle money - McCartney and Lennon were similarly keen to dissolve their partnership - could lead him out of his gardens. His marriage to Pattie Boyd had dissolved, which reflected in the music he wrote for the Dark Horse album: brusque, barebone and devastatingly confessional.
Truthfully, Harrison's creative muse never really recovered from the blow of 1974, and although he would rise to commercial heights with Thirty Three &1/3 and Cloud Nine, it was an artist of commerce, not soul. How very differently he sounds on Living in the Material World, eager to please no one but himself. The results, scintillating spiritual elegies coated in Harrison's reliable hand and voice, represent the acme of the Beatle's solo career; a shimmering exhibition of truth from a musician in control of his ingenuity. Who could have seen it?
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