Not just the quiet one

Sunrise doesn’t last all morning
A cloudburst doesn’t last all day
Seems my love is up and has left you with no warning
It’s not always going to be this grey
All things must pass
All things must pass away

There are many different ways to appreciate good music. Many prefer experiencing the artists and musicians in live performances, “being there” when it actually happens, whereas others are more comfortable in the sofa, enjoying the rich sounds of a vinyl record. Myself, I have acquired a special taste for the DVD portraits – maybe I´m too old to watch music live?

The other day I saw Martin Scorsese´s excellent portrait of the quiet beatle, George Harrison – Living In The Material World. If you´re only slightly interested in Beatles or 60s pop culture in general, the film is an absolute must!

Scorsese´s film is a distant relative to Peter Bogdanovich´s equally excellent career-spanning portrait of Harrison´s fellow compadre  Tom Petty from 2007, Running Down A Dream. In that film Bogdanovich lets Petty lead us through his whole career, all blended with the finest of music! In both of those films, the focus is on the artists – and the reporting film maker is only indirectly to be seen.

Harrison, by the way, could also have been qualified as “The Funny Beatle” or “The Contemplative Beatle” – there are so many sides to Harrison besides him being just quiet…The is for example a hilarious clip in the extras, where Harrison interviews friend and racing ace Damon Hill – that clip is in itself worth the price!

Of course Scorsese was somewhat limited by having the object of his film only indirectly present for “new” comments. On the other hand, he had access to private movies from the Harrison home that previously haven´t been seen.

The new interviews with Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton – and many more – also lights some aspects of  Beatles that at least weren´t known to me. In a new interview Ringo claims that “if it wasn´t for Paul we wouldn´t have made as many records” and continues to describe how McCartney called him and John Lennon to have them return to the studio for recordings. The descriptions of his drug abuse and the not always sunny relation to his wife Olivia seem credible, although maybe not flattering to Harrison.

The film is indeed long, longer than three hours, but no one who is interested in such an artist portrait will hesitate a bit due to that fact. My recommendation is simple – Buy. And watch!

Below is a great clip with Paul McCartney, playing Harrison´s – in my opinion – best song All Things Must Pass.

tp