Tupac Shakur has released more albums since his murder in 1996 than he did while he was alive. This makes him the most productive dead man since Paul McCartney, except he's actually dead. Record companies love dead artists because they still sell but they never complain about money. This week we spotlight albums released after their creators kicked the bucket.
George Harrison enjoyed a relatively quiet post-Beatles career. Though productive throughout the 1970s, with albums of wildly varying quality, he settled down in the '80s to record only sporadically. After a brush with cancer in the late 1990s, not to mention a brutal attack by a crazed Beatles fan (no, not that one), George decided to get back to work while he still could.
This meant finally putting the finishing touches on some songs he'd been tinkering with for a decade. George enlisted the help of his lookalike son Dhani, as well as old Traveling Wilburys buddy Jeff Lynne, to lay them down. When Harrison's cancer returned in 2001, the team worked feverishly to get as much work completed as possible. George, the youngest Beatle, died on November 29. After a break, Dhani and Lynne returned to the album, now called Brainwashed, and released it a year after George's passing.
George was ill during much of the album's production, and his voice is audibly weak in spots. But he also sounds more engaged and energized than he did on lesser records like Dark Horse and Somewhere in England. The album sounds fresh, rigorous, with a surprisingly restrained production considering Lynne, Mr. ELO himself, was involved. Guitars, ukuleles, and earthy harmonies swirl together gently to create the warmest album of Harrison's career.
It's also the second best solo disc Harrison ever cut. It's a lovely bookend to his first, and best, All Things Must Pass. It's a shame he had already used that title.
TODAY'S RECOMMENDATION: "Any Road" by George Harrison
AVAILABLE ON: Brainwashed
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