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George Harrison - The Dark Horse Years 1976-1992 Audio CD

A fair review of the George Harrison "The Dark Horse Years 1976-1992" 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.

George Harrison Band: George Harrison
Title: The Dark Horse Years 1976-1992
Rating:
Release Date: 2004-02-24
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Woman Don't You Cry for Me 2: Dear One 3: Beautiful Girl 4: This Song 5: See Youself 6: It's What You Value 7: True Love 8: Pure Smokey 9: Crackerbox Palace 10: Learning How to Love You 11: Tears of the World 12: Love Comes to Everyone 13: Not Guilty 14: Here Comes the Moon 15: Soft-Hearted Hana 16: Blow Away 17: Faster 18: Dark Sweet Lady 19: Your Love Is Forever 20: Soft Touch 21: If You Believe 22: Here Comes the Moon (Demo Version) 23: Blood from a Clone 24: Unconsciousness Rules 25: Life Itself 26: All Those Years Ago 27: Baltimore Oriole 28: Teardrops 29: That Which I Have Lost 30: Writing's on the Wall 31: Hong Kong Blues 32: Save the World 33: Save the World (Demo Version) 34: Wake Up My Love 35: That's the Way It Goes 36: I Really Love You 37: Greece (Instrumental) 38: Gone Troppo 39: Mystical One 40: Unknown Delight 41: Baby Don't Run Away 42: Dream Away 43: Circles 44: Mystical One (Demo Version) 45: Cloud Nine 46: That's What It Takes 47: Fish On The Sand 48: Just For Today 49: This Is Love 50: When We Was Fab 51: Devil's Radio 52: Someplace Else 53: Wreck Of The Hesperus 54: Breath Away From Heaven 55: Breath Away From Heaven 56: Shanghai Surprise (Bonus track) 57: Zig Zag (Bonus track) 58: I Want To Tell You (live) 59: Old Brown Shoe (live) 60: Taxman (live) 61: Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth) (live) 62: If I Needed Someone (live) 63: Something (live) 64: What Is Life (live) 65: Dark Horse (live) 66: Piggies (live) 67: Got My Mind Set On You (live) 68: Cloud Nine (live) 69: Here Comes The Sun (live) 70: Here Comes The Sun (live) 71: Here Comes The Sun (live) 72: Here Comes The Sun (live) 73: Devil's Radio (live) 74: Isn't It A Pity (live) 75: While My Guitar Gently Weeps (live) 76: While My Guitar Gently Weeps (live)

George Harrison the best
I found this product better than I'd thought so I hope everybody will enjoy it as I do. Bye and. . may George be with you.


There is some very good music here, but overall it's impact is minimalized with the fluff


This compilation unfortunately highlights more of the blandness and flaws of George's solo career by leaving off the Living in the Material World and Extra Texture stuff entirely and starting with the music on his Dark Horse label/era. George Harrison had probably one of the most disappointing Beatle solo careers, especially when you consider just how FABULOUS and AWESOME his debut 3 record set All things Must Pass was.

Overall there are some very good songs spread throughout all (but Gone Troppo which along with George's Dark Horse LP (not in this set) are one of the worst records in the history of rock and roll). Many of these albums have a few decent songs whose impact gets hidden with all the blandness and repetiiveness that surrounds them. . . . . they just don't have the punch and certainly don't live up to his debut, Brainwashed, his work with the Traveling Wilburies.

I think a proper boxed set should be created. See below for more details. Of the albums here, only Cloud Nine has any merit as a full record (it's actually a very decent album, not great, but still in many ways excellent). His self titled album is decent, but horribly bland, even if the songwriting is a bit back to form, and it's horribly produced. The rest easily have cherry pick 1 or 2 song moments. . . .

Ultimately I'd like to see a 4 disc George Set that removed a lot of the filler (allow the completists to buy everything, George and really all the solo Beatles aren't worthy of this complete album boxed set treatment--even sadly John--and I'm a freak fan that owns all of his solo stuff sans Unfinished no 3--.


MUCH OF THE first part of the BELOW was copied from my own post on a comment to the Best of George Harrison (the best of that is mostly Beatle tunes). I felt why not include a full review here though.



I'd like a 4 disc set from George that had the highlights of his career and includes his great Spector demos from before the All Things Sessions. . . . . This set should be sold both in the all 4 disc format, and there should also be a best of the "also" years set that allows fans to buy the best of his post All Things career--but unfortunately forces megafans to buy the entire set in order to get the Spector Demos disc (although many mega fans--me included--already have the bootlegged copy. It could also include the "dvd" this set came with, but hopefully this time with a bit more concert meat. . . . and/or a short documentary that focuses more on his solo career, 1974 tour, and "lost period" struggles instead of Shanghai surprise.

For this I'd package a 4 disc set: First disc takes the entire first record of ATMP, adds I Dig Love, Hear Me Lord and maybe the 2nd version of Isn't it a Pity (although that's very similar to v1, so only if time allows).

Then I'd have key tracks from his other records fill up the next 2 cd's maybe with a nice demo or two: Give Me Love, Don't Let Me Wait too Long, Try Some Buy Some, Living in the Material World, That is All, Dark Horse, You, This Guitar (Can't Keep From Crying), Here Comes the Moon, The Answers at the End, Can't Stop Thinking About You, Oooh Baby (You KNow I Love You)--A song I'd love to see get covered by a soul artist, Beautiful Girl, Not Guilty, Blow Away, Dark Sweet Lady, All THose Years Ago, When We Was Fab, Cloud 9, Got my Mind Set On You, Crackerbox Palace, Cheer Down, Any Road, Pisces Fish, Marwa Blues--just since it won a grammy and all, Stuck Inside a Cloud, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, Never Get Over You, Traveling Wilburies--Handle With Care, End of the Line, Last Night. . . .

Then I'd fill the 4th disc with the Phil Spector Demos (at least the best of them from All Things Must Pass sessions (I'd also love to hear a less produced version of the great YOU that I don't have) and a series of the best live songs from George's portion of Bangladesh, 1974 tour and live in Japan. . . .

I would leave all of the Beatles stuff off (beside's George's solo live recordings of Beatles songs) because anyone who bought this set would undoubtably have much if not all the Beatles stuff. . . .

But why oh why did we have to get that Dark Horse Year's boxed set a few year's back that pretty much anthologized and pooled all of the really weak era George?. . . . why too isn't the song Cheer Down and album Extra Texture at least available on iTunes? Extra Texture actually is probably his 3rd best record besides ATMP and Brainwashed. . . . Living in the Material World has its share of very good songs but is just so damn preachy and over the course of the album gets a bit bland even with its individual song highs. . . . the rest of his albums are mostly a bore, but have a few gems amidst them.

A True COMPILATION of George is more than necessary. . . . sell as a full set and also sell the 2 middle discs as an individual set (allowing fans to either buy all in to get the Spector demos) or buy the best of the worst for the Post All Things stuff.

Then after a good boxed set comes out with his mostly released work, let's get a 1-2 cd anthology type of set that focuses more on the songs he recorded that didn't see the light of day. . . . he supposedly has a nice vault of this stuff that I've never seen/heard in bootlegged form.

The songs listed above paint a great picture of George's solo career, one that might make his solo career appear much more substantial than it actually was, and might give George more merit to stand next to Lennon as the best solo Beatle--John had some fabulous songs, and overall made much better, more consistent solo records, but George also had his share of great tunes, unfortunately hidden amongst a series of bland (1-2 star records). By removing the blandness and focusing on the highs, one can see George's true talents shine. George is the one Beatle who really should have formed a band after the breakup, he really had a knack for making a great 2-3 songs on each album. . . . . His albums tend to be so weak that they completely dillute his solo accomplishments (besides the debut and the denouement that is). . .

Just my thoughts. . . . I further wouldn't buy this set (I have all the individual albums and I have seen the DVD by renting it at our library) (besides the fact that it'll be a disappointment for all but the mega huge fan) because it's so freaking pricey and there is so little extra material. At least they could have added 6-7 bonus tracks to each record (instead of the token 1) and made a longer, more detailed DVD. . . . .

I would hardly recommend this as it's presented today.

Quick Individual Album reviews included in this set:
33 & 1/3: 2 stars. Not bad, not terribly memorable and unlike some of the others doesn't have many really good gems amidst the bore. This one just doesn't have the low's of the other records, so it maintains a steady below avg mark.

George Harrison: 2. 5 stars. Seems like a masterpiece compared to the other tracks on here. . . . but is so shoddilly produced and bland that a lot of its gems get lost. 4-5 great tunes though (See above) the rest is pretty much a bore, but I do kind of like the almost Todd Rundgren esque Love Comes to Everyone (which I may reconsider including in the above). Still this one is too slick and George's voice isn't stellar enough for the slick backgrounds. He probably spent 2 weeks making this one (instead of 2 days like many of the others).

Somewhere in England. 1. 5 stars "All Those Years Ago" is really the song giving this the extra . 5 stars (one of the best George solo songs). Hardly memorable.

Gone Troppo: 0. 25 stars. Quite simply the worst Beatle solo record--even beating all those unfinished music musings from John, dated 80's Paul, and RINGO's crud if you can believe that. THis is dated music to be sure, but there's hardly a good song on here (unless you oddly like Gone Troppo or this sheen version of Circles. . . I don't and I hate the record). This guy even beat George's Dark Horse album for his worst record--Dark Horse had a tune or two on it but remains the worst produced record of his life and the one that really highlights how bad George's voice was during the mid 70s. . . .

Cloud Nine: 4 stars. . . . might be the best Beatle record of the 1980s (although Double Fantasy was quite good). This one is pretty solid throughout, and Jeff Lynne tinkers but hardly ruins, he actually finds ways to make George seem like a good singer again, which is nice. Refreshing the album also showed a critical rebirth for George (who would really keep this up with the Wilbury's and Brainwashed, even if he only recorded sporadically thereafter).

Live in Japan: 1. 5 stars. . . . on paper this seems like a gem, George and Eric Clapton on the road in Japan with a fabulous track listing. . . . unfortunately all it sounds like is extra slick versions of Beatle songs and solo songs. . . . . extremely disappointing, they seem to go through the motions. Might have been better to have been there, but this is a terribly unexciting live record (and therefore a failure, since excitment is what people like to hear in live recordings).

The DVD is ok, too short, and not too memorable, but it's at least an extra.


George Harrison: The Pilgrim
By all accounts, he was always trying to live, do and be right. First of all, I really appreciate George Harrison. His music is a testimony to this. Few other real rock stars are singing songs about life in God (or god. . . he sings about both).

The Dark Horse Years is a great way to find out who George was within his music. Honestly, much of this music is plagued with an 80's sound. . . but that doesn't, for me at least, negate the songs lyrically or musically. In spite the 80's sound, George Harrison's rarely acknowleged talent comes bursting through on every song. "Gone Troppo" is my favorite of the albums within this set. George sounds like he feels good on this album. You can hear it. All other albums in this set are very enjoyable. The videos are good,too, and you get to hear George discuss how some of his songs came about.


The "Live in Japan" cd is excellent and fresh. Eric Clapton and George Harrison are a truly powerful duo. You also get to witness some of this on the video.

If you are a die-hard Beatle fan, The Dark Horse Years is for you. Ringo is on many songs, too.

One of the best things about this set of music is that it is the actual albums for these years. Songs are presented on each album in the order they were originally meant to be heard or in the order we are used to hearing them. Why aren't more artist compilations like this?

2 other albums that are essential to round out the George Harrison collection: "All Things Must Pass" and "Living In a Material World. ".


A Long Time Coming....
A must for fans of Harrison and all fans of music. This is a 5 star (and more)investment. . . . everywhere

It seems as if nothing else in the world can bind 7 continents of peeps, except music, and so Mr. Harrison actually lives, lives on through his music, most of which I actually heard for the first time.

In 1974, I walked away from Harrison's music. I didn't get it. Now I do, and the only thing wrong with Harrison (tongue in cheek) is that he was way to old when he was so young. Perhaps we have all caught up with him now, and so now we have Amazon to provide us with Harrison's treasure chest of gems, spanning the years of his musical journey. This collection is a jewel in the crown of a musician who unfortunately left us too soon. With the Dark Horse Years collection, every time we play the music, George is very much here with us. . . .


RIP, Our Sweet George.

From the Blonde Rocker.


Light of the Dark-Horse Years
He produced at least two records, on the Dark Horse label, and through A&M, they were: Splinter and Ravi Shankar Family and Friends. George Harrison intended Dark Horse Records to be part of Herb Alpert's A&M Records family. George was a prominent musician on both works, as well as producer. He took all the musicians who appeared on Family and Friends, and toured the US. It was promoted as the Dark Horse tour. After about three or four performances, George's voice was thrashed. He came down with jaundice. The tour was in two parts: first an Indian music program, and then rock and roll. It was panned generally. I believe at one point George actually admonished his audience: "I don't know about you, but you seem pretty dead from up here. " There is a picture of George posing with President Gerald Ford, his son Jack, and Ravi Shankar, at the White House. ALso, according to George's autobiography, he got into drinking heavily, his marriage broke up, he met Olivia, had a son, got married again.
The last George Harrison album to be produced by EMI was Extra Texture. The first George harrison album to be produced on Dark Horse was Thirty Three and a Third, which has, like the Beatle's Revolver, multi-meanings: George's age was 33, an LP plays at 33 and 1/3 RPMs. The difference, musically, spiritually, is most significant. Extra Texture had songs that were like a funeral. Dark, life at its ebb. Suicidal. Thirty Three and a Third bursts with life from the first track. And so on until Cloud Nine. George would announce he had "retired" between each Dark Horse record. His reasoning for doing "George Harrison", for example, was that racing car drivers had asked him if he was still recording. SO he wrote "Faster" for them, and a fine, beautiful LP along with it. Love songs, old Beatle songs. It is a wonderful record.
Even Gone Troppo has a sense of lazy, sun on your face, I'm lying here on the beach of Hawaii and now let's go into the studio and do a song, eh chaps? He was doing things at HIS pace. When He wanted. Not when MR. RECORD COMPANY EXECUTIVE WANTED. Actually George had a very good relation with the president of Warner Brothers Records, who originally released all of George's Dark Horse works. He even convinced him to use recycled paper for LP covers, etc.
And it is interesting to note that, for all his complaining about The Beatles era, of all the solo Beatle record releases, George's sound most like the traditional "Beatle sound". It has to do with his guitar playing. That was the heart and soul of the "Beatle sound. " Try as they may, none of the other Beatles were ever able to get a lead guitarist who could come close to measuring up to George. SO, this is what you get from The Dark Horse Years: George, doing his music, as he wanted to, without any pressure, and when he was pressured, he wrote songs like "Blood From A Clone". It is a unique set of pop music, and singularly personal.


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.

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