Ever wondered which guitar “gently weeped” for George Harrison? Now can you find out — right on your iPad.
A new guitar app featuring 360-degree imaging by photographer Steven Sebring will be available for $9.99 via the Apple iTunes store beginning on February 23. “The Guitar Collection: George Harrison,” a joint project from Bandwith Publishing and the estate of the late member of the Beatles and the Traveling Wilburys, will allow users to see each item from Harrison’s private collection and hear stories behind each guitar — including how they were acquired and modifications made by Harrison. Check it out in a preview below!
Featured guitars include a psychedelic Fender Stratocaster, a “fireglo” Rickenbacker 360 12-string and the black Gretsch Duo Jet that Harrison considered to be his first decent guitar. Fellow former Wilbury Tom Petty, Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell and Harrison’s son Dhani are among the musicians who are featured in the app’s video section playing Harrison’s instruments.
Here’s a look back at our recent thoughts on George Harrison. Click through the links for complete reviews …
SOMETHING ELSE! FEATURED ARTIST: GEORGE HARRISON: 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 at odds as any world-famous person ever was with that very fame. He often only made records — in particular, in the days after his association with the outsized, and more than occasionally overbearing, talents of John and Paul — when he was made to, and it showed. No surprise, then, that it’s difficult to achieve a vista after 1970. All Things Must Pass could be a bloated, if admirable, mess. The mid-1970s were, at best, hit and miss. The 1980s were worse. That’s where we come in. Something Else! Reviews goes through the stacks to provide a definitive list of must-have tunes.
GEORGE HARRISON – LET IT ROLL (2009): There’s something in the way that Let It Roll, compiled with a loving and almost magical rhythm by Harrison’s family, moves through his catalog. Rather than yielding to familiar chronology, “Let It Roll” mixes and matches from across Harrison’s history. All of a sudden, essential complexities can be explored again, old scores can be settled, the familiar is seen differently. Let It Roll goes from “All Things Must Pass,” which works nearly 40 years later as a delicately spiritual memorial to the fallen Harrison, directly into the jaunty put-down song “Any Road” from his posthumous 2002 release Brainwashed — only to reverse course back to the Utopian “This Is Love” from his ’87 comeback album Cloud Nine. We begin to hear all of this with new ears.
DEEP CUTS: GEORGE HARRISON, “RISING SUN” (2002): This started as a fine little acoustic number. But like all of Harrison’s signature stuff, which is always somehow both downbeat and uplifting, it required a larger sound. That’s why Harrison was attracted, in his first solo incarnation, to Phil Spector — who couldn’t fathom a record without a few thousand violins playing along. And it’s why Jeff Lynne, playing posthumous svengali, wasn’t going to let this one be. Using Harrison’s initial and insistent guitar-strum beat as a platform, Lynne’s production explores both the ghost of regret and the atmospheric vistas that mark the best of Harrison’s — and, yeah, Lynne’s — work.
GIMME FIVE: SONGS WHERE THE BEATLES, WELL, SUCKED: There is much about the Beatles that’s easy to love. The ornate pop, the long-haired peaceability, the arguments over which one’s your favorite. Still, lend them your ear and you’ll discover a few duds. Even a group as talented, and successful, as the Fab Four couldn’t help but round out a handful of albums with what could only charitably be called filler. Heck, they even had a few charttoppers that qualify. (Yes, we’re looking at you “Hello, Goodbye.”) We dug into the stuff that didn’t quite make their hall-of-fame resume — the ones where they took a bad song … and made it worse.
- Angell & Crane, “Himalayan Dial-Up” from ‘Angell & Crane’ (2024): Video Premiere - November 22, 2024
- Michael Attias, “Avrils” from ‘Quartet Music Vol. II- Kardamon Fall’ (2024): Streaming premiere - October 11, 2024
- Bryn Roberts, “Aloft” from ‘Aloft’ (2024): Video Premiere - September 20, 2024
Good post! this app is awesome, imagining that george harrison is your teacher in learning the guitar, that is pretty awesome. users will truly gain benefits from using this app.