Great words and accurate summation Stuart.:ok_hand:

Hi Stuart,
I think I may still prefer McCartney's output overall, but when George was great, he was really great. And he does seem to have been a pretty cool guy, overall. My only problem is that so much of his 70's output feels like work to me, usually because of the production. That recent Beatles White Album release helped to illustrate just how cool songs like "Not Guilty" could sound stripped of the 70's sheen.
But overall, I agree he has a bunch of great tunes, and I'd add "Isn't it A Pity" and "It Don't Come Easy" and "Photograph" as well, those last two basically written by George, I believe. I have a version of George singing "It Don't Come Easy" complete with some Hare Krishna backing vocals in the middle. Also, "Savoy Truffle" and "I Want To Tell You" rank high in my list of favorite songs.
I will say this in conclusion though. My favorite way to hear George Harrison in the 70's is often by listening to the albums he guested on. For instance, he plays on Nicky Hopkins' "Tin Man Was a Dreamer," and "Straight Up" by Badfinger (well at least on the song "Day After Day"), and I think I enjoy Splinter's first album more than most George Harrison's albums. You can hear his voice and guitar throughout that album.
A recent George discovery I HIGHLY recommend is the first three Gary Wright albums. Forget "Dream Weaver".... these are a completely different animal. "Extraction" is the first album, and basically features most of the same line-up as John Lennon's "Imagine." It's perhaps my favorite album by Mr. Wright.
The second album, "Footprint" is also very good, and you can hear George Harrison playing along on the song "Two-Faced Man" on that album. There's a Youtube video of the song being performed on Mike Douglas or some US talk show, but it isn't really as good as the album version.
Lastly, the third album, "Ring of Changes" was not released at the time for some stupid reason. That also has George doing his trademark slide guitar on at least one song, and maybe two (although Mick Jones of Foreigner was in the band at that point and playing some slide as well, according to the liner notes.) The band at that time was called Wonderwheel, and that third album is just about as great as the first album. I put it right up there with Stealers Wheel and Badfinger.
In my opinion, that Gary Wright stuff really got short shrift because "Dream Weaver" just eclipsed it. It's kind of like judging Murray Head by "One Night in Bangkok" instead of his Immediate records 45, or his first album. If you want substance, you're better off going back to those earlier efforts. I'll go as far as to say I very much prefer those three Gary Wright albums to anything I've heard by Spooky Tooth or Art. Those first three Gary Wright albums deserve to be in that Mojo feature they used to have called "Hidden Treasures" where they would take an album from the 70's that didn't get much exposure and explain why it was a crucial addition to anybody's music library.
The last time I was blown away by a 70's album like "Extraction" was when I first heard Terry Reid's "The River" which I also love. Another album that Mojo turned me onto with that feature was David Crosby's "If I Could Only Remember My Name." So I would put "Extraction" up there in that company as an example of classic early 70's output.
So there you have it, what started out as a George Harrison post ended up a Gary Wright post, but I recommend those first three Gary Wright albums, on CD or vinyl, I'm no vinyl snob:smiley: but I will say "Extraction" comes in a very cool fold-out poster if you get it on UK vinyl. The cover by Klaus Voorman, no less! OK, that's my rambling for today!!

Thank you guys for the nice words. Joe I have indeed got the 3 Gary Wright albums you mention, and it's absolutely astounding that the third of those Gary Wright and wonderwheels ring of changes never even got a full release in 1972 after it's recording.in fact it was seemingly the first full album to be recorded at Apple studios, and indeed George Harrison plays on the track goodbye Sunday, but A&M records refused to release it and hence Gary Wright reformed spooky tooth!! It really makes you wonder what other albums were recorded in the 60s and 70s and still to this day remain unheard?? As for spooky tooth, I thoroughly enjoy the first 2 albums and I rate the art album supernatural fairytales. Thanks for taking the time to answer and post concerning what I said. From George Harrison to Gary Wright is well fine by me!!

Hi Stuart and UKPDF shipmates. To my inner ear this is one of the better postings on UKPDF, mostly due to the highly venerable subject and not unrelated to the exceptionally high quality of the comments! I hope my minor contribution is taken in the spirit intended.



Best not forget 'Piggies'.
"Piggies" is a song by the Beatles from their 1968 album The Beatles (the White Album). Written in it's embryonic form by George Harrison back in early 1966 as a bitingly cynical social commentary during the pre-Maharishi days, the song is an Orwellian satire on greed and consumerism. This was at a time when George seemed to be very much in tune with John, who in fact made a significant contribution to 'Piggies' in it's final form, as did George's Mum. This was at a time in the ever evolving/revolving story of the Beatles, when it was common for youth to rage against the machine and occured just before the impossible dream of the Peace & Love explosion. I've already written in some depth about 'Piggies' on a previous post here, in the context of looking at useful Beatles books available for students of our 'fab four', including giving the info. about the abandoned verse.

Here's a great link on 'Piggies' and to top up your ever expanding Beatles knowledge:

http://www.beatlesebooks.com/piggies

Yes Steve, "Piggies" should not be forgotten at all. A great song that does a great job matching elegant music with ugly imagery. Ray Davies is also great at this kind of incongruity, like the song "Ring the Bells" which matches happy lyrics with depressing music and delivery. I love songs that manage that effectively.
Also love those pics. That one of George reminds me of the Paul picture of him picking his nose inside the McCartney album (I think...) Not the usual glamour shot.
Stu, I didn't know there were already converts to the Gary Wright fan society! I'm definitely with you that they are all great (the early ones, that is...) I was really surprised when I bought the first two albums on a whim, and found out how good they were. I somehow just assumed he was always doing the "Dream Weaver" all-keyboard stuff. Not that I blame him, or even mind the song that much. I'm sure it bought him some nice houses and cars. But I'm with you Stuart, "Ring of Changes" is just fine. At the time there was a single release of the song "Ring of Changes" and the b-side which is also on the CD. However, those are the only two songs that made it to vinyl, evidently.
Even though I'm not a vinyl snob, I do wish that when an artist like Gary Wright reissues a cool lost album like "Ring of Changes" that they would make a vinyl release as well. Maybe it's cost prohibitive for an album that isn't by a super huge name, but 70's music just sounds right on vinyl.
Still, I'm glad it finally got a release in any format. Like those mid-period Fleetwood Mac albums "Bare Trees" or "Future Games", I find it is the perfect combination of the good things about seventies music.

Yes indeed Steve,Piggies was a a real omission on my part,it is indeed a great biting song way before its time taking a well deserved dig at the greed of capitalism,remember it had just been over 20 years since the end of world war 2 when the seeds of this song were formed!!Changing times indeed!!Piggies sentiments are still(if not more) as relevant today as it was 50 years ago.Harrison was also the one to highlight the income tax burden he felt that the government was personally putting on him and his at this time very successful and high earning colleagues with the brilliant Taxman,what other so called pop groups at this time were recording and releasing such obvious attacks on the establishment?The press used to call the rolling stones the bad boys of pop,i actually cant remember a song from this time that they recorded that attacked the establishment as such!!! Maybe im wrong.....I don't know!!Whether you are of the opinion that George and the others quite rightly or not should be paying the highest tax that was in the uk at the time over 50 years later is probably neither here nor there,but to actually write,record and release it on what would be a massive selling album basically having a massive dig at the then government and actually namedropping the chancellor,mustve been quite a thing,this was 1966,well before the drug busts of the stones etc.Whether it was a self interest thing behind the song,but I know no one who genuinely likes paying governments income tax from their hard work,no matter what it is you do for a living,so I can imagine Taxman being a pretty well liked sentiment from the more mature Beatles fans of the time!!!This from a group who only under 2 years earlier accepted MBEs from the establishment.Which even now I hate the thought of!!!!That's just my thoughts guys,it was tragic what happened to George in later life getting attacked and stabbed from some deranged bampot and then to succumb to cancer,though to be honest he had been a heavy smoker for much off his life!!Any man who can forgive and stay friends all his life with someone he was close to who did the dirty on him with his partner Miss Boyd,im on about Eric Clapton of course,which to me says a lot about Clapton(not a lot),tells me a lot about George Harrison as a human being!!I'm beginning to waffle on a bit,so i'll stop there!!Enjoyed this thread folks,thanks for taking part!!