George Harrison - Living in the Material World (CD+DVD)

Remastered reissue of George Harrison's "Living In The Material World" album, originally released in 1973. Contains the #1 Pop single "Give Me Love."

Limited Edition CD+DVD comes in a digipack with a 40 page booklet. Deluxe booklet includes lyrics (some handwritten) and many additional photographs from the original session.

DVD Content: 4 videos and all visual content is previously unreleased. Features a new video for the ‘Living in the Material World’ track with footage of the original UK/US LP pressing. ‘Give Me Love’ performed live in Japan during the 1991 tour (in 5.1 surround sound and stereo). Along with unreleased versions of the songs Miss O'Dell and Sue Me, Sue You Blues. Album Description

Not a review, but a comment for Mr. Smith, Jr.

I can understand your disappointment to learn that a different guitarist "imitated" George's signature slide guitar style, but I wanted to bring a few things you may not know to light:

In one interview, he stated that, prior to the Japan tour, he "had not picked up the guitar in awhile", had been mostly playing the ukelele.
He was pretty forthcoming in admitting that he had gotten "a bit rusty". He may have also been (unbeknowst to us all) somewhat ill,even at that point in time.

The Japan tour was probably mostly a financial/monetary endeavor. He stated that Eric Clapton had talked him into it, maybe for that reason. The choice of Japan (as opposed to the U.S., for one)might likely have had to do with the poor reception he received when touring the U.S. in the '70s; he felt the audience at that time was expecting "The Beatles". He probably had more confidence that he would be accepted/respected on his own merits.

The reason I say "financial/monetary reasons" is because, when I trace back to the first rumors of his health problems, they surface prior to the tour. He may have received the first hints of a grave diagnosis, even at that time, and in spite of what would turn out to be a temporary recovery. George was strengthening his family's financial future.

That, as you know, is George.
June 29, 2008

Standard fare

This is a fairly typical offering from "The quite one" although I really wish he would keep his religious convictions to him self. The first couple of songs are good, after that it gets really boring. Most of the songs sound like he simply preaching his same old rhetoric. I am not knocking his faith. I just don't need him telling me about it in every song. In reality he only had three good songs for this album. Too bad he didn't have a real producer that could tell him to go back to the drawing board. The bonus DVD is alright. March 24, 2008

Material World Delivers

Living in the Material World is one of George Harrison's great albums. The album is full of spiritual songs reflecting George's quest for spirituality/ God. Before you turn away from this cd thinking it's going to be a bore, think again. The songs are terrific. "Give Me Love", "The Light That Has Lighted The World", "The Lord Loves The One That Loves The Lord", and the title track, "Living In The Material World" tell of George's earnest quest to seek and understand God as well as putting worldly things in perspective. On "Try Some, Buy Some" George tells us of the battles he's had concerning drugs, fame, status, etc , and how God opened his eyes and reveiled Himself. George once said that "...the things of this life can wait...the search for God can't." This philosophy is very evident on this album. I esprcially liked the Beatles reference on 'Material world" where he says "...met my friends here in the material world/ John and Paul here in the material world/ though we started out quite poor, we got Richie on a tour..." As a side note, Ringo plays on this album. Apart from George giving us things spiritual to reflect on, he also humorously recalls the days of the Apple court battles in "Sue Me, Sue You Blues". I like the line "...court receiver, laughs, and thrills/ but in the end we just pay those lawyers their bills..." The lyrics are great as is the music. Some of the contributing players here are: Gary Wright, Nicky Hopkins, Jim Keltner and Ringo on drums, Klaus Voormann (old friend from their Hamburg days) on bass, and Jim Horn on sax and flutes. And, of course George on guitar. Not a bad line up. Living In The Material World is a must have for anyone into The Beatles or George as a solo artist. November 7, 2007

Classic, and severely underrated, album

This is a killer album - possibly my second favorite Harrison release, though that's a toss-up with Brainwashed. For whatever reason, "Material World" gets forgotten - probably mainly because it followed up the epic All Things Must Pass [DIGI-PAK EDITION] and how could it possibly have lived up to those expectations?

Well, maybe back in the early '70s, but all these decades later I think it's only fair to judge the album on it's own terms. The lyrics do get a little heavy on the religion - which may or may not be an issue for you. "The Lord Loves the One (That Loves the Lord)" is every single bit as heavy-handed as the title would suggest - but the music is great, so it doesn't especially bother me. George did all his own lead guitar playing on this album, as opposed to his last, and he is far and away in a different league than during his Beatle years (he was just beginning to reach his mature style in '69). Even more striking than the guitar playing is the passion singing George musters on "The Day the World Gets Round" - though obviously never possessing the range and power of Lennon or McCartney, on this track he is every bit their equal for expressiveness.

This isn't really a rock album - most of it is down-tempo and rather mellow. But not without exception: the title track chugs along at a good clip (the Indian-music-themed bridge, "In the spiritual sky..." is drop-dead gorgeous) and "Don't Let Me Wait Too Long" is one of the most commercial-sounding pop records George ever did. Speaking of pop singles, "Give Me Love" was a deserved number one hit single. Oh, and "Sue Me, Sue You Blues" cuts a surprisingly deep groove - GREAT slide playing from George on that one.

The only clunker for me is "Try Some, Buy Some" which I understand was originally recorded by Ronnie Spector and George re-used the same backing track. Something like that. I don't care about the backstory all that much, however, because it just isn't all that good a song.

Here's where things get a little complicated: whether to go for this deluxe boxed version or the single disc version. For the vast majority of people, I'd say hte single disc will more than suffice. Both of them have the same two bonus tracks - each previously released as b-sides, but making their CD debut. "Deep Blue" is is a good bluesy track, I believe it was an expression of grief following the passing of George's mother. The A-side was "Bangla Desh," so far only available on The Best of George Harrison. I was disappointed at it's exclusion, but I guess there must be other plans for it. The other B-side is "Miss O'Dell" which is a fantastic George song, perversely marred by hysterical laughter from none other than George himself. It's funny to hear initially, until A) you realize how good the song is and B) you watch the DVD.

The DVD is frustrating because it should be the main attraction; the most compelling reason to shell out beaucoup bucks for this deluxe version. The DVD is too short, but the problems go beyond even that. First up is a Live In Japan performance of "Give Me Love" - fine, that makes sense and it's nice to see (though the complete concert will hopefully be released someday, at which point this one song will be redundant). There are two bonus tracks on the DVD that play over slide-show images. These should have been bonus tracks on the CD, if you ask me. What I was getting at about "Miss O'Dell" earlier is that the song appears on the DVD as well, in an alternate take with no laughing! I really truly wish this version had also been featured on the CD. The second song is a demo of "Sue Me Sue You Blues" which is quite extraordinary - just George singing over his acoustic slide guitar playing - and is sounds like something off an old Mississippi Delta blues recording from the '20s! Okay, okay - I'm not a blues expert (I wish), so Mississippi Delta might not be the correct comparison. But my point is, this sounds a lot like an old vintage blues recording - and NOTHING like any George playing I've ever heard. It's awesome, and I really wish it had been on the CD (and I really, REALLY wish I could hear the rest of George's demos for this album!). Outside of that, there is a very unusual 'music video' of the album's title track that shows footage of the vinyl record albums being pressed and packaged.

So get this album if you like George Harrison and/or the Beatles, but be forewarned: this version is a bit too expensive considering what the extras are. October 18, 2007

Welcome remastering!

George Harrison = God, in my book (even though I'm fully aware how much that goes against his religion and spirituality, heh heh), but I will try to write an unbiased review anyway.

His second real solo album, it lacks the epic scope and beauty of All Things Must Pass but is definitely one of his most solid records ever. I'm not really going to repeat what others have said, I just wanted to point out that if you had the old CD like me, this newly remastered version is well worth it. The sound is greatly improved, trust me! As for the DVD set, I actually found the accompanying booklet more satisfying. Whichever version you get (with or without DVD), it's worth the upgrade. July 26, 2007

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