Behind That Locked Door: George Harrison - After the Break-up of the Beatles: George Harrison - After the Break-up of the "Beatles": Amazon.co.uk: Elliot J. Huntley: Books

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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews

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4.3 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)

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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book but................., 24 Sep 2002

By	E. Russell (UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a GH fanatic , I was delighted to see a book that explored the solo career of George Harrison. The book explores in depth all the solo work of George Harrison including the overlooked albums such as Gone Troppo and Somewhere in England. Reference is made to the unreleased gems in the vaults such as Shanghai Suprise. The book falls down when the author aims cheat jibes at almost all of George's friends. What Eric Clapton, Ronnie Wood, Elton John, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and even Bob Dylan have done to deserve all the sly digs is beyond me. Alvin Lee for instance gets it in the neck, however the author fails to point out that his verion of the track "So Sad",on which George participated, is vastly superior to George's version on Dark Horse.
George had his faults too, especially the conflict between his spiritual beliefs and his material interests, which are not addressed by the book, but merely overlooked. The author is puzzled why George undertook a Japanese tour in the early 90's. I think the simple reason was financial, the same motive for George's interest in the anthology series.
Note that no interviews were conducted, and most of the quotes are already in the public domain, so again there is nothing that many fans don't already know or issues that are resolved.
This is the work of a fan who has no doubt spent lots of effort and money collecting the works of George (haven't we all). This gives the book a quality that suggests that many of us could have written this book, since our opinions are no less valid.
Nevertheless, it is a very enjoyable read. If you also admire Eric Clapton, or any of the artists mentioned above, be prepared to be offended.

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Poor Showing, 25 Sep 2003

By	J. Skade "joeskade" (London, England) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

There have been a number of George Harrison books since his death and this one, though it provides a cuttings job account of George's life after the Beatles, is commendable in concentrating on the music. Unfortunately the book is very badly written. The reassessment of such albums as 'Living in the Material World' is very interesting but the author is no more a critic than he is a writer and his account of songs hardly sends you back to the albums with fresh ears. And isn't that what it is all about?
Finally, it must be said that the author's diatribes against other musicians (especially Eric Clapton) grate exceedingly.
The idiosyncratic layout (which makes the book appear more subtantial) does not help.
There are better books to spend your money on.

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars UNERRINGLY ACCURATE - A CELEBRATION, 6 April 2002

By A Customer

Quite simply the best book I've read about George Harrison. In comparison to other biographies about the great man, Huntley doesn't denigrate Harrison's solo career, but rather celebrates it and the deep admiration the author feels for his subject shines through.

And herein lies Huntley's main innovation - in 'Behind That Locked Door' the action starts in 1969 and describes the disintegration of The Beatles through George's eyes. The most impressive aspect of this original approach is that he bypasses the re-telling of The Beatles legend with which I'm sure even Tibetan monks are over-familiar. As a result Huntley devotes over 420 pages to the solo years which have often been included as an afterthought in most other Beatles books I've read.

As the least written about Beatle - this makes for a fascinating recipe for a successful book, and Huntley is true to his title - delving behind the locked door of Harrison's post Beatles life.

Not that this is a seamy expose of Harrison's personal life, more a glorification of his solo musical career - his albums, his tours, The Traveling Wilburys and the treasure trove of unreleased songs lying around in Harrison's vaults.

Huntley also gives extensive praise to Harrison's role in revitalising the British Film Industry through his HandMade Films company. The author's extensive research into this area is, again, something that I have previously never found in other Beatles publications.

Huntley's writing style is fast paced, witty and takes no prisoners. He is not averse to criticising other musicians and even his subject where he feels it is warranted. The writer's comments are sometimes spiky but are never unwarranted.

Some of the highlights are the in-depth coverage of The Concert For Bangla Desh, his rivalry with Eric Clapton over Patti Boyd, and the My Sweet Lord plagiarism case and his sensitive and poignant handling of Harrison's death.

All in all I found the book to be a wonderful, un-putdownable and easy read, yet still crammed with detail for the anoraks - of which there are many in Beatles land. 'Behind That Locked Door' is a very well-researched tome, and if there are any mistakes in it, I either didn't see them or they were too trivial to bother with.

With Harrison's tragic death I expect there will be a glut of books about the youngest Beatle. I would Harrison fans to buy this one.