Bloggerhythms

Roy Orbison passed away not long after Traveling Wilburys   Vol. 1  was completed, but the remaining quartet of George Harrison, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and Bob Dylan carried on. Even without their operatic voiced, pop singing bandmate the Wilburys were still the most star-studded, rock supergroup of all time. Orbison was easily the strongest singer of the five, and the former Sun Records prodigy was definitely missed when it came time to record the band's follow up. Both Harrison and Lynne sing well enough to get the job done - but neither one is outstanding - and at times Petty and Dylan can sound a little similar to each other. To play a joke on their fans, the ex-Beatle - the Wilburys' founder and nominal leader of the band - decided to name their second and final album Vol. 3 . It wasn't a hilarious joke, but it received a few light chuckles from me and some other fans. That light-hearted album title kind of matches the music found on...

Until Mark Lewisohn came out with his massive and magnificent tome, All The Years: Volume 1 - Tune In ,  in 2013 Philip Norman released the best Beatles biography, Shout! The Beatles In Their Generation way back in 1981. Lewisohn's book is a must read for all Beatle fanatics but Norman is a Beatles scholar too. In addition to Shout! and his brand new George Harrison biography he has also written separate books about the lives of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Is Ringo Starr next? Norman's  George Harrison: The Reluctant Beatle  starts off slowly for anyone who has read earlier, more detailed histories of the world's most famous band. To me, the first half is mostly a collection of warmed-over facts that are only marginally pointed in Harrison's direction. If you've never read a Beatles biography before this book serves as a good introduction to their story, but for a full dose of Fab Four history you...

Released almost a year after his passing in 2001,  Brainwashed is among George Harrison's top albums. It was completed by his son, Dhani, along with Jeff Lynne, his good friend and former bandmate in The Traveling Wilburys. Knowing that he was dying, The late Beatle - who would have turned eighty years old today - gave Dhani and Lynne the tapes to an unfinished album along with instructions on how he wanted it completed. Anyone who is more than a little educated about Harrison knows his reputation as a loner and as the serious Beatle is not completely accurate. He wasn't really a recluse, he just never behaved in ways or traveled in circles that would attract the press's attention. He never held public bed-ins for peace on his honeymoon as another member of his first band did. Harrison's serious side and his adherence to Hinduism was often reflected in his songwriting but he also possessed a lightheartedness that showed through in much of ...

Together, Crosby Stills and Nash (and sometimes Young) had more chart success than The Traveling Wilburys, but based on their prior fame - and all of their earlier critical and commercial accomplishments - you would have to admit The Wilburys were the most super of all of the super groups. What a sensational lineup! If you don't already know, The Wilburys were Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty. Sadly, only Dylan and Lynne are still with us today. For most of The Wilburys their days of reaching the coveted top spot on the Hot 100 were long over. Still, you would expect a much better chart performance for a great song like "Handle With Care" than only peaking at #45. It did better in Britain (#21), and in Canada the single made it all the way to #2. Fortunately, the debut CD from which it came hit #3 on the Billboard album chart, so it's possible the album's success may have actually hurt the single's sales. The band was started b...

" Badge" is one of Cream's most famous songs even though it never got higher than #60 on the Billboard Hot 100. All these years later it's still played on both classic rock and oldies radio stations. In Cream's homeland it climbed all the way to #18.  The short single (2:35) appeared on the power trio's final LP, Goodbye , in 1969 and was written by Eric Clapton with one of his best buddies, George Harrison, partially as repayment for the blues-rocker's assistance on The Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." "Badge" was originally untitled on the original sheet music. Harrison had written the word "bridge" indicating that is where the midsection of the song belonged. Looking at the sheet music upside down, Clapton misread it as "badge" because of Harrison's handwriting. Here is how The former Beatle remembers it happening as quoted in Wikipedia. " I helped Eric write "Badge" you know. Each o...

To celebrate George Harrison's 70th birthday here is part two of Bloggerhythms' analysis of the twenty-two songs he wrote, recorded, and released for The Beatles. You can read part one here . "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" - The Beatles (1968) One of the Beatles' five all-time greatest efforts and another of Harrison's philosophical works. This one is based on the Eastern belief that nothing is random and everything that happens is related to everything else. George plays acoustic guitar and Paul McCartney added piano and organ. It's famous for Eric Clapton's sensational electric lead guitar solo. "Piggies" - The Beatles (1968) This short, social commentary ditty sounds cute enough to have dripped from the pen of McCartney but its totally counter-culture lyrics prove otherwise. Often thought to be about the Royal Family it's really a slam on the U. K.'s class structure and corporate greed. John Lennon was responsible f...

In 2006 Bloggerhythms posted a tribute to George Harrison, one of only two non-original articles ever to appear on this site. The essay was a good synopsis of the guitarist's role with The Beatles that was originally written back in 2001 for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reprinted here with the author’s permission. While the article was an overall discussion about Harrison being one of rock’s most celebrated second or third bananas it never discussed his songs in any depth. To make up for that oversight, and to celebrate what would have been the mystical Beatle's 70th birthday about two weeks ago, it's time to discuss the twenty-two songs he wrote and released for The Beatles while the band was together. We’ll cover the first eleven songs today.   "Don't Bother Me" – With The Beatles (1963) This is the first song George ever wrote by himself and he attempted it while sick in bed for no other reason than to see if he could write one. It's a fast p...

I am happy to reprint, with permission from writer Chris Satullo, the following article that appeared in the "Sunday Review" section of the "Philadelphia Inquirer" on December 2, 2001. Four years ago, at the time of his passing, I was prepared to write my own tribute to George Harrison but when I read Mr. Satullo's editorial it perfectly expressed everything I would have written much more eloquently. ______________________________ IF NOT FOR YOU By Chris Satullo Let the guitars weep gently. Here's a shout out for the guy who stands in back, lets others take the spotlight, does his job and doesn't say much. The patron saint of such stand-up guys is now George Harrison, whose life ended Thursday morning at a friend's house in Los Angeles. He died as one of the world's most famous people, yet also one of the most reclusive. Many an obituary will call him a "former" Beatle, but in the minds of millions, he never stopped being one. M...