"Be Here Now is beautiful, understated and unabashedly spiritual - a stark contrast to its bloated Oasis counterpart": George Harrison's lovely Living In The Material World, revisited

Gem-studded yet often overlooked album from ex-Beatle George Harrison, now with added extras

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George Harrison: Living In The Material World cover art
(Image: © Dark Horse/BMG)

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"AIl Things Must Pass might be better, but those songs [on Living In The Material World) are incredible... You can hear from the LP what his aim was; he definitely had a message he wanted to get across." - Klaus Voormann, 2003.

It's ironic that Oasis named their critically panned third album after the stand-out track on Living In The Material World, Be Here Now. The original is beautiful, understated and unabashedly spiritual - a stark contrast to its bloated counterpart. Harrison's soulful vocal is set against mournful, blissed-out Indian instrumentation and acoustic guitar, radiating a calm, beatific beauty that characterises so many of his later contributions to The Beatles. It's easy to see why the Gallagher brothers might want to claim kinship.

George Harrison - Be Here Now (2024 Mix) [Official Video] - YouTube George Harrison - Be Here Now (2024 Mix) [Official Video] - YouTube
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Released in 1973, Living In The Material World is sometimes overlooked, perhaps due to the towering success of All Things Must Pass, Harrison's 1970 triple-album masterpiece that, alongside John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band, arguably stands as the greatest solo work from an ex-Beatle. Yet this album, along with its single Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth) is a gem. It's more stripped down than its illustrious predecessor, mirroring Harrison's quest for simpler spiritual enlightenment amid the chaos of superstardom, but still showcases some of his finest guitar work and vocals.

Tracks like The Light That Has Lighted The World shine with heartfelt sincerity as Harrison's voice trembles through poignant self-reflection and turmoil. Try Some Buy Some delights with its cascading percussion, with Phil Spector lending a hand to production (George Martin produced the rest of the album). The Lord Loves The One (That Loves The One) and the title track draw directly from Krishna teachings. It's unmistakably Harrison, and his absence even today feels palpable.

George Harrison - Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond) [Official Video] - YouTube George Harrison - Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond) [Official Video] - YouTube
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For fans of Big Star (particularly their third album) or Gram Parsons, this album offers a similar unadorned beauty.

The Super Deluxe Edition of this reissue includes a bonus disc with 12 previously unreleased early renditions of the album tracks. Additionally there's a Blu-ray with all album tracks and previously unreleased tracks in Dolby Atmos, plus an exclusive seven-inch single. The album is also available as two-LPs and two-CD formats, and some of the acoustic versions are quite the equal of their finished counterparts.

Everett True
Everett True

Everett True started life as The Legend!, publishing the fanzine of that name and contributing to NME. Subsequently he wrote for some years for Melody Maker, for whom he wrote seminal pieces about Nirvana and others. He was the co-founder with photographer Steve Gullick of Careless Talk Costs Lives, a deliberately short-lived publication designed to be the antidote to the established UK music magazines.