GEORGE HARRISON: WONDERWALL MUSIC
(1968)
1) Microbes;
2) Red Lady Too; 3) Tabla And Pakavaj; 4) In The Park;
5) Drilling A Home; 6) Guru Vandana; 7) Greasy Legs; 8) Ski-ing; 9) Gat Kirwani; 10) Dream Scene; 11) Party Seacombe; 12)
Love Scene; 13) Crying; 14) Cowboy Music; 15) Fantasy Sequins; 16) On The Bed;
17) Glass Box; 18) Wonderwall To Be Here; 19) Singing Om.
General verdict: Surprisingly diverse, generally atypical of
the artist; some beautiful moments, too.
Out of all Beatles solo projects prior to 1970,
this one, I would say, is the only one to still retain some artistic
value/relevance — although even that is not saying much. Despite all the
personal problems that John, Paul, and George (not to mention Ringo) were
having with each other in the year of the White
Album, the idea that any one of them could break the collective trust by
going properly solo still seemed
sacrilegious as hell. But a minor side project such as an instrumental
soundtrack — why not? In fact, McCartney had already come very close to
something like that as early as in late 1966, writing music for The Family Way; since the score was
arranged by George Martin and played by «The George Martin Orchestra», the
final product could only qualify as a proper Paul McCartney solo album under
certain constraints, but it did break the mold somehow, and, most likely,
encouraged Harrison to work on his own project.
For those not in the know, Wonderwall was a fairly generic psychedelic movie by Joe Massot,
whose only other claim to fame is his unfinished work on Led Zeppelin's The Song Remains The Same. Watching the
movie in full is a good occupation for Sixties-and-pot-obsessed film buffs;
everybody else should probably be aware, though, that it does have quite a few
stunning shots of young and fair Jane Birkin in flashy psychedelic garb, and seeing
as how there are certain facial resemblances between the young and fair Jane
Birkin and the young and fair Pattie
Boyd, this might have been a serious factor in George's agreeing to write the
music for the movie. Another factor, of course, and a far more significant one,
is that the opportunity gave him a pretext for indulging in his passion for
Indian music, something that was hitherto only tolerated on Beatles records in strictly
medicinal amounts.
The good news is that, as a result of this, Wonderwall Music is a soundtrack that
is largely independent of the movie — some of the tracks loyally take their
cues from whatever is happening (or, rather, non-happening, as befits the Taoist vibes of psychedelic art) in
the movie, but you never really need to know that. Instead, the final product
is a not half-bad psychedelic kaleidoscope: mostly short musical snippets
revealing a very restless mind, constantly on the move and searching for
inspiration from any sources at hand — in fact, the album is hands down the most musically diverse album from
George, ever; leaving aside the unfortunate circumstance that his genius never really
depended upon diversity, it is fun to hear him engage in musical styles that
would be unthinkable on All Things Must
Pass.
Sure enough, about half of the tracks are of
Indian origin, with George actually being assisted by professional Indian
masters of the art; notably, George himself is not credited with playing any
Indian instruments, humbly restricting his input to guitars and keyboards. This
should make tracks like ʽGat Kirwaniʼ and ʽGuru Vandanaʼ of actual interest to
authentic Indian music lovers, even if not a single one of those has the epic
scope of a raga — a condition that, conversely, might make them more palatable
for those who do not even have the patience to travel along with ʽWithin You
Without Youʼ. (Also, on a personal note, I must say that the high-pitched,
cat-in-a-rut sounds of the shehnai oboe drive me up the wall even more
effectively than Yoko Ono — which makes the album opener, ʽMicrobesʼ, a true
killjoy). But some of the Indian tracks are notably more experimental: ʽIn The
Parkʼ, for instance, features the talents of Shivkumar Sharma on santoor, the
Indian dulcimer, as he plays something that — to my ears at least — sounds more
like a mix of music hall with ragtime than like traditional Indian music. At
the very least, this is not the kind of sound that you typically associate with
Indian styles.
At the same time, you also get... melancholic
psychedelic waltzing on ʽRed Lady Tooʼ; honky-tonk humor on ʽDrilling A Homeʼ
(remember that George would be a big Monty Python fan, and his sense of humor,
particularly musical, is often underrated under the weight of all that spirituality);
warm electronic ambience on ʽGreasy Legsʼ; a surprisingly hard-rocking bluesy
interlude on ʽSki-ingʼ, with an umistakable Eric Clapton himself supplying the
crunchy fuzz and the overdubbed «woman tone»; the fairly Beatlesque psychedelic
stomp of ʽParty Seacombeʼ, with an unmistakable Ringo on drums and very much
reminiscent of ʽFlyingʼ from Magical
Mystery Tour; the incidental country-and-western bit on ʽCowboy Musicʼ
(which, honestly, seems more influenced by The Who's "we'll soon soon soon
be home" bit rather than genuine American music); and, finally,
ʽWonderwall To Be Hereʼ — a short, but deeply moving piece that sounds influenced
by romantic French movie score muzak, but at the same time manages to
melodically presage both King Crimson's ʽEpitaphʼ (due to the monumental
Mellotron in the background) and Andrew Lloyd Webber's ʽGethsemaneʼ (due to the
overall melodic pathos).
All of this stuff is largely in snippet form,
to be sure, but it does make you wonder about George's overall potential as a
composer and about whether it had not been somewhat derailed by his
preoccupation with preachiness and morality — as magnificent as some of his
solo albums would be in the near future, he'd let himself become easily
pigeonholed, whereas Wonderwall Music,
on the other hand, shows absolutely no signs of pigeonholing; some of its «lightweight»
musical exercises show that, perhaps, back in 1968 George Harrison could have
been able to put out a proper White
Album all by himself. A few tweaks would still be necessary to elevate the
record to the status of a «minor masterpiece»: eliminate a couple of the more
redundant Indian pieces, get rid of the too-abstract-for-its-own-good lengthy
ʽDream Sceneʼ (unless it is accompanied with a video of Jane Birkin in
compromising positions), replace the all-too-predictable finale of ʽSinging Omʼ
with a Bonzo Dog Band cover... but what's done is done, and perhaps it is
better for Wonderwall Music to
remain as this charming curiosity, one that actually unlocks a bit of a fresh
perspective on George Harrison for those who like to look beyond the surface.
On a technical note, the latest CD reissue of
the album adds a few bonus tracks, including an alternate version of ʽThe Inner
Lightʼ and the only vocal track that was recorded for the album, ʽIn The First
Placeʼ, written and performed by The Remo Four, who also helped George with the
rest of the recordings — a nice, slow, dreamy psychedelic groove that fits in
very well with all of George's own contributions.
I think the general verdict works best at the end of the review like you did for Marvin Gaye.
ReplyDeleteIf you like the Remo Four, they would go on to make their own music, although I know them best when its leader, Tony Ashton, partnered with their drummer and the Creation's bass player Gardner to form Ashton, Gardner & Dyke, a decent BS&T-like band.
Agree there Mr. X. Also the colors don't read perfectly for either Gaye or Harrison on the white background.
ReplyDeleteNobody's noticed that Marvin Gaye and George Harrison FINALLY break the alphabetization?
ReplyDeleteYeah this is pretty huge
DeleteGood review...as always. Just one correction...it is documented that the Remo Four provide the music on "Party Seacombe", one of the best tracks on the album. Ringo and George do not play on it.
ReplyDelete