Just got a copy today of George Harrison – Behind The Locked Door by Graeme Thomson and am taking it away on holiday this week to read. Looking forward to it immensely:
Here’s a review from the Chicago Tribune.
One of our favourite places in Sydney to crate dig is Revolve Records and Relics, and it has come up with another Beatle-related treasure for the collection.
Splinter was one of the first bands signed to George Harrison’s Dark Horse record label in 1974, and The Place I Love was their debut album:
They were a two-man band hailing from the town of South Shields in England. Bill Elliott and Bob Purvis wrote all their own material, were produced by George Harrison, and were joined on this album by Harrison (on guitar, mandolin, bass, harmonium and percussion and using the pseudonyms Hari Georgeson, P. Roducer and Jai Raj Harisein), as well as the likes of Klaus Voormann (bass), Billy Preston (organ), Jim Keltner (drums) and Gary Wright (piano).
The album was recorded at Harrison’s Friar Park home studio.
This is an Australian pressing. The cover is a gatefold, graced with a sepia-toned historic street scene of The London Hotel, taken in the late 1800’s in Splinter’s home town of South Shields. 
Here’s the LP’s ever-stylish Dark Horse label:
There’s also a single sheet insert with the song lyrics printed on each side:
And an inner bag made of heavy paper and stamped with the Dark Horse logo to hold the record:
Splinter’s Bill Elliot has another strong Beatle connection. John Lennon had earlier invited him to perform the song ‘God Save Us‘ with The Elastic Oz Band. Released as a 7″ single on Apple Records in the US in 1971. This was a protest song in support of the underground publication Oz magazine, then embroiled in the famous Oz obscenity court case.
We don’t usually post Beatle cover version videos. But this one, from a guy named Cody Senn, is great – and well worth making an exception. Let us know what you think:
We just had an email from Universal Music alerting us that the George Harrison page on their site has some new content.
Every week, music writer Richard Havers will review each of the fourteen Harrison solo albums and tell the stories behind them. Each review will contain audio streams of the album (Spotify and Deezer), quotes, insights and soundbites.
So far they have up there: Wonderwall Music; Electronic Sound; All Things Must Pass; The Concert for Bangladesh; and Living in the Material World.
In 1995 George Harrison was producer of an impressive 4 CD compilation box set honouring the musical life and genius of his friend and mentor, the Indian master musician Ravi Shankar. It was called In Celebration and it formed a key part of the celebrations that year marking Shankar’s 75th birthday.
The four CDs trace four distinct aspects of Shankar’s output: Classical Sitar; Orchestral and Ensembles; East-West Collaboration; and Vocal and Experimental.
The set was released on the Angel label (an EMI subsidiary specialising in classical music), and George’s own Dark Horse Records label.
Because it was expensive the following year (1996) there was also an In Celebration – Highlights single-disc version for those wanting a taste from each of the four CDs:
We’ve had a copy of the single disc Highlights for years and have often enjoyed escaping into the world of Indian music. As a result we’ve been on the lookout for a long time for a reasonably priced second-hand copy of the full box set – now long out of print. At last we’ve got our hands on a copy (via eBay and from a seller based in France of all places).
The larger set is a much more detailed and elaborate affair, with silver embossed printing details and individual artwork for each CD. When we say “box set” this is actually presented as a tall, deluxe hard-back book, with the four CDs stored in holders inside the front and rear covers.
In between them is a beautiful 60 page book with a foreword by George Harrison and a lengthy essay, richly illustrated with photographs, on the life and work of Ravi Shankar by Timothy White, a former Editor In Chief of Billboard magazine: 
There’s a handy glossary of terms included at the back – a big help in understanding and appreciating Indian classical music, its instruments and main themes and influences.
This is all really nicely done as a package and a great selection of, and tribute to, Shankar’s life and work.
We went crate digging last weekend at one of the best second-hand record stores in the Sydney area called Revolve Records and Relics in the suburb of Erskineville. If ever you’re in Sydney it is well worth a visit as they have a constant turnover of new stuff.
What we found there was an intriguing version of the 1970 George Harrison triple LP All Things Must Pass.
We’ve detailed in the past a couple of the different pressings that are out there – including what we thought was the unique, Australian triple-gatefold version.
Well, it appears that another market also had a triple-gatefold that is similar, but not identical.
The front cover looks familiar:
As you can see this one is a little beaten up and has a bit of ring-wear but overall it’s not in too bad a condition. (Those black spots at the top are small, dark paint droplets where it has accidentally been splashed by someone not being too careful….).
The rear cover is very different:
As you can see, it’s plain black with a white Apple in the centre and the words: “2 George Harrison LP’s plus 1 Apple jam session 3 LP’s for the price of 2 Apple STCH 639”
The gatefold opens out to reveal the first of the three coloured, top-loading sleeves into which the vinyl slips. The lyrics for the songs on Side 1 and 2 are printed here:
Open the out the second of the gatefolds and this is what the right hand side looks like – with lyrics for the songs on Sides 3 and 4 printed on the centre, grey coloured panel. The mauve (or lilac) coloured panel on the right has the song titles and details of who plays in the Apple Jam tracks on Sides 5 and 6, plus a large “Apple Jam” logo:
The labels are trying to be like the original, bright orange found on other versions of this release worldwide, but they are really more a dull, reddish brown. There’s the full Apple for Sides 1 and 3:
And a “cut” Apple for Sides 2 and 4:
The Apple Jam record (Sides 5 and 6) has custom Apple Jam labels on both sides: 
Unlike the Australian triple gatefold, the spine on this release has a dark black and white print:
[Click on any image above to see larger versions]
Nowhere, either on the cover or on the labels, is a place of manufacture stated – making it something of a mystery. Also, if there was ever one of the large George Harrison posters which came with this release in other markets, it is long gone. None to be found.
This exact same version is listed on the Discogs site, but no country of origin is definitively stated there. They just say: “Unknown country of manufacture, likely Singapore or Malaysia. Released in a three-panel fold out gatefold cover very similar to the Australian original”.
However, the fantastic apple records.nl has this version detailed fully, and suggests it could either be from Singapore or Hong Kong, depending on subtle differences in the label colours. (This site is an absolute goldmine for anyone interested in the different Apple pressings from around the world).
UPDATE: One other item of evidence has just emerged!
While fishing around in the sleeves just now out fell what looks like an official EMI flyer advertising other releases available from the company for the year 1971. We hadn’t noticed this before. It’s small (about 7″x7″), and has four pages.
The front page of the flyer:
The inside two pages:
The rear cover:
A tiny reference at the bottom says this flyer is “Designed & Printed by Times Litho Publicity Pte. Ltd.” A little Internet detective work reveals this to be a former Singapore-based printing company, active between the years 1965-2008. Discogs also lists the company as a printer of album covers in Singapore. So, I guess that’s proof that this is in fact a genuine Singapore pressing!
If anyone else has anything more definitive please do let us know. Would it have come with a poster, for example? Drop us a line using the Leave a Reply section below.
With the 10th anniversary of The Beatles/Cirque du Soleil Love album and stage show coming up on July 14, the official Beatle YouTube site has uploaded a “making of” style video for the George Harrison song ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’.
It includes a tribute to the late George Martin and information on how elements of the Las Vegas show are being tweaked and updated with fantastic new graphical elements for 2016:
The official Beatles site also has the song in full – complete with the fancy new graphics – all part of the 10th anniversary revamp:
Another instalment in our occasional series on Beatle (or Beatle-related) album covers that have possibly been, well, borrowed as inspiration by others…..(see here, here, here and here).
Check out this 1976 Olivia Newton John cover art:
The cover photo for ONJ’s Come On Over was taken 11 years after this photo:
Read about the origins of this striking George Harrison image here.
And thanks to Darienzo for letting us know that the rear cover image on Paul Anka’s 1974 album Anka also has a very similar photo:
Thanks also go to Tom for sending through this image of Jackson Browne’s LP I’m Alive from 1993:
The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) at Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia is currently hosting a massive exhibit featuring the work of legendary film director Martin Scorsese.
Scorsese of course was responsible for George Harrison: Living in the Material World, the 2011 landmark documentary on the life and work of George Harrison.
In the exhibition, which we visited last week, there’s a section on Scorsese’s love of music and the numerous documentaries he’s made over time including The Last Waltz (from 1978 detailing The Band’s last ever concert); No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (his 2005 documentary on Dylan’s early years); and Shine A Light (a 2008 concert film featuring the Rolling Stones live at the Beacon Theatre in New York).
Playing on a large screen within the exhibition are extracts from George Harrison: Living in the Material World: 
The Scorsese exhibition runs at ACMI until September 18. It’s well worth a look.
Not a lot to say given the events of last week.
Only that Prince totally dominates this brilliant 2004 rendition of George Harrison’s ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’:
What an amazing guitarist he was. And what happened to that guitar? Where did it go?
Maybe now he’s gone we’ll never know.
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