George Harrison - Dark Horse & Extra Texture Thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Doctor Jimmy, Oct 3, 2014.

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  1. Doctor Jimmy

    Doctor Jimmy From Bach to the Beach Boys Thread Starter

    Location:
    South Korea
    I think many of the people (including me) have heard these two albums for the first time with new remasters. What do you think of these albums?
     
  2. They are probably his two worst. Well Extra Texture for sure. Dark Horse would have been better if he had his voice.
     
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  3. McCabe

    McCabe Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    Dark Horse is an album that people think they ought to dislike. He's got a wrecked voice, Bye Bye Love is pathetic, several songs are self-pitying, yadda yadda. Rubbish. It's a fine album, well-played by all the musicians. The song-writing is in places excellent. Here we go then, track by track:

    Hari's On Tour Well, I grant everybody that this track goes nowhere, but I bet it was great live.
    Simply Shady A self-aware and self-critical song. George Harrison is an honest man: his autobiography could be written by collecting many of his songs! George was going through a tough time in those days, and it's to his credit that he did not become dependent on alcohol. Pity he couldn't have used that strength of character to give up smoking.
    So Sad I reckon this is a great love song, albeit ... so sad. This is the real Patti-love has gone song.
    Bye Bye Love And this, in contrast with So Sad, is treating the Patti-is-gone thing lightly. Remember, George has a sense of humor.
    Maya Love How funky, and so mid-70s is this. A great groove, no risk.
    Ding Dong George goes to Frankie Crisp and Friar Park for the lyrics (the first time was on Ballad of Sir Frankie on All Things Must Pass). For me, this is the best seasonal Fab song (the others' efforts are pretty ordinary, including - yes - John's).
    Dark Horse Not all the songs have George's hoarse vocals, but I like that this song does. Kind of an aural pun, you see. Oh yes, it's also a fine song, and more autobiography from our hero.
    Far East Man It's all opinion, isn't it? But for me, this is Hari's most boring song. This is the clunker.
    It Is He I love this song: a song about god-characteristics, featuring a wobble board! For crying out loud, more George Harrison humor. You don't have to be solemn to be serious.

    Well, I am a fan of the album, clearly, but I hope what I've written encourages folk to give it a decent and considered listen.

    McCabe
     
  4. McCabe

    McCabe Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    Extra Texture on the other hand ... George himself does not claim much for it. You see, it drags in so many places, doesn't it. But ... there are some great moments on this record; not many to be sure, but some!

    You is a pretty good pop-song. George is fairly good at hooks when he's going for pure pop, and it works here for sure.
    The Answer's At The End More Frankie Crisp-isms, in a song that's listenable. Yes, that's the word isn't it? Too mush of Texture is a hard listen!
    This Guitar Outstanding song. About time Rolling Stone got a serve ... what a pompous rag it always was (and still is). Yes, George is not totally self-pitying here as there is some optimism in the lyrics too. And I do like the Platinum Weird version too.
    His Name Is Legs A funny, fine song. But it's a long hard listen between This Guitar and Legs!

    McCabe
     
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  5. Scott S.

    Scott S. lead singer for the best indie band on earth

    Location:
    Walmartville PA
    Dark Horse has been my favorite George solo song since I first heard it and bought the 45.
     
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  6. antonkk

    antonkk Senior Member

    Location:
    moscow
    Extra Texture is a masterpiece. Dark Horse is an interesting fail.
     
  7. Doctor Jimmy

    Doctor Jimmy From Bach to the Beach Boys Thread Starter

    Location:
    South Korea
    I enjoyed Extra Texture. Side 1 is great and This Guitar is one of George's best, IMO.
     
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  8. Doctor Jimmy

    Doctor Jimmy From Bach to the Beach Boys Thread Starter

    Location:
    South Korea
    Dark Horse is a great song! :righton:
     
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  9. nikh33

    nikh33 Senior Member

    Location:
    Liverpool, England
    I like Dark Horse, album and song. Has the live performance George did of Dark Horse for the unaired pilot of Saturday Night Live in 1974 been made available anywhere?
     
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  10. Moshe

    Moshe "Silent in four languages."

    Location:
    U.S.
    Not his best, but I like them both.
     
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  11. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    I never heard of that. That would have been a year before the show officially premiered (in October 1975), right? And how or why did George get invited? I know both George and Paul got to know Lorne Michaels (the show's creator) over the years, but how did George get the invite in the first place to do a pilot? That would have been quite a coup.

    Arnie
     
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  12. dylankicks

    dylankicks Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oshkosh, WI
    Like all of his releases, both have great moments. I like the rawness of "Dark Horse," but this also would have been an interesting album for George to re-record with his recovered voice and a more polished production, like the Splinter LP he produced at the time. I agree that both, along with the released "Somewhere In England," are near the bottom of the rankings of his collected works. "So Sad," "This Guitar," and "The Answer's At The End" are songs I have always loved.
     
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  13. nikh33

    nikh33 Senior Member

    Location:
    Liverpool, England
    "George Harrison and his tour band filmed a performance of "Dark Horse", intended for inclusion in the debut series of Saturday Night Live. Filming took place at NBC in New York on 19 December 1974, but the network delayed the show for a year and the segment was never aired.
    In November 1976, Harrison finally appeared on Saturday Night Live, performing a number of songs with Paul Simon as well as a solo version of "Dark Horse". Alan Clayson writes of Harrison singing "Dark Horse", "hunched over a hollow-body Gretch", in a blue-lit studio."
     
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  14. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    I am pretty sure no recording of this exists. I used to work in the NBC archives handling rights negotiations. In this role I had the ability to search the archives and, being a huge Beatles fan, I did searches for personal interest for any clips related to them. I never searched for this specifically as I never heard of it until now, but it would have come up based on other searches I did on George if it existed.

    I suppose its possible that an unaired pilot was kept by the production company and not in NBC's records, but that would only be the case if it was not shot in the 30 Rock studio.

     
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  15. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Thanks for the details.

    You'd figure someone like Lorne Michaels would still have the footage though. And that would have been perfect to include in the DVD with the new George box set. Oh well.

    Arnie
     
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  16. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    A real nice thing about that gig was being able to watch the SNL musical guests rehearse at my lunch break each thursday. Saw countless great acts playing to a room with about 20 people in it.
     
  17. nikh33

    nikh33 Senior Member

    Location:
    Liverpool, England
    I saw Katrina and the Waves perform to a room with 12 people in it, just before their big hit 'Walking On Sunshine'. Unfortunately for them, it was a paying gig.
     
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  18. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    Also seems a bit odd that they would film a performance as a pilot for a show that had the core premise of being done live, and certainly never shot on "film" which I guess is why it was never used. While they have some prerecorded shorts, the musical guests always played live.
     
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  19. TonyACT

    TonyACT Boxed-in!

    I had both albums back in the day and thought they were okay. I recall that many of the local critics considered Extra Texture a 'return to form' after Dark Horse, which was received very poorly. I have the earlier CD releases - for those who have both; how does the sound compare?
     
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  20. crossroads69

    crossroads69 Senior Member

    Location:
    London Town
    For someone like me who had never heard these albums before, the production is bit difficult to get into.......but some of the tracks are good. Not surprisingly, the Dark Horse demo and This Guitar (2006 version) are the tracks I've enjoyed most of these reissues.

    Now only if Dhani would release more such goodies.....
     
  21. Byrdman77

    Byrdman77 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Leigh On Sea, UK
    I replayed these this morning to see if I should get the remasters. For my money the only songs that I enjoy are Simply Shady (nice Sexy Sadie references), This Guitar (sequel to While My Guitar) and Maya Love (sounds like For You Blue to some extent)...

    The rest I can happily leave. The jump in production values on 33 1/3 is staggering - sounds so much better than these albums.
     
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  22. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    It shows you what good health and a good frame of mind can do. 33 1/3 was done by a healthy George who was in good spirits (not depressed; no hepatitis; no laryngitis; no over-indulging with drugs and/or alcohol; firmly established in his relationship with Olivia; etc.).

    Arnie
     
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  23. Spadeygrove

    Spadeygrove Senior Member

    Location:
    Charleston, WV
    I'm unable to check the Youtube at the moment but a clip of this does exist and has circulated. As I recall it's less than two minutes long but it's a decent performance with George's '74 touring band. Can't recall if it was used in the Living In the Material World documentary.
     
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  24. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    Ok, all I can say is NBC doesn't have it in its archives
     
  25. Byrdman77

    Byrdman77 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Leigh On Sea, UK
    True - that album and 'George Harrison' are well crafted and recorded.

    My favourite in terms of songs is probably ATMP but I HATE many of the songs for their production - if I could remix any album it would be this one (and Dr Byrds but I digress)

    I do think LITMW is a good album though and Don't Let Me Wait Too Long and Be Here Now are the songs I would have LOVED to have seen on a Beatles album.
     
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