The Best of George Harrison

George Harrison & Friends, George Harrison

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: November 8, 1976
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B000002UCN
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (114 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,678 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
As the Beatles' perpetual dark horse, Harrison rarely got the chance to write and sing more than one or two songs per album. But once the band split up, the former "quiet one" was quick out of the gate with a series of memorable hit singles that seamlessly merged his budding spirituality and an epic, Phil Spector-inspired pop sensibility. This collection, originally released in 1976, combines seven of Harrison's best-known Beatles numbers, including "Something," "If I Needed Someone," "Here Comes the Sun," and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" with a half-dozen early solo hits including "My Sweet Lord," "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)," "You," and "What Is Life." As such, it's a good entry-level Harrison primer. --Scott Schinder

Product Description

George Harrison Photos

More from George Harrison

Brainwashed	The Concert for Bangladesh	Living in the Material World
Cloud Nine	Dark Horse Years 1976-1992	The Concert for Bangladesh DVD

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars By George, They Almost Got It Right, July 10, 2000

By	J. GENIO (Earth) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This collection of songs features the musical talents of L'Angelo Mysterioso as a Beatle, and doing his early, solo years (pre-Dark Horse).

George was active in the early 70's, either recording his own material or producing the works of others (most notably Badfinger's "Straight Up").

The songs on this CD are all very good. Unfortunately, it falls short of the mark. For openers, half the CD is full of Beatles recorded music. This material has already been packaged in various formats. The songs covering George's early solo years are terribly incomplete. Where is "All Things Must Pass?" Did they forget about the B-side to Bangladesh, "Deep Blue?" Why didn't "Beware the Darkness" Make the Cut?

To really make this CD more competitive, Capitol/EMI should have repackaged it -- you know, add some bonus tracks like the one's mentioned above.

If Capitol/EMI feels that they should mix some of George's Beatle contributions into this CD, then it should include "The Inner Light." However, I believe that George Harrison recorded enough good material as a solo artist to full any CD. There is ample material available from his "Apple Days."

I rated this CD three stars because (1) The Beatle material has been offered in other packages; thereby making half this CD nothing more than a knock-off of previously recorded material; (2) Representatives from EMI/Capitol could have selected much better material to include in this Collection of greatest hits, and (3) The CD should have been repackaged to include more selections; thereby making it more complete.

As it stands right now, this CD represents nothing more than a record company holding an artist to the terms of his contract -- by way of cashing in on a name (The Beatles).

34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Did George Harrison have any control of the track selection?, June 28, 2001

By	J. L LaRegina "Jim LaRegina" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

George Harrison was a couple of hits shy of a greatest hits package when (1976) THE BEST OF GEORGE HARRISON was released. Maybe that's why his greatest Beatles hits were added. Did George approve that? I would like to know. Years later another incomplete Harrison collection came out that has since gone out of print. That one covered the guitar man's career from the mid-70s through the late 80s. My dream is a George Harrison collection comprising: "My Sweet Lord," "What is Life," "Give Me Love," "Ding Dong, Ding Dong," "Dark Horse," "You," "This Song," "Crackerbox Palace," "Blow Away," "Love Comes To Everyone," "Faster," "All Those Years Ago," "Teardrops," "Wake Up My Love," "I Really Love You," "Dream Away," "Cheer Down," "Got My Mind Set On You," and "When We Was Fab." To stretch it to two discs, add these Traveling Wilburys songs: "Handle With Care," "End Of The Line," "She's My Baby," and "Wilbury Twist;" plus two great tracks from George Harrison's Japan concert album, "Something" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." For now, seek out these George Harrison albums, which I consider his best: THIRTY-THREE AND ONE-THIRD; CLOUD NINE; ALL THINGS MUST PASS; GEORGE HARRISON; and EXTRA TEXTURE.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good summary of George Harrison's work up to 1976, July 23, 1999

By A Customer

A good collection of songs from the "Beatle period" and early solo career of George Harrison. While the first side shows some of the peaks of George's achievement with the Beatles, such as "Here Comes The Sun", unquestionably one of the greatest songs ever written by a Beatle; "If I Needed Someone", perhaps George's first real "classic" track; and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", one of the first "panoramic rock" songs; there could have been more imagination in the selection of some songs (such as the rejection of the nice but insubstantial "For You Blue" to include songs like "Old Brown Shoe", George's last B-side for the Beatles and a track which should really be among Beatle classics). The second side only highlights hit singles from George's solo career; a few of the more memorable album tracks would have been welcome, such as "All Things Must Pass", "Living in the Material World", etc. Because this record was released in 1976, it obviously does not have any later releases on it, but some of these can be found on "Best of Dark Horse 1976-1989", where tracks from the following albums can be heard: 33 and 1/3 (1976), the excellent "George Harrison" album of 1979, Somewhere in England ('81), Gone Troppo ('82), and the masterpiece "Cloud Nine" ('88). Both of these albums together would be an excellent summary of George Harrison's career.