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George Harrison was born in Liverpool on this date in 1943. He died on November 29, 2001, in Los Angeles. He added to the beauty of the world as a member of the Beatles and in his subsequent solo career. He also founded HandMade Films to produce Monty Python’s Life of Brian, still funny after all these years. I want to celebrate the anniversary of his birth this morning.
In an interview on the Dick Cavett Show way back when, Harrison was asked about his favorite Beatles songs. As I recall, he said he most enjoyed the Beatles songs with three-part harmonies. He would have contributed the third part on those songs. By my lights he was a talented and ingenious harmony singer. Among the songs he must have been thinking of would be “This Boy,” “Yes It Is,” “I’m Only Sleeping,” and “Because.” Check out the Galeazzo Frudua videos that break down the harmony parts on those songs. George’s contributions are something else.
I thought it might be fun to look back on George’s solo career through lesser known songs on his solo albums over the years 1970-2002. I may have let a hit or two sneak in, but I went in search of deep tracks. If you have a favorite Harrison hit, it won’t be here. My goal is to avoid the hits and see if we can enhance our enjoyment of his legacy along the way. Please accept my apologies in advance for any mistakes in my notes and for ads that may preface the videos. Keep your cursor poised to cut them off.
George’s All Things Must Pass made a huge impact when the Beatles broke up in 1970. You had to make your way over to side three to find “Apple Scruffs.” You can hear the influence of Bob Dylan wedded to the Beatles-style vocal backing that George supplied entirely by himself. This was my favorite track on the album.
George produced the Concert for Bangladesh and the released the related live album in 1971. He didn’t get around to making another solo album until Living in the Material World in 1973. Contrary to the urging of “Don’t Let Me Wait Too Long,” he might have let us wait too long. For some reason or other this track wasn’t released as a single.
George always called on gifted musicians for instrumental backing on his albums. Dark Horse (1974) included work by Nicky Hopkins on piano, Willie Weeks on bass, and a guy named Ringo Starr on drums. They all back George on “So Sad.”
George wrote “Far East Man” with Ronnie Wood. “While the world wages war / It gets harder to see / Who your friends really are.” Tom Scott is on the saxophones, Billy Preston on piano, Willie Weeks on bass, and Andy Newmark on drums.
George kept the albums coming. He released Extra Texture the following year. “You” led off the album and turned into a hit single with sax solos by Jim Horn and Leon Russell on piano. However, we are avoiding the hits in search of buried treasure. “Ooh Baby (You Know That I Love You)” is one of George’s tributes to Smokey Robinson.
In addition to George’s work on guitar, “Tired of Midnight Blue” has Leon Russell on piano and Jim Keltner on drums. This is a most engaging restatement of George’s warning to “beware of Maya.”
George followed up Extra Texture with Thirty Three & 1/3 Third (1975) and included a second tribute to Smokey Robinson (“Pure Smokey”). Listening to the track, I think it’s fair to say once is not enough. George’s solos make the second time around even better. Tom Scott is on the saxes again, Richard Tee on piano, and Willie Weeks on bass.
“Learning How To Love You” closed the album. That’s Richard Tee on keyboards and Willie Weeks on bass. The track was released as the b-side to “This Song.” I think this one belongs in the department of buried treasure.
The self-titled George Harrison was released in 1979. He had originally recorded “Not Guilty” during the Beatles’ sessions for the White Album, but that track remained in the can until it was released on Anthology 3 in 1996. George retrieved the song and rerecorded it for his his self-titled album. Stevie Winwood is on keyboards, Willie Weeks on bass, and Andy Newmark on drums. It’s a beguilingly bitter song.
“Here Comes the Moon” is not to be confused with “Here Comes the Sun.” I think you will enjoy it if you haven’t heard it before. George is on the guitar parts, Stevie Winwood on harmonium and backing vocals, Willie Weeks on bass, and Andy Newmark on drums.
Next came Somewhere In England (1981). George covered Hoagy Carmichael’s “Hong Kong Blues.” You won’t hear it performed by anyone else any time soon.
“Lay His Head” is something of a literal buried treasure. It was one of four songs Warner Bros. rejected for the album, although it was the b-side of “Got My Mind Set On You.” The four songs were deemed insufficiently commercial.
I’m skipping over George’s uninspired Gone Troppo (1982). After a five-year break, George’s Cloud Nine (1987) represented a return to form, as in “That’s What It Takes” (written with Jeff Lynne and Gary Wright). I think that’s Eric Clapton on the guitar solo.
I love the playing on “Fish on the Sand.” That’s George on guitar, Jeff Lynne on bass, and Ringo on drums.
George was working on Brainwashed when he died in 2001. It was posthumously released in 2002. As far as his recordings were concerned, he went out on a high note. “Stuck Inside a Cloud” was released as a promotional single only. If you like George, you’ll love this.
George lovingly covered the Ted Koehler/Harold Arlen classic “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.” That’s George on the uke. What a way to go.
Star Tribune music reviewer Jon Bream put in a good word for Victoria Victoria last week and prompted me to buy tickets for the show this past Sunday at the Dakota. Victoria Victoria is the name of the band — Victoria Elliott on lead vocal, Charlie Hunter on guitar, Noah Elliott on electric piano and backing vocals, Carter McClean on drums, and Maia Kamil on backing vocals.
Jon tagged Victoria — she goes by “Tory” — as “a beguilingly jazzy alt-folk singer, pair[ed] with adventurous guitarist Charlie Hunter.” I can hear the influence of Norah Jones in her singing, but she has a wider dynamic range. She can belt it out.
Charlie Hunter is beyond “adventurous.” He is a phenomenal guitarist. He plays a hybrid electric guitar that lets him thump out a bass line while playing lead. I have never seen that before. I think he was playing one of his own Hybrid Six guitar models — smiling all the while. (I wrote his agent yesterday to ask but haven’t heard back.)
Carter McLean rounds out the rhythm section on drums. Victoria’s brother, Noah Elliott, plays piano and acoustic guitar and sings harmony. Maia Kamil is a singer-songwriter who supports Victoria on the vocals.
Elliott writes or collaborates on her own songs. She could use some help with the lyrics, but she has created a beautiful sound. The video below provides an acoustic take on her song “Over My Shoulder” (written with Hunter and Stephen Lee Price) with both brother Noah and sister Halle joining on the vocals along with Kamil. She winds up her current tour in Pittsburgh on Thursday.
You can catch a glimpse of Hunter playing the Hybrid in the video of Elliott’s “Sanctuary” below.
Listening to a show on the SiriusXM Grateful Dead channel a few years ago I heard one of the announcers mention that Nicky Hopkins played with the Jerry Garcia Band. I hadn’t known that. Hopkins was a fantastic English pianist whose session work is virtually ubiquitous on great rock recordings of the ’60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. Take a look, for example, at this Nicky Hopkins discography. I have been a big fan since I saw him named and heard his work as a member of the band on the Jeff Beck Group’s album Truth.
If he wasn’t quite everywhere, everyone wanted his services. His contributions to Rolling Stones recordings are notable. I have included a couple below. I loved his work with the Jeff Beck Group on their first two albums and with Quicksilver Messenger Service on a few of theirs when he was a named member of those bands.
So why is he relatively unknown? He battled Crohn’s Disease his entire life and died in 1994 of complications from intestinal surgery at the age of 50. I don’t think he ever toured with the bands of which he was a named member, let alone those to which he made such valuable contributions.
After I mentioned Hopkins in my post on Harrison’s birthday, the gentleman who runs the the Nicky Hopkins feed on X tweeted it out because of a bare mention of Hopkins’s contribution to one of the tracks I included. Checking out the Nicky Hopkins feed this morning, I see that it flags the forthcoming documentary on Hopkins.
US Premiere of The Session Man (Nicky Hopkins documentary) – closing film of LA Indie Film Fest! 7.30pm Sat 16th March in West Hollywood.@lafilmfestivals @SessionManFilm #lafilmfestivals #LAFilmFest #rockdoc #rockhistory #LAIndieFilmFest #NickyHopkins #TheSessionMan… pic.twitter.com/YtbNPcAcMJ
— Nicky Hopkins
(@TheNickyHopkins) March 8, 2024
One more prefatory note. It was the anniversary of Hopkins’s birth on February 24. Having written about him once before, I chose to remember George Harrison that weekend. However, I thought I would ask readers to indulge a second go-round of my tribute to Hopkins. It won’t be for everyone, but there is some good stuff and some rare stuff here and elsewhere that you can find on your own if so inclined. As I like to say in these tributes, he added to the beauty of the world. YouTube offers a treasure trove of his work. I enjoyed hunting these samples down and offer them up in the hope that one or two of them may strike your fancy or wake you up with a smile this morning. I certainly hope this tiny sliver of his vast body of work leaves you wanting more.
Hopkins was a regular contributor to the Kinks up through their classic Village Green Preservation Society album. “Sunny Afternoon” is a beautiful track. Looking around online, I found Hopkins was “responsible for both the melodica solo and the chromatic piano line that undersold his acrobatic abilities on the keyboard.” According to Ray Davies, “When we recorded ‘Sunny Afternoon,’ [producer] Shel [Talmy] insisted that Nicky copy my plodding piano style. Other musicians would have been insulted but Nicky seemed to get inside my style, and he played exactly as I would have. No ego. Perhaps that was his secret.”
And then we have his work with the Rolling Stones over several years. Hopkins’s work on the piano makes “She’s a Rainbow.”
The Jeff Beck Group’s cover of “Jailhouse Rock” may be my favorite rock recording of all time. That’s Rod Stewart on the vocal. Everyone is great on this track, including the gifted Mr. Hopkins.
Back to the Stones, we can hear what Hopkins contributed on a song like “Monkey Man,” off Let It Bleed. The album was produced by the late Jimmy Miller, the older brother of former New York Times reporter Judy Miller. My friend Judy paid tribute to him in her column “Mr. Jimmy” as well as in her great memoir The Story. You can hear why Mr. Jimmy appreciated Hopkins’s work.
I can’t leave his work with the Stones before noting his contribution to “Waiting On a Friend.” That’s Sonny Rollins on the tenor sax. That’s Mr. Jimmy on percussion. That’s Mr. Hopkins on the piano. What a track.
Who’s Next is the Who’s best album and “Getting in Tune” is one of its best tracks. “I’m just banging on my old piano” — I think that would be Pete Townsend’s tribute to you know who.
Hopkins was a named member of Quicksilver Messenger Service for a few years. Here he is with Quicksilver on the instrumental “Edward, the Mad Shirt Grinder,” one of Hopkins’s own compositions. I think he added the organ part on top of his piano. This track is a blast.
Who is this Edward fellow? I have a sneaking suspicion it was Hopkins. The name of this rare album is Jamming with Edward. “Highland Fling” is from the album. This is a wild track. Hopkins wails away.
Hopkins recorded two albums in his own name. “Pig’s Boogie” is from The Tin Man Was a Dreamer. I think Hopkins was the Tin Man too.
John Lennon loved Hopkins’s work. He played on the Beatles’ “Revolution” and on many of Lennon’s solo album tracks. His beautiful contribution to “Jealous Guy” is a good example. In the video below you can see Lennon, Hopkins (electric piano), Harrison (slide guitar), Klaus Voorman (bass), and Alan White (drums) at work in the studio on “How Do You Sleep?” (1971).
I can’t leave before we sample his work with the Jerry Garcia Band. The reference to it is what set me off on my chase. Stick around for the instrumental break on this live recording of the Garcia/Dawson/Hunter composition “Friend of the Devil.”
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