"The Magic is Here Again" - The Missing George Harrison Album

With the recent release of All Things Must Pass: 50th Anniversary, I'm sure a lot of people will be wondering, "What if George Harrison had released a studio album between that and Living in the Material World?" I'm one of those people who have thought that, and I wonder why George didn't release an album to serve as a stop gap before he began work on Living in the Material World. So now, here's my take on this question, to which I have called, The Magic is Here Again, after a working title for Material World.

George Harrison on The Dick Cavett Show, November 23, 1971.

Within the first few years (1970-1973) of the Beatles' breakup, Paul McCartney put out his eponymous debut solo album, a lo-fi, folksy album that he performed entirely by himself, save for backing contributions from his wife Linda. The couple then recorded a solo album together, Ram, and another album as part of a band that Paul dubbed Wings, Wild Life, both released in 1971. They then spent the entirety of 1972 recording for Red Rose Speedway and going on tour, and concluded 1973 with Band on the Run. Save for Band on the Run, Paul's solo work was slammed by critics, many lamenting that this used to be the same Beatle who gave us Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road. While Paul wanted to prove that he was the genius behind the Beatles' later-period albums, it was obvious he needed the others to help him out.

John Lennon, meanwhile, had found a new artistic partner with Yoko Ono. His debut solo album (ignoring three noise albums), John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band was greatly influenced by his primal therapy sessions with Arthur Janov and he infamously denounced the Beatles in "God". His follow-up, Imagine, was considered to be on par with Plastic Ono Band, sometimes even surpassing it. However, John couldn't follow up on this success with Some Time in New York City, which charted even lower than Wild Life in the United States, and was considered to be one of the worst Beatle solo albums at the time, and that opinion seems to have held up nearly fifty years later. Mind Games, released the same year John began his "lost weekend" period, was considered a return to form, but it wouldn't reach the same heights as Imagine had.

Ringo Starr had released two albums in 1970 - Sentimental Journey (an album of jazz standards) and Beaucoups of Blues (a country album) - but it wasn't until 1973 that he put out his first "serious" solo album, Ringo, which featured contributions from the other three Beatles, being the closest we got to a Beatles reunion prior to John's murder in 1980. In between, Ringo had put out two non-album singles, one per year in 1971 ("It Don't Come Easy") and 1972 ("Back Off Boogaloo").

But what about the Quiet Beatle, George Harrison? After stockpiling songs that had been rejected by the Beatles even as far back as Revolver, he kicked off his solo career with a bang with All Things Must Pass, a triple album which contained two discs of regular songs and a disc worth of jam tracks known as "Apple Jam". George continued his success with The Concert for Bangladesh in 1971, and he finally put out his sophomore album, Living in the Material World, in 1973, competing with Paul's Red Rose Speedway for #1 in the United States.

But even before then, George had demoed enough songs to fill out a fourth disc for All Things Must Pass, but they were pushed to the side and, save for bootleg releases, were left in the vaults for nearly fifty years, being released twenty years after he had died. Is it possible to fill in a gap in his discography by presenting what could've been an album released between All Things Must Pass and Living in the Material World?

The Magic is Here Again (February 11, 1972)

Side A (19:17)

1. Nowhere to Go - 2:44 (Harrison/Dylan)

2. I Live for You - 3:26

3. Dehra Dun - 3:39

4. Let It Be Me - 2:56 (Bécaud/Curtis)

5. Mother Divine - 2:45

6. Deep Blue - 3:47

Side B (20:16)

7. Going Down to Golders Green - 2:24

8. Mama You've Been on My Mind - 3:04 (Dylan)

9. Tell Me What Has Happened to You - 2:57

10. Cosmic Empire - 2:12

11. Miss O'Dell - 2:33

12. Window, Window - 1:53

13. Om Hare Om (Gopala Krishna) - 5:13

In order to make this "missing link" between Pass and Material World, we'll have to start with some ground rules. Among them being that they had to have been recorded or at least written around the 1970-1971 period, as if it was being released in early 1972. "Miss O'Dell" was written in April 1971, but not recorded until October 1972; still, I think it's fair game for inclusion and it fits right at home. Another rule is that I'll have to use the May 1970 demos as my backbone; seventeen of the tracks were all used for the official album, and they can be another disc altogether as All Things Must Pass... Naked. I ended up excluding four tracks out of the demo tapes - "Sour Milk Sea" (previously recorded by Jackie Lomax), "Everybody, Nobody" (melody re-used for "Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp"), "Beautiful Girl" (later recorded for Thirty-Three & 1/3) and "I Don't Want to Do It" (later recorded for Porky's Revenge).

So that leaves me with four empty spots, but thankfully, there's just enough material to fill up the album to around 35-40 minutes. I've thrown in "Deep Blue" and "Miss O'Dell", non-album B-sides sourced from the 2014 remaster of Living in the Material World, and George's cover versions of "Let It Be Me", popularized by the Everly Brothers, and Bob Dylan's "Mama You've Been on My Mind", both from Early Takes Volume 1. I don't know when the latter two were recorded, but they seem to fit right in. I also ended up excluding "Bangla Desh" as a gospel rock song would have sounded out of place amongst a bunch of country/folk songs. Maybe it'd be kept as a bonus track.

And now, onto the album itself! All Things Must Pass began with a writing collaboration with Bob Dylan - "I'd Have You Anytime". I figured I'd start off similarly with the ironically titled "Nowhere to Go", a piss-take at George's status as the Quiet Beatle, for which a similar theme had been included with "Wah-Wah", "Run of the Mill" and, later on, "Sue Me, Sue You Blues". The Dylan influence continues with "I Life for You" - I used the demo version rather than the version found on the 2014 remaster of All Things Must Pass as I didn't want to use an overdubbed version. "Dehra Dun" follows before we slow things down with a cover of "Let It Be Me" - coincidentally, this takes the same position as "Bye Bye, Love" on Dark Horse, also previously recorded by the Everly Brothers. The spiritual "Mother Divine" comes next before the first side concludes with the B-side to "Bangla Desh", "Deep Blue", recorded July 1971.

Side B kicks off with the jaunty, Elvis Presley-influenced "Going Down to Golders Green" before being followed up with a cover version of Bob Dylan's "Mama You've Been on My Mind", taking the place of "I Don't Want to Do It". We slow things down again with "Tell Me What Has Happened to You" before delving into the spirituality of "Cosmic Empire" and then the cheeky nature of "Miss O'Dell", in which George laughs during the performance and lists Paul's old phone number at the end. "Window, Window", an outtake from the Get Back sessions, serves as the penultimate track and is the shortest song on the album at just under two minutes. What can follow that up? Why, with the longest track, of course! This being "Om Hare Om (Gopala Krishna)", running at a little over five minutes, it serves as the finale to the album.

All that's left is the album title. I settled upon The Magic is Here Again as George had jokingly suggested it for Living in the Material World, and I think it works very well for the bridge between that and All Things Must Pass. How does it stack up against either of them? Sonically, it's not as big as All Things Must Pass, and it feels closer to Living in the Material World in terms of production. In terms of songwriting, however, I'd say it's just about on par with them, and could probably be right up there as one of George's greatest albums. It's a bit like John and Paul in reverse, where they put out more raw-boned albums before following them up with a more polished sound; George puts out a grandiose album before going for something that's more laid back and folksy. I'm surprised it took his estate this long to have these songs officially released, but at long last, we can finally fill in a gap in the Not-So-Quiet-As-You'd-Think Beatle's discography.

Sources

All Things Must Pass: 50th Anniversary (2021)

Early Takes Volume 1 (2012)

Living in the Material World (2014 remaster)