History of the Album Dark Horse and Tour of the USA 1974 George Harrison ...
Dark Horse - George Harrison's Fifth Solo Studio Album, recorded and released in 1974. The recording of the record turned out to be very difficult for the musician: Harrison planted his voice, and also again turned to alcohol and psychoactive substances, which were fond of in the 60s ... In the same period, his wife Patty Boyd was taken away from George. As for the album itself, Dark Horse was met with musical critics very bad ... One of the reviewers of Rolling Stone was at all that Harrison's weakness as a musician became obvious, it was worth it to stay without a team in the Beatles. So ... the album was characterized as "Collection of template melodies and predictable texts ..." However, this did not prevent Dark Horse to break into the top five Chart Billboard 200. In the Native Great Britain, the album did not succeed, which was due to the missing interest of the public to the work of the ex-Bitla ...
In the same period, Harrison finished his full-fledged solo tour of the United States, who also did not succeed ... Many did not like the fact that Harrison invited Ravi Shankara in Tournaire, who was tired of the audience with his too long numbers on stage ...
In short, 1974 turned out for the musician with a solid collapse. However, it is still worth remembering the events of those days, because to some extent it was one of the most memorable periods in Harrison's career (at least due to the fact that his tour in North America was the first for any of the four bits!)
Tour by states: How was it?
Among other musicians from the concert in Bangladesh, who also participated in the round of 1974, - Billy Preston, who had several solo rooms and a prominent place on the keyboards, drummers Jim Kelterner and Andy Newmark, as well as Trumpeters Chuck Findley. The rest of the group in Tours of 1974 consisted of saxophonists, Tom Scott and Jim Horn, as well as guitarist Robben Ford: they all participated in the record of Dark Horse ...
The fact that the tour became known as the "Dark Horse", there is nothing surprising. George signed Ravi Shankara on his new label with the same title and played a few songs from the album, which was released by the end of a 26-day series of concerts. However ... these were not the best times for Harrison. Throughout the tour, he fought with laryngitis and rushed her throat with a mixture of honey, vinegar and warm water every night to alleviate the symptoms.
But whatever restrictions are caused by the throat disease, which led to the cancellation of concerts in Portland, the game of George and the group sounded great ... George was upset by some criticism obtained during the tour, part of which could be explained incredibly high expectations, and people who wanted something that they did not get ...
How was the album recorded?
Work on the record began in the fall of 1973, in the Fraire Park, where Harrison and Boyd lived. Initially, the sessions used the same composition as when recording Living In The Material World - Ringo Starr, Jim Kelterner, Claus Vurmann, Gary Wright and Nickie Hopkins. Basic tracks such as Ding Dong, Ding Dong and SO SAD were recorded.
George saw the concert of Joni Mitchell in the New Victoria London. He was impressed with her jazz rock back-band, La Express, headed by Saxophonist and Fleetist Tom Scott, so invited them to his home studio to record the fifth album. Soon they recorded "Hari's On Tour (Express)" and "Simply Shady" ...
Then Scott spent several days in the mansion to impose on several horn compositions ...
There was a small rest, after which, by mid-1974, George returned to work on the album with Billy Preston, Scott, Andy Newmark and Willie Wicks on the bass: They recorded Māya Love, Far East Man and IT IS ' He '(Jai Sri Krishna). "
In October, George came to Los Angeles to begin preparations for the tour, but his voice was in a terrible state ... because of the need to complete the work on a new album, he was under great pressure ...
Final Strokes and Release ...
Dark Horse (Album George Harrison)George used A & M Studios in Hollywood to rehearse with a tour. At the same time, he graduated from the songs that were recorded in FRIAR PARK. Soon George diagnosed laryngitis, however, according to Scott, once at night he recorded "BYE BYE, LOVE" being completely alone in the studio: he added a synthesizer, drums, electric piano and part of the electric guitar to his acoustic guitar ...
Also, at this stage, "I Don't Care Anymore" was recorded, which did not enter the album, but became Bi-Sayd in the United States to Singla "Dark Horse", and later in the UK, to Singla "Ding Dong, Ding Dong "
In the end, George refused the version of "Dark Horse", which he recorded in his home studio, and reworked it with session musicians. At sunset of 1974, the album entered the Billboard 200. The reviews on the album after its release were far from enthusiastic, but over time people began to appreciate this entry, realizing that it was a look at the world of George of the time. Over the years in Dark Horse, I saw an album containing excellent music ... When George returned home in early 1975 after the tour and release of the album, he told Dereke Taylor, the Press officer "Beatles":
Three months later, he returned to Los Angeles to start working on his next album.