Living in the Material World

by

George Harrison

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I pre-ordered this set, knowing that I was going to buy it regardless of the reviews that had not yet been posted. I got it locked in at $23.99, which was subsequently changed to $29.88 as of the day of this review. So there may be a lesson about the value of the pre-order, especially if you just know that you will indeed make the purchase.

Being a big George Harrison fan, and now knowing that all we can look forward to are the things that already exist, I was happy to see the expansion of his catalog in the modern age of sound engineering as well as the visual arena with this set.

The DVD made me go this route rather than the CD only, and at about nine or ten dollars for the less than 15 minute disc, I am not sure about the monetary value. I guess in the years to come, I will be happy that I spent up to the expanded set. This DVD does one thing for my expectations for the future. Both the previously issued "Dark Horse" DVD and this one have nicely rendered 5.1 videos from the 1991 Japan concerts, which must mean that there are videos from all of the songs on that double CD. I hope that we can see those songs on a concert DVD in the future. The DVD was a bit of a shock for me, because for years of listening to the CDs from that tour of Japan, I had assumed that the terrific slide work on "Give me love" was from George himself. It was surprising to watch both Harrison and Clapton strumming acoustics, while Andy Fairweather-Low replicated the slide sound in the Harrison style. Still, it was nice to see George playing in front of a crowd. The rest of the songs on the DVD were basically audio soundtracks with a montage of stills and non-related video that support the songs. The alternate take on "Sue me, sue you blues" was really stripped down and raw. It would have been nice to have that on the CD too.

The actual album is as nicely rendered as it has ever been. George's voice is strong and clear, while the band's musical playing comes through exactly where it needs to. The elements of the sounds are very nicely in balanced. The quality of the songs is a historical data point in George's post-Beatles career. He had a really strong album to be measured against with for this sophomore studio recording. My opinion is that he had such a deep catalog waiting to be put on "All things must pass", that he may have set the bar too high for any future endeavors. This is a very good album, but for me "All things must pass" was a better one, especially on first listen. I have played this new rendering of "Living in the material world" about 5 times now, and I am just beginning to get to the point of being able to "know" the songs. Still, this is a must have for anyone wishing to fill out their Harrison collection in a more modern media (my first LITMW was on 8 track!).

FWIW, my enjoyment of this album and indeed all of my George Harrison albums, including the Wilbury's, has been greatly enhanced by my purchase of the book, "While my guitar gently weeps, the music of George Harrison" (available on Amazon). It chronologically breaks down every era of George's music and offers nice details about the recording sessions for all of his work. For this album for example, there are 15 pages devoted to the band he used, who played on which songs and even a review of how the record was received by the fans and critics. For true fans of George's music, this book will make all of your albums more fun to listen to, and will open your eyes to parts of his thinking that you may not have known about.

None of George's work can compare to his All Things Must Pass or even his Cloud 9 album. This one is definetly still worth buying though! Anyone who has enjoyed his work in the Beatles and enjoy his Solo work are sure to enjoy this one. There are one or two weak songs, but overall a good piece of work. Give Me Love being one of my favorite songs of all time. Anyone who is a George fan should definetly buy this album! Anyone who doesn't have any of George's solo work definetly start with All Things Must Pass (A very nice, somewhat acoustic, really beutiful work of art) or his Cloud 9 (A more rockier newer feel to it). But how can you go wrong with George Harrison?