HMVNipper
Dec 18, 2002, 06:08 AM
I wasn't sure where to put this, but this forum seems as good a place as any since it's about both albums...this is from The New Yorker.
http://www.newyorker.com/goingson/recordings/?021209gore_GOAT_recordings
*****************
The New Yorker
Goings on About Town
Pop Notes
By Ben Greenman
Issue of 2002-12-09
Posted 2002-12-02
MOPPING UP
When George Harrison died, late last year, of cancer, he left behind a body of work more frustrating than that of any other Beatle. John was spotty, Paul often fatuous, and Ringo only got by with a little help from his friends. But Harrison, the group's third songwriter (and thus the one with the most to gain from a Beatles breakup), arrived thunderously as a solo artist with the sublime "All Things Must Pass," in 1970, and then, for most of the next three decades, did little to live up to its promise. Nostalgia may polish albums like "Living in the Material World" and "Thirty-Three and a Third," but clarity punishes them; weakly written and weakly sung, they seem more concerned with the world's corruption and Harrison's own court battles than with carrying the torch for rock and roll. "Brainwashed" (EMI), a collection of Harrison's final recordings, is better than anyone had any reason to expect. Working from homemade demos (recorded mostly with the drummer Jim Keltner), Harrison's son, Dhani, and self-appointed fifth Beatle Jeff Lynne have created a graceful, generous record that moves from pithy statements of Eastern philosophy (the opener, "Any Road") through shivery instrumentals ("Marwa Blues"). "Looking For My Life" and "Never Get Over You" are affectingly simple, with Harrison recharging his faith after serious challenges to his health and his love life, respectively. Only the title track descends into the kind of carping jeremiad that dominated Harrison's second-rate seventies records, although it does so with significantly more sonic punch.
The two surviving Beatles also have new albums in stores: live records, as it were. Paul McCartney's "Back in the U.S." (Capitol) is the very definition of redundancy, his sixth concert recording and the fourth since 1990, but it far outclasses limp documents like "Tripping the Live Fantastic" or "Paul Is Live." There is a memorial ambience to the shows, which include tributes to George and John, as well as to McCartney's late wife, Linda, but life trumps death as a crack band of mostly younger players tears through FM staples like "Jet" and "Coming Up," as well as Beatles classics, and even lesser efforts like the ham-fisted September 11th anthem "Freedom." McCartney's voice is marvellous throughout, as much a part of rock and roll as Elvis's or Little Richard's. "The King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band" (Razor & Tie) is a souvenir of last year's installment of his never-ending road show, in which the always amiable drummer assembles a farcically eclectic set of rock veterans—this edition includes Ian Hunter, Greg Lake, Sheila E., and Howard Jones—and hits the road. Like Ringo himself, the album is fun but hardly essential.
http://www.newyorker.com/goingson/recordings/?021209gore_GOAT_recordings
*****************
The New Yorker
Goings on About Town
Pop Notes
By Ben Greenman
Issue of 2002-12-09
Posted 2002-12-02
MOPPING UP
When George Harrison died, late last year, of cancer, he left behind a body of work more frustrating than that of any other Beatle. John was spotty, Paul often fatuous, and Ringo only got by with a little help from his friends. But Harrison, the group's third songwriter (and thus the one with the most to gain from a Beatles breakup), arrived thunderously as a solo artist with the sublime "All Things Must Pass," in 1970, and then, for most of the next three decades, did little to live up to its promise. Nostalgia may polish albums like "Living in the Material World" and "Thirty-Three and a Third," but clarity punishes them; weakly written and weakly sung, they seem more concerned with the world's corruption and Harrison's own court battles than with carrying the torch for rock and roll. "Brainwashed" (EMI), a collection of Harrison's final recordings, is better than anyone had any reason to expect. Working from homemade demos (recorded mostly with the drummer Jim Keltner), Harrison's son, Dhani, and self-appointed fifth Beatle Jeff Lynne have created a graceful, generous record that moves from pithy statements of Eastern philosophy (the opener, "Any Road") through shivery instrumentals ("Marwa Blues"). "Looking For My Life" and "Never Get Over You" are affectingly simple, with Harrison recharging his faith after serious challenges to his health and his love life, respectively. Only the title track descends into the kind of carping jeremiad that dominated Harrison's second-rate seventies records, although it does so with significantly more sonic punch.
The two surviving Beatles also have new albums in stores: live records, as it were. Paul McCartney's "Back in the U.S." (Capitol) is the very definition of redundancy, his sixth concert recording and the fourth since 1990, but it far outclasses limp documents like "Tripping the Live Fantastic" or "Paul Is Live." There is a memorial ambience to the shows, which include tributes to George and John, as well as to McCartney's late wife, Linda, but life trumps death as a crack band of mostly younger players tears through FM staples like "Jet" and "Coming Up," as well as Beatles classics, and even lesser efforts like the ham-fisted September 11th anthem "Freedom." McCartney's voice is marvellous throughout, as much a part of rock and roll as Elvis's or Little Richard's. "The King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band" (Razor & Tie) is a souvenir of last year's installment of his never-ending road show, in which the always amiable drummer assembles a farcically eclectic set of rock veterans—this edition includes Ian Hunter, Greg Lake, Sheila E., and Howard Jones—and hits the road. Like Ringo himself, the album is fun but hardly essential.