George Harrison & Friends - Concert for Bangladesh
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Music CD Cover Artist: George Harrison & Friends Brand: HARRISON,GEORGE Edition: Music CD Format: Original recording remastered CD Release Date: 2005-10-25 Music Label: Capitol Soundtracks: Music CD 1
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| New | New Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $19.39 | ||
| Used | Used Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $21.00 | ||
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Free Music Notes for Concert for Bangladesh Album
Free Music Review: It all started right here...
Hit: 3 Stars
There's so much material here to discuss I believe the best way to analyze this project would to talk about the high points and low points.
High-The opening of "Wah-Wah" is a tremendous intro into the show with Harrison doing an excellent job of kick starting the proceedings, greatly assisted by Jim Horn and his Hollywood Horns. Billy Preston's "That's The Way God Planned It," gives the show a nice lift, especially the rousing finale (where he is dancing, which is obviously not seen on a cd). Ringo's word-dropping rendition of "It Don't Come Easy" gave some humanity to the whole event and kept it real. Leon Russell"s "Jumpin' Jack Flash/Youngblood" medley brough some funk to a mostly Anglo show and let the musicians flex their muscles a little. And though Clapton doesn't remember it today since he was stoned then, the dueting between him and Harrison on "While My Guitar Gentle Weeps" was great to hear. And hearing Dylan give a disciplined, understated performance was pleasant as well. An overlooked item I think is Harrison's rendition of his biggest Beatle hit, "Something" even though he flubs the second verse a little.
Low-Did we really need such a long set of Ravi's music? As much as his performance was symbolic of what the event was, was this much Indian music necessary? I doubt very much if anyone who buys this today sits through all/any of it. Also, did Dylan need to have so many songs when the show was in desperate need of an edge? Badfinger, (who were more commercially accessible than either Preston or Russell) had the classic single "No Matter What" under their belt, had also just finished recording their most popular album and could've played a tune from that. This could have given the show a more rock 'n roll edge that it was missing. And the recording for this concert didn't do anyone any favors, remastered or not. The overall sound is still muddy. This only proves that new technology cannot improve what was recorded wrong in the first place. Plus, for some unknown reason, some of Harrison's comments have been edited out from the original version.
The best thing that can be said about "The Concert For Bangla-Desh" is that it was(and is)a template for all the other charity concerts that rock stars have given over the years(Farm-Aid, Band-Aid, Aid-Aid, Kampuchea, etc.). It all started right here.