George Harrison 1992-2001

Well it was just a few months after the stabbing attack. Always a fairly thin man, there's no doubt he lost more weight in his later years, often looking fairly gaunt. He also suffered previous health setbacks: battling throat cancer in 1997 and suffering a nasty bout with hepatitis in the late 70's/early 80's. The last few years he worked in his home studio quite a bit. He augmented some of the ATMP demos (released on the 2001 Remaster), of course re-did My Sweet Lord as well as working with Jeff Lynne on his ELO Zoom project. He was also involved with remastering his Dark Horse-era albums, The Concert For Bangladesh re-issue and of course he worked on the Brainwashed album over many years. Finishing many tracks and leaving others with written notes on how to assemble and finish them from the multitrack tapes. As a side note, both Jeff and Dhani admitted to doing more to the songs than George envisioned... no doubt to make them more commerical-sounding. I'm sure most of us would rather hear the rough versions now. I WANT THAT LONG-PROMISED BOX SET!!! If EMI won't release it, perhaps Olivia and Dhani would consider a Dark Horse imprint released by Rhino or Bear Family or some other reputable small company.

Sadly, he had to deal with lawsuits with his former business manager Denis O'Brien who stole millions from him. He also had to deal with lawsuits concerning his property in Hawaii. It's no wonder George wanted to remain out of the public eye for awhile. Ron

 

is there any info on what brainwashed songs were recorded when?

 

Precious little. Some songs were already being worked on as early as 1999, or perhaps, even earlier. Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea was recorded back in 1992 I believe, with some subtle overdubs done later on. Ron

PS Horse To the Water was recorded on Oct 2, 2001.

 

Only speculation.
But we know for a fact that "Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea" was taped in 1991, and shown on UK TV the following year.

"Rocking Chair In Hawaii" was already part of the acetate that featured ATMP rough mix, that was sold in 1992 from the Mal Evans collection. Well, the track wasn't called as such but the melody is definitely the same.

"Run So Far" was released by Eric Clapton in 1989, so obviously what we have here is an earlier version by George, maybe from the "Cloud Nine" era.

The song "Pisces Fish" alludes to the mad cow disease, which hit the UK and then the rest of Europe in 1996, so that gives us an approximate time.

"Brainwashed" (the song) and the unreleased "Valentine" were mentioned by title in the 1999 Billboard interview George gave to Timothy White.

When he performed "Any Road" on US TV in the early summer of 1997 (during promotion for Ravi's "Chants Of India"), it sounded like an old song George struggled to remember.

"Never Gets Over You" sounds, on vocal level, quite similar to an unreleased track from 1984-85 called "Shelter In Your Love", so it may dates from the mid-80s. When promoting "Cloud Nine", George already mentioned that he never stopped recording demos during his 5-year break since "Gone Troppo".

 

His estate probably has a lot of his recordings in a vault somewhere, I suspect we'll hear them in the coming decade.

 

I know George visited Dhani quite a bit when Dhani was attending Brown University in Providence.

I heard someone on the radio the day George died -- a Providence local called in to share a story of being in line at a Stop & Shop supermarket behind George, who was dressed down, wearing a hat, and looking very much like an ordinary guy. The caller (not surprisingly) had a bit of a freak-out moment when he realized who he was standing behind. George noticed the look on the guy's face and quietly said to him under his breath something like "It's okaaaay, settle downnnnn, don't make a scene". George paid for his items, the cashier never noticed who he was, and George turned back and gave the guy a wink and a wave and walked out. There are similar stories like this about Lennon on the streets of NYC, so who knows if this was completely true or embellished -- but I thought it was a great story.

Anyway, regarding "Horse To The Water"....

I listened to this track recently for the first time in a really long time, and I have to say -- I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist or anything like that -- but I noticed the lead vocal sounds an awful lot like Dhani. At the time the track came out, I thought his voice sounded a little different but that could be easily explained by the fact that he'd recently gone through cancer treatments for his throat. As far as I knew, there was no one on the planet who sounded like George. Now, having heard Fistful of Mercy and thenewno2, I'm not convinced that Dhani didn't step in as a ringer for George on this track. I have absolutely no proof to back this theory up, and I'm not totally convinced of it anyway -- it's just something that crossed my mind. Anyone else who's familiar with Dhani's singing voice, please listen to "Horse To The Water" again and let me know what you think....

 

Throat cancer does change the way one speaks or, in this case, sings.
On the title track of Brainwashed, I can tell when it's George and when it's Dhani. They are pretty close in range, George has a slight rasp in his tone.
Dhani and 70's era George would be hard to distinguish.

 

It was quoted that George pleaded to be left alone, and the Doctor persisted, which would be bad for any person to treat a fellow human being when he is terminally ill with death approaching, but a professional in that position of power is unforgivable, here in the UK Dr's and Nurses have a very strict code of conduct regarding how they treat patients, does that not apply in the USA? If the story is true and why would the Harrison estate lie if not, the Doctor deserves to be struck of whether he did it to George or any other patient, the Harrison's had nothing but praise for how George was treated locally when stabbed so why would such a thing be made up !!

 

I thought I read Dark Horse albums and Bangladesh were remastered after his death and that All Things Must Pass was the only one he worked on?

The only good thing about Denis O'Brien stealing millions from George is I believe that is a big reason George agreed to do the Anthology project because he was hurting financially from the thefts.

 

George didn't work directly on the Dark Horse remasters, but he was readying them. He personally went through his archives and came up with the bonus tracks used. He even apologized in an interview or two for being rather skimpy, saying he was saving the good stuff for his "Portrait Of Leg End" boxset. His aim was to ensure all his albums would be available. Again, in contemporary interviews, he bemoaned that some had been unavailable for years. He also searched for and found archival footage for a revamped Bangladesh, but Olivia and Dhani are the ones who approached Rhino and got it released. George did not live to see the expanded Wilbury's set or Living In The Material World re-issue.

I'm one who believes that George did not agree to Anthology because of money woes. He was much more friendly with Paul by this time and after the good experiences with the Yellow Submarine Project, he seemed more at ease with all things Beatle-related. Let's not forget it was George who first approached Cirque about a possible Beatles involvment. The money generated by the Anthology Project certainly didn't hinder, but I'm not so sure it was the prevailing reason why he got back onboard the Beatle bandwagon. Ron

 

"Vatican P2 Blues" was an outtake from Cloud Nine, though it is unclear whether the Brainwashed recording dates from those sessions. As for Anthology, I believe his involvement was both financial and a desire to set the record straight.

Evan

 

It was Oct 16, 1992 - I know I was there! "Bobfest" was for Dylans 30th year as a recording artist!!

 

George's stabbing was extremely serious — way more so than the press knew about. Paul Simon and Keith Richards have both spoken about how George never really recovered and had a hard time catching his breath, even just strolling. Some have suggested it brought about the recurrence of cancer. I'm not a doctor, so I don't know about that, but George was never again in good health after the stabbing. Horrible, horrible stuff.

 

It robbed him of the body strength he needed to fight the recurrence of cancer.

Evan

 

With the music industry in decline, I thought a partnership with Cirque was a brilliant financial move that I bet generates huge income for Apple. I think George and company saw this coming and wanted to find ways to keep the income flowing. With his movie company in the past he was looking for new avenues.

I'm not convinced a need for income wasn't a big motivator because I also heard George had cut back on his security at Friar Park not too long before the attack. Normally there had been someone on the grounds

 

That was COOL.

Thanks for the link.

I got a little misty-eyed watching it.

 

This is all getting a bit heavy, but I read somewhere that the puncture into his innards allowed cancer cells to progress more thoroughly.. exposure to air, etc.

 

Thank you for this ....as i have a photo of George and a young Dhani walking through a airport somewhere in the world carrying multiple Ukes with them. They are all contained in various carry on bags, and even on his sons back! When i first saw the photo, it looked like they were coming back from a shopping spree or overseas recording session...but now i have to wonder if it was so he could have a whole planeload of folks playing along..!

UKE AIRWAYS - Fly the Funnier Skies!

 

Wow...i never heard about that. Anyone have more insight?

We have a few more focused meditation places in these parts, but of all the places in the world George could have visited, the last place i would think he would choose in MA ! Maybe it was just for that reason...no one would have expected him.

His son was in collage in RI and spent a lot of time in NY in the late 90s, and i have heard him talk about how his Dad would be around and staying nearby at times. So perhaps a trip to MA was refreshing for a change.

Thanks for mentioning this!

 

The Maharishi Ayurvedic Health Center is located on a fairly large, secluded estate in Lancaster, Massachusetts, about 40 miles west of Boston.

 

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SixiesGuy, i bow to your greatness.

Thank you for this insight!

 

I don't have any proof beyond the talk of some locals that George Harrison was a visitor/guest there. Then again, how many TM centers are there in Central Massachusetts? Lancaster neighbors the town where I've lived since 1991. It wasn't until the past few years that I learned about this. You cannot imagine how floored I was when I realized that he may well have passed me on his way there.

 

George is reported to have attended the first of two Bob Dylan concerts at Wembley Arena in London in October 2000. (I think I first read about it in Uncut Magazine.) That was a little more than a year before George died and this was probably one of the last concerts he ever attended (if the reports of him being there are true).
During this concert, Dylan (who is usually quiet between songs) held a short speech where he talked about Winston Churchill and the Battle of Britain. "Tryin' To Get To Heaven" from that night was officially released on the (super expensive) deluxe 3 cd version of "Tell Tale Signs".

 

SixiesGuy, i know exactly what you mean! I am totally floored MYSELF learning about this recently by reading about it here!

The story about him visiting Stop n Shop blew me away. I could completely imagine the scene, and how George looked. Every time i go and pick up some groceries there now, all i am going to be able to think about is that fabulous tale.

Absolutely amazing to hear about this...many thanks again for the insight. You rock!

 

I agree, it was completely out of line. I remember a couple of years ago stumbling across this sad story while browsing on the internet late one night about this.

From what i read in a couple of articles, George was staying in a residental house outside of NY recovering from his recent cancer treatments to try to supress the spread of the disease. He was holed up in this house, and the Doctor would visit regularly to check in on him. The problem was that not just the Doctor was coming...him as well as the Docs own numerous family members would visit and hang around.

One part of the tale tells of the Doctors young son coming to visit and playing his guitar for George, who was lying in a painful daze in his recovery bed. So after a short time, George would ask him to stop playing...and would often ask people to just stop talking as he wanted quiet. Can you imagine how irritating this must have been for George?

At this point it was said the Doctor approached George to autograph his sons guitar. George refused at first, stating he was not overly sure he could even remember how to spell his name ( he was on strong medication at that time). The Doctor persisted..and actually suggested he hold Georges writing hand and help him sign! Talk about a forced signature..! To me, this is completely out of line and outrageous. George did it however, to appease the constant pleading to do so, and it was done.

When Georges family found out about what happened some time later, they were rightly outraged. I beleive there was some sort of legal action, as they did not want said guitar to be used to make said Doctor a load of money when he tried to sell it as the last GH Autograph. Part of the settlement of the issue between the parties was that the guitar in question needed to be disposed of...what that exactly meant, and what happened after that...the articles said not.

I remember when i first learned about this happening, it made me feel incredibly angry and also incredibly sad. How anyone, exspecially someone who is supposed to be looking out for your well being, can take advantage of George during this trying period in his life is just disgusting.