George Harrison
Living In The Material World
May 1973
Toshiba/Japan pressing EAP-80840
16-bit audio for CD-R
Here's George Harrison's next studio album after "All Things Must Pass".
From wikipedia:
Living in the Material World is an album by George Harrison and was released in 1973. As a follow-up to 1970's
greatly-received All Things Must Pass and his mammoth charity project, The Concert for Bangladesh, Living in the
Material World was among the most highly anticipated releases of 1973.
Due to the enormity of the Bangla Desh experience (one that left Harrison exhausted and frustrated), he was not
able to record a new album until the latter part of 1972, which he undertook alone – without Phil Spector – at
The Beatles' Apple Recording Studios in London. Once again, Harrison engaged the aid of his musician friends,
including Ringo Starr, Jim Keltner, Nicky Hopkins, Gary Wright and Klaus Voormann. The backing track for
"Try Some, Buy Some" had been recorded with Phil Spector back in 1971 in Harrison's efforts to give Ronnie
Spector a hit single. Liking the track, he decided to use the same music track for his own rendition. Orchestral
arrangements for this track and the new recordings on the album were by John Barham.
Preceded by the uplifting acoustic number "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)" – Harrison's second U.S. #1 hit,
Living in the Material World appeared in June 1973 to brisk initial sales, reaching #2 in the UK and spending five
weeks atop the US charts (having knocked off Paul McCartney and Wings' Red Rose Speedway in the process). But the
critical reaction was less euphoric than that which had greeted All Things Must Pass. More somber in tone, Living
in the Material World was distinguished by Harrison's philosophical and religious ruminations - making it clear he
was in distress with the state of the world and where it was headed. Subsequently, sales soon fell off, and the
feeling was that Harrison had suddenly lost much of the enormous momentum he had going for him since The Beatles'
1970 break-up. In hindsight, most contemporary reviewers now consider Living in the Material World to be a very
worthwhile Harrison album with many fine moments.
Personnel:
George Harrison - vocals, guitar
Ringo Starr - drums
Gary Wright - keyboards
Nicky Hopkins - piano
Jim Keltner - drums
Jim Gordon - drums
John Barnham - strings
Zakir Hussain - tabla
Jim Horn - flute, saxophone
Klaus Voormann - bass
Pete Ham - guitar
The tracks included here are:
1. "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)"
2. "Sue Me, Sue You Blues"
3. "The Light That Has Lighted the World"
4. "Don't Let Me Wait Too Long"
5. "Who Can See It"
6. "Living in the Material World"
7. "The Lord Loves the One (That Loves the Lord)"
8. "Be Here Now"
9. "Try Some, Buy Some"
10. "The Day the World Gets 'Round"
11. "That Is All" – 3:43
BONUS TRACKS:
12. "Deep Blue" from a US 45rpm single
13. "Miss O'Dell from a US 45rpm single
14. "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth) from a 45rpm US mono promo
About the bonus tracks:
"Deep Blue" was the B-side to the "Bangla Desh" single. According to “Eight Arms To Hold You” by Madinger/Easter
this track “…reflects George’s sadness of having to watch his beloved mother’s health fail. She passed away on
July 7, 1970, in the midst of the “All Things Must Pass” sessions. The track’s understated instrumentation and
perceptive lyrical content make this one of his best, yet most overlooked songs in the Harrison catalog…” Until
the 2006, with the release of the remastered “Living In the Material World” LP, this track had not been released on CD.
"Miss O'Dell" was the B-side to the "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)" single.. Referring again to Madinger/Easter’s
book: “George started composing this ode to former Apple secretary Chris O’Dell in April 1971 in Malibu, CA. It’s a great
track, full of the humor so desperately missing from the rest of the LP. (The end even features George reciting Paul
McCartney’s old Liverpool phone number, GARston-6922!)…” Like “Deep Blue” this track had yet to see an official CD
release until 2006.
"Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth) is from a US promo 45rpm in mono.
The setup used:
-Technics SL-1900 direct drive turntable running an Ortofon 2M Black cartridge
-Underwood/Parts Connexion performance-modified PS Audio GCPH phono preamp
-E-MU 1212M sound card
The audio was captured at 192/32-bit (float)
All pops & clicks were removed manually in Audition. No EQ or NR has been added.
Sample rate conversion to 96kHz & 44.1kHz and down-converting to 16-bit audio was accomplished via iZotope RX Advanced
Artwork is included for those who care for it.
Enjoy.
-DLedin