Gary Wright‘s life around the Beatles continues, as he helps kick off the UK leg of Ringo’s ongoing All-Starr Band tour today at Hampton Court. Wright’s newest album Connected also includes a turn from Starr — as well as a continuation of his decades-long collaborations with George Harrison.

On this special edition of Something Else! Reviews’ One Track Mind, we hand the reins over to keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, who rose to fame as a composer and sideman alongside Eric Clapton and George Harrison.

Keyboardist Bobby Whitlock reflects on Derek and the Dominoes’ Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, given a deluxe reissue Tuesday on its 40th anniversary

Note: To commemorate the 70th birthday of John Lennon, we’re revisiting this single from early in his post-Beatles career. One of the things I find most fascinating about the man was how he was able to impart blunt, timeless wisdom about our lives while struggling to make sense of his. “Karma” was one of those ‘message’ songs that he so [...]

by Nick DeRiso That George Harrison kept recording until just two months before his death at age 58 in November of 2001 was its own blessing. After all, he hadn’t put out a new album of solo material since 1987. But you wondered what would become of Harrison’s final works, since producer Jeff Lynne had decided to finish the project [...]

by Nick DeRiso More musical journey than greatest hits, per se, “Let It Roll” is a primer on George Harrison for those who never got past his time with Beatles — and yet a still-intriguing way to reexperience some of his best solo cuts for those who followed along after the Fabs went pphhft. It didn’t have to meet that [...]

When Ringo Starr recently announced that he wouldn’t be responding to any more fan mail, it occurred to me that he must be completely unaware of the disastrous foibles he’s unleashed on a loving but ultimately unwitting fanbase. Certainly likeable (at one time, anyway), Starr was and is a drive-by celeb, someone so lightning-strike lucky to have replaced Pete Best [...]

The Beatles, just as their creativity went supernova, quit the road in 1966 — frustrated over the inability of that period’s sound systems to amplify the increasingly complex work spinning around on your turntables and in their heads. Later, of course, each of the individual members revisited the band’s seminal works. But never again did they take the stage together [...]

George Harrison remains the Beatles’ great unresolved mystery — the guy who might have actually done more had he been in any another band after 1965. Or not. His solo records are a frustrating mix of the sublime, the blatant and the unremarkable. Sometimes within a three-song sweep. Sometimes within the same song. Thus, the unresolved part. George seemed as [...]

NICK DERISO: The Beatles have seldom recorded live performances of the 1960s songs that made them most famous. First, they stopped touring 40 years ago at the height of their popularity, and long before such studio triumphs as “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band,” “The White Album” and “Abbey Road.” Even after their breakup, the Beatles’ individual members rarely have [...]