Living in the Material World (1973)
1. Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)
2. Sue Me, Sue You Blues
3. The Light That Had Lighted the World
4. Don't Let Me Wait Too Long
5. Who Can See It
6. Living in the Material World
7. The Lord Loves the One (That Loves
the Lord)
8. Be Here Now
9. Try Some Buy Some
10.The Day the World Gets 'Round
11.That is All
 
Undoubtably the most underrated piece
of the George Harrison catalog. After the monstrous All Things Must Pass which was a
triple album whopper, there really wasn't any direction that Harrison
could go other than downwards, and shortly after this album he
would unfortunately spiral down in a big way for a time. So perhaps people tend to
look at this as the "beginning" of the end as opposed to a great piece
of music that holds up very well on its own.
He's back again with Phil Spector, and that's pretty obvious upon
listening, yet this record is toned down substantially. It doesn't
quite have the over layered textures of its predecessor, and comes
across as a little more personal, and a bit more from the heart. In
other words, you can hear George quite clearly, both vocals and his
guitar work, instead of being buried behind multiple keyboards and
arrangements. That's not to say there's no accompaniment. Quite the
contrary. This album is filled with string sections and keyboards,
etc., but the placement is done so that it enhances rather than swallows
the sound.
George "baring his soul" was not always welcome to all. He was still immersed in his newfound Indian religion, and there are
echoes of that throughout the whole album. Even the album cover has traces of
something-or-rather having to do with Eastern mysticism, and sadly the
only song that doesn't quite work is the title track - which focuses
more on getting the lyrics across as opposed to the melody.
Nowhere else is that a problem. These are some of the sweetest, most
carefully planned tunes that George ever put out, and the fact that
"singing" was never really George's strong point, it actually makes
these songs better, since the voice is coming from someone sounding a
bit more naked and humble.
Sometimes the lyrics get a bit sloppy. Sue Me, Sue You Blues,
although not too bad, has a bit too much of a bite to it - probably in
response to the recent litigation from the lawsuit where he was found
guilty of plagiarizing The Chiffons with his track My Sweet Lord.
Nicky Hopkins plays a mean piano here, and actually throughout the whole
album. So good is he, that I actually thought I was listening to Billy
Preston. Try Some, Buy Some is another head-scratcher. On first
listen its rather kitschy, yet it grows on you and quickly became one of
my favorites. And, yes, he's trying too hard on The Day the World
Gets 'Round and sadly the song sounds like an almost intentional rip
off of The Beatles' "Across the Universe". Differences are minimal.
The rest of the album is a very pleasant, peaceful listen. Even when
George is somewhat rocking, his message is so gentle that you can't help
but love the songs, the music and even the man himself.
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