This would have been a tight little solo record, What is Life? Something Run of the Mill Behind that Locked Door Isn't It a Pity Here Comes the Sun I'd Have You Anytime Let it Down Art of Dying All Things Must Pass For performers, I'd guess Ringo, Klaus, Billy Preston, and Eric Clapton. I'd prefer George Martin producing, personally, although it probably would have been Spector.
Oh yeah! That's right, Spector wasn't around yet. I'd make a plug for Bob Johnston, who was producing for Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, Leonard Cohen, etc. But Bob Johnston only seems to have produced for Columbia artists, I think. If George had to stay in the EMI/Capitol roster, I think Al De Lory could have done a good job, who'd recently produced singles for Glenn Campbell. Wishful thinking: Brian Wilson. And I'd always put in a plug for Joe Boyd, who's one of my absolute favorite producers.
I want to tell you I had to wash them before I picked up the Aussie first press Revolver cut from the UK metal plates
If he had, I guess the Beatles break up would have come earlier. If he would have continued working on a solo album in February 1969 it's very unlikely he would have entered the studio again with Yoko Ono. That would mean no Abbey Road and "Ballad Of John & Yoko" probably as a Lennon solo single.
Oh man.... how BOUT that.... Spooky Tooth, Blind Faith... Still.. Spector's biggest contribution was encouraging George to finish writing his songs and encouraging him specifically on his performances and singing. The sound of the Dominoes is pretty locked in and I don't think losing the Wall of Sound would really have hurt the general impact of the album.. but the stateliness of it might easily have been lost amidst the rather "literal" sound of the other producers in Beatle orbit.. think Badfinger vs. Harry Nilsson 's versions of Without You. Yoko and John were suggesting he make a solo album throughout 1969 which I'm not sure he was totally comfortable with. So had he taken that suggestion and gone forward you're right that it would have indicated that in his mind he was done with this and on his way. It's also possible in the post Dylan-Band and pre Delaney & Bonnie era.. that George's self conception as a solo entity wasn't as fully formed. A solo album more focused on the Wonderwall era, as opposed to the learning curve of producing Billy Preston and various apple artists OR learning to play in Delaney & Bonnie's rather dynamic and Wall of Sound like band, might have been seen as a minor move in mid 69. Although he has at least 4 singles in that mix.. What Is, Something, Pity, and Here Comes(Awaiting on you All and Let It Roll had they been completed and available would have made quite a selection of Abbey Road era album tracks and singles), the ability to put that music out with the Beatles still was very important for George in 1969.
Much as I adore George's Beatle's output (quite a bit more than most of the rest of The Beatles output, frankly)... ...I'm afraid that all these great George Beatles songs would have lost something as George Solo songs (assuming he had other backing musicians). Or they certainly would have been different, at least. I mean, love ATMP -- but I wouldn't want trade all those later George Beatles songs for more "ATMP-esque" sounding versions of those same songs (if I had to choose). I would wholeheartedly endorse a George solo album in 1969, but only if he were backed by the rest of The Beatles (impossible as that is to imagine ever happening, I realize).
Great post!! For me the quality of his output is equal by "Rubber Soul" (at the latest) & I just tend to slightly prefer John & George over Paul. The Beatles were the greatest of collaborative collectives ever!!! The musicians on the amazingly brilliant "All Things Must Pass", while incredible in their own ways, just aren't The Beatles! And, Columbo style, just one more thing... although things are improving over time as to how highly Harrison's Beatle era material is regarded.... when valued as anything less than The Nerk Twins works, it becomes the most underrated in modern music
About the producer issue, I have a much more realistic answer: John Barham. He co-produced the Wonderwall Music album, and did the orchestrations on the All Things Must Pass album, with him and George being pretty close friends. About the Wonderwall Music LP: Harrison collaborated on much of the project with John Barham, who had studied composition under Harrison's sitar teacher, Ravi Shankar. A classically trained pianist and musical arranger, Barham annotated some of the melodies that Harrison sang to him and transcribed them onto staves. Leng describes Barham as Harrison's "fellow traveler", due to the two musicians' shared appreciation of Indian classical music. He adds that their musical compatibility made Barham a natural choice over George Martin, the Beatles' producer and orchestral arranger. So I think it's only natural that he'd co-produce an album back then, with a more The Band inspired less produced sound. As for the band, I'd probably go for his friends who were the most involved in session work with him back then, supposing this was to happen in mid-1969: George Harrison - vocals, lead guitar Eric Clapton - rhythm guitar Billy Preston - keyboards, vocals Nicky Hopkins - piano Klaus Voormann - bass guitar Ringo Starr - drums, percussion Alan White - drums Doris Troy - backing vocals Madelline Bell - backing vocals
Ramblin' Woman might've made it on there. It was an unfinished song he played during the Get Back sessions. Also, depending on the timing, his guitar playing style would be more like how it was on Abbey Road rather than slide.
Absolutely. He learned to play the slide guitar in December 1969, so anything from before that would not feature it. But it would probably feature the Leslie speaker sound from circa Abbey Road and "Badge"! Not a bad trade-off
I've recently updated my take on the question "what if George Harrison had released a solo album in 1969, while the Beatles were still together?" and done it differently. For starters, I couldn't use any Beatles songs as this album would have been released concurrently with Abbey Road and Let it Be and not instead of them. And to avoid the highly Spectorized versions found in the All Things Must Pass album, which the 2020 remix couldn't solve, I resorted to only using alternate takes of the songs, which made for a really interesting listening experience. Here's what it looks like, as a blog post over at the Reconstructor: GEORGE HARRISON - GEORGE HARRISON (1969) What is Life? (Take 1) Let it Down (Take 1) The Art of Dying (Take 1) All Things Must Pass (Day 1 Demo) Isn't it a Pity? (Take 27) - I'd Have You Anytime (Take 5) Wah-Wah (Take 1) Window, Window (Day 2 Demo) Run of the Mill (Take 36) Hear Me Lord (Take 5)
