George Harrison - The Dark Horse Years 1976-1992
	Released: 2004 Label: Dark Horse / EMI Records Cat. No.: 7243 5 44103 9 0 Total Time: 74:40
	Reviewed by: John Bobo Bollenberg, October 2004 Beatles and George Harrison fans for some time had to buy the luxurious and expensive box set in order to get their hands on this DVD. Today however the DVD is available on its own. The luxurious hardback digipack edition that accompanies the box set has now been transferred onto a "normal" DVD issue with the text being copied into a normal sized DVD booklet. Whilst the box set edition contains different kinds of paper, this one doesn't; but then again that's the only difference as this DVD contains exactly the same material as the one that's part of the box set. The DVD kicks off with George giving an insight into his persona about how he simply loves to be in a band and play so as to get better on his instruments. The silent Beatle has indeed always been an excellent guitar player who also could deliver some well crafted songs. Although maybe to some people George might come across as being the serious type, like John Lennon he most certainly has tons of that typical British humour. In fact, it was good old George who backed Monty Python from day one. If it wasn't for George, the BBC would never have given the Pythons a second chance. Harrison's humour is nicely shown in the video for "This Song" where he not only takes the mickey with himself but also with the judicial system. Or take "Crackerbox Palace" where George suddenly pops out of a pram and later on takes on the guise of a schoolboy, even picking his nose! How silly can you get? In "Faster" George declares his love for Formula One and fast cars. He even gets Jackie Stewart to play the role of his private chauffeur, would you believe. Both "When We Was Fab" and "This Is Love" have been produced by Beatles fan Jeff Lynne, which is why the arrangement contains so much ELO magic. During the video for "When We Was Fab" there's even a small cameo role for Elton John whilst Ringo Starr delivers a firm mark. The Live In Japan section delivers four on stage recordings recorded with an extensive line-up including Eric Clapton, yet which doesn't deliver anything special. Finally there's some footage from the Shangai Surprise movie that starred Madonna and Sean Penn. During "Hottest Gong In Town" Harrison becomes Cab Calloway just for the sake of the 30s atmosphere. All in all this is a nice video although personally I would've loved to see much more private Harrison footage, more backstage material, more insights into the production process of certain things, a visit to Handmade Films, etc. … Maybe all of that material is already reserved for a sequel to this DVD. I sincerely hope it's playing time will be much longer than this offering! More about The Dark Horse Years 1976-1992: Track Listing: Videos : Dark Horse Feature / This Song / Crackerbox Palace / Faster / Set On You Version I / Set On You Version II / When We Was Fab / This Is Love / Selections from Live In Japan: Cheer Down / Devil's Radio / Cloud 9 / Taxman / Selections from the movie Shangai Surprise : Shangai Surprise / Someplace Else / Hottest Gong In Town Musicians: George Harrison - guitars, slide guitar, vocals, ukulele, bass, keyboards + many, many musicians too numerous to mention Contact: Website: www.georgeharrison.com Note: will open new browser window Discography Wonderwall Music (1968) Electric Sound (1969) All Things Must Pass (1970/2001) Concert For Bangladesh (1972) Living In The Material World (1973) Dark Horse (1974) Extra Texture (1975) Best Of George Harrison (1976) George Harrison (1979) Somewhere In England (1981) Gone Troppo (1982) Cloud Nine (1987) Traveling Wilburys - Vol 1 (1988) Best Of Dark Horse (1976-1989) (1989) Traveling Wilburys - Vol 3 (1990) Live In Japan (w/Eric Clapton) (1992) Brainwash (2002) The Dark Horse Years 1976-1992 (box set) (2004) The Dark Horse Years 1976-1992 (DVD) (2004)
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