George Harrison - ...and on guitar (1975)

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)

Badfinger - A Complete Ass (1972)

Badfinger must be one of the unluckiest bands around. Despite being signed to The Beatles' Apple label and Paul McCartney writing a hit single for them, they were dogged with misfortunes throughout their career, and it's only now that we realise just what a great band they were. They had a promising start, with a minor hit single in 'Maybe Tomorrow', and after a couple of rejected single offerings, McCartney gave them 'Come And Get It', which he'd written for the 'Magic Christian' soundtrack, and it was their biggest hit. Just before releasing it they changed their name from The Iveys (which they felt was a bit trite in 1969) to Badfinger, and after the song charted they started work on their debut album 'No Dice', which was to include their next single 'No Matter What', as well as the soon to become classic 'Without You'. Things seemed to be going well for them, and while in the US they signed a management contract with businessman Stan Polley. This was the start of their downfall, with the contracts tying them up in so much red tape they they hardly saw any money from their success, and were even put on a salary, while all the profits from their records and tours ended up in companies controlled by Polley. 
In 1971 they recorded their third album (if you include the 'Magic Christian' soundtrack which they had taken over from McCartney), but the tapes were rejected by Apple as they wanted a big name producer and so gave George Harrison the job. It didn't work out, and he had to quit after only four songs were recorded to concentrate on his Concert For Bangladesh, and so Todd Rundgren was called in to salvage the album, which was eventually released as 'Straight Up'. Rundgren was due to produce their next and final album for Apple as well, but quit following a financial dispute, so the band produced it themselves. However, this was rejected by Apple, and Chris Thomas was called in to complete 'Ass' (the cover being a barbed comment on their financial mis-management). You really feel for a band who've had this much trouble in their short career, but it didn't end there, with two of the members committing suicide - Pete Ham in 1975 and Tom Evans in 1983 - both following arguments over the band's management .
This album is the band's self-produced offering to Apple. Some tracks were eventually used for 'Ass' in different forms, and others were just shelved, but we can now hear that this  album is not the disaster that Apple envisaged, and they should have been given a chance to show what they could do with their own music.

Track listing

01 Get Away
02 When I Say
03 Apple Of My Eye
04 The Winner
05 Blind Owl
06 Do You Mind
07 Piano Red
08 Cowboy
09 Regular
10 I Can Love You
11 Timeless