Dark Horse (George Harrison album)
Although keenly anticipated on release, Dark Horse is associated with the controversial North American tour that Harrison staged with Indian classical musician Ravi Shankar in November and December that year.This was the first US tour by a member of the Beatles since 1966, and the public's nostalgia for the band, together with Harrison contracting laryngitis during rehearsals and choosing to feature Shankar so heavily in the programme, resulted in scathing concert reviews from some influential music critics.[1] Dark Horse features an array of guest musicians – including Tom Scott, Billy Preston, Willie Weeks, Andy Newmark, Jim Keltner, Ringo Starr, Gary Wright and Ron Wood.[7] Harrison, John Lennon and Ringo Starr became embroiled in litigation with former manager Allen Klein,[8][9] whose removal from Apple helped to conclude the suit launched by Paul McCartney in December 1970 to dissolve the band as a legal partnership.[52][53][54][nb 3] According to author Ian Inglis, Harrison's approach to Dark Horse was informed by a combination of despondency over the disarray and infidelities that characterised his personal life, and confusion at the criticism his 1973 album Living in the Material World received from some reviewers.[62][63] In addition to supplying the name for his record company,[64] the title references Harrison's emergence as the dark horse among the Beatles, particularly in his unexpected ascendancy as a solo artist to surpass Lennon and McCartney.[78] In a marked departure from the spiritual certainties of Harrison's previous work as a solo artist,[79] the lyrics address the karmic consequences of his wayward behaviour[80] and detail his reliance on drugs and alcohol.[111][112] Authors Chip Madinger and Mark Easter write that because the line-up on "So Sad" includes pianist Nicky Hopkins, along with Starr and Keltner, the basic track possibly originates from the Material World sessions.[5] After attending Joni Mitchell's concert at the New Victoria Theatre in London on 20 April 1974,[124] Harrison was much impressed with her jazz-rock backing band, the L.A. Express, led by saxophonist and flautist Tom Scott,[125] and invited them to Friar Park the following day.[126][127] Having formed a rapport with Harrison after they had worked together on Shankar Family & Friends in 1973,[126] Scott subsequently returned to Friar Park and overdubbed horn parts onto "Ding Dong" and the two new tracks.[131][132][nb 10] Through their regular phone calls to discuss the new record label, Harrison formed a bond with Olivia Trinidad Arias,[136][137] who worked in the marketing department at A&M in Los Angeles.[104][50] Before leaving for the US, Harrison recorded an interview with BBC Radio 1 DJ Alan Freeman in which he performed "Dark Horse", a snippet of "Far East Man", and "I Don't Care Anymore" on acoustic guitar.[106] Although he had intended to finish the version of "Dark Horse" taped at Friar Park, Harrison decided to re-record the song with the tour band, live on the sound stage at A&M Studios.Although the band sounded good, his voice was in shreds ..."[181] MacFarlane says that the song's new arrangement incorporates folk and jazz influences, and likens this musical fusion to Joni Mitchell's work.[185][186] The LP's gatefold cover design was credited to Tom Wilkes and includes photography by Terry Doran,[187] a long-time friend of the Beatles and Harrison's original estate manager at Friar Park.[228][nb 16] The negative press Harrison received stemmed from his decision to feature Indian music so heavily in the concert programme,[155][233] the tortured quality of his singing voice,[18] and especially his refusal to pander to the Beatles' legacy.[275] Released amid the furore surrounding his refusal to play "Beatle George"[276] during a tour that was a "whirlwind of pent-up Beatlemania", in Leng's words, it was as if Harrison had already committed "acts of heresy".For all this hoarse dork knows ..."[284] Mike Jahn provided a withering assessment in High Fidelity, saying that the US Food and Drug Administration should arrest Harrison for "selling a sleeping pill without a prescription, for a downer this definitely is"."[288][289] Combined with his feature on the tour in Circus Raves, in which he questioned the accuracy of the negative reports about the Harrison–Shankar concerts and defended Harrison's desire to move on from the Beatles, Michael Gross described Dark Horse as matching All Things Must Pass in quality, and "surpassing" it at times, thanks to the new album's "clarity of production and lovely songs".[292] Carr and Tyler conceded that the playing on Dark Horse was "impeccable", but opined that Harrison's lyrics were "sanctimonious, repetitive, vituperative and self-satisfied"; as for the album as a whole: "One wishes it had not come from an ex-Beatle."[294][nb 20] Writing for Rolling Stone shortly after Harrison's death in November 2001, Greg Kot approved of Dark Horse's "jazzier backdrops" compared with Material World, but opined that his voice turned much of the album into an "unintentionally comic exercise".[274][nb 21] Writing in the 2004 edition of The Rolling Stone Album Guide, Mac Randall said that, in persevering with Dark Horse despite his laryngitis, Harrison "ruins several decent songs with croaky vocals".[304][305] Richard Ginell of AllMusic highlights "Dark Horse" and the "exquisite" "Far East Man" but rues that, in issuing an album when his voice was ravaged by laryngitis, Harrison eroded much of the prestige he had gained over his former bandmates as a solo artist.In Prown's view, the same quality that incensed critics originally – "its sloppy, jammy sound, which would have been heresy in the over-produced '70s" – had since been validated in a pop culture informed by post-punk and grunge, and had lent the album a redemptive "garage/DIY grit".[310] In his book on the Beatles' first ten years as solo artists, Robert Rodriguez rates Dark Horse a "near-great" work, like Lennon's Mind Games and Rock 'n' Roll, adding that Harrison's "hot streak" only ended with Extra Texture.[312] In a similar list, Junkee ranks it at number 5, describing the album as a "big, footstomping masterpiece" that has improved with age, and "a work of considerable beauty, held in place by the crushing, excellent titular song".[319] Simon Leng bemoans the state of Harrison's voice and the "sonic patchwork" nature of the set, but comments that "So Sad" and "Far East Man" were received positively when first released by Alvin Lee and Ron Wood, respectively.[321] The difference in winter 1974–75, Leng continues, was that, by championing Shankar's Indian music segments during the tour and neglecting his duties as an ex-Beatle in America, Harrison had "committed the cardinal counterculture sin – he had rejected 'rock 'n' roll'".[322] Cultural historian Michael Frontani recognises the reception afforded Dark Horse, particularly by Rolling Stone, and the tour as a reflection of Harrison's "growing hostility with the rock press".With Harrison maintaining his friendships with Clapton and Starr, Hasted continues, the "incestuous absurdity" behind Dark Horse makes it a "recording studio soap opera" that anticipates Fleetwood Mac's Rumours.
Dark Horse (disambiguation)Studio albumGeorge HarrisonFPSHOTHollywoodProducerLiving in the Material WorldExtra Texture (Read All About It)SinglesDark HorseDing Dong, Ding DongApple RecordsNorth American tourRavi Shankarthe BeatleslaryngitisPattie BoydDark Horse RecordsSplinterTom ScottBilly PrestonWillie WeeksAndy NewmarkJim KeltnerRingo StarrGary WrightRon WoodBillboardTom WilkesLiverpool InstituteHimalayanApple Years 1968–75the Beatles' break-upI, Me, MineApple CorpsJohn LennonAllen KleinPaul McCartneyShankar Family & FriendsThe Place I LoveLittle Malcolmthe FacesEric Claptonsoap operaMaureen StarkeyRod StewartPeyton PlaceBenaresIndian classical-musicRavi Shankar's Music Festival from IndiaA&M Records1966 visitSo SadHere Comes the SunKrishnaFriar ParkVictorianFrank CrispNew YearNational EnquirerSimply ShadykarmicVrindavanIt Is 'He' (Jai Sri Krishna)chantingbhajanFar East ManI've Got My Own Album to Dosoul musicMāya LoveHari's on Tour (Express)slide guitarinstrumentalthe Everly BrothersBye Bye, LoveI Don't Care AnymoreB-sidejug bandskifflecountry16-trackHenley-on-ThamesPhil McDonaldKlaus VoormannChristmas/New YearNicky HopkinsAlvin LeeOn the Road to FreedomAsylum RecordsDavid GeffenPhil SpectorWall of SoundJoni MitchellNew Victoria Theatrejazz-rockthe L.A. ExpressMichael GrossSilver BearBerlin Film FestivalAtlanta Film FestivalOlivia Trinidad Ariasrhythm sectionHis Name Is Legs (Ladies and Gentlemen)"Legs" Larry SmithRoyal Albert HallBBC Radio 1Alan FreemanMoog synthesizerA&M Studiossound stageRobben FordConcert for BangladeshJim HornChuck FindleyEmil RichardsI Am Missing Youwobble boardDenis O'BriengatefoldTerry DoranSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandTerry GilliamMonty Python's Flying Circuswatercolourlotus flowerMahavatar Babaji