We all know the story of how the album George Harrison had submitted to Warner Brothers in the fall of 1980, which was due to be released on October 29 of that year, got cancelled. The listening team at Warner's had received John & Yoko's "Double Fantasy" on the same day and thought George's LP was not commercial enough to warrant a release as it was. So George was asked to record some more ubpeat tunes and replace 4 tracks of the original tracklisting. Plus, the originally intended cover had to go as well. Soon after the revised copy was released in June 1981, bootleg copies of the original version started to turn up at record fairs and Beatles conventions. What I would like to know is: are genuine copies of the original 1980 version known to exist ? And they do I suppose they would come with an alternate inner sleeve that would include the lyrics to "Flying Hour", "Lay His Head", "Sat Singing" and "Tears Of The World". Counterfeited copies have no such inner sleeve. And if any original version have turned up over the years, was it a US pressings ? a UK pressing ? A few years ago I have seen a genuine German copy of the record sleeeve for the 1st version of the album, but it didn't have a LP or inner sleeve, since production had apparently been stopped before actual albums had been pressed.
Not to digress from the OP, but I actually finally ordered the 2004 remaster of thirty three and it has "tears of the world" as a bonus track - does anyone know why it would be a bonus track on that cd as opposed to somewhere??
Everything is out of place with this bonus track : the producer, the musicians, the downbeat lyrics and music, the sound... This track had nothing to do on the generally happy "33 & 1/3" album and was obviously added there by someone who didn't think much of George Harrison's music.
I think part of the problem for the original album's poor reception was the sequencing. Flying Hour was the most upbeat tune of the lot, and should have opened the album. George got the sequencing much better on the revised LP. I would have sequenced the original thus: Side 1 1. Flying Hour 2. Unconsciousness Rules 3. Life Itself 4. Lay His Head 5. Baltimore Oriole Side 2 1. Sat Singing 2. Tears of the World 3. Writing's on the Wall 4. Hong Kong Blues 5. Save the World
I've always loved the first track on the revised album. The one with the line about Zappa. I thought it was a perfect comment on the previous rejection. I've always been amazed the label let him release that song, given that it seems kind of angry... I consider it somewhat similar to Graham Parker's "Mercury Poisoning"... the ultimate "I'm angry at my record label" song....
Does anyone think we will see a issue of Somewhere In England, the way it was intended? I would buy that.
Uh, no. The way Olivia and Dhani Harrison are handling George's catalog, it doesn't look very likely.
I have to agree. If they didn't get it right when they reissued the album on CD when they did all of the other Dark Horse-label albums, then I doubt they will do it now. I'm still amazed they didn't amend everything at that time. A lost opportunity. And now, it's not like there is a huge demand for this album. Sales would be pretty paltry.
I can't believe Warner didn't go for the original cover art. It's stands out more than the bland photo they used for the '81 version.
Was any explanation given for the way in which the Dark Horse albums were sequenced and re-released? I mean, it's clear that SOME work was put in, but it seemed to be all window dressing rather than the actual substance of the music. Definitely a missed opportunity as I'd love to hear the originally intended album.
I bought SOMEWHERE IN ENGLAND in 1981. I used to live at that time near the dutch border in germany. My record dealer sometimes got the records from the netherlands. To my surprise, and after 35 years later i am still surprises, this record contains two (2!!!) inner sleeves. The first inner sleeve is the standard official inner sleeve. The second inner sleeve shows the image with george's head and the british island. Printed on is the originally planned tracklist and the lyrics of these songs. I still do not know how this second inner sleeve came into the record's cover.
Hello, Because of your reply, i hold the record in my hand after many many years. I wrote "The second inner sleeve shows the image with george's head and the british island." But it's another picture than i have described. I will take pictures of the cover and the inner sleeves tomorrow.
I can't wait to see this as I have always been curious what the original inner sleeve looked like. Thanks in advance!
If George submitted a tape to Warners and the company rejected it, and the cover art for good measure, how could there be any official, yet unsold, stock of the original version of Somewhere in England? It doesn't make sense to me. Would't Warners have to sign off on the album before it paid to have any of them pressed? I'm not sure how the industry works, I'm just asking.
I have the absolute original NM full first printers proof slick with George's head w/ UK shown in hair archive framed. The original songs are listed on what would be the back. This is one of the handful of actual real ones per Perry C. Incidentally, this same original LP cover has been booted many times with a disc... It is one of my fave pieces. (I am extremely comp-picture posting impaired... I for the life of me can not post pics on SHF.. I would love to post pics every day. Talked w/ gort and a few SHF buds, but can't seem to "get it". Two years ago I posted several with photo bucket, but will not go through that torture again... especially when I've been told copy and paste works, etc. I'm on a new iMac. Would be extremely thankful if someone would help me. I see everyone doing it and it makes me sick. I wish I could just use the pics on my comp, like I can to change my avatar photo from my pics on my comp.)
I've always wondered why George had to listen to WB regarding his albums on his own Dark Horse label. I thought George's albums were only distributed by WB.
I don't think George HAD to listen to Warner Brothers. However, George did get along with the people running or working at Warners (Mo Ostin and Russ Titelman, among others), so he probably didnt have a problem in listening to their advice. Also, George was at various times in his career willing to be more commercial than at other times. And this may have been a time when he was willing to try to be more commercial. (Of course, in my opinion, the original track listing was more commerical than the revamped lineup of songs, but that's another story...)
I have never understood why the original cover art was rejected. It's quite nice. Was there a power struggle going on. Ha had his own label.
So would I!!! What I have already seen at an exhibition years ago are uncut proof covers from the German pressing. No records came along, but since German test pressings of the original 1980 LP also exists, so it should be possible to have that in the best possible audio quality.