Somewhere In England [Original recording remastered, Extra tracks]

The first Beatles solo album to come out following the tragic death of John Lennon. We Beatles fans were in a bad way and thoroughly welcomed this release in June 1981. Nothing heard from Paul since May 1980 or from Ringo since 1978. At least George was still producing albums. And I remember being quite pleased with this album on its release.
Hindsight and repeated listenings have shown it to be not one of George’s best albums, although it has its moments for sure. Part of the problem is that George’s first submission of the album had been summarily rejected by Warner Brothers, leading George to remove four tracks and replace them with four new ones. With mixed results. Gone are ’Sat Singing’ and ’Tears Of The World’ which should never have been anything other than B Sides. But also gone are ’Flying Hour’ and ’Lay His Head’, the former so obviously an outtake from the previous album ’George Harrison’s sessions, with Winwood organ to the fore, a great lyric and, although not excactly a classic, far too good to dump basically. ’Lay His Head’ is better, with that great slide guitar line. Warner Brothers: what exactly was wrong with this one??? It is great.
And so to the replacements: ’All Those Years Ago’ is a moving if somewhat lightweight tribute to John Lennon, and as it featured Ringo on drums and Paul and Linda on backing vocals it is even more moving. I lost my rag with some girl at university who complained that George was simply making money out of Lennon’s death. I mean….how Wrong Can Someone Be? OK it is not a classic exactly, but is thoroughly heartfelt in its lyric. Especially on lines such as ’living with good and bad, I always looked up to you’.
Of the other replacement tracks: ’Blood From A Clone’ is a bitter track on the music business of the early ’80s. But it is memorable mainly for its lyric it must be said. ’Teardrops’ is a catchy upbeat number which I actually like a lot. ’That Which I Have Lost’ is superb in every way and featuring a wonderful bona fide George guitar solo for about the only time on the album, believe it or not.
And so to the remainder tracks from the ’original’ ’Somewhere In England’. Well it’s a mixed bag for sure. The two Hoagy Carmichael covers are pleasant enough, but what the hell are they doing on a George Harrison album, especially one which followed such as a masterpiece as ’Gerorge Harrison’ (1979) which contained ten great original songs?? ’Unconsciousness Rules’ is not bad but it is by Harrison’s standards. It is almost boring. ’Life Itself’ makes itself out to be the standout ballad on this album, but after a few listenings it becomes a bit tiresome, not helped by the weak preachy lyric. This kind of lyric may have been present on the ’Material World’ album from 1973, but the difference is that there the sublime melodies and guitar playing came firmly to the rescue. Here, although containing a nice melody and some (limited) distinctive George guitar, it all falls a little flat.. Not sure why, but it does.
Luckily there are two more tracks to discuss, both of considerable merit. ’Save The World’ may not have a melody made in heaven but has has such a heartfelt lyric and delivery that it is still enyoyable to listen to, all these years later. And so we come to the true masterpiece of this album ’Writing On The Wall’ which has a subtley engaging melody and lyric about losing one’s friends who are ’drunk away or shot away or die away from you’. Who was to think that this would apply to George himself twenty years later, a victim of a brutal stabbing at his Henley home and then dying of cancer two years later?? Shit. Where is the justice in this world? I am very tempted to give this album 4 stars on the basis of this song alone. But it remains a decent George album, with just a few real highlights. And maybe we should have seen the writing on the wall. For he was to produce just two more albums within his lifetime. It was mostly left to Paul to carry the Beatles flame going over the ensuing years. Which is heavy burden to carry for one Ex Beatle and one which he struggled with for much of the 1980s following 1982’s creditable ’Tug Of War’ (1982). Suddenly around this time, and maybe Lennon’s death has something to do with it, Beatles solo albums became less essential in the 1980s. And by the time a good one came along, the public had moved one for the most part. George’s triumphant return to form in 1987 with ’Cloud Nine’ proving a noteable exception.
But back to this album: it may with hindsight be seen a crashing disappointment, especially given the brilliance of its predecessor.. But this is a fan talking so I am well aware of all that is good on this release and will cherish at least those moments for as long as I live.

This was the album that first got me into George's solo stuff. I borrowed it from the library I recall and was immediately impressed by the quality of the songs. It was only when I went on and bought the entire catalogue of George's albums that I could decide on reflection to place it in the second string of his stuff - the first string being 1979s "George Harrison", "All Things Must Pass" (1970) and "Brainwashed" the brilliant last album. However, I would still recommend it as a good introduction to his stuff.
But I am confused as to why this remastered version has the cover of the original rejected version, if this is not that version of the album? The made over version of the album had a completely different cover, which I am very fond of. Either release the original rejected album with this black and white cover or put the proper cover back on what was the official release. Don't mix them up!

This album was first released in the summer of 1981 and it was the first George Harrison album I bought, only the 3rd album I ever bought actually. I love this album and I still enjoy listening to it to this day. It's great that a remastered CD is being made available. The artwork is the original one chosen by George, but unfortunately rejected by his then record company WEA. "Life itself" is to me one of the most beautiful songs of our time.