Of all the Beatles, George Harrison is easily the most sympathetic. Unlike Paul & John, George was quiet and introspective, his music was visceral and sincere.
Harrison’s only son, Dhani, confessed last year in an interview with Rolling Stone that for a long time growing up he had no idea that his father was one of the most famous musicians on earth – he always assumed that his father was a gardener.
And it is Dhani, heir to the entire estate after his father’s death, who is responsible for curating the Harrison outtakes and remakes. As he explains in a Times of London interview:
Two years before he died, Harrison started to think about making an album again – with Dhani’s encouragement. Father and son began working on the songs, recording in a number of different locations.
“I did it because he needed a buddy and we were friends. He was just playing around. But when my dad played around he was very serious… I don’t think my dad cared if he released it. But I cared because in my opinion the record was so good. He never said I should finish it but I always knew I’d have to eventually.”
They continued to work on the record “right up until the end” when the family left Switzerland for America, where Harrison died.
The record they were discussing was 2002’s Brainwashed, released a year after Harrison passed away. In 2011, Martin Scorsese completed a documentary film entitled George Harrison: Living in the Material World for which the Early Takes were culled.
Hopefully, Dhani continues to meticulously release his father’s amazing works, as interest in the life & death of the “Quiet Beatle” will never wane, at least not within the pages of this blog.
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