By 1969 George Harrison's songwriting had come on in leaps and bounds, culminating in him providing two of the most popular songs on The Beatles' 'Abbey Road' album. That same year he co-wrote 'Badge' with Eric Clapton, which was included on Cream's 'Goodbye' album, and on which Harrison played rhythm guitar, using the pseudonym L'Angelo Misterioso for contractual reasons. In May 1970 he played guitar on several songs during a recording session for Bob Dylan's album 'New Morning', and although none of them made the final cut for the album, some of them have appeared on one of Dylan's 'Bootleg Series' albums, including an alternate take of 'New Morning's 'Time Passes Slowly'. In 1971 he produced and played slide guitar on Badfinger's top ten hit 'Day After Day', and contributed dobro to Billy Preston's 'I Wrote a Simple Song', while in 1972 he added guitar to Harry Nilsson's 'You're Breakin' My Heart'. The following year he appeared on Cheech & Chong's 'Basketball Jones' from their 'Big Bambu' album, and 1973 also saw him add guitar to 'Waiting For The Band' from Nicky Hopkins' 'The Tin Man Was A Dreamer' under the name of George O'Hara, and 'If You've Got Love' from 'It's Like You Never Left' by Dave Mason under another of his pseudonyms, Son Of Harry. Lastly from 1973, Hari Georgeson helped out Alvin Lee & Mylon LeFevre on 'So Sad (No Love Of His Own)' from their 'On The Road To Freedom' album. 1974 was a bit quieter, with Harrison co-writing 'Far East Man' with Ronnie Wood, and both artists recording their own versions of the song, with Wood's coming out first on his 'I've Got My Own Album To Do' release. Also in 1974, two-man band Splinter released their debut, Harrison-produced album 'The Place I Love' on his Dark Horse label. It was actually the first record to be released on the label, and Harrison played guitar and keyboards on it as well, with the record spawning the hit single 'Costafinetown'. In 1975 Harrison expanded his horizons and added guitar to Tom Scott's jazz album 'New York Connection', rounding off nicely his extra-curricular activities from the first half on the 70's. Harrison then took a break while he released solo albums of his own, with his next guest appearances being in 1981 on an album from Mick Fleetwood and a single by Ringo Starr.
Track listing
01 Badge (single by Cream 1969)
02 Time Passes Slowly (from the 'New Morning' sessions with Bob Dylan 1970)
03 I Wrote A Simple Song (from 'I Wrote A Simple Song' by Billy Preston 1971)
04 Day After Day (single by Badfinger 1971)
05 You're Breaking My Heart (from 'Nilsson Schmilsson' by Harry Nilsson 1972)
06 If You've Got Love (from 'It's Like You Never Left' by Dave Mason 1973)
07 Waiting For The Band (from 'The Tin Man Was A Dreamer' by Nicky Hopkins 1973)
08 Basketball Jones (from 'Big Bambu' by Cheech & Chong 1973)
09 So Sad (No Love Of His Own) (from 'On The Road To Freedom' by Alvin Lee 1973)
10 Far East Man (from 'I've Got My Own Album To Do' by Ronnie Wood 1974)
11 Somebody's City (from 'The Place I Love' by Splinter 1974)
12 Appolonia (from 'New York Connection' by Tom Scott 1975)
Thank you so much for this compilation. I was too young to appreciate George's work with others at this time, and don't know all of the artists involved, but the ones I do make this very interesting.
ReplyDeleteIf you do a part two, Harrison thought his work on a Belinda Carlisle album resulted in his best slide guitar solo:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.guitarworld.com/artists/george-harrison-selects-his-best-slide-guitar-solo
Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteYou've got Harrison here on a Dave Mason recording, but Mason himself has played guitar for various other artists - his Wikipedia entry lists many of them. Maybe he deserves a slot in this series?
ReplyDeleteGood shout. He's played on some interesting tracks, so he's on the list.
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