ALBUM: Thirty-Three & 1//3 (1976)
MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$$ (NOTE: I bought several months ago the latest reissue of George Harrison’s classic ‘All Things Must Pass,’ which I mention in another post.
Here the man who was one-quarter of the Beatles seems in good spirits.
He even lets off a little steam with a critique of the court case which found Harrison guilty of plagiarizing. His song, My Sweet Lord, sounded too much like the Chiffon’s ‘He’s so fine.’
And. It did.
But George is going to be passionate in a song defending his side. And George’s ordeal with the legal battle highlights the fine line between borrowing and plagiarism. (See Led Zeppelin.)
Harrison is so easy to listen to. Great, underrated voice and some good solid guitar playing and songs that, while not quite Beatles, you can easily hear at least one-quarter of the Beatles.
With “This Song’ he delivers a scathing (for him) rebuke of the plagiarism controversy. Of course George lost that dispute and the songs do sound very much alike. But I don’t think he did it on purpose.
This Song l
This song has nothing tricky about it
This song ain’t black or white and as far as I know
Don’t infringe on anyone’s copyright
When the Beatles broke up I was just becoming aware of who the Beatles were at about 10 years old. My mother dropped me in downtown Athens at the Georgia Theater – yes that used to be a movie theater before becoming a music venue — where I went in to see ‘Let it Be,’ the bittersweet documentary of the Beatles recording one last time before breaking up. I was alone. Yes that’s kind of weird, but I’d often go see movies by myself as young’un. Saw ‘Vanishing Point’ my favorite B-movie when I was 12. But I digress.
Beatles became my favorite band and probably shaped my future view of rock and roll.
When they broke up, it was hit or miss for me in getting their solo material.
My brother had ‘Venus and Mars’ and ‘Band on the Run from McCartney and listened to those sometimes inane — but rockin’ — albums. I never bought a Ringo record, bless his heart. I’ve had several John Lennon albums including his classic, but dark, first solo album.
The one thing I regret is not having picked some more Harrison, especially All Things Must Pass. I am going to pledge that I will use a coveted bucket list item to listen to All Things Must Pass all 3 records in the box from start to finish.
On this album, 331/3, ‘Dear One’ is a personal favorite.