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Concert for George Review
Overall 5.00 of 5
(by 1 user)
Yeah, we miss you George
a Beatles fan, looking for something different, looking to be entertained
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| Cons |
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MAY
11
2008
However, there is no question that he wrote a handful of superb songs while with the Beatles, including two with names that are spoken aloud when discussing music in the Temple of Lennon/McCartney: Something and Here Comes the Sun. These two songs are arguably as good as just about anything in the Lennon/McCartney catalog and they have withstood the test of time to be considered classics. In addition, there are several other songs that are solid enough to place Harrison among the elite songwriters of the 20th century. No question about it: George Harrison was one of the most important and influential songwriters and musicians in our recent history.
Harrison died in November 2001 and, a year later, his friends and former bandmates put on a big concert to celebrate Harrison's life. It was a glorious celebration and its highlights were assembled onto a two-part DVD called Concert for George. I watched the second of these two disks -- the one that is predominently music -- and enjoyed it immensely. (I understand that the first disk is primarily reminiscences and Indian music. I requested and received only the second disk from Netflix.)
Concert for George (Disk 2) is mostly songs performed by an all-star band that includes Eric Clapton, Jeff Lynne, Albert Lee, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Anoushka Shankar (daughter of Indian virtuoso Ravi Shankar and half-sister of Norah Jones) and Jools Holland. It was shot on HD video and picture and sound quality are excellent, even on a standard DVD.
The best moment for me was the beautiful version of Something, kicked off by Paul McCartney on the ukelele. This is one of the all-time prettiest songs as it is, and McCartney's ukelele version was surprisingly beautiful, particularly once the band joined in and it took on a jazzier quality. About halfway through the song, the band switched to the Beatles' arrangement, which is none too shabby itself. The first half of Something was sung by McCartney and the second half was sung by Eric Clapton, an exquisite irony since both Harrison and Clapton were married to the same woman (Patty Boyd) who is said to have inspired the song.
Other Harrison songs that were memorable included Taxman, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Handle Me With Care and My Sweet Lord. Billy Preston handled the soulful vocals on My Sweet Lord and seemed thrilled to be singing it. Sadly, Preston died a couple years ago.
After the first couple of songs, there was a fun comedy break by the Monty Python people, whom Harrison had been close to personally and professionally. The chorus for Python's The Lumberjack Song included Tom Hanks in a Royal Canadian Mounted Police uniform. About midway through the concert, eastern and western musicians performed a special composition by Ravi Shankar, conducted by Anoushka Shankar. I'm no great fan of Indian music but this was enjoyable once I let it wash over me.
As I said, watching Concert for George (Disk 2) was a great pleasure. These were wonderful musicians and performers, and they were having a great time playing some of the best songs of the past 50 years. The performances were both skilled and heartfelt, and the sound quality was excellent. I strongly recommend Concert for George (Disk 2). It is a wonderful tribute concert and Harrison would be pleased with what his friends had done on his behalf.
Last edited on May 11, 2008
Concert for George is recommended by bkovacs
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