DJ Jan Kooper: Article on Unsung Heroes of British Rock No1

Here’s the article: UNSUNG
HEROES OF BRITISH ROCK No.1

GEORGE HARRISON: ‘Beatlesongs’ — The
album that never was. (But perhaps should be!) The sad passing of the
‘quiet’ Beatle in 2001 provided a golden opportunity for EMI (with the
consent of the George Harrison estate) to release all of George’s
(original recording) Beatles songs on one CD. This would have been a
worthy companion to the Beatles ‘1’ hits compilation and would have
provided a perfect way to reappraise his contribution to the worlds
greatest band. When you consider that George Harrison effectively
‘bookended’ the Beatles as it were, it would be a fitting tribute. It
is worth remembering that the first ever recorded Beatles song (as the
Quarrymen) was the acetate recording of ‘In spite of all the danger’
credited to McCartney/ Harrison- the only example of this songwriting
partnership. Then we had the first officially recorded Beatles
composition ‘Cry for a Shadow’- the instrumental A-side recorded in
Hamburg by German Polydor in 1961 (but not released in the UK until
1964), that was written by Harrison/ Lennon. (On the original records
Harrison’s name comes first in the credits). Now flash forward to 3rd
January 1970 to the last ever recorded Beatles song- George Harrison’s
‘I me mine’, featuring just George, Paul and Ringo. So there we have it
– Harrison’s compositions were arguably the first and last.

Apart from
the well known ‘Something’ and ‘Here comes the sun’, (great as they
are), there are more satisfying ‘Harrisongs’ to the discerning ear.
These range from the exotic and haunting ‘Don’t bother me’, the chiming
twelve string majesty of ‘If I needed someone’, the tranced-out
psychedelia of ‘Blue Jay Way’, to the eerie electronica of ‘Only a
Northern Song’ to name just a few. Contrary to accepted notions,
although fewer in number his songs arguably showed maturity and
innovation from as far back as his debut on ‘With the Beatles’ in 1963.
Only ‘Please please me’, ‘A Hard day’s night’ and ‘Beatles for sale’
albums did not feature any of his original songs. As for the ones that
did, the sitar heaven of ‘Within you, without you’ in particular, was
one of the highlights of ‘Sgt. Pepper’ (along with Lennon/ McCartney’s
‘A Day in the Life’). Thus the hypothetical George Harrison
‘Beatlesongs’ compilation could run something like this in
chronological sequence (in the order they were recorded or released on
either single or as an album track) :-

“Cry for a shadow / Don’t
bother me / I need you / You like me too much / Think for yourself / If
I needed someone / Taxman / Love you to / I want to tell you / Within
you, without you / Only a Northern song / It’s all too much / Blue Jay
Way / The Inner light / While my guitar gently weeps / Piggies / Long,
long long / Savoy truffle / Not guilty / Old brown shoe / For you blue
/ Here comes the sun / Something / I me mine / All things must pass”.

The inclusion of the ‘White Album’ out take ‘Not guilty’ would be a
worthy addition, considering the huge number of takes of this song
actually recorded, plus the fact that its phasing and concluding
barrage of heavy guitars showed the Beatles easily anticipating pop-
rock into progressive. So too, would George’s original 1969 demo
version of ‘All things must pass’ as a fitting finale and pointer to
his solo triumphs.

All in all, the above tracks listened to in roughly
this order are a staggering canon of great compositions, ranging from
bittersweet love songs, social comment, wry humour, folk rock, blues,
eastern mysticism to psychedelic freakout. Listening to this lot, as
well as remembering George’s great guitar and vocals on the tracks he
did not write, make him shine at last instead of being regarded as in
the shadow of Lennon and McCartney (until ‘Something’). Needless to
say, he had the best backing band of all time as these recordings
testify! Maybe in one of those parallel universes ‘George Harrison-
Beatlesongs’ has already been released…….

Check out the special
BEATLES podcast shows recorded for Raidersbroadcast listeners on this
link:
http://dimension7.podomatic.com/entry/2013-03-03T23_49_03-08_00

You can hear Jan Kooper on Friday October 10 from 8-10pm