48 years ago today (11/1/68) George Harrison released his first solo album, Wonderwall Music on the Apple label. The songs which were mostly Harrison instrumentals, featured Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr and an unaccredited banjo contribution by Peter Tork of The Monkees. Wonderwall Music also marks the first solo album by a member of The Beatles and although it doesn’t have any standout hit songs, its equally strong in its range of music from Indian to guitar workouts and early time nostalgia. Listen to the sonic scorcher “”Ski-ing” featuring Clapton that sounds years ahead of its time…
12 thoughts on “48 Years Ago Today – George Harrsion Release First Beatles Solo LP ‘Wonderwall Music’ (Listen to “Ski-ing””
I was in high school in Tennessee. Beatle fan plus! Bought the album and the 8 track to play in my Rambler. Great memories. Found the CD in a pawn shop a year or two ago. George made a guest appearance on The Smothers Brothers that year. I still loved Susan then. Hello if youre out there.
Actually, the reason this is an “instrumental” album is because Harrison wrote it as the soundtrack for a British film called “Wonderwall”, and it was not a George Harrison album per se. That being said, it is the second film soundtrack written by a Beatle, the first being Paul McCartney’s score for the movie “The Family Way” (1966) starring Haley Mills, John Mills, and Hywel Bennett.
Actually, the Family Way soundtrack contains only one McCartney track, Love in the Open Air and the other songs are various arrangements of it by producer/arranger George Martin. Harrison’s is a true full length soundtrack l.p.
I’m a BIG Beatle fan but I would caution you and the writer of this post against taking Wonderwall Music OR Electronic Sound too seriously. Both are disappointing with George ripping off Indian musicians (Wonderwall) and some Moog synthesizer programmer (El. Sound).
George would never ever rip anyones music off!!! You don’t know George!
Yes, George was a ripoff artist. One side of Electronic Sound was nothing more than Bernie Krause demonstrating the Moog to George and according to Krause, George never paid him for flying over and for his time spent with him. And much of Wonderwall Music is recordings of Indian musicians performing traditional Indian music which George claimed authorship for.
“Drilling a Home” is probably the best song on this soundtrack LP.
Bought this album when it came out as I was,( and am ), a huge Beatle fan. I listened to it once and could not tell you what I did with it after that. I considered it unlistenable. This track must be one of, if not the,best tracks on the record.
Never had a chance to hear the album. I have always been a huge Beatles fan, but I’m getting tired of Yahoo’s continuous articles about the Beatles. I grew up listening to the Beatles. Not everyone was a Beatles fan like myself. Many kids I knew were into heavier rock, blues or motown music. I played in my first band while in junior high school, around 1965. We played the hits of those days, and none of the kids I knew wanted to play Beatles songs.
The way Yahoo tells it, the only impact on the music world came from the Beatles. Simply not true. The Beatles were influenced by many other performers while they were growing up. Reality. The Beatles could have never made it and our musical world would have still been alive and well.
Just curious Dennis, what or who inspired you to pick up a guitar and make music back in 1965? Maybe four lads from Liverpool? The sun would have shined if the Beatles never existed but not as bright. Shine on man.
I’ve always loved this album. Great sounds. Ripoff artist? I don’t think so. The Remy Four played on some of the tracks. During the reissue George period dug up some outtakes and made sure one of the Remy Four who was dying of cancer at the time was taken care of. That’s George.
To Dennis:
I’m a little younger than you but not much. Yes of course the Beatles were influenced by many varieties of music. The reason we’re still talking about them 50+ years after they hit the scene is because most of their music holds up against the test of time. Lots of greats went before but in a lot of cases, you think about the artist (Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Sinatra, Elvis, etc.) not their music per se. With few exceptions (country being one) no one combined personal experiences and music making it art rather than entertainment. They did so on a such a large scale that the world will never see again. The musical world would have been alive and well but not as rich as it became after the Beatles and the countless others THEY influenced.