George Harrison - The Apple Years Box Set (Pt5)

So Arnie, you say George releaased a recording he stole from of someone else on ES? What's the story there?

 

"When you say "the original" LITMW, do you mean the 2006 (the most recent remaster) or the 1991 (the first CD version)? I have to admit, while I was happy to shelve the 1991 CD forever in 2006, there's ONE track on it that I think I might prefer to all the others: "Don't Let Me Wait Too Long." I've never really been happy with that song on CD, and even the otherwise great 2006 and 2014 versions sound kind of boomy and unfocused to me. After really listening to the 1991 for the first time in years, I think it might be my favorite one -- but for that song only."

Copied and pasted from Part 4. I'll send you a file from my original Japanese LP. I agree it's the one song that doesn't sound quite right on CD. Since the 1991 CD is sorta bland and lifeless, that boomy, bloated upper midrange sounds tamed. It might be an example of the original recording being a bit overmodulated in places. Overall your mini review and mine are quite similar. I'm rather amazed how many folks here downloaded the 2010 version of ATMP (I finally found mine, thanks!). It is quite good. However, the 2014 remastered CD is the best sounding version on that format. The Japanese import sounds like my UK version. Ron

 

It's a long and disputed story. Here is Bernie Krause's side of the tale:

http://astronautapinguim.blogspot.com/2012/12/five-questions-to-bernie-krause.html

Scroll halfway down in that interview to read about it. Note that Bernie's timetable is a year off in his telling of the story. He describes it as happening in 1969-1970, but it really was in 1968-1969.

Arnie

 

From the previous part 4 of this thread:

Well, Glenn, if you are going to try to get into the artist's frame of mind at the time of recording, then here is what you need to do before listening to George's Apple Years box:

Wonderwall Music: Travel to India; walk barefoot 7 times around the Taj Mahal; and put posters of Ravi Shankar on your walls.
Electronic Sound: Steal the recordings done by someone who is playing an instrument you know nothing about and then release them as your own.
ATMP: Break up your band and get sued by one of your best friends.
LITMW: Pretend that you are a prophet and are superior to the rest of the world.
Dark Horse: Get laryngitis and sleep with the wife of another of your best friends.
Extra Texture: Go to Los Angeles and indulge in a month's worth of cocaine and booze.

That should handle the 6 albums in the box.

When you have completed them, we can move on to the Dark Horse Years. Arnie
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Then "Haristar" asked: So by that logic you can only listen to Brainwashed if you're dead, huh?

ANSWER: If your goal is to thoroughly get into the artist's frame of mind, then the answer is self-evident. But save this step for the end, after you have listened to everything else first.

Arnie

 

Too soon, bro.

 

Wow Arnie. I've got my work cut out for me.

 

It might be easier to just get those Ravi posters as opposed to going all the way to India. I'll cut you some slack...

Arnie

 

I listened to the album again today. Nothing jumped out at me on the "Krause side" as sounds that would have required overdubbing and couldn't have been produced "live". However, the Moog that I worked with had no way to produce echo effects. We had a separate Echoplex unit we had to feed the signals into to add echo. Echo is used throughout the "Krause side" in a way that seems to me would have had to been worked by a 2nd person at the time of recording--which why would that have been done had it not been meant to be recorded? Otherwise it would seem that the echo would have had to been added post-production. There also could very well be other editing or re-arranging of the tape after the fact without the whole piece being one continuous performance.

It's all a shame really, I find most of the "Krause side" to be quite tedious to listen to, while George's side I enjoy much more. I'm sure he could have pulled off the whole album on his own had he put the effort into recording a third track to replace the dubious origin track.

 

Just learned how to play Your Love is Forever on guitar, Im pretty happy with myself. I had to tell you guys

 

I used to know that song but I can't remember the tuning. What tuning are you using?

 

I know I was a happy camper when I figured out "I'd Have You Anytime" on piano!

 

And I just figured out "No Time Or Space" from Electronic Sound. Whew... That was a tough one to duplicate, but I got it down pat. Hint: It helps to tape the whole 25 minutes of it and then just claim that you did it yourself---but that's what a genius does! Arnie

 

Open D broo

 

I think that was the first Harrison song I ever figured out on guitar. Love those major 7th chords and the Dylan chorus.

Your Love is Forever is really fun to play with the cool chord voicings and the harmonics. Really rewarding.

Thanks for that. I'm going to have to learn that one again. So fun.

 

I thought you played it by turning on an Atari 2600 without a cartridge in the slot.

 

Your Love Is Forever is one of many songs that put George in the very top tier of song writers. To call him just a "decent" song writer is a sick joke.

 

It's funny, the biggest thing about this Box release for me was getting to hear DH and ET. I enjoyed them both, but just thinking about Your Love Is Forever reminds me that George went on to make much better music after leaving Apple. Guess I've been so focused on the Apple years, that I haven't given much thought to George's other work in the past month or so.

 

That's so true. There's nothing to compare with the quality of Your Love is Forever ( or any number of songs on GH or 331/3) on the later Apple albums. I always thought once George stopped writing about how terrible we all are (if only we would follow his enlightened route), his songs got better. Even his later God songs (like If You believe, Life itself) became less holier than thou and more accepting. The tunes became simpler, more sprightly. It was all so earnest in the early to mid 70s.

 

Thanks, Ron -- and yeah, I do think your Japanese LP needledrop of "Don't Let Me Wait" sounds better than the 2014, and even a bit better than the 2006. It's nice to hear I wasn't alone in struggling with this song on CD; I generally have very forgiving and easy-to-please ears, but so many times I've thought to myself, "I know I love this song, so why can't I get INTO it on this CD??"

 

Your Love is Forever is on my top 3 George solo songs, and lets face it, George wrote tunes on 78-82 period that are better than anything Lennon did

 

What people don't realise is that if you play No Time or Space into a ZX Spectrum computer it's actually a video game called Jet Set George. 48k only.

 

Yeah, John's stuff after 1980 was pretty weak! Just kidding, of course -- but while I personally prefer George's 1979-80 stuff (before WB rejected SIE, necessitating the four new 1981 tracks) to John's 1980 stuff, I think all three songwriting Beatles had settled into a pleasantly mellow "AOR" period in the late '70s. Yes, Paul attempted one of his periodic "get back" projects with Back To The Egg, but to me when I think "late-70s Macca" I think of London Town. I think "Your Love Is Forever," "I'm Carrying" (which George liked), and "Woman" would all have been classic Beatles ballads on a reunion album in 1980.

 

Yes to all of this. The new remasters have given me a new appreciation for Dark Horse, (thanks to Far East Man and It is He). But for me, outside of ATMP and LITMW, I like George's Warners output more than his Apple stuff.

 

If You Believe in particular is one of my all time favorites. Great way to end that album.