Steve St. Thomas

By far, this is the most difficult of Harrison’s albums to digest. And it is simply because he had a hard time digesting the trouble that was coming to him for even making the album. Rejected by Warner Brothers, Somewhere In England was never the album it was supposed to be, and Harrison’s criticism of the Industry is dabbed all over it’s replacement tracks, for the criminally missing 4 songs from this remaster. Though TEARS OF THE WORLD appears on the 33 & 1/3 remaster, and Harrison fans are baffled as to why, the three remaining songs, LAY HIS HEAD, FLYING HOUR, and SAT SINGING, are out there somewhere. Probably the easiest one to find, though in a remixed version, is LAY HIS HEAD, which was the B-side to 1987’s GOT MY MIND SET ON YOU single. ‘Lay His Head’ is a beautiful song, and deserved to be re-instated on this version of SIE. Fans were bewildered why the original album art was resurrected, but not the album itself. Surely George would have wanted it that way?

WB felt that the album was not commercial enough. Unfortunately they underestimated Harrison’s writing ability, because Ringo Starr scored a hit single with Harrison’s WRACK MY BRAIN the same year, which would not sound out of place on SIE. Ringo was also planned to receive Harrison’s ALL THOSE YEARS AGO, until Lennon’s assassination in 1980 changed its planned direction. It is probably the only song that I have problems with in Harrison’s career, and that is not because of Harrison, it’s because of public perception and the way general statements get interpreted as Truth, when so many more things need to be considered. Harrison’s admission of looking up to John Lennon goes a long way in saying how humble a man Harrison was, and maybe twice the man Lennon was when it came to saying something that someone wants to hear. Even though Lennon could not physically hear it, maybe it was Harrison’s intention to send him that message. It was obvious that Harrison knew about the Playboy 1980 interview Lennon did, which did all but assassinate Harrison’s character for not mentioning Lennon, let alone anyone, in his autobiography of song creation, I ME MINE. I don’t see why, as Lennon never bothered to credit Harrison for his help on Lennon songs, particularly the arrangement of the 3 song in 1 ‘’Happiness Is A Warm Gun’, or the three lines of verse that Harrison wrote for 'Come Together'. .

Or how much Harrison’s signature guitar sound defined The Beatles in each era of their development. McCartney never gives credit to George or Ringo for the lines in ‘Eleanor Rigby’ that they wrote either. If you’re not seen as an equal by any measure, it doesn’t matter whether you look up to that other person or not, you are seen as an underling. A lackey. Lennon’s view of Harrison was Harrison at 17 years old. No matter that by the time this view had matured in age, it still remained a view that was adolescent in its perspective. It’s as if Lennon could never get past the fact that by 23, George seemed more mature and grown up than most of the other Beatles. Klaus Voormann even remarked that Harrison in Hamburg was far more grown up than his two partners.

If Harrison did look up to Lennon, from what I can gather, it was about Lennon’s boldness and brashness. And just doing what he pleased, with little thought to anything else but his own desires. Sometimes we all wish we could be that way, and in Harrison’s case, where he seemed to be a person who thought about others before himself, that must have seemed a very likeable and admirable quality to look up to. I wish he had explained ‘I always looked up to you’ a bit clearer, for all those who think this looking up to was across the board on everything Lennon. Because sometimes Lennon did things that hurt a lot of people that meant him no harm intentionally or purposefully. They just didn’t want to do what he wanted them to do, and in McCartney and Harrison’s case, this meant you’d get a public thrashing for not playing along in the game. That’s not so admirable. Even McCartney’s tribute to Lennon in 1982, ‘’Here Today’’ is in doubt what Lennon ever thought of him. McCartney is fairly clear how he felt about Lennon, but the whole song is a question to someone who cannot answer anymore. Not necessarily a tribute in all senses of the word. It’s a song about those who get left behind wondering . . . .

Would Lennon’s viewpoint change? We’ll never know. Seeing that McCartney rarely mentions Harrison lately, and seems on an ad campaign that is perpetual in bringing up Lennon’s ghost, as if they are still in competition, it seems McCartney has never seen Harrison as an equal either. And these are human beings. We’re all equal, regardless of our colour, our beliefs, even our height. No one is THAT special. There are billions of us. Harrison gave Lennon what he wanted, the ‘I always looked up to you’ that Lennon so wanted to hear. Sometimes I wish he hadn’t, because it gives Fans and Critics that don’t believe we are all equals proof that Harrison was never equal to Lennon or McCartney. As a human being, he was their equal. As an Artist, he outshone them. As a musician, he was there equal in every way. It’s a shame that his link to these people will forever be shadowed by the ‘Piggies’ mentality, echoed quite succinctly in George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’. All pigs are equal, but some more equal than others . . . . . .

This album also gives a nod to FRANK ZAPPA. The reason why? Quite possibly not as a criticism, but more as a general hello to Zappa who went through the same thing Somewhere In England went through with his own album LÄTHER in 1977. In Zappa’s circumstance, the court case changed Artist/Industry contracts forever, and how many albums you were required to present a company per contract, and when. When WB refused to release ‘Punky’s Whips’, a song they felt would get them libel action from whom it was about, Punky Meadows from the band Angel, Zappa decided to go to another company to release the album it came from. When WB threatened legal action for this ‘breach of contract’, Zappa played an option. He had 4 albums left on his contract with Warner. So in 1977, he gave them all 4 albums at the same time! Effectively releasing him from binding contract, fulfilling his obligation to Warner as an ‘employed artist’. This collection was known as LÄTHER, and Warner still released it as separate albums (STUDIO TAN, SLEEP DIRT, etc.) But when they gave him trouble about it, he then played the entire LÄTHER album on Radio, so that his fans could tape the album they wouldn’t ever hear. (LÄTHER was eventually released complete in 1996, after Zappa’s death.) Zappa still was on a war of words against Warner Brothers even after the whole debacle. Publicly denouncing them at every opportunity he could.

There is too much allegation against Warner Brothers in the lyrics of ‘Blood From A Clone’ that entirely suggest Harrison was well aware of Zappa’s LÄTHER troubles, and his mention of Frank in the song was a polite nod saying ‘I know exactly what you went through’.

This album isn’t his ‘worst’ work. You can just hear he’s fed up with the business, and struggling to be an Artist in this business. It’s the only thing that brings a very good collection of material ‘down’. Songs like ‘Unconsciousness Rules’, ‘Life Itself’, ‘Blood From A Clone’, ‘Lay His Head’, ‘Sat Singing’ were all some of his best work in a collection of material that far outshone his former partners in sheer quality and effort put in. Harrison always gave 100% to every album he worked on. On this album he’s putting 50% in spirit, but 100% in craftsmanship and musical arrangement. He does not sacrifice how the whole album sounds or is executed, even if his mood is not into it because of circumstances. During All Things Must Pass’s recording, his mother had passed away. You would not know it by how well that album was received, applauded, and revered at the time. Harrison the Artist never truly let down anyone. There just seems to be a vast number of people around him that let him down instead.

Buy this album. You may find your complaints about the Music Industry were also felt by a person who should have had nothing to complain about based on his overall personality and good-natured soul

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