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George Harrison Filmography
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George Harrison: 1970s
After the Beatles split in 1970, Harrison released a number of albums that were critically and commercially successful, both as solo projects and as a member of other groups. After years of being limited in his contributions to the Beatles, he released a large number of the songs he had stockpiled in the first major solo work released after the breakup, All Things Must Pass, the first triple album in rock history. It included the number one hit single "My Sweet Lord", although Harrison was later sued for copyright infringement over the supposed similarities to the 1963 Chiffons single "He's So Fine". Harrison denied deliberately stealing the song, but he did lose the case in 1976; in the ruling, the court accepted the possibility that Harrison had "unconsciously plagiarised" the Chiffons song as the basis for his own song.
Harrison was probably the first modern musician to organize a major charity concert. His Concert for Bangladesh on August 1, 1971, drew over 40,000 people to two shows in New York's Madison Square Garden with the intention of aiding the starving refugees from the war in Bangladesh. Classical sitar maestro Ravi Shankar opened the proceedings, which included other popular musicians such as
Bob Dylan (in a surprise rare live appearance), Leon Russell,
Eric Clapton, Badfinger and Billy Preston. Unforunately, however, the concert actually lost money due to expenses.
In addition to his own works, during this time Harrison wrote or produced several hits for
Ringo Starr and also appeared on tracks by
John Lennon.
Harrison's next album was Living in the Material World in 1973. "Give Me Love" was a big hit,and "Sue Me Sue You Blues" was a window into the former Beatles' miserable legal travails, but overallthe record was seen as too overtly religious. In 1974 Harrison released Dark Horse and at the same time launched a major tour of the United States. The album was not received well, despite the occasional gem such as "So Sad", and the tour got poor notices due to excessive preachiness and Harrison's voice being hoarse.
Harrison continued to issue records throughout the rest of the 1970s. The most successful was Thirty Three & 1/3, which was lighter in tone and featured the hits "This Song" (a satire of the "My Sweet Lord" ruling) and "Crackerbox Palace" (a humourous and surrealistic number, perhaps reflecting his association with members of Monty Python).
Harrsion had formed his own record label, Dark Horse Records, in 1974 and issued a limited number of records by performers such as Splinter, Attitudes and Ravi Shankar. He moved his own output to the label in 1976, once his contract with EMI finished.
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