George Harrison's Brainwashed revisited

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by johnny moondog 909, Jul 29, 2016.

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  1. For me, "Brainwashed" is his 3rd best solo album & a truly great one at that!! "All Things Must Pass" is, of course, not just a masterpiece, but a double album's worth. "Thirty-Three & 1/3" is consistently of that same, highest quality, but is a mere regular, single album.

    "Brainwashed" is just a hair below "Thirty-Three & 1/3" for me. My favorite songs being, first & foremost- "Any Road", "Stuck Inside A Cloud", "Looking For My Life" & "Marwa Blues", up next would be"Rising Sun", & "Brainwashed"... with the best of the rest being "Run So Far", "Pieces Fish" & "Between The Devil & The Deep Blue Sea"... and the rest (3 songs) isn't bad, just lesser.

    "Brainwashed" finished out the top tier of my fave Harrison solo works. Both "The Concert For Bamgladesh" & "Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1" are up on this level. On the second level would be "Living In The Material World", "George Harrison", "Cloud 9" & "Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3" would around here as well.
     
  2. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Several YEARS ago (about 5 years, in fact), Olivia allowed the release of an album called Early Takes Volume One, and promised more to come. And we know how that series is going, so ...
     
  3. Haristar

    Haristar Apollo C. Vermouth

    Location:
    Hampshire, UK
    But at least it's coming soon. If it wasn't coming, I don't know what I'd do...
     
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  4. johnny moondog 909

    johnny moondog 909 Beatles-Lennon & Classic rock fan Thread Starter

    Yeah Arnie, but this was different, more like a Brainwashed 2, unfinished recordings she had been listening to, that would need additional recording.

    As opposed to something like early takes, which had no recording done, only mixing & mastering. Whole different thing.

    But yeah who knows.
     
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  5. vitorbastos123

    vitorbastos123 Forum Resident

    Never heard she saying that. Can you quote us please?
     
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  6. supermd

    supermd Senior Member

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    I'm listening to this album right now. I really like it. It's one of his best.
     
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  7. Amazon.ca is telling me this is being reissued on vinyl tomorrow, Feb. 24, 2017. Is there any other info on this, is it a straight repressing?
     
  8. George Harrison 2017 vinyl box apparently on the way Entire catalogue in and out of box released Friday.
     
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  9. Al Kuenster

    Al Kuenster Senior Member

    Location:
    Las Vegas, NV - US
    I might get All Things Must Pass depending on reviews, have everything else on CD and Brainwashed on vinyl also.
     
  10. Sean Murdock

    Sean Murdock Forum Intruder

    Location:
    Bergenfield, NJ
    In 2012, while promoting Early Takes Vol. 1, Olivia did mention having some of George's famous friends finish up some of his latter-day tracks:

    There is some more material. There may be a minute of something he was writing, and it will never be finished. I had an idea of giving unfinished songs to different people. Giving one to Paul [McCartney], maybe, or giving one to somebody else and saying, "Here are the bones of a song, would you like to finish it?" I think that would be a nice idea.

    And in 2016, she spoke of Dhani going back in to work on some George tracks at some point:

    Harrison said she and Dhani Harrison, her 37-year-old musician son with George Harrison, have talked about him finishing some unreleased tracks that her late husband left behind. “There are a lot of songs that are unfinished,” she said. “I think there’s a project there. I just need time to get to it.”
     
  11. johnny moondog 909

    johnny moondog 909 Beatles-Lennon & Classic rock fan Thread Starter

    Yeah Sean did that for you. I meant to but forgot. But honestly both little stories were all over the place, I figured you could simply Google Dhani Harrison considers finishing dad's recordings or Olivia Harrison considers new George Harrison album from archives. Or whatever. If it was obscure or hard to find I would have been more keen to help. For some reason my links using the Android don't work half the time.

    Anyway yeah, I don't believe Olivia Harrison used the words "Brainwashed 2" but her description of the possible project sounds more like Brainwashed 2, than early takes 2. She doesn't need Dhani or Paul McCartney for an early takes 2.
     
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  12. vitorbastos123

    vitorbastos123 Forum Resident

    No problem, Sean got your back. I hope there really is a project. But I believe we will never see/hear this.
     
  13. dudley07726

    dudley07726 Forum Resident

    Location:
    FLA
    I have no interest in hearing Dhani recording his father's unrecorded songs.
     
  14. lavalamp3

    lavalamp3 Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    But do you have any interest in hearing Dhani finishing up his father's songs? Bringing to completion songs that were almost finished but not quite?
     
  15. I don't particularly
     
  16. lavalamp3

    lavalamp3 Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    That's a fair enough opinion.

    But personally, I'd take it in a heartbeat. If it was ok for a group of session musicians to finish John's Milk and Honey album (and I'm glad they did) then I'd certainly welcome a new George album completed under the love and care of his son (and perhaps the help of Jeff Lynne?)
     
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  17. Runicen

    Runicen Forum Resident

    I don't see what there would be to dislike if there are songs as close to completion as those from Brainwashed were. Dhani and Lynne did a great job putting that album together and finishing the songs off. If there's another, say, 12 song batch ready to be given the same treatment that's up to the same standard of quality, it can only be more of a good thing.

    If it'd be taking table scraps and cobbling something together though, better to leave well enough alone.
     
  18. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    If my memory is correct, George left meticulous notes about what he wanted done for the tracks that appeared on Brainwashed. He knew that there was a strong possibility that he was not going to complete it, so he left exact details of what to do. Jeff Lynne (and Dhani) might have tweaked things a bit more than that (Jeff might have admitted that in some interview), but he basically followed George's instructions. I think the only deviation was Dhani's inclusion of the song "Between The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea", just because it was so representative of George's love of that style of music.

    So in this case, Dhani and Jeff were abiding (for the most part) with George's specifications.

    So, in my opinion, unless George left exact detailed notes for any other songs, I think it would be a misrepresentation if Dhani/Jeff just "winged" it and took it upon themselves to finish up future tracks. The Early Takes Volume 1 CD showed that just George was definitely good enough. And if further tracks are just of demo quality, or songs with only backing tracks, or unfinished songs, or whatever, we can handle it. No need for Dhani and Jeff to muddy up the waters.
     
  19. brainwashed

    brainwashed Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Boston, MA
    ...and yet we don't know exactly what IS in George's vault. All sorts of opinions from many, many folks, but nothing close to being definitive. Sadly, even Dhani and Olivia differ on what's there. They seem to waffle between mentioning a literal trove of material and some "unfinished, minute or so of things." We know there's unreleased masters, there's scores and scores of demos, some dating back as far as 1966. Ken Scott and Giles Martin both talked about organizing huge amounts of tapes, yet the work was never completed. We know George recorded ukulele sessions with his famous friends. He use to hold jam sessions with the locals... locals like Jon Lord, Joe Brown, Eric Clapton... your normal, everyday punters :eek:. I cringe when I read that Olivia will get to these things when she has time. Time? Really? I'm not saying she should remain shuttered in Friar Park day after day, week after week going through her husband's tape archives, but she's doesn't have a job and she lives where George's material is located. You'd think she want to have a trusted friend come by (a Ken Scott, or Giles Martin, Joe Brown), and go over the tapes. Cataloging the lot. Making notes on songs that could be released on future projects. It sort of boggles my mind that this process hasn't been done or completed some 15 years after his passing. I really thought Giles would be the go to guy on all this. He was so excited prepping Early Years Vol. One and he seemed to indicate there was plenty of excellent material in the vaults. And even he admitted he had only gone through SOME of the tapes and mostly the early solo years. There's just so much more to find. Maybe someday. Ron
     
  20. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Very true, and yet they haven't done much. In fact, they don't even have to do much work. They can just copy some of the previous bootlegs released in the past. Just find the in-house top-quality versions of the songs and "re-release" the bootlegs as official George products. For example:

    [​IMG]

    OR

    [​IMG]

    ;)
     
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  21. Haristar

    Haristar Apollo C. Vermouth

    Location:
    Hampshire, UK
    Olivia and Dhani remind me a little of a child who won't let anybody near his chocolate.
     
  22. vitorbastos123

    vitorbastos123 Forum Resident

    Thank you for making my day!
     
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  23. vitorbastos123

    vitorbastos123 Forum Resident

    The big issue I have with Dhani and Olivia, is not releasing (or at least explaning why not releasing) some products that the fans are questioning for at least 10 years, like a Live in Japan DVD(why releasing some videos and not the complete thing? Obviously the fans will want more...) or a LP with all the B sides and rarities.
     
  24. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    [​IMG] ;)
     
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