Concert For George reissue CD/LP/DVD Feb 23, 2018

I’d like clarification on this too.

 

Aside from four vinyl LPs and a book and a patch of fabric in a beautiful box, the content has already been issued before. No bonus tracks.

The only addition is on the LPs. Sam Brown's version of Horse to Water was never on the CD, only in the film. It is still not on the CD but is included on the set of vinyl records.

So the disappointment for some is that it's not on the CD and there are no bonus tracks (but everything from the show is included so the only thing left would maybe be rehearsals?) and the price is high for some.

 

Yeah, it is. About as silly as the Pink Floyd marbles. But here's the one to beat: Warp Records put out a super-deluxe boxset edition of Eno's Small Craft on a Milk Sea with, I kid you not, a copper strip bearing the album title on the edge of the box. They charged more for the box with the copper strip than the regular box with just ink printing on the side!

 

I can't comment on Hall & Oates, thankfully...

Maybe the Harrisons did abandon the plan, but I think it's different when it concerns archive releases, compared to albums of new material.

 

George made relatively well-polished demos compared to most other artists. He was a perfectionist by nature, I think.

 

So, would you consider Anthology unfinished because they purposefully left out stuff...or, do you consider it complete, because it had just enough actual artifacts to compliment how many "Franken-edits" it contains?

 

Of all the relevant parties who would have a business interest in releasing new George Harrison music -- a small group, admittedly, consisting of Olivia, Dhani and maybe a music publisher or record label? -- I think it is Olivia who cares the MOST about doing it. I suspect Dhani is proud to do it, but feels torn between his obligations to his dad and his own life and career -- the guy is around 40 after all! There's no record contract to fulfill, so there aren't going to be suits pestering her every month. There doesn't seem to be a paid curator, who might push some projects forward. But nearly every time Olivia speaks in public, she talks almost wistfully about finding this or that tape, or hoping to do this or that project. But unlike other Beatle widows, she's not a natural businessperson (guessing), and perhaps isn't as forceful as pushing her agenda as, say, Yoko might be. She's not interested in the spotlight, and I'm sure she's absorbed an innate distrust of labels, "suits," the press, the fans, etc. from her late husband. She wanted Let It Roll to be 2 CDs, but men who "knew better" convinced her that one was enough. She wanted more post-1971 music (and outtakes) in the Scorsese documentary (and the accompanying CD), but the Great Filmmaker said that stuff didn't fit his "vision" for the film. She's mentioned to journalists finding an old cassette in a drawer, or maybe green-lighting Brainwashed 2, or some kind of all-star project to complete George's latter day recordings. She even used the liner notes of the Dark Horse remaster to recall a Nagra demo of "Simply Shady" -- and the track wasn't even included on the CD! She brought a demo of "Fear Of Flying" to Jools Holland's radio show -- here's my transcription of the conversation:

October 20, 2014

Jools is joined by Olivia Harrison for a rare interview about her life with husband George, the former Beatle who died in 2001.

Olivia: "Somewhere in the vault is a tape of them [George and Billy Preston], probably early hours of the morning, singing to each other 'When you Wish Upon A Star.' And it's just the sweetest thing."

Olivia: "He was always recording, always writing, so there were lots of unfinished songs, unfortunately. Maybe someday someone will finish them. But one of the things I found was George covering a version of your very own Charlie Dore's -- English singer/songwriter -- 'Fear Of Flying.' She was, um … We had lots of mutual friends, and someone brought her over one day, and George loved the song, and he just did a version. It's a demo, it's not embellished, it's just him, George, on an acoustic guitar. I don't know how he'd feel about it being played, but I think it's really sweet."

Olivia: "Yeah, he was inspired [by random things]. I remember saying something, 'Ah, I've been saying that 'til I'm blue in the face!' And he was like, 'Blue in the face, that's good.' And the other day I found lyrics to a song called 'Blue In The Face'!"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04ksnqm​

You can't read/hear that and NOT believe that Olivia loves George's music and loves sharing it -- and is still finding new stuff. She says that "maybe someday someone will finish" George's unfinished tracks -- but she needs to either (a) make it happen herself, or (b) hire someone to spearhead the work and put out some releases that George would have been proud of. I do NOT think she would be purposely misleading, especially if George had told her to close the vault forever. I just think that maybe she's overwhelmed by it all and doesn't know how to get it done. One thing I remind myself of, in moments of despair, is that the biggest vault dig for John Lennon didn't get released (as physical product) until the Lennon Anthology in 1998 -- a full 18 years after he died. It didn't seem like "forever" back then -- probably because I was busy being a teenager and in my 20s. Even though the time since George's passing DOES seem like "forever" -- it's only been 16 years. I do think there are treasures in the FPSHOT vault, and I think we'll see some of it. Personally, I think the dam might break with a Super Deluxe 50th Anniversary All Things Must Pass in 2020. (The Beatles are nothing if not business plagiarists -- John followed the Beatles Anthology with his own; Paul followed the Threetles sessions by recording a solo album with Jeff Lynne; and Paul, Yoko, and Olivia all mimicked the success of the 9/9/09 remasters with their own remastering campaigns, often using the same people and same philosophy. I think the success of the Pepper box has been noted by all concerned.)

 

I love this song so much and would love to have it on a proper Harrison album. So far it's only been on one of the Jools collections.

 

I agree completely with everything you've stated here (except the Pepper Giles remix). Well said.

 

This is why I have a hunch (and that's all it is) that George's instructions to Olivia were to demand top dollar for various unreleased material. As I mentioned earlier "top dollar" in 2001 and top dollar now are different animals in the music industry.

Am I imagining it, or did we have some discussion here at some point (years ago) where Olivia was quoted as saying something to the effect that she wanted to release more unheard material but the people on the label side said they couldn't make it work fiscally? If that's correct, that indicates she had a different figure in her head than what the label deemed reasonable. Otherwise, how could it not be a money maker provided that the royalty rates were commensurate with modern day equivalents (i.e. what does Dylan get for all the Bootleg Series material?)

 

Two of them, actually -- and different mixes in each.

 

Yeah, I think the problem is finding the right "curator". Dhani did it for years and now, quite rightly, is busy doing "[his] own thing". He has spent literally years overseeing projects of Dad's and now it's time to work on his own music for a while. That seems right and healthy.

Olivia may be either too close to the material emotionally or not enough of a "producer" to properly evaluate/organize the various treasures.

Bringing someone in from outside the "circle" runs the risk of having things leak and/or disappear....

It's a tough problem to manage... But let's hope they get someone working on this stuff sooner rather than later [assuming someone is not already at this very moment working through the vault...]

 

Another insightful and well-stated post, Sean. In particular, I fully agree when you said: "[Olivia]... she's not a natural businessperson. ... I just think that maybe she's overwhelmed by it all and doesn't know how to get it done."

 

Why can’t they release his unreleased music privately like The Who does with recordings of current live performances?
You don’t need Capitol to release it.

 

It's only been available for the past 14 years, so no rush!

 

For those interested, as of this writing, there are only about 250 super deluxe boxes left out of the 1,000 announced 3 days ago. At this rate these will be sold out next week.

 

I wish Clapton had sung “Dark Horse” and Petty “Not Guilty” in retrospect

 

Clapton should've sung Bye Bye Love!

 

T minus 250 and counting!

 

To be quite honest, I finally bit the bullet on this set. This was my "logical" thinking: we get 4 LPs, apparently pressed at QRP (I guess if the test presses came from QRP, so will the final versions). So, 4 LPs @$30 each=$120+we get a hard cover book @$30 + we get the Bluray or DVD (say @$30, and will count for only one format). When you add all that up is $180. Then the remaining $170 can be justified by having a piece of authentic Beatles memorabilia (the piece of original stage fabric, which apparently is suitable for framing). Expensive? Yes. Unreasonable? Not really for what we get.

Funny thing is I never cared that much for this concert when it was released (I have never owned any format), but as I started to listen the content over the years, I absolutely love the sound and performances, including the classical indian music.

 

I've posted this before, so apologies to those who are sick of seeing this one, but this is something I put together that gathers up ALL those stray tracks in one handy-dandy 3-CD package. No muss, no fuss. I'd be flattered if the Harrison camp pulled a Zappa and released this set as is, because it really doesn't need any tinkering (in my not so humble opinion). Top sources were used throughout, and it sounds great.

 

In terms of releases by the Harrison estate, it's interesting to note the ten year gap between the Dark Horse and Apple Years box sets. There was obviously some issue that led to that. I recall a forum member posting here about meeting Dhani, and Dhani apparently blaming the record company for not releasing material.

 

I love this Concert. I'm tempted by the box but doubt I'd really listen much to the records (which is the main drawing card) because I love watching the movie.

 

That’s interesting. Which compilations have the different mixes (discogs shows several compilations with that song) and what is different between the 2 mixes ?

 

Looks nice but for the price I am going to pass on this. The packaging looks top notch.
I am wanting new material.