It's been nearly 20 years since George Harrison left us, and his passion for Indian culture has been scattered across the Ganges as he wished.
As one of the Beatles' members, his introverted personality is different from the other members, and his mysterious temperament makes him a unique presence in the band.
After founding Dark Horse Records, Harrison embarked on a U.S. tour in 1974, but this tour was controversial, how would this affect his future career?
George Harrison toured the United States in 1974
Read the previous issue: George Harrison: A New Chapter in the Beatles' Life After The Dissolution
Text: Two plus
Editor: Aki
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right">1</h1>
While starting his own record label, Harrison took on his first (and only) U.S. tour with a much richer set of work.
Before 1974, no Beatles member had toured the United States alone, so Harrison's concert was rightly the most anticipated event of the year.
Although there was also a tour by Bob Dylan Dylan at the same time, and the reunion of CSN and Young, it did not prevent the Beatles members' individual concerts from becoming a top priority.
Everything seemed to be going in order, with Bill Graham taking care of the tour while Harrison arranged a strong line-up for his band, which included Billy Preston, Tom Scott, and Keltler.
But in order to finish the album Dark Horse before the tour, Harrison strained his vocal cords with overload, but this was only one of the many difficulties he had to face.
Beatles fans across the country were thrilled to see Harrison on stage, but others were confused by his hoarse voice and the song adaptation.
Olivia said: "George wants people to listen to the Indian music he creates. He once said, 'If people just want to hear about me in the Beatles, they shouldn't come.' ’”
Olivia recalls, "Harrison would be alone in the room humming Dylan's songs, yet everyone else was immersed in the rock of the seventies, and they were like they were at a big fun party."
Filmed on the 1974 tour, it includes Ravi Shankal, Billy Preston, Willie Wickers, Tom Scott and others
"Harrison wasn't in very good shape, and by the time he finished the tour, his voice wasn't very good. He wasn't used to hosting everything, he was already a little weak by then, and he was in charge of more than twenty musicians. Presumably that's why he couldn't afford to go on a massive tour. ”
The severity of the tour is just one of the obstacles. The Dark Horse album also reflects that he is about to be overwhelmed by a huge workload. He felt tired and no longer as enthusiastic as he had been before.
Although the quality of the albums released by Dark Horse Records is not bad, the records released rarely make it into the charts. Others made albums to promote them with all their might, but Harrison threw his results into the well because he created them only to satisfy his own pleasure and needs.
George Harrison, "Dark Horse"
Relations between labels and sponsors have also begun to deteriorate. Because they invested a lot of money in Dark Horse, but the benefits were not ideal, A&M decided not to support Harrison's project anymore.
Harrison later switched to Warner Bros., for which A&M sued him and demanded $10 million, which Harrison had to pay more than four million dollars.
Harrison, who found a new owner, wanted to revive the Dark Horse label, but due to the process of moving from A&M to Warner Bros., Attitudes' single "Sweet Summer Music", which had already become popular, quickly fell because it was not strongly promoted.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right">2</h1>
As the label owner, Harrison felt overwhelmed. He said: "I was completely defeated. I don't care about continuing to run the label, I can make money by releasing my own albums, and I don't call myself in the middle of the night to complain. ”
"But musicians are never satisfied. They'll spend fifty thousand dollars on an album, a lot more than I would have spent on myself, but they wouldn't give any interviews or tour. Anyway you give them whatever you arrange and they screw up, they just use the record label as a cash machine. ”
He continued: "There were still gratifying things during the period, such as Attitudes' album Good News and two albums by Indian sitar master Ravi Shankar that I funded. ”
But as he became more and more disappointed by the bad things, Dark Horse Records eventually became the exclusive distribution center for Harrison's solo albums, until his album Brainwashed, released shortly after his death.
George Harrison, Brainwashed
Speaking about the label's inception, Olivia said: "It was a busy time, but he survived and he wanted to do something else. But, it's true, from the current point of view it's like you've created a monster here. ”
As the release site for Harrison's intermittent solo albums, Dark Horse stood tall until his death. But Dani acknowledged that the company has ceased to operate since then.
Earlier this year, he and his manager David announced that Dark Horse Records had been revived in place as a result of a new distribution deal already struck by BMG.
Dark Horse's comeback is Tom Petty's cover album For Real – For Tom, in which Dani, Jacob Buddylan, Willie Nelson, and his two sons are involved, but they are primarily responsible for integrating Dark Horse's past forgotten material.
So far, they have completed the compilation of Attitudes and reissued Ravi Shankar's 1972 Concert and 1997's Hymns of India (then produced by Harrison), as well as many more sequels.
Dark Horse also re-released a number of unpublished works, including a post-Clash era album by Joe Strummer and his band Mescaleros.
Dani said: "Everything is so coincidental. Joe's dad is Indian, and he sometimes spends some time in Mexico. My mom was Mexican, and my dad was close to Shankar and many Indian music masters. So we have a lot of similarities. ”
However, the company does not plan to sign new singers for the time being.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right">3</h1>
They also pulled out a lot of Harrison's unpublished footage from the company's old archives. "Our staff are rummaging through the mountains of tapes for valuable material, and more and more material is being successfully unearthed," Dani said.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of All Things Must Pass, and Dani and the archivist have collected hours of unpublished material and songs.
George Harrison, "All Things Must Pass"
Olivia said: "A lot of things have been stolen, but we have a better version. Not only did we have all the tracks from All Things Must Pass, but we also found a lot of material about different ideas and topics that took place in the studio. ”
Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of the Bangladesh Charity Concert, followed by the fifth decend anniversary of All Things Must Pass. Each can include an extended version, but the details are debatable.
Dani said he often asked his father about the controversial 1974 tour than he did about his other affairs.
Dani said he had listened to the tapes of all the performances, and he thought his father's voice was not in good shape at the time, but still felt that the performances still presented a different side of Harrison's music.
He said: "His voice sounds tired, but it actually sounds great to me. The voice was hoarse, but full of perseverance. You can hear his vulnerability in the song, which is different from most of his other music. ”
Olivia mentioned that there are several performances that are videotaped live: "I think these tapes can make a great touring movie. The backstage footage is both hysterical and surprising. What used to happen backstage may be unimaginable now. ”
Although the dark horse has faded from view, it has successfully paved the way for other record companies, and the dark horse is also a legacy that Dani has always wanted to preserve and continue.
"Like everyone says, it's a family business," he said. Interestingly, if you're a plumber who wants to take over the mantle of plumbing, no one will judge you because it's normal. But in our family, our family business is music, and I just want to continue my parents' business. No one is forcing us to do this, but we have to do it. ”