‘Brainwashed’ both
pointed and poignant

"Brainwashed" George Harrison Dark Horse/Capitol

---

Review by Gary C.W. Chun
gchun@starbulletin.com

Next to "All Things Must Pass" and "Cloud Nine," "Brainwashed" contains some of George Harrison's finest work -- made all the more poignant by his passing.

The accompanying article mentions some of the album's stronger songs, such as the opening "Any Road," which hearkens back to Harrison's time with the Traveling Wilburys, that all-star band that included co-producer Jeff Lynne and veteran drummer Jim Keltner (Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and the late Roy Orbison rounded out the lineup).

The closing title track is one of his most topical and pointed songs ever -- a veritable cry for God's salvation that peacefully ends with a devotional chant, "Namah Parvati."

But I would put "Rising Sun" in the same category as any of Harrison's finest songs. It's truly a lovely, buoyant tune, filled with the promise of eternal life, made complete by the playing of one of his trademark slide guitar solos.

"P2 Vatican Blues (Last Saturday Night)" shows him at his most droll and relaxed. "Stuck Inside a Cloud" and "(Can Only) Run So Far" finds him resigned to his own mortality but pleased in the knowledge that life goes on.

Two of the album's more offhand performances are revealing of Harrison's true nature, with particularly fine and strong singing on the standard "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" and delivering laid-back tropical blues in "Rocking Chair in Hawaii."

Click for online
calendars and events.