Customer Reviews

Somewhere in England

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The 1980s were looking bright for the individual Beatles, at least at the beginning of it. John Lennon was about to re-enter the studio to record his album DOUBLE FANTASY after 5 years spent being a father to Sean. Paul McCartney freed himself from the constraints of leading a band by starting work on MCCARTNEY II, his first solo album since 1971's RAM (although I consider his Wings albums to be Paul's and his alone). Ringo Starr was hitting a very rough patch musically, but personally he was over the moon after meeting the woman who would become his second wife, actress Barbara Bach.

For George Harrison, he was in the midst of personal joys himself, having married one of his personal assistants at Dark Horse Records, Olivia Arias, and then witnessing the birth of his only child, Dhani. Musically, he was holding steady after 1979's self-titled album did reasonably well, and had a top 20 hit with "Blow Away". Supposedly, George began work on SOMEWHERE IN ENGLAND almost immediately afterwards, and was said to be ready for the record stores around the fall of 1980.

But Dark Horse's parent company, Warner Bros. Records, did not really care for the final product, and insisted George re-enter the studio to record new material. Naturally, he was none too happy about this proposition, but acquiesced, making sure some of the new songs hit the company right where they hurt. It is a wonder they considered the revised album worth a release this time, and so SOMEWHERE IN ENGLAND at last hit the racks in early summer 1981.

If one good thing came from these interminable delays, it was the song that returned George to the top 10 for the first time since 1973's "Give Me Love [Give Me Peace On Earth]". Shortly after George went back into the studio for the second time, his old friend and Beatle mate John Lennon was brutally murdered, causing not just friends and family to mourn, but the entire world. Paul would write & record "Here Today" as his tribute to John for his 1982 album TUG OF WAR. George beat him to the marketplace with his own elegy, "All Those Years Ago", which by a wonderful twist of fate became an unofficial Beatles reunion over a decade before the ANTHOLOGY. Ringo Starr agreed to play drums on the song, while Paul & his wife Linda sang backing vocals. Add to that engineering by Geoff Emerick & string arrangements by George Martin, and it is a labor of love that had to have John smiling from above. The sprightly country-rock-tinged number deservedly peaked at #2 on the charts, and manages to pay a unique tribute to John with the lines "They've forgotten all about God/He's the only reason we exist/Yet you were the one that they said was so weird". Odd coming from a deeply religious man like George, and to a man who had uttered the infamous "The Beatles are bigger than Jesus" remark & had recorded "God", in which he doubted His very existence. Although I am sure John would have appreciated the irony.

Like that song, SOMEWHERE IN ENGLAND is mostly an upbeat affair despite the blackness of the original cover that has been restored for the reissue, and was one of the things Warner Brothers wanted changed. "Life Itself" is a heartfelt tribute to Olivia, and shows that George has been softened somewhat by new love. "That Which I Have Lost" is not as obvious an anthem, but the chorus seems to indicate one: "I need someone to show me/illumine my consciousness/remove the dark from in me". Maybe at last he found it.

Even a potentially mournful song like "Teardrops" is positively buoyant & borders almost on new wave. This particularly applies to the songs which had George striking out against the record company backroom boys telling him what to do. "Blood From A Clone" & "Unconsciousness Rules" show that cynical wit that George always had and, towards the end of his life, would get sharper. The fact Warner Brothers agreed to release such potentially libelous tunes means they either missed or got the joke completely. With an attitude like that, perhaps it is no surprise George recorded less & less over the years.

When an artist who is as fine a songwriter as George, should they ever include covers on an album, that could mean they are running out of ideas. Who knows if that was the case on SOMEWHERE IN ENGLAND, which featured two of them. Maybe it was George's underhanded dig at recording material that his label would have rather had him do. Either way, Hoagy Carmichael's "Baltimore Oriole" & "Hong Kong Blues" manage to fit somehow, showing that George can be a great interpretor as well as a creator of standards himself.

For someone who helped organize the Concert For Bangladesh, George has always been a sociopolitician at heart, and SOMEWHERE IN ENGLAND still allows for those opportunities to preach ever so slightly. "Writing's On The Wall" seems to have more cynicism in its veins, as if George is throwing up his hands in defeat & that the world is in too much a state of disrepair to be saved. But the album closes with more optimistic vibes on "Save The World", continuing the album's primary mood of bounciness. While still a bit biting in its wit, George does not lose faith even in the song's first line: "We've got to save the world/Someone else may want to use it". Truer words were never spoken, and are ones John would have certainly written.

With George's Dark Horse albums now finally back in print after several years out of it, it would have been nice if the bonus tracks on SOMEWHERE IN ENGLAND had been more plentiful. The four songs that were said not to have made the final cut could have been welcome additions rather than just a demo of "Save The World", which is not a patch on the version that finally reached fruition.

George Harrison may have been a little ticked off by his record company's nitpicking over SOMEWHERE IN ENGLAND, but he still did well enough for himself in creating one of his better albums, in my opinion. Soundwise, it proved that George was ready to transfer into the high-gloss & high-concept atmosphere of the 1980s, a route Paul would continue in as well. But maybe George's battles with his label did sap him of some enthusiasm, for his follow-up GONE TROPPO (1982) would be a commercial disaster, and is often ranked as his worst album (considering 1974's DARK HORSE & George's insistence on recording & touring for it while battling severe laryngitis, that speaks a lot). However, even if the bloom was off the rose when it came to records for George, SOMEWHERE IN ENGLAND showed he could still give it the old college try when he wanted to. First & foremost, he proved that when the record business tries to interfere with productivity, one should thrive, not cave.

I've been a Harrison devotee since, well forever, and I have to say that I'm very disappointed in the re-release of Somewhere In England. I was always under the assumption that, once the album was re-released, the four wonderful missing songs that the Brothers Warner deemed uncommercial - "Tears of the World," "Sat Singing," "Lay His Head," and (especially) the transcendent "Flying Hour" - would duly be included. So it's bizarre to have the original album cover (a pun: "Some-HAIR in England - get it?) but not the original trax that were supposed to go with that album! "TOTW" is now on the remastered 33 1/3, which is even more bizarre, because it has nothing to do with that album (a better bonus track on 33 1/3 would've been George's duet with Paul Simon on "Saturday Night Live" in 1976 - "Here Comes The Sun" + "Homeward Bound".) Following EMI/Capitol's always-scewed corporate logic, if "Lay His Head" was the b-side of "When We Was Fab," why isn't that track on the remastered "Cloud Nine"?

But back to what is: I've always loved "That Which I Have Lost" - the lyrics are a bit wordy, but the melody is eccentric and exquisite, so original and so Harrisonian. For me, the best part is that absolutely spectacular slide guitar solo, absolutely incredible. "Life Itself" and "Writing's On The Wall" remain rewarding listening pleasures, the sonic textures as evocative as the words. And "Blood From A Clone" remains an effective, hook-laden indictment of the conformity of commercial radio. But problems remain: George's once-beautiful voice never recovered from the hoarseness caused by his 1974 Dark Horse tour, and he simply didn't have the range to cover the two Hoagy Carmichel tunes he sings here. "Save The World" was a most annoying closing track in 1981, and now, followed by a demo version of the quasi-Pythonesque number, it's doubly annoying now. (Harrison did another, much better version of "STW" for a Greenpeace compilation - howcum that's not on here?) I do hate to say that I've always found "All Those Years Ago" awkward - George Martin's string arrangement is swell, as is George's sweet guitar solo, but the lyrics aren't George's most poetic, and they just don't fit the music. But George had said he knew what John would've liked, and who are we to doubt that? In many ways George was, with the obvious exception of Yoko, psychically closer to John than any other human being on the face of the Earth - think of the "dental experience" as just one example.

Speaking of Yoko, the friendship that finally developed between her and George blossomed around the time of the "Anthology" project. They're both Pisces after all. I suspect she was reaching out to George by giving him (not Paul or Ringo) the demo tapes for "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love," since George seemingly felt so devastated after John grew closer to her and less close to George even before the Beatles break-up. For all its flaws, "All Those Years Ago" remains Somewhere In England's signature track, and the sense of loss that Harrison felt about losing his childhood friend Lennon here sounds hearbreaking and real, and is echoed elswhere on the album. Not as sublime a collection as his previous eponymous album but what's good here is very, very good and certainly worth possessing.

Until the "Threatles" reunion with John Lennon via tape for the Anthology series, "Somewhere in England" featured the closest thing to a Beatles reunion for fans. The jazzy single "All Those Years Ago" was written before Lennon was murdered and given to Ringo to record. After John's death, Harrison retooled the lyrics and recorded it himself as a tribute to his bandmate and friend. Featuring Paul McCartney (with Linda and Denny Laine on backing vocals)and Ringo Starr (on drums), "All Those Years Ago" works despite some awkward lyrical bits. It's one of George's most memorable songs on the album.

When George first submitted "Somewhere in England" for release, it was rejected. He was told by Warner Brothers that it wasn't all that good. George went back, rewrote the scathing "Blood from a Clone", remixed some of the album, recorded two Hoagy Carmichael songs and resubmitted it. Warner Brothers felt that "Somewhere in England" had commerical clout now and released "All Those Years Ago" to great airplay and substanial sales.

What we have here is a compromised album. While it features the original rejected artwork for the album, the running order is for the revised released verrsion. It's a pity as the songs dropped from the album would have made marvelous bonus tracks. While I appreciate (and liked)the original artwork, I would much preferred to have the original album in its original unreleased running order with the new tracks as bonus tracks (or with the original released running order and the dropped tracks as bonus tracks). What we get, instead, is a single bonus track (the demo for the fine song "Save the World").

It's a pity as Capitol missed an opportunity here. Still, "Somewhere in England", while it isn't George's best album, sprinkles a number of memorable tracks throughout the disc. The sharp remastered sound by Simon Heyworth brings the album's original production touches to life in a way the previous version of the album was unable to do.

This remastered edition also features a 12 page booklet with lyrics and photos from the same time frame as the sessions. Although not the best of George's solo work, "Somewhere" features enough good material to give it a place next to his better produced and written albums.

released in 1981 this album was intended for a 1980 release. warner brothers (for some weird reason) didn't like the first version. some like this better, some the other. i would suggest this album to anyone for the song's "life itself" and "writing's on the wall" alone. george harrison's songwriting integrity throughout his career never faltered, even when sales and reviews were less than flattering."somewhere in england" musically and lyrically fits the high standard that harrison put on all of his solo releases. "all those years ago" was the tune that got this album to #12 in the US, the ill fated "teardrops" was no less a single with it's pop motown-ish production and beautiful melody but was overlooked (again, for some weird reason) by radio. one listen to "baltimore oriole" and the mindblowing "save the world" with headphones on and i'm sure you'll agree that this is an album should have been more popular than it was. there's still time.

The synths that people keep complaining about aren't all THAT prominent in my opinion. On four tracks, yes, but they're put to subtle use on the other tracks. Anyway, George's lovely guitar shines through. As 80s recordings go, this one holds up quite well.

The disappointing thing here for me is that "Flying Hour," "Lay His Head," and "Sat Singing" were not included as bonus tracks. I suspect we'll get them at some later date on some future Harrison compilation, but I'd rather have them now.

This is my first time owning SOMEWHERE IN ENGLAND on CD. I notice that "Unconsciousness Rules" seems to be about thirty seconds longer here than it was on the vinyl and cassette issue. Was it also a longer version on the original issue of the CD?

Key tracks: "Life Itself," "All Those Years Ago," "That Which I Had Lost" (<-- nobody ever mentions how fantastic the guitar parts are on this song!),"Hongkong Blues."

"Somewhere In England" has long been one of my favorite George Harrison sets. The LP version would consistently find its way onto my turntable. This new CD release is equally stunning. I love the new cover and the photos of George, particularly the one holding his son Dhani in the studio. The photo of George with drummer Ray Cooper in front of the painting that served as the cover of the original release is a hoot.

Musically, some of George's finest moments are here. The most readily engaging is his ode to John Lennon, "All Those Years Ago," with its bubbly beat and gorgeous harmonies, "You were the one who imagined it all, all those years ago." George was my "favorite Beatle" because of his meditative soul qualities; and "Life Itself" is a simple melody but pulses sweetly with a lovely melody and some of the most exquisite lyrics of devotion penned, "You are the One no matter what, you are the real love that I've got, you are my friend and when life's through, you are the light in death itself, oh yes you are, you are the One." He encapsulates Jesus' gospel of friendship with God exquisitely! "That Which I Have Lost" with its shuffling rhythm and minimal melody jam-packed with wall to wall lyric is great fun. "Teardrops" boasts a distinctive melody with the piano reflecting the song's great emotional strength. One of my personal favorites is Harrison's reading on Hoagy Carmichael's "Hong Kong Blues." With Harrison's reading, the "story of a very unfortunate coloured man" pulses with energy; rarely has tragedy sounded so much fun. "Blood From A Clone" and "Save the World" with its delightful bullets and sound effects are also excellent tracks with full bold arrangements and great performance. For those of us still back down in the lower world, this re-release is a welcome reminder of the brilliance of one of our Master Musicians. Enjoy!

First of all, "Somewhere In England" is NOT the George Harrison album any new or casual fan should want to start off with. Of course, it goes without saying that those fans should first look into the masterpiece "All Things Must Pass," followed by George's rock comeback "Cloud Nine" and the beautiful "George Harrison" and "Brainwashed" albums.
The funky "33 1/3" also rates up toward the top, with a strong track listing and humorous pop hits "This Song" and "Crackerbox Palace."
OK, now to THIS particular Harrison offering.
The record company, Warner Brothers, goofed in 1980 when it forced George to re-do this album, to drop four downbeat numbers and make it "more commercial."
What came out in mid-1981 sold enough to make it to No. 11 on the Billboard charts and crank out a No. 2 single in the tribute to John Lennon, "All Those Years Ago."
But something was missing, Harrison's heart in the whole ordeal. That's because the extracted tunes ("Flying Hour," "Sat Singing," "Tears of the World" and "Lay His Head") were all far superior to anything that survived the cutting room floor.
How those songs were deleted in favor of the half-baked "Teardrops," bitter diatribe "Blood From A Clone" and the country-ish "That Which I Have Lost" continues to baffle most serious George Harrison fans.
The "new" songs, plus the Lennon tribute single, were more upbeat. But they just didn't have the same cohesiveness, feel or passion that the four "lost" tracks had. (By the way, those four songs have been heavily booted over the years, which means any Harrison fan could successfully seek them out somewhere.)
When this remastered version of Somewhere In England was included in the 2004 box set, "The Dark Horse Years," many hoped the situation would be rectified -- with the original track listing to go along with the original album cover.
Well, they did release the original sleeve (intended for release in fall 1980) but the music contained is what was found in the June 1981 George-sitting-in-front-of-a-wall version.
Very disappointing and confusing.
Thankfully, you can now legally purchase the wonderful "Flying Hour" by purchasing the MP3 version of this album. But where are the other three songs? (Oh yeah, "Tears of the World" is a bonus cut on "33 1/3" for yet another confusing situation!)
Given all that backdrop and angst, SIE is good enough to warrant a 2.5 or 3-star status. Certainly, it is probably one of George's weakest all-around releases, but there are reasons to check it out (provided you already looked into the aforementioned CDs at the start of this review as well as the splendid-but-not-for-newbies "Living in the Material World" reissue from 2006).
The opening track, "... Clone" does have some biting slide guitar along with an oddly interesting beat. Both "Life Itself" and "Writing's on the Wall" are musical and atmospheric gems -- with the former providing one of Harrison's most-inspirational slide guitar solos.
Two Hoagy Carmichael cover songs are OK; "Baltimore Oriole" is somewhat peppy with dense drums and horns.
And it takes some getting used to, but "Save the World" does have some typical Harrison cynicism mixed with Monty Python humor and sound effects. After a few listens, it is actually quite alright.
In 1981, I absolutely hated that song. But that's the thing about George Harrison's music. Those who are open-minded and who actually give it a chance eventually tend to like it.
With that, I would recommend "Somewhere In England," but with a hearty dose of caution. Take it for what it is, and hope like heck that the Harrison estate finally does do the four deleted tracks the justice (and light of day) they certainly deserve!

This album, while not exactly a top-notch memorable classic, actually holds up pretty well considering the era and the behind-the-scenes goings-on. Had it not been forced to be drastically reworked by the record company, it probably would be an artistically better and more memorable album, but we should judge it for what it is and what it's not. It has enough good songs to be elevated a bit beyond mediocrity, and taken in comparison to an awful album like 'Extra Texture,' it sounds like a minor masterpiece! And what kind of album would have sold better in 1981, one full of deep serious dark downcast music or one with a lot of catchy synth-heavy pop tosh?

The album starts out with the really fun punchy rocker "Blood from a Clone." This is a really great song, one of the album's standout tracks, and it's made even better by knowing that the lyrics were so giving the finger to the record company who severely compromised the original album. Up next is "Unconsciousness Rules," which is pretty unmemorable for me and sounds rather like filler. Although perhaps it would sound better to me had the album retained the original track listing, where it wasn't only the second track. "Life Itself" is an absolutely gorgeous song, another of the album's best songs. It starts out sounding like it were a love song to George's new wife Olivia, but then the lyrics start making clear it's a love song to the Divine. I'm baffled at why some people find his spiritual songs "preachy"; this particular song has the decidedly non-sectarian, universal, and non-preachy line "They call you Christ, Vishnu, Buddha, Jehovah, Our Lord, you are Govindam, Bismillah, Creator of all." Next up is the well-known and catchy "All Those Years Ago," which hit #2 on the charts, and which of course is a tribute to John. Though it was written before he was killed (and intended for Ringo), the lyrics were reworked a bit to reflect the tragedy. It's also a really nice touch how the other two surviving Beatles played on the song. The song is followed by one of two Hoagy Carmichael covers, "Baltimore Oriole." It seems to be one of the songs a lot of people most like on this album, and has a very dark feel to it.

"Teardrops" is a catchy upbeat song in spite of covering a rather downcast subject (kind of like "All Those Years Ago"), and, like a lot of the other songs, is very synth-heavy. Being a child of the Eighties, I honestly don't mind all of these synths; it just wouldn't be a real Eighties song without some overproduction or synths! And how many albums from the early Eighties sound genuinely undated today? However, the whole feel of this song just sounds radically out of character, like it should be being sung and performed by an entirely different artist. "That Which I Have Lost" and "Writing's on the Wall" slip back into more familiar territory, matters of spiritual and sociopolitical issues, though strangely they appear to have the exact opposite messages. The first one seems to be saying that you need someone to awaken you, and the other one carries the message that it's within you to change yourself and wake up to the fact that you need to change. "Hong Kong Blues" is the second Hoagy Carmichael cover, and is pretty upbeat and catchy, though, like "Teardrops," just sounds really out of character for George. The album closes with "Save the World," another great sociopolitical song with some of his trademark quirky dark humor.

Overall, considering the era and the circumstances behind the album's long slow painful creation and birth, it holds up surprisingly well. More artists' lesser albums should be so solid, enjoyable, and strong. There are enough good songs and songs which aren't so great but still enjoyable enough to elevate it beyond average. I also love the Bhagavad Gita quote in the liner notes, "There was never a time when I did not exist, nor you. Nor will there be any future when we cease to be," right above a dedication to John. Not the album to get if you're just starting to get into his solo work, but it's not something to be avoided until very last either.

After a series of relatively succesful albums, it seemed that Warner Bros. (the company that was releasing George Harrison's musical works), really wanted this comeback to be a hit. So the original lineup for Somewhere In England was very much altered before its releasing in 1981. That fact makes this CD a little more difficult to listen, and perhaps turns it into the weakest of the CDs that was re-released in the 2004 boxed set The Dark Horse Years 1976-1992. Still, when one tries to forget those discrepancies, and sees the released work as a group of songs instead of a proper 'album', the results are much more satisfactory.

The original edition of this album was going to include: "Hong Kong Blues", "Writing's On The Wall", "Flying Hour", "Lay His Head" and "Unconsciousness Rules" on Side A; plus "Sat Singing", "Life Itself", "Tears Of The World", "Baltimore Oriole" and "Save The World" on Side B, and included the original art cover with George's hair reminiscing the shape of the Great Britain (hence the wordplay in the title... 'Some Hair In England'). In the 1981 released version, however, the running order was changed, and four songs (namely "Flying Hour", "Lay His Head", "Sat Singing" and "Tears Of The World") were replaced (by "Blood From A Clone", "All Those Years Ago", "That Which I Have Lost" and "Teardrops"), and the album cover was changed for a more 'upbeat' picture of a 1981 George with moustaches and in front of a stone wall. What happened in between? Apparently the company wanted a different-sounding album, they didn't want the polished sound that George had to offer. So they made him change the tracklisting and remove some songs... The result must have been unconvincing for them: sure, he changed the mood of the original album by removing some tracks, but still he left as a opener, the dry, sarcastic and ironic mock at the recording industry "Blood From A Clone" (arguably one of the best rockers of his carrer), with agressive lyrics ("they want some oohm-papa / nothing like Frank Zappa / and not New Wave / they don't play that crap") about critics who don't know anything about music ("don't have time for the music / give 'em the blood from a clone").

This was, perhaps, his mind after the changing of the conditions. Because they (whoever they were in Warner) took away at least two of the best songs on the original album, the gorgeous spiritual ballad "Sat Singing" and the fantastic pop rocker "Lay His Head". He, however, managed to mantain the two Hoagy Carmichael covers that he did, the ellegant "Baltimore Oriole", in every angle a highlight of this album (despite the sax!); and the catchy "Hong Kong Blues". These two tracks symbolize the effect of too much synthesiser in every track, and defects in the production that make this effort sound a little dated. "Hong Kong Blues", in particular, is an effort in resurrecting some sounds from the early years of the 20th Century, something that George would revisit with much better results in other tracks like "Hottest Gong In Town" from the unreleased soundtrack of the Shangai Surprise movie.

So you have to listen to this album as individual pieces of music to make it work more properly. In that case, even the weaker tracks like "That Which I Have Lost" or "Save The World", could work as separate entities, because both of them have clear messages, even though they get lost in the confusing track choices, and they are a little uneven comparing them to some much stronger tracks in previous albums like George Harrison or Thirty-Three & 1/3, or even in the much underrated Gone Troppo album.

But the great songs are always there if you look at them... "Life Itself" is a beautiful love anthem with references to the divinity ("you are my friend and when life's through / you are the light in death itself") with precious works from the slide guitar (George's trademark); "Unconsciousness Rules" explores some of the tropical, laid-back themes that Gone Troppo would deal with, incorporating the 'in your face' lyrics that were typical of George in the adult era of his life, this time condemning the contradictions in people's existences; and whilst "Teardrops" suffers from excesses in the synthesisers feels, the imagery created is beautiful at times (especially in lines like "and it feels like I have taken over from the rain") and the song itself is rather pleasant. "Writing's On The Wall" tries to rediscover some of the themes that were explored in those obscurely produced and beautiful songs from the 70's like "The Ballad Of Sir Frankie Crisp" or "The Answer's At The End", recovering some writings from Sir Frankie Crisp, the former owner of Friar Park, George's house in Henley-On-Thames, and reconstructs a nice atmosphere, even though not as strong as in the previously mentioned.

And then there's the best track on the album, the Lennon tribute "All Those Years Ago", which had originally been thought for a Ringo Starr album and had re-written lyrics after the terrible events of December, 1980. This track also incorporated Paul and Linda McCartney and Denny Laine (from Wings) on background vocals (which are almost inaudible in the mix) and Ringo himself on drums, making up for the first 'Beatles reunion' after John Lennon's death. In the song, George humbly confesses the deep admiration he felt for his bandmate ("living with good and bad / I always looked up for you"), reminds him as a social icon ("you had control of our smiles and our tears"), and a wise philosopher ("you found the way for the truth when you said / all you need is love") and tries to find an explanation to the horror in the confusion that the world lives in ("they forgot all about mankind"). It's all brilliant and moving, in the rhythm of a middle 80's-track, and one of the highlights of the solo Beatle production from those years.

So when it comes up for a ballance, one doesn't know what to do. One gets a CD with excellent songs paired with weaker efforts, fragmented sounds without a visible unity and a singer that's not always comfortable with what he's producing (just see the lyrics for "Blood From A Clone"). In the re-releasing, one gets the original cover (but with the rearranged running order!), a remastered album that doesn't include any of the erased four songs from the original album ("Tears Of The World" went to the Thirty-Three & 1/3 remastered CD; whilst "Lay His Head" and "Sat Singing" and "Flying Hour" remain as 'rarities' in George's catalogue), and the bonus track is a demo of "Save The World", with different rhythm and lyrics from the original, which, at the same time, is an excellent showcase of George as a great acoustic guitarist, and a really unexpected addition to the tracklisting (because it comes right after the finished version of "Save The World").

Hard to listen to back to front, but the strength and 'heart' of the songs is really brilliant. So in the end, and in spite of all the obstacles find in the listening process and in the re-releasing, the album is a good experience, and very recommendable, if only for songs like "All Those Years Ago" and "Life Itself", which are worth the price of the CD for themselves. Get it.

I can't imagine Zappa even dreaming of writing a song like "Life Itself." That's not a slight on Frank or on George, just an observation.

Somewhere In England was a troubled album from the beginning. Although probably slightly stronger than Extra Texture, it still may very well be Harrison's weakest work. And it wasn't George's fault! For, as everyone knows, George was forced by WB to retool Somewhere In England in conforming with the (then) prevailing musical trends. And considering that the early Eighties were epitomized by tasteless pap, Somewhere In England was probably doomed from the start.

Still, this is a George Harrison album, which means that there are several truly great songs. "Life Itself" is a beautiful song filled with silky guitars and lyrics that demonstrate George's religious egalitarianism. "All Those Years Ago" is a very catchy & heartfelt tribute to Harrison's fallen friend. "That Which I Have Lost" is the greatest, and most eccentric song on the disc. With great liquid guitar work, a tuba, and lyrics that neatly dovetail George's philosophy, it represents George better than anything else on Somewhere In England. Well, that is, except for "Writing's On The Wall," a haunting Harrisong that would have easily slotted on All Things Must Pass. In my opinion, these songs more than justify purchasing Somewhere In England.

Unfortunately, not much else here holds up. "Teardrops" sounds like an unholy collaboration between Elton John & Paul McCartney. It's kind of catchy, but you almost want to take a shower after listening to it. "Unconsciousness Rules" is the proverbial filler track, and the Hoagy Carmichael covers are interesting, but inferior to other versions.

I'm sorry to say that "Blood From A Clone" and "Save The World" are perhaps the weakest songs in George's songbook. On "Clone," George, to make a point, should have gone for the musical jugular and produced some hard, heavy music akin to "Wah-Wah." Instead, he opted for tired Ska. "Save The World" is worse. Instead of kicking some corporate tail with some devastating music and an impassioned plea for saving our planet & treasuring endangered species, George makes inane jokes about making bombs in the kitchen. The silly sounding sax charts & sound effects don't help matters at all. Granted, George's heart was in the right place, but I feel that he should have been much more punchy on that one.

The restored artwork completely eclipses the previous album cover (more record company meddling). The demo of "Save The World" is much preferable to the original, and the CD booklet in great. This is definitely worth your hard-earned money. If you're new to Mr. Harrison, though, be assured that this is far from his best.