Rob Eustace - Happy New Year, hope you had a good one, I guess I may have just broken my own "personal best" in terms of alcohol consumption, but thats another story!!!!!!.
    Couldn't agree with you more on Dark Horse, it gets loads of stick, and I can never understand why. Yes his voice has been in better shape for sure, but it does kind of suit the material, and the quality doesn't suffer as a result in any shape or form. The only real shocker for me is the preachy "It is he" Krishna track, awful, aside from the lyrics, this kind of limp melody is what brings down most of George's post Apple albums.  "Far East Man" is one smooth track, "Simply Shady", "Maya Love", "So Sad" and the "title track" are all far stronger than anything you'll find on any post 75' albums. I'm not even totally offended by "Bye Bye Love", I'm not convinced why it works, but it works for me, maybe because I hate the Everly's original so much!!!. I'm not convinced by the annoying "Ding Dong, Ding Dong" but all in all a solid 8 for sure, and to my mind George's second best album by a distance.
    Looking forward to Extra Texture and 33 and a 1/3rd.

Ian's Music Reviews - Thanks for writing again, and Happy New Year to you as well! I'm not sure if I broke my alcohol intake record, but I certainly went a little bit overboard at times as well, which is a good thing every once in a while.
    I'm glad that someone agrees with me about Dark Hoarse. To me, it's got a lot of soul, and I find George's croaky voice to be endearing. Plus, it's not like he even sings like that on every track - it's just on a few occasions (the title track, 'Dind Dong'). I agree with you about 'Far East Man.' It's far too preachy, which for me is one of the biggest turn-offs about George's solo material. Thankfully, it's the only time that he actually admonishes us for being heathens, as the rest of the album deals with more "earthly" concerns, which is good. Like you said, the album has about 8 good tracks, and for the life of me I can't figure out way it has such a bad rep. I'm not sure if it's actually better than Material World, but I certainly like it a lot more, and I'd have to say that it's also my second-favorite 70's Harrison album.
    Looking forward to your thoughts on the mid-to-late 70's Harrison albums as well...

Rob Eustace - I'm afraid I've always liked Extra Texture, it gets billed as depressing regularly and I guess aside from the opening "You" the tracks are consistently downbeat, but for me its quite a charming set in its own way. The album is rammed full of ballads, and they're hardly joyous love songs for sure, but the songs retain a maturity and a quality I find sadly lacking in much of George's later work. I honestly think the album, like the previous Dark Horse, has aged reasonably well and doesn't sound as dated as most of albums that followed.
    The soulful "Ooh Baby (You Know That I Love You)" is the standout track for me here, and a track which to my ears was essentially reworked into "Pure Smokey" for the following album. "World of Stone", "Can't Stop Thinking About You", "The Answers at the End" and "This Guitar" are all well rounded Harrison ballads for my money, and whilst there's nothing that offends me about "You" or the slightly silly closer "His Name is Legs" in a strange way they do kind of spoil the mood for me a little!!!.
    I know I'm in the minority here, and this one's clearly not for everyone, but I don't think Extra Texture should be written off quite as easily as it regularly is. This is the last solid George Harrison album for me, everything that follows I only see as "hit and miss" at best, mostly suffering from dreadful production and tired idea's. Whether this was down to a loss of confidence, or whether George had simply reached his "sell by date" I'm not sure, but nevertheless I'd rather sit through Extra Texture than stomach some of the disasters that litter the following albums.

Ian's Music Reviews - Thanks for your comments on Extra Texture. I really tried to like the album, but I'm afraid that it's just too downbeat and "samey" to truly capture my imagination. I've got nothing against depressing ballads per say, but this album is so full of them that it gets to be pretty repetitive after a while. Also, I don't think the melodies are as strong as on previous albums, and sound-wise I think George is stuck in a rut. To my ears, George is repeating the All Things Must Pass formula for the umpteenth time, and by now it is so diluted and uninspired that I have trouble sitting through the whole thing. That being said, it's far from terrible, and with a couple more up-tempo songs added this could've been another solid Harrison effort. I like most of the highlights that you mentioned, although I must admit that I'm not a big fan of 'This Guitar,' regardless of the fact that it's a sequel to 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps.' However, the album is far from "bad," and maybe I just need to give it a few more spins in order to fully appreciate the ballads.

Rob Eustace - The departure from Apple, and the beginning of the Dark Horse years starts reasonably brightly with 33 & 1/3 for most people, probably because the previous album was so badly received, and as you state compared to Extra Texture this album "rocks"!!!. But at the same time, for me, it simply sets the blueprint for the albums that follow and it sounds so bloody dated, in places feeling more Steely Dan than George Harrison!!!.
    The writing, recording and production style doesn't waver an inch for me really between this 77 release right up to Gone Troppo and possibly, to a certain extent, including Cloud 9. Any of the tracks on 33 & 1/3 could slot easily onto any of those later albums with the formula simply being repeated for each subsequent release. I personally don't find anything overly fresh or imaginative about any of the Dark Horse recordings, I could always grasp a mood or a certain originality surrounding the preceding albums, however 33 & 1/3 seems to kick off a series of albums that kinda feel more like an artist fulfilling a contractual obligation than anything else.
    Anyhow lets start with the positive, "Pure Smokey" feels like a remake of "Ooh Baby" from the preceding album to me, but as I loved that track so much this was always gonna be a winner for me. "Beautiful Girl" I would agree with you is a top drawer Harrison melody, and just shows how strong All Things Must Pass was when you can consider leaving this kind of material out, I can't help wondering what it would have sounded like on that album though. "Learning How to Love You" is another moody ballad straight out of the Extra Texture mould I guess, but again one of the high points for me here, as is "Dear One" another of the more memorable tracks.
    "True Love" however is bloody atrocious, need I say more, and the remaining tracks I'm afraid nearly bother me as much. "Woman Don't You Cry For Me", "Crackerbox Palace", "This Song" and "Its What You Value", don't sound like George songs to me!!!, George doesn't even sound comfortable singing them, and none of these tracks retain the quality of his prime material. Having said all this I would probably view 33 & 1/3 as being stronger than anything up to and including Cloud 9, and only his final Brainwashed album surpasses this for me. But at the same time I don't put 33 & 1/3 in the same league as any of the earlier Apple albums and sadly George was washed up in terms of saleabilty from here on in.

Ian's Music Reviews - I'm sorry to say that your Steely Dan comparison is actually a pretty accurate. I do like many of these songs, but your comment about the production sounding dated is a fair one, and there's little doubt that this is not anywhere close to being in the same league as All Things Must Pass. The pop-oriented music is lightweight and disposable, but in fairness it was necessary for Harrison to change things up a little bit, considering the fact that George had treading water for the past couple albums. I like the album better than Extra Texture because I think it has better melodies and more stylistic variation. That being said, the album is actually a bad omen of things to come, as George would continue to explore "pop music" on subsequent albums - with severely mixed results (although the self-titled 1979 George Harrison album is still pretty decent). It's funny that you pointed out that 33 1/3 serves as a blueprint for Cloud Nine, because that same thought had passed through my mind as I was writing the review (I do like Cloud 9 quite a lot more, though).

Rob Eustace - George's albums continue the steady decline for me and this self titled collection saw Mr Harrison's reputation spiral further downwards. Maybe I'm being a little unfair as I don't really know what we should have expected from an ex-Beatle in 1979. The Beatle solo careers are a massive let down post 75', and even that's probably being generous!!!!. Lennon wasn't recording during this period, Ringo was, but who cared??, McCartney was clutching at straws with disastrous results on the, at times, laughable Back to the Egg. So were George's efforts really any better or worse than his former band mates??, well in reality possibly not, but that doesn't disguise the fact that in terms of idea's, George's "well" appeared to have totally run dry as this set simply follows the same path trod safely, but ponderously on the previous album.

What we get here is a collection of songs that are all inoffensive, but they're also uninteresting, uninspiring, and simply more of what we got on the last album. Can you seriously imagine anyone buying this album, then or now, had it not been released by an ex-Beatle??. The all very "made to measure" pop of "Love Comes to Everyone", "If You Believe" & "Blow Away" are supplemented a couple of Beatle references in The White Album throwback "Not Guilty" (which isn't a patch on the Anthology version for me) and the enticing "Here Comes the Moon" which only proves to disappoint. There's "Faster" with its questionable sound effects, "Soft Hearted Hana" which (like "This Song" before it) is laced with some Pythonesque sound bites, and a trio of trademark Harrison ballads in the shape of "Your Love is Forever", "Dark Sweet Lady" & "Soft Touch".

In truth I guess its listenable, but instantly forgettable, its not that much worse than the previous 33 & 1/3 but it isn't that much better than the following Somewhere in England. Its just George repeating the formula, a formula that wasn't selling units, and wasn't doing anything to enhance his reputation. In some ways maybe this is a credit to George, in as much as he didn't really care what the critics thought and simply released "what he wanted", and did it simply "because he could".

Either way George Harrison is album I seldom re-visit, and in all honesty, having played it twice this week, its one I can't imagine re-visting again for an awful long time!!!.

Ian's Music Reviews - I think you hit the nail on the head when you stated that Harrison's "ideas well" had run dry by this point. It's not so much that the music is "bad," but he's definitely not pushing musical boundaries any more, and it's clear that his heart isn't in it. Perhaps you're right when you say that no one would've bought this album if it wasn't created by an ex-Beatle....who knows? Some of the songs are undeniably catchy ("Soft Touch" and "Blow Way"), so I can understand why the album had a few minor hits, but overall this isn't anything special - by anyone's standards, let alone George's own. I too rarely feel the urge to listen to this record, although I must admit that I half-heartedly enjoy it when I do. That being said, it is nowhere near as bad as Paul's Back To The Egg, or even John's Sometime In NY City, so I guess we have to keep things in perspective. It's more up-tempo than some of the previous albums, and some of the melodies are pretty good, so it's far from horrible. It's just a bit of a disappointment, that's all.  Too generic for my tastes.

Rob Eustace -  Somewhere in England is a distinctly unpleasant experience for me, its simply the previous album with even less quality as far as I'm concerned, the entire set suffers from a mixture of directionless songwriting and, as you correctly point out, insipid early 80's production. Can't agree with you on the following tracks however, "Blood from a Clone" and "Unconsciousness Rules" for me rank amongst the worst idea's George ever transferred to vinyl, bland, soulless, emotionless, devoid of any style and all delivered with more of those forced uncomfortable vocals that started appearing during the Dark Horse years ("Teardrops" could also be added to this list by the way).
    Lifeless arrangements and preachy lyrics (although that's nothing new of course) embrace you wherever you turn here, "Life Itself" and "Writings on the Wall" are the more of the trademark Harrison ballads that had taken shape since 33 & 1/3 and would continue through the next couple of albums, and as you state two Hoagy Carmichael covers give you an idea just how bad things had got for George in terms of creativity. Having said that I have to say that "Baltimore Oriole" is probably the standout track here for me!!!!!, "Hong Kong Blues" I would agree though is an instant throwaway.
    "All Those Years Ago" Harrison's ode to his former bandmate has good intentions but simply lacks the edge that could have made such a tribute a fitting and emotional piece. It always seems stylistically close to Lennon's "Starting Over", neither track overly appealing and sounding like they were arranged for the over 50's market who I can imagine seeing both as "great tunes"!!!. The closing "Save the World" is another repetitive and poorly arranged disaster doing nothing to save a truly poor album.
    Strangely the latest CD release adds an acoustic demo of "Save the World" and it is 100% better than version that closes the original album, this once again makes me question whether the state of Georges career had more to do with chronic production and soulless arrangements than the actual material itself, either way I guess George had a part to play in his own downfall. Continuing with the latest CD re-issue, what the hell are EMI doing changing the cover???. I don't care if its what George originally wanted, it was rejected and "what was then" should surely be "what is now"???. Yes stick the alterative image inside the sleeve but don't change the cover itself, before we know it McCartney will be re-issuing Beatle albums with his preferred imagines adorning the front sleeve. While we're at it, EMI give nothing away again in terms of bonus tracks, where are the four tracks originally rejected by Warner Bros for Somewhere in England???, surely this would have made a more complete and worthwhile package than simply throwing on the "Save the World" demo as a token gesture???, and how much do they want to charge for an album with such limited appeal??, shame on you EMI.

Rob Eustace - Got to agree with you here, more of the same formula George had generally been pumping out since 33 & 1/3, always lightweight, sometimes humorous, occasionally preachy, but all too often embarrassingly weak. A lot of people view this as a lost gem in the Harrison catalogue, or even some kind of return to form. I've never understood this view at all, the bloody sleeve alone was enough to discourage sales!!!. Having said that, if you're going to push me on this one, I think I possibly view Gone Troppo as slightly superior to the previous disaster Somewhere in England, but unfortunately it neither breaks new ground nor re-visits the kind of material that (for me) made George the most credible solo Beatle in the early 70's.
    The trademark ballad "Unknown Delight" is the only real standout track here for me, "Mystical One" has a catchy bass hook, and the Time Bandits theme "Dream Away" has something going for it, well maybe????, but in all honesty the rest is more or less instantly forgettable. I'm not keen on the opening "Wake Up My Love" which to me is a mix of early 80's Phil Collins Genesis laced with a country twang, the shocking, lazy, doo-wop cover "I Really Love You", the directionless, cheese ridden instrumental "Greece", the plodding "Baby Don't Run Away" and the stuttering "title track" are all reminders of just how low George had sunk. The closing "Circles" is straight out of the Extra Texture division of morbid diversion (and I'm embarrassed to add I didn't realise this was a White Album outtake, thanks for this info!!!), still at least it tries to steer clear of the kind of production that smothers and destroys the vast majority of Georges work around this period.
    Once again the simple acoustic demo of "Mystical One" tagged on the end of the latest release begs the question that this material could, maybe, have been far better presented had it been arranged and produced at a different point in time???. Still its no wonder George headed for cover after this appalling run of albums, this kind of lengthy "disappearing act" was realistically the only way there was ever going to be any re-newed interest in a new George Harrison at a later date, that coupled with a few big name friends of course!!!!.

Ian's Music Reviews - Thanks again for your take on George's two "pre-retirement" disasters. These two albums are a pretty difficult pill to swallow if you're a Harrison fan. No matter how you look at them, they are very disappointing. The funny thing is, you could also construct a credible argument that neither of them are actually "bad," but then again I think that misses the point. The music is so generic and devoid of life that it's really just a slap in the face, and the fact that so little thought or effort went into making the music virtually negates the merits of the few enjoyable tracks . That being said, I think you're onto something when you point out that the cheesy 80's production may be the main problem. Perhaps these songs would sound a lot better twenty five years on if George had used a more basic approach to recording, as opposed to the cheesy, pseudo-new wave sound that overwhelms the songs. I'm not saying that production is the only problem, but the bare-bones demos included on the latest EMI reissues prove that some of the material could have been salvaged.
    As for which album is better, I still think Somewhere In England is slightly superior, although not by much. It has better songs, and the inclusion of 'All Those Years Ago' alone makes it the better of the two albums (I think you're right about its stylistic similarity to John's sappy 'Starting Over' though). In contrast, I can only digest the first couple of tracks on Gone Troppo, and then it's all downhill from there on.  It's the very essence of a "bargain bin" album.
    I'm not sure what George's intentions were when he decided to retire from 1982-86, but it's obvious that an overwhelming lack of enthusiasm towards his own music played a huge role in his decision. And like you stated, he probably realized that retirement was the only viable option if he hoped to still have a solo career sometime in the future. I realize that the UK was (and is) less forgiving towards George's (and Paul's, for that matter) solo shortcomings, but in North America the Harrison name alone should have been enough to sell lots of records in 1982. The fact that it didn't is a testament to just how poorly the early 80's albums were received.
    One last thing, there is a demo version of 'Circles' recorded by The Beatles at George's house in May 1968. It's quite similar to the official studio version on Gone Troppo, but it's worth checking out for its historical value alone.

Rob Eustace - Well, I'm afraid we've never been further apart than we are on this one!!!!  Cloud Nine was a major disappointment to me the first time I heard it, and despite giving it a good "airing" this week I'm afraid remains a disappointment. It fails for me because essentially as I simply don't see any real improvement in the songwriting department, although I would admit there is a little more variety this time round. My other problem is that George is practically suffocated by Clapton & Lynne, I can't play any of it without visualising Clapton squinting his eyes and puffing out his cheeks as he approaches another solo!!!. I have a healthy respect for Lynne's beginnings, but feel even he had fallen off the wagon around 78 and in all honesty his reputation in the UK was in tatters by the time he came to produce this album, as it largely remains to this day. Check out Lynne's Armchair Theatre or ELO's Secret Messages as reference points here, I've listened to Cloud Nine today and can find numerous reference points to these albums all over the place.
    In a way the awful sleeve tends to reflect the contents to a certain extent. Lets give George a makeover, dress him in a jazzy shirt, slip on some mirrored shades and stick a guitar in his hand and we'll have a modern George Harrison album fit for the late 80's scene. Well "making over" Harrison material by adding a little Clapton, a bit of Elton, and then draping it all in Lynne's distinctive (if nothing else), sterile production doesn't disguise the fact that this, to me, remains just another collection of uninspiring pop ditties and signature Harrison ballads.
    Anyhow I won't dissect it track by track as you'll have already worked out my general perception of this package. Interesting to see different ends of the spectrum nonetheless and therefore I enjoyed your review, but I'm afraid I couldn't put this in the same league as Extra Texture never mind All Things Must Pass.

Ian's Music Reviews - I suppose that our views were bound to differ at some point! That's OK though - I enjoy reading other people views on the music, even when they differ from my own. That being said, I can certainly understand why some people wouldn't be too keen on Cloud Nine. It is pure commercial pop, and George's image makeover into a shades-sporting, Don Johnson five o'clock shadow 80's rocker at around this time is a bit too put on for my tastes (and I'm not even going to talk about Jeff Lynne, whom I despise as much as the next rock fan...). That being said, I really enjoy most of these songs. Cloud Nine sounds an awful lot like most of George's late 70's output, but the difference this time is in the quality of the songwriting. These songs are perfect pop songs. I realize that I probably over-rated this album in certain respects, but I truly love it. Don't know why, exactly, but I've never gotten tired of it.
    By the way, I loved your description of Clapton launching into another clichéd, MOR solo. It's so true!! I'm not a big Clapton fan either, although I don't really notice his playing too much on Cloud Nine.

Rob Eustace - We're back in agreement on this one, its nothing special for sure, and the kind of album that once played tends to find its way back on to the shelf fairly quickly, but nevertheless as an "occasional play" it's an enjoyable listen.

The tracks are a nice balance between Beatle and solo material with generally strong selections throughout. George's voice is shot in places but I can forgive him that, the backing singers make it all feel a little "cabaret" at times and occasionally it tends to feel a like an oldies tour, but then I guess in reality that's what it was, these however are minor criticisms. As you suggest "Piggies" is simply awful and shame on whoever it was deemed it necessary for inclusion here.  "Isn't it a Pity" stands out for me along with "While My Guitar" and "My Sweet Lord", nice to see "If I Needed Someone" and "Old Brown Shoe" included from the Beatle years as well. I would agree Live in Japan is hardly essential but it is a historical document in some respects and I'm glad it was released, to the point that for me it was possibly George's strongest release since Extra Texture.