Read All About It...The EXTRA TEXTURE song-by-song discussion!

This one doesn't do all that much for me. Sometimes repeating the song title (or variations thereof) can make for a good chorus. But in this case I find the prevailing wisdom to be on target - it's repetitive and not in a good way. This song also suffers a bit from context. It would have been a really nice change of pace in the middle of a more uptempo record. Here, it's just another brick in the wall.

 

Pretty good song if it were cut down by a third to a half. Don't have the exact timing figures, but my recollection is it is about 4.5 minutes long of which about 1 minute is the two verses and 3.5 minutes of repeats of the choruses - a chorus which itself consists of 4 lines, three of which are identical and one of which is a slight variation.

It's a nice chorus but enough is enough. Even making a chorus or two into an instrumental would be an improvement.

At 3 minutes long, I would give this song a 6/10. At its current length I will give it a 4/10, and that feels a tad generous.

It does continue the ooh trend, being the 4th out of 7 songs to have a rhyme scheme build around this vowel (the word "You" appears 5 tines in the titles of the 4 songs)

 

I believe it's very generous to say there are 2 verses in this song.
That being said, repetition doesn't bother me.
I like this song.

 

True, George's solo stuff certainly isn't for everybody, and yer criticisms are a fair cop for sure. That said, if you liked the Wilburys and "Any Road", give the entire Brainwashed album a go.

That'd be nice. Lennon's stuff as well, please, whoever you are!

Yes, the overabundance of the repetitive chorus does make "Can't Stop Thinking About You" a bit of a slog. Like, okay, George, we get it already- you can't stop thinking about her! Another verse or two in the song would have been nice- I like George's falsetto in the second line of the verses.

 

Where would they find the time? Paul McCartney has a lot of album tracks....

PS. Yeah, I wish they would, too.

 

I gave the song a few fresh spins and re-read the lyrics. So what internal evidence is there that this song isn't entirely directed to a higher power instead of a woman? For that matter, what external evidence is there?

 

Well, the wiki evidence suggests it's about Maureen Starkey

 

Can't Stop From Thinking About You:
Nicky Hopkins? Nicky, is that you? Oh Nicky, sweet, wonderful Nicky, the man who saved Living In the Material World, you are just perfect. Granted, David Froster keeps trying to overpower you, but my God are you close to the only thing this song has going for it, that and the bass, but my God, did George even bother writing a chorus? Because the repetition gets old fast. But for the most part, this is actually a decent song in spite of the chorus and David Foster.

 

Yes, Nicky is particularly masterful on the Living In The Material World album.

 

Nobody ever complained about too much Nicky Hopkins

 

Very true!

 

Although I love EXTRA TEXTURE to a possibly unhealthy degree, I will admit that the only change I would be okay with is more Nicky and less David. Some of the piano bits are mixed a bit loud (“World Of Stone”) and I wouldn’t mind Nicky’s genius lighter touch here and there. But then again, that would change a lot of the feel of the album.

And I agree that Nicky is a BIG reason “Living In The Material World” is such a beautiful album to listen to.

 

And I love “Can’t Stop Thinking About You”, especially Klaus’s fantastic bass playing. And listen to that vocal - weepy and weak. It sure does sound like a man guilty of sleeping with his bandmate’s wife. Sometimes I wonder how Ringo was able to forgive so quickly (only to have George threaten to sue him the next year)!

 

Hey, Bros before hoes.
And no, I'm not calling Maureen Starkey a ho.

 

Regarding Can't Stop From Thinking About You: As this is the only song on Extra Texture featuring Nicky, could it have been initially taped earlier---or could Nicky have added a piano overdub at a later date? You'd figure George would have had him play on some of the other tracks if Nicky was indeed around at the Extra Texture sessions in Los Angeles.

 

I certainly wish Nicky was on more of this album.
But in seriousness, I think his part was recorded earlier

 

Give 33 1/3 (76) and the ST George Harrison (79) a try sometime. While not perfect, I think there two solid lp's there.

Bern

 

The verses are the best part of the song- more of that late night, dimly lit lounge vibe

For me Nicky Hopkins' piano work on LITMW is the best thing about that record- on the rare occasion I listen to that LP it's mainly Nicky I'm listening for.

Why would they? Best pianist in rock IMO.

Consider Nicky's input on "Can't Stop Thinking About You" a cameo. Going from the timeline, NH would have been working with The Who on By Numbers during that period as well.

33/13 I'll give ya, but if Man at C&A's issue with the Harialbums he didn't like was all the slow, mellow songs, I doubt the '79 LP would be his bag, either.

 

Was the Who By Numbers album recorded in Los Angeles?

 

When you say "earlier", do you mean before the official start of the Extra Texture sessions (like maybe done even in England)? Or do you mean that Nicky came down one day to the studio in Los Angeles, played with George on a basic backing track of Can't Stop Thinking About You, and then (in the coming days or weeks) George and others did more overdubs on the track?

 

Hell no, Ramport Studios in England, April-June of '75, as I recall.

I believe all the ET overdubs were done at the end of the sessions, in June of '75. Nicky, like Jesse Ed Davis, likely made his contribution to the album at that point.

 

Thanks. That makes more sense for Nicky to do a later piano overdub. Because if Nicky was tied up with The Who, he would not have flown to California just to play on one song and then go back to England. But maybe he flew to Los Angles after the sessions with The Who.

Interestingly, both albums---Extra Texture and The Who By Numbers---were recorded for the most part during April to June 1975. So Nicky couldn't have been in two places at once.

But Musicman1998 thought Nicky's contribution was done "earlier". So ????

 

You got me, but I knew it couldn't have been during the main part of recording, and I figured since Radle and Gordon recorded their parts earlier on You, I figured the same happened with Nicky.

 

'Cept we're talking about "Can't Stop Thinking About You", not "You" (I know, confusing, innit?)

One more time: I'm sure I wasn't the only one who, upon first listening to Extra Texture, was at least half expecting "Can't Stop Thinking About You" to be yet another reprise of the "You" theme...especially coming on the heels of "A Bit More Of You"!

 

My faves after "All Things Must Pass" are "Thirty-Three & 1/3" (songs of the same quality level as ATMP but different musicians & production- I like to call it- his other masterpiece) & "Brainwashed" (you really should hear it!! The Bronze Medalist in his canon)

The other two I'd recommend are, because you dig his stuff with The Traveling Wilburys, "Cloud 9" & his self-titled album from 1979, "George Harrison" (I think "Living In The Material World" is up there with these two, but any of the three are quite different from one another...)...