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2.00pm
5 December 2013
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I’m sure many of you saw that headline, what was it, two years ago now? The jist of the story was, Harrison had a number of incomplete recordings, possibly similar to the types of songs and recordings Jeff Lynne and Dhani Harrison eventually finished for the Brainwashed album.
Olivia Harrison said, she was thinking of giving one song to McCartney, another to Clapton, and so forth.
My question is simple, why did we never hear anything about this again? My guess McCartney would have been keen and jumped all over that offer, he tried in later years to write new songs with Harrison, rekindle their friendship, tried to work together on various occasions going back at least as far as the Tug Of War album. Originally Harrison was to play guitar on Wanderlust.
So what happened where is the song! Its been plenty long enough to compile a George and friends album or whatever Olivia Harrison had in mind. George Harrison himself said to journalist Timothy White not too long before his death, that he had three albums worth of new material he intended to finish recording and release, that was in addition to a box set of alternates, demos outtakes, in addition to the three new albums worth of material. So enough already! where is the Harrison McCartney song, anyone have a clue?
1.55am
8 January 2014
Offline What saddens me is that you can sometimes hear George;s distinctive slide guitar on a Lennon or Ringo solo song. and i remember when i was younger, hoping for a day when i get to hear on a Paul solo song…. 
3.11pm
7 February 2014
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Personally, I could live without it.
I have never liked this idea of taking incomplete recordings by someone who is deceased and someone else coming in and finishing them off years later.
I was never a fan of “Free as Bird” or “Real Love “. They are records that sound contrived to me.
Also, I am concerned that we could be scraping the bottom of the barrel too much and the Beatles catalogue could end up becoming as messy as that of Jimi Hendrix became.
Jimi only released 4 LPs in his lifetime but, since his death, there has been seemingly hundreds of albums of unreleased Hendrix stuff that have come out. I haven’t listened to all of them, but, from what I can gather, some of it is little more than throwaway warm up guitar jams that have had all sorts of posthumous overdubs added to make them sound technically acceptable for release.
Sometimes less is more. Also, there is a danger that the casual listener could judge an artist by the inferior posthumous scraps because that is the first thing they happen to hear. If the first Beatles record a person hears is “Free As A Bird ” you could forgive them for thinking that the Beatles are overrated IMHO and it might put them off checking out the classic stuff like Pepper and Revolver etc.
4.07pm
Reviewers
29 November 2012
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You’re wrong about Hendrix…while some of it is little more than noodling or aimless jams, he also had 2 or 3 full albums worth of totally finished or almost totally finished (save for final overdubs) songs…most of the posthumous stuff that’s come out is quite good, especially the studio stuff that was finished off for the album he was making when he died.
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4.47pm
14 December 2009
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DrBeatle said
You’re wrong about Hendrix…while some of it is little more than noodling or aimless jams, he also had 2 or 3 full albums worth of totally finished or almost totally finished (save for final overdubs) songs…most of the posthumous stuff that’s come out is quite good, especially the studio stuff that was finished off for the album he was making when he died.
Yeah, a high percentage of Hendrix’ posthumous stuff is well worth owning. There were really only two released albums that had after-the-fact overdubs from musicians who weren’t present at the original recording dates (and those two have been pretty universally condemned)
Anyways, I don’t much like this idea either – it doesn’t sound like anything I’d care to listen to. I have the same objections as Tulane (and didn’t like the “Free As A Bird “/”Real Love ” results either.) But it certainly would be unique to see a song credited “Harrison-McCartney”, as far as that goes.
Paul: Yeah well… first of all, we’re bringing out a ‘Stamp Out Detroit’ campaign.
6.36pm
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
Offline I don’t think Paul would come out of finishing a George song off with much credit from many quarters or why he would want to. Doubt George would be too chuffed either considering Paul never bothered that much to help George when they were around each other in the Beatles. As for others it would depend on who they were.
I’m one for leaving it all alone.
"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
6.50pm
7 February 2014
Offline Don’t misunderstand me DrBeatle – I never said that all of Hendrix’s posthumous stuff was junk. In fact, I think “First Rays of the Rising Sun” is even better than the music that came out in his lifetime. I just said that I get the impression that some of the posthumous stuff is scraping the barrel a bit and that Jimi himself would not have wanted it released.
Admittedly, I am more of a casual Hendrix fan and am by no means a completist, so I haven’t heard it all and no doubt you would be better qualified than me to comment on his catalogue, but I can’t help feeling that the desire to cash in on a big name like Jimi’s can sometimes take precedence over being rigorous about quality.
8.24am
10 June 2013
Offline I never understand why everything always has to be so “finished” in order to be released (I realize its all label, business bullshit), but I just want to hear the fucking song(s) you know? Not some dude re-working it years and years later, even if it is Paul. I just wish they would formally release demo tapes and such, instead of all of the pussy footing. It’s not like they can’t figure out what people wanna hear the most…. i’m drunk/venting, but this always bothers me that some of the coolest rare stuff I hear is ripped from bootlegs and shoved on youtube with no correct info, etc. And will never be heard by plenty of fans who don’t go looking for that kind of stuff, but would love it nonetheless if simply presented legitimately.
I actually really like “Real Love “, even the Anthology overdub- I just think it’s that great of a song/melody, though early demos are much better/more charming. I agree that the Anthology overdubs sound forced, but that’s Jeff Lynne’s producing style to me. His records always kind of sound like that.
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2.43pm
22 December 2013
Offline WhereArtEsteban said
I never understand why everything always has to be so “finished” in order to be released (I realize its all label, business bullshit), but I just want to hear the fucking song(s) you know? Not some dude re-working it years and years later, even if it is Paul. I just wish they would formally release demo tapes and such, instead of all of the pussy footing. It’s not like they can’t figure out what people wanna hear the most…. i’m drunk/venting, but this always bothers me that some of the coolest rare stuff I hear is ripped from bootlegs and shoved on youtube with no correct info, etc. And will never be heard by plenty of fans who don’t go looking for that kind of stuff, but would love it nonetheless if simply presented legitimately.I actually really like “Real Love “, even the Anthology overdub- I just think it’s that great of a song/melody, though early demos are much better/more charming. I agree that the Anthology overdubs sound forced, but that’s Jeff Lynne’s producing style to me. His records always kind of sound like that.
Official releases nowadays are geared towards sounding good on high end audio equipment, that’s the main demographic the industry targets for they know that if these audio hounds invest considerably in their gear that they’ll likely spend even more on their disks. Things like ‘Hallelujah, I Love Her So’, ‘In Spite Of All The Danger ‘, or other demos from The Beatles’ ‘Anthology’, aren’t the kind of wares used to demonstrate the capabilities of Bose Speakers, in fact, often with these kinda recordings one has to turn the volume/tone down to improve the audio. Official releases, being major business ventures for labels, must also be sonically superior to become worthy of radioplay in order to promote the product, and again the demo calibre recordings fail the high end audio test. In order to make the ‘Anthology’ recordings suitable for release, George Martin had to bring in an entirely new (older actually) console to match the dynamic range of the 1960’s recordings, or rebuild the studio at considerable expense to the label.
The bright light is that with the recent changes in British Copyright Law, the demo/bootleg material is finally making its way into wide circulation and hopefully this means that the vaults will spill out and make these treasures more accessible. Honestly though, I really dig the “treasure hunt” aspect of bootlegs. The material is there to discover depending on how motivated you are, and when you come across something like ‘The Beatles Live In Houston 1965’ at an alleyway record shoppe for 45$, there’s a certain rush you feel that you don’t get from official releases. There’s obviously a gambling element that’s always a “rush”, “hmmm, is this really a Houston Show? or, is it a recycled Shea Stadium record?” Then there’s the, “what if it sounds like ‘Peace of Mind’?” aspect as well. I actually took my chances on this particular example back in the 80s, and to this day I’m still not sure that it’s a Houston Show (Paul does say “Howdy Y’All” which does suggest the Southern U.S.) but the recording was surprisingly good and if I’d actually held on to my copy it most certainly would’ve been a wise 45$ investment.
Demos/Bootlegs are more a specialty item for hardcore fans, while Apple has certainly made some efforts to appease the “scruffs”, their mandate is to cater to the widest possible audience and The Beatles’ Classic albums is “money in the bank”, no matter what form it’s in, the same albums keep selling year after year….:-)
7.49am
15 May 2014
Offline Great analysis Billy Rhythm, thanks.
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“Forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit” (“Perhaps one day it will be a pleasure to look back on even this”; Virgil, The Aeneid, Book 1, line 203, where Aeneas says this to his men after the shipwreck that put them on the shores of Africa)
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