George Harrison: Let It Roll
George Harrison compilation Let It Roll is out now
Also In The News
|
Shahid Afridi hit 51 runs and took two wickets in a brilliant performance as Pakistan beat South Africa by seven runs to advance into the final of the World Twenty20, reports Richard James from Trent Bridge. |  |
Friday, 19, Jun 2009 04:33
Capital/EMI, out now.
In a nutshell...
Hippy rock
What's it all about?
Let It Roll presents 19 tracks from across George Harrison's career - focusing on tracks from the 1970 album All Things Must Pass, and 1971's Concert For Bangladesh but also tracks from 1987's Cloud Nine and 2002's Brainwashed.
It is an attempt to showcase some of George's best solo work, although a few Harrison-penned Beatles tracks slip in via the Concert for Bangladesh when he took to the state at Madison square Garden with Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan and Ravi Shankar.
The album comes with a booklet, with a rather superfluous text beatifying George and some marvellous photos.
Who's it by
If you don't know who George Harrison is, please leave this site. Go to your favourites and pick somewhere else. You are not welcome here.
George is my favourite Beatle and I'm a lucky girl to get to review this.
As an example...
"Hm, my lord (hallelujah)/My, my, my lord (hare krishna)/My sweet lord (hare krishna)/My sweet lord (krishna krishna)." - My Sweet Lord
So is it any good?
Let It Roll is a strange mix. There are some tracks obviously missing and the album jumps around his career oddly.
There is heavy focus - of course - on his tracks heavily influenced Indian spiritualism, but also some of the 1980s pop, with some magnificently dated 80s sax.
All Things Must Pass is probably one of my favourite George Harrison tracks.
I love the mellow introduction and feel to the whole song, especially considering the subject of the lyrics.
Although written before the breakup of the Beatles it's ironic that it became the title track of Harrison's first solo effort, bearing in mind the subject of the song is about the end of a relationship.
I like the optimistic feel to the words; although the relationship is over it's as if there is already light at the end of the tunnel and the feeling that things will get better. 'Although you do get some sense of sadness from Harrison (he mentions three times that "it's not always going to be this grey"), the overwhelming feeling is one of contentment with the relationship that has ended and a positive move into the future, which sums up the end of the Beatles and the move into his solo career perfectly.
Meanwhile a further highlight is the Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let it Roll)
The song is an ode to the 19th century microscopist and former resident of Friar Park, the house and gardens in Berkshire that Harrison bought in the 1970s.
The Ballad paints a sweeping picture of a tour of the gardens surrounding the gothic mansion that Frank Crisp dedicated his time to developing. I like how the song moves between the slow, relaxed pace to being more up tempo, as if you can imagine yourself rolling through the grounds and exploring the gardens that Harrison enjoyed spending so much of his time in.
While far from your typical 'love song' you can gauge from the words and the sincerity with which Harrison sings them how much pleasure he got from the gardens of Friar Park. It is this simplicity and the personal feel that makes this song for me one of the best on All Things Must Pass.
Along with these classic, Let It Roll also has some strange inclusions, such as Cheer Down (from the Lethal Weapon 2 soundtrack) and When We Was Fab. Also it misses great tracks too like Dream Away from the Time Bandits soundtrack.
What would be better would be just to pick up some of the original albums and enjoy them in their entirety.
Even so, Let It Roll is a marvellous collection of George Harrison's work, but not unfortunately a great collection. Which is a shame.
Love/10
Jenny Holmes