Capitol To Reissue George Harrison Catalog

By Jonathan Cohen
Billboard

Capitol has set a Feb. 24 release date for a bonanza of George Harrison reissues originally issued on his Dark Horse imprint. The albums "Thirty Three & 1/3," "George Harrison," "Somewhere in England," "Gone Troppo," "Cloud Nine" and "Live in Japan" have been out-of-print for years. Each has been digitally remastered and bolstered with bonus tracks, new liner notes and rare photographs. A deluxe boxed set, "The Dark Horse Years, 1976-1992," with an exclusive DVD, will also be available.

The 1992 Billboard Century Award winner had been planning to reissue these albums, as well as his 1973 set "Living in the Material World" and the 1971 live album "The Concert for Bangla Desh" for some time before his death in December 2001. Earlier that year, Capitol released an expanded reissue of his 1970 solo debut "All Things Must Pass."

The 1976 set "Thirty Three & 1/3" was self-produced by Harrison and sports contributions from Billy Preston, David Foster and Gary Wright. The set has been appended with the bonus cut "Tears of the World" and features comments from Harrison's autobiography, "I Me Mine."

"George Harrison" was released three years later and featured backing by Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood, among others. It is bolstered here by a demo of album track "Here Comes the Moon." 1981's "Somewhere in England," featuring the John Lennon tribute "All Those Years Ago" with Beatles bandmates Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, now includes a demo of "Save the World."

"Gone Troppo," released in 1982, is best known for the singles "Wake Up My Love" and "I Really Love You," as well as "Dream Away" from the film "Time Bandits." A demo of "Mystical One" is included as a bonus. 1987's "Cloud Nine" features the smash hit "Got My Mind Set on You" and now includes the bonus cut "Shanghai Surprise."

Because bonus tracks were not available for "Live in Japan," that album will be reissued as a double-disc Super Audio CD in both stereo and 5.1 surround sound. Taped during a tour of the country in 1991, the set finds Harrison backed by such artists as Clapton and Chuck Leavell as he runs through solo hits and such Beatles classics as "Taxman," "Something," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Here Comes the Sun."

The 75-minute DVD included in the boxed set will come with a 36-page booklet featuring an essay from Harrison's wife Olivia and liner notes by journalist David Fricke. Archival footage spotlights Harrison discussing his solo career and performing with Clapton on the 1991 Japanese tour.

As previously reported, Harrison will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist March 15 in New York. In November, Warner Strategic Marketing issued a CD/DVD of "Concert for George," a November 2002 tribute show in London that featured McCartney, Starr, Clapton and Tom Petty, among others.

Here's the cover art for the six albums. You'll notice that the cover of Somewhere In England is different than you originally remember. This is the orignally conceived artwork, rejected by Warner Bros. in 1981. Well, Warner Bros. no longer needs to worry about what the cover looks like, as they're no longer distributing the album.

February 24, just happens to be George Harrison's birthday! He would have been 61. I cannot wait to buy some of CDs whenever they come out.

God rest your soul, George.

now that Capitol owns the right to the 1970-2002 Harrison catalogue, will there now be a better, more comprehensive Greatest Hits collection than the "The Best Of George Harrison" thing that's been around since 1976?

George Harrison died back in 2001. but now, Capitol reissues the Dark Horse catalog. I like George Harrison's music including "My Sweet Lord" (a parody of the Chiffons' "He's So Fine"). Andy Williams did a remake of that from the album "Love Story".

Originally posted by BuffySlayer79
now that Capitol owns the right to the 1970-2002 Harrison catalogue, will there now be a better, more comprehensive Greatest Hits collection than the "The Best Of George Harrison" thing that's been around since 1976?

I heard a career-spanning "best-of" is on the way, with two unreleased tracks from George's later years. It's rumored for a late 2004 release.

Also, Jeff Lynne wants to have both Traveling Wilburys albums reissued by the end of the year.

Here's a picture of the box:

Will the CDs be available individually or just in the box set?

Originally posted by dr frasier crane
Will the CDs be available individually or just in the box set?

The CDs will be available individually, but the box set is going to be the only way to acquire the DVD.

what about Dark Horse and Extra Texture? I heard that Living In The Material World is supposed to be remastered soon. So what about the "forgotten" 2 mid-70's albums?

Originally posted by BuffySlayer79
what about Dark Horse and Extra Texture? I heard that Living In The Material World is supposed to be remastered soon. So what about the "forgotten" 2 mid-70's albums?

The five Apple Records albums - All Things Must Pass (1970), The Concert For Bangla Desh (1971), Living In The Material World (1973), Dark Horse (1974), and Extra Texture - Read All About It (1975) - are owned and controlled by Capitol/EMI Records and have never been out-of-print. With the expection of All Things Must Pass, which was reissued in 2001, the Apple albums will be remastered (which is not always a good thing) and reissued at a later date.

The focus right now is to put the albums that George owned and distributed on his Dark Horse label via Warner Bros. - Thirty Three & 1/3 (1976), George Harrison (1979), Somewhere In England (1981), Gone Troppo (1982), Cloud Nine (1987), and Live In Japan (1992) - back on the shelves. For some reason, George hadn't given anyone the license to issue those albums since the early '90s, and that's why they've been out of print for over ten years.

Now that they're going to be returning to the stores, I just want to point out that the following Dark Horse-era George Harrison tracks are still unaccounted for:

Lay His Head (Harrison; 1982)
A Gone Troppo outtake; later appeared as the b-side to "Got My Mind Set On You." Would have made a great bonus track on the new Gone Troppo CD.

I Don't Want To Do It (Dylan; 1985)
From the epic film Porky's Revenge. Not sure where I'd put this on the reissued CDs. Gone Troppo, maybe?

Cheer Down (Harrison/Petty; 1989)
From Lethal Weapon 2. Later appeared on the to-remain out-of-print compilation Best Of Dark Horse 1976-1989. If I were in charge of the upcoming reissues, I'd make this a Cloud Nine bonus track.

Poor Little Girl (Harrison; 1989)
Cockamamie Business (Harrison; 1989)
Both from Best Of Dark Horse 1976-1989. Two more contenders for the coveted position of Cloud Nine bonus track.

Horse To The Water (G. Harrison/D. Harrison; 2001)
Technically a non-issue, as the song is in print; available on Jools Holland's Small World Big Band Vol. 1 album in the UK. Thing is, this is George's last recording. It was recorded on October 1, 2001, less that two months before his passing. Given that, it would be nice to have this in a George Harrison package. Hell, it would have fit in nicely on Brainwashed.

Just something to think about.

Here is a closer look at the box set. I'm letting out a big sigh of relief right now, as it's nice to know the CDs are going to be in jewel cases and not digipaks.

Just bumping this thread up to remind everyone we're just two days away!

I can't wait! I've been looking forward to these albums being reissued for almost ten years.

AKA, I've been meaning to ask you since I know you're a huge Harrison fan.

What did you think about David Bowie's remake/tribute of Try Some Buy Some off the Reality album?

I think it's neat. I like how David even threw on the "wall of sound" effect to make it sound like a Phil Spector production (George actually wrote the song for Ronnie Spector, who originally recorded it before George laid down the track for Living In The Material World).

If you go to www.darkhorserecords.com, you'll get an excellent look - in flash - at the box set, including the artwork and the booklet. It's as close a look as you'll get without buying the box yourself.

There are also audio clips of some songs, as well as a nice EPK video (about six minutes) for the box set itself.

An aside, I think George's website is very nicely run. It can be perused at www.georgeharrison.com. Lots of goodies there to keep you busy.

I don't get the new cover of Somewhere In England. What was wrong with the old one? :confused:

Nice tribute to George ever since he was gone two and a half years ago!! He is missed still!!

Originally posted by Steve M.
I don't get the new cover of Somewhere In England. What was wrong with the old one? :confused:

the "new" cover is supposedly the one George intended for the US release, but Warner made him change to another cover. So now we're getting the cover George Harrison wanted in 1981

Originally posted by Steve M.
I don't get the new cover of Somewhere In England. What was wrong with the old one? :confused:

What BuffySlayer said. ;)

I like the "new" one much better than the original, anyway!

So I guess the old cover was meant for just the UK release? Funny cover though - it looks like George is lying on the "pavement" (as the Brits call a sidewalk), then turn the cover around and he's walking away laughing from the painting of a curbside (kerbside? :lol: )

The old cover is just something they threw together after Warner Bros. rejected the one that's currently being used on the Capitol reissue.