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Live in Japan

George Harrison - Live in Japan Audio CD

A fair review of the George Harrison "Live in Japan" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all George Harrison reviews here, or go back to the George Harrison tabs.

Band: George Harrison
Title: Live in Japan
Rating:

Release Date: 2004-02-24
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: I Want To Tell You 2: Old Brown Shoe 3: Taxman 4: Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth) 5: If I Needed Someone 6: Something 7: What Is Life 8: Dark Horse 9: Piggies 10: Got My Mind Set On You 11: Cloud Nine 12: Here Comes The Sun 13: My Sweet Lord 14: All Those Years Ago 15: Cheer Down 16: Devil's Radio 17: Isn't It A Pity 18: While My Guitar Gently Weeps 19: Roll Over Beethoven

George
The live music is great from the great musicians. I think George went out on tour with Eric Clapton, then left after Japan. I recieved it fast and in great shape.

St. George and The Guitar God
Some live recordings actually enhance a song (Bye Bye Love on Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water being the perfect example), and some live recordings are in and of themselves classics (Allman Brothers Live at the Fillmore, Frampton Comes Alive, George Benson's Weekend In LA). I have never been a huge fan of "live" recordings, especially those recorded at large venues where the audience noise is so immense it muddies up the whole affair (Fleetwood Mac's late 70's live album).
The attraction to this double disc live set (packaged beautifully with the 1992 LP booklet in miniature and the embossed black cover genuinely duplicated for the CD package) is of course the landmark George Harrison and Eric Clapton "Band" that toured the waning days of George's health. After this, George recorded the posthumously released Brainwashed album and his last recording was the remarkable Horse To The Water released on Jools Holland's "Friends" disc. The next time we see Eric wailing on While My Guitar Gently Weeps will be a year following George's passing in The Concert For George, a must-have for any Beatle fan, any Harrison fan, any Clapton or Preston fan, etc.
So how does Live In Japan measure up? Georges voice is in fine form, better on some songs than others, but the real attraction is the cleanliness of the recordings, sheer beauty and clarity on everything and above and beyond that, the "Band" offers up nothing short of perfection! I Want To Tell You and an Old Brown Shoe from the last days of The Beatles kick off the set with infectious musicality and nostalgia, Eric brings his signature wailing guitar licks to Taxman and then two beautiful "Hawaiian" slides serenade us with a performance of Give Me Love that rivals the original studio version in depth and emotion. If I Needed Someone takes a step up from being a Beatle song to becoming a gorgeous rival to My Sweet Lord. The background singers, the layered guitar work and Clapton's incredible lead take an old comfortable friend straight to the heavenly spheres. I have a hard time following this performance with anything even though the immortal Something and What Is Life come right behind, If I Needed Someone alone makes this set a treasure. Something brings Eric leading an old classic in a new direction and even though the arrangement remains the same, Eric's guitar work will bring in new goose bumps, and this being said when (in my opinion) this vocal performance is one of the weaker ones on the set.
What Is Life, Dark Horse, and Piggies offer nothing new, just good tunes, and Got My Mind Set On You ends disc one with some fun chorals, handclaps, and snappy drums.
Disc Two opens with a terrific performance of the George Harrison-Jeff Lynne production track Cloud Nine. Again, Clapton enlivens the tunes with better guitar work than the original and the backup singers send us some Floydian backgrounds. Here Comes The Sun and My Sweet Lord are given up to us in the raw, beautiful arrangements with sweet production and All Those Years Ago pays homage again to our Saint John. A nice entry to the double live set is Cheer Down. Eric and George duet on guitars beautifully, George's vocal delivery is impassioned and the piano accents and background vocals make this one of the most pleasant deliveries in the concert. Cheer Down is another standout that at first seems unremarkable but upon closer inspection, the opposite is actually true. The classic Isn't It A Pity couldn't possibly be anything less than perfectly enjoyable and the concert ends with a rollicking and good time Roll Over Beethoven given us as a dual guitar entry from The Guitar God and St. George, but I've been holding my breath to tell you about the SONG everyone wants to hear about. There are not too many people out there who, by now, are not aware that Eric Clapton was the uncredited lead guitar in the classic Beatle song While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Eric's work on this live performance is nothing short of spectacular. The song starts out much as one would expect from a standard Beatle staple, a retro-doo wop shoo wop is added for nostalgia but before the song is halfway through, the slowhand takes command of the performance and the second half cannot be better described than through the words of Harrison himself who encourages a deafening after-applause for "Eric Clapton Psycho-Guitar".
The strings are stretched, they are warped, warbled, bent, driven into your skull with a surgeon's precision. The performance is enhanced with backing leads by Harrison and an unrelenting syncopation from the "Band". I promise you will revisit this track over and over again and it easily rivals Clapton's miraculous performance of the song (with Paul, Ringo, Billy Preston, and "Band") on The Concert For George.
Eric persuaded Harrison (who was reluctant of live tours after the harrowing Dark Horse tour of '74) to tour with him in Japan, and afterwards, George was immensely happy he had obliged. Live In Japan proved to be Harrison's last album release in his lifetime, as he was shortly thereafter consumed with the Beatles Anthology projects, the Brainwashed album (released after his death), and then assisting his friend Jools Holland in production of his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra project "Small World, Big Band" (where you can find George's last recorded song Horse To The Water). "Live In Japan by George Harrison, Eric Clapton, & Band" is affectionately produced by Spike and Nelson Wilbury. If you don't know who they are, I suggest you go look them up. And then enjoy this wonderful work of art.
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Live in Japan
Harrison was here joined by his very close friend Eric Clapton and they play a mix of Beatles songs and Harrisons own solo work. Live in Japan is a live album that was recorded in 1991 and released in 1992 and proved to be his last release during his lifetime. We also get to hear a cover of Chucky Berry's Roll over Beethoven. 4/5.
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George Harrison, Live in Japan
I saw that it came out in a SACD/hybrid format and purchased it. I have owned this CD since it came out back in 1992. The quality of the sound is so superior to the CD. It really picks up many of the nuances of the shows I couldn't hear on the CD. Clapton backs up Harrison's subtle playing. As much as many people give Harrison his due as a guitar player this SACD proves his genius as a guitar player. He may not have been as flashy as many other pickers, his licks have stood the test of time and fit in the framework of what the Beatles were. This SACD is the culmination of his career simply stated and every note pops out of your sound system. When you hear the qulity and depth of the sound of this or any SACD, I am curious why SACD/DVD Audio didn't take off like I would have thought they should have. If you are a Beatles/George Harrison/Eric Clapton fan and an audiophile, this is a must have. .

George Re-born In Japan
Krishna - where did this forgotten gem come from?

From the high water mark of "All Things Must Pass" in 1970 that served as a compendium for all of his accumulating and unused Beatles-era work, George Harrison's more recent solo output has been at its best, spotty and at worst, downright desultory. Jesus H. Sharing the stage with Eric Clapton and taken from his last, very abbreviated, solo tour in 1991, Live In Japan (re-released after a ten year plus absence) brilliantly showcases a reinvigorated Harrison in top form - ripping through his Beatles and solo canon with a delicate ferocity that is both moving and completely unexpected.

The Beatles chestnuts are all here however, it is on some of his lesser-known solo compositions that his enthusiasm for the material really shines - in particular "Devil's Radio" and "Cheer Down. " The "quiet" Beatle delivers a landmark performance that is worth every penny.
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You can see a complete list of all George Harrison discography, or go back to the George Harrison tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.