I decided to launch a new series to imagine myself as a
critic at the end of the 60s and start of the 70s, and to rectify certain
reviews from Rolling Stone magazine and Creem. This not meant to be contrarian,
but to offer a more balanced perspective. These albums are lesser known titles.
George Harrison: Wonderwall Music (1968)
***
Producer: George Harrison
Musicians: George Harrison, John Barham, Tony Ashton,
Colin Manley, Philip Rogers, Roy Dyke, Tommy
Reilly, Eric Clapton (alleged), Ringo Starr, Big Jim Sullivan, Aashish Khan, Mahapurush
Misra, Sharad Kumar, Hanuman Jadev, Shambhu Das, Indrani Bhattacharya, Shankar
Ghosh, Chandrashekhar Naringrekar, Shivkumar Sharma, S.R. Kenkare, Vinayak
Vora, Rijram Desad
Music: Microbes, Red Lady Too, Tabla and Pakavaj, In The Park, Drilling A
Hole, Guru Veranda, Greasy Legs, Ski-ing, Gat Kirwani, Dream Scene, Party Seacombe,
Love Scene, Crying, Cowboy Music, Fantasy Sequins, On The Bed, Glass Box,
Wonderwall To Be Here, Singing Om
Reviewed By Matthew Anthony Allair
Technically, George’s first side project from the Beatles
could be considered a solo project, but it is really more the soundtrack to Joe
Massot’s film of the same name. The album focuses on artists from India, and
George’s newfound interests with Indian culture and Hare Krishna, it also
blends in Western pop and rock sources in the cues to a enough of a degree so
that the casual listener will have something to latch onto. But ultimately,
this might act as a primer to the rock listener who is not familiar with Indian
music. This is a difficult album to assess some if it’s merits unless you are
already schooled in classical Indian music tradition. Even with the most
western material, there’s a heavy use of experimentation. Earlier in the year,
The Beatles “The Inner Light”, a lovely piece, showcased some of the players
Harrison has gotten to know. This looks to be a next step.
The opener “Microbes” basically sets up the tone with its
somber Indian instruments, you aren’t going to get just the typical rock or pop
sensibilities here, if you are open to what it offered, then it’s an
interesting journey. “Red Lady Too” is a
complicated, baroque piano piece with several keyboard colorings. “Tabla and
Pavavaj” is layered with several percussion instruments. “In The Park” again
features a number of traditional Indian instruments and it makes for an
interesting listen. “Drilling A Home” is an easier to grasp piece, a music
hall, ragtime number where the speed of the tape has been manipulated. “Guru
Veranda” is another traditional piece. “Greasy Legs” has an ominous opening
before it shifts to a meditative piano and layers of keyboard. A driving
percussion and Sitar drone beds “Ski-ing” with some blues guitar that sounds
like Clapton to my ears. This evolves into some dueling guitars where I can’t
tell if it’s one player, or Harrison in the mix. “Get Kirwani” has some
impressive sitar instrumentation.
The “Dream Scene” is a fascinating kaleidoscope of different
sections, the first has a bed of sitar, what sounds like rolling harps, a male
and female Indian vocalist, backwards effects, before it shifts to a treated
piano whose melody is accentuated by a guitar or Indian instrument, I can’t
tell. This becomes richer until it shifts again to a moody horn, pensive, that
builds into a montage of sounds. “Party Seacombe” features a treated acoustic
and piano with a strange processed vocal that seems to merge with a Wah pedal
guitar, the drums become more emphasized along with a hint of Organ. “Love
Scene” has some more traditional Indian arrangement’s that progresses. “Crying”
is self-explanatory as it features Indian strings wailing.
“Cowboy Music” is also self-explanatory with guitars,
harmonica, galloping percussion, harmonium and dobro, a musical humorous pastiche.
“Fantasy Sequins” is somber. “On The Bed” features some spry Piano and Organ as
the bed, and some introspective horn soloing, and what could only be described
as insect slide guitar. “Glass Box” is another traditional Indian snippet.
“Wonderwall To Be Here” has a dramatic piano and string mellotron arrangement.
The album closer, “Singing Om” is another traditional Indian piece with
harmonium and prayer like vocals.
The album seems to have a few purposes, one is to feature Indian
musicians that may not be known to western ears, and the other is to allow
Harrison to experiment with western instruments, and in interesting ways. For
international music, this is a good primer. While there were things to latch onto here. It
will probably mostly appeal to the most intellectually curious. But the intent
to blend the West with the West is a bold and fresh idea.
George Harrison: Electronic Sound (1969)
**1/2
Producer and Musician: George Harrison
Music: Under The Mersey Wall, No Time In Space
George Harrison’s next project will probably be a litmus
test for a number of the listeners. George recently acquired a Moog 3 series
synthesizer and collaborated with Bernie Krause. With “Under The Mersey Wall”
there are moments of musicality along with ominous tones and random textures.
Irregular percussion, sounds, voices intermix with the strange synth textures. “No
Time In Space” even takes this all further with what sounds like drum beats and
firework cracks, then it transitions into wind sounds and noise. This whole
effort is taking the extremes of the technology and it differs from Walter
Carlos’s “Switched On Bach” album. Tonally, It will probably remind some of the
electronic theme from Dr. Who, or the electronic score from 1956’s Forbidden
Planet by Bebe and Louis Barron. Yet it lacks some of the finesse of those works.
It feels like a noodling by George and hopefully will yield some interesting
results in the future, but this is mostly for the curious of exotic sounds. I
have no doubt that enthusiast for the odd will find this compelling, yet rock
fans should be forewarned about this.
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