Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

It's hard to believe it's been five years since we lost George on this date. Just sitting here listening to the new remastered "Living In The Material World" CD and thinking
what additional music he might have given us if he were still alive. I even broke out the old sitar earlier and almost nailed "Love You To". Lots of memories.
ALL GLORIES TO SRI KRSNA!

I never really appreciated George until "All Things Must Pass" came out...I wore the grooves out on that album, and then sort of rediscovered him in The Beatles.

Yep, George is sorely missed. I remember when I found out that he'd gone- I was with driving with my girlfriend at the time, and I had to pull off the road because I was so broken up. I was pretty shocked at how upset I got and she had the unenviable task of trying to console me. I wrote and recorded a tribute song a few months later. Maybe I'll post a link here...

When I saw/heard "The Concert For George" I fully realized his immense songwriting and guitar talents. Not that I'd dismissed him before. I can't imagine any artist not wanting to have a body of work of that quality.

I wrote a tribute to George also, entitled "Laughing In Heaven".

I love that guy.

Any day a Beatle dies is a ****** day.

Eric Clapton's "Concert For George" version of "Beware of Darkness" just blew me away. I played that section of the concert over and over again. That DVD prompted me to finally get the "All Things Must Pass" CD.

The reworked Concert For Bangladesh is worth seeing again, too. George was a great person all around.

I remember thinking, for him, it must have been a really weird, awful time, even on top of going the horrible way that he did, not even two months after 9/11.

It seemed to me a lot of people were walking around then in a daze, wondering what the heck was going on. And to have something like that going on, but of course other people were also contending with difficult personal matters at that time as well.

In a way I think what was going on then, 9/11, Enron, etc. usurped the true scale of the loss of someone the stature of Harri Georgison. I felt that then.

I have my original 'All Things Must Pass" vinyl. In the case, as it were. An incredible work of musical art.

Many years ago my turntable went South. The advent of 8-track and cassette came about and ultimately usurped by plastic CD's.

George's passing was a moment to stop and reflect. Like so many of us, I grew up with George. But time passes by and closeness is transplanted by years.

In July of 2005 I rediscovered George. For 30 years I had been a die-hard acoustic musician. Up until that point, I scoffed at electric guitar. My son, who loved the music I grew up with gave me the 'Concert For George' as a gift. Which in turn caused me to re-listen to George, Roger Mc-Gee ... which in turn has caused me to re-listen to the Beatles, Paul Mc-Cee, The Traveling Wilbury's and as of late, Tom Petty in particular. Which in turn caused me to purchase a Rickenbacker 360/12, an '89 Model Fender Strat Deluxe, a '78 Fender MusicMaster bass, a '79 Guild Acoustic D212 and prompted me to be on the look-out for a Gretsch. The right Casino would do, though!

I love Georges music. It is timeless.

And now my son and I talk about and play music together. And '67 GTO's. Nix on rice burners. Ace's on CID's over 350.

**

I bought the "Concert For George" CD a couple of years ago, played it a few times and it sat for two years(Sad, I know). Earlier this year, my interest in Indian music was reborn and I decided to pick up my sitar again. I listened(REALLY listened) to the first CD and loved it. I decided to buy the DVD to see what's going on. The entire concert blew me away! I watched it like 10 times the first week I bought it. I got a whole new respect for George after that. Everytime I watch it, I get a tear in my eye. Especially when they sing "I'll See You In My Dreams". Definitely a must buy for those who don't have it.

"Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."

-Aeschylus

Sorry if this offends anyone. For some reason it seemed appropriate

That is a beautiful quote Brian.

Bless George for the joy, enlightenment, and inspiration he brought to millions of people around the world.

people tend to overlook how important George was for the overall sound of the Beatles. (and in particullar the later albums) None of the Beatle members' solo albums sound like the Beatles except the ones from George.

Paul McCartney's "McCartney" and John Lennon's "Wedding Album" show how both of them tried to distance themselves away from the Beatles and the Beatles sound. "All things must pass" shows Harrison going the opposite direction, embracing the Beatles' sound. He made full use of everything the Beatles did and stood for. But because he wasn't Lennon or McCartney the general public never knew George as such. Ask a random person on the street about George's solo career and the most likely reply is that they weren't aware of the fact that George issued solo material in the first place.

And yet, songs like "Narwai blues", "All those years ago" and his hit single "When we was fab" show how the Beatles would have sounded if they never broke up.

Another thing that people tend to overlook is the fact that George had an incredible sense of Humor. When I found footage of when Tom Petty and George's son Dahni performed "While my guitar gently weeps" with Prince on the evening that George was inducted into the rock N roll hall of fame, I was surprised at the stream of negative replies on that. Everybody seemed to think that Prince didn't do George justice by doing that crazy shredding solo at the end of the song. I might not have known George personally but from what I learned about him in the last couple of years is that if George were there at that performance he probably would've cheered Prince on.

"Come on Lad, is that really the best you can do?"

Hmmm...personal taste being what it is, the Harrison solo songs you name checked are songs that I just do not like - at all!

Personally, I would have hoped that the Beatles would not have sounded like that if they had had the misfortune of overstaying their welcome like the Rolling Stones.

What I do agree with is your contention of how important Mr. Harrison was to the overall sound of the Beatles. That is an obvious statement to all of us of this forum, yet casual fans often overlook his contributions.

Some of my guitar-playing friends deride Harrison by referring to him as the "paint-by-numbers" guitarist.

To quote David Love (sorry David), Harrison's style was "economical", but very much patterned after one of his heroes, the great Carl Perkins.
Nothing wrong with that. It has been said here a number of times before, but it bears repeating...as a guitarist, what you don't play is as important as what you do.

And his backup singing is also key to the Beatles' sound.

Personally, I always thought Harrison was the coolest Beatle. Still love the scene from "A Hard Day's Night" when he wanders into the marketing/teen fashion/TV office/whatever, and the older know-it-all producer fails to recognize him. That scene still has relevance in today's mass marketing towards younger-and-younger kids.

I think it could easily be argued that Harrison, in his own way, changed his sound the second he was out of the Beatles.

Hence his near exclusive use of slide for his leads, not at all like Parlophone or Apple fabs days.