George Harrison - Living in the Material World
- FaceOff - עימות חזיתי
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Written By: Moti Kupfer
Release date - 30.05.1973
“I want to be aware of God. That’s really my only ambition, and everything else in life is incidental.”
When Paul McCartney casually announced the breakup of “The Beatles” in 1970, George Harrison had many reasons to be angry with him. Throughout the band’s career, Paul McCartney and John Lennon often viewed Harrison through the narrow prism of a guitarist with a talent for songwriting, but never truly as an equal creative force. Harrison’s overwhelming response to the breakup arrived at the end of that same year with the monumental triple album “All Things Must Pass”, or in other words, all the songs Harrison had accumulated while Lennon and McCartney kept pushing them aside during the “Beatles” years.
After finally emptying himself of enough material to create a sprawling triple masterpiece, Harrison felt freer to give more of himself to the world. Over the years, George Harrison earned a unique admiration among “Beatles” fans, who saw him as a melancholic and deeply spiritual artist, very different from the other members of the band.
George Harrison first connected with spirituality in 1965 after David Crosby of “The Byrds” introduced him to Indian music. Harrison became fascinated with the sitar and soon formed a close connection with Indian musician Ravi Shankar.
It was Shankar who approached Harrison in the summer of 1971 and asked him to join a charity concert for refugees of the Bangladesh Liberation War. The two performances held in New York on August 1, 1971 brought together Harrison and Shankar alongside an extraordinary lineup including Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Leon Russell, and Bob Dylan. It became the first major charity concert in rock history where superstar musicians performed before a massive audience to raise money for a humanitarian cause.
Harrison emerged from the project emotionally exhausted on one hand, yet spiritually at peace on the other. Afterwards, he stepped away for about a year in order to carefully reconsider his musical direction.
During that period, George deepened both his Hindu spirituality and his Krishna consciousness.
In August 1972, when the documentary film about the Concert for Bangladesh was finally released worldwide, George Harrison traveled alone through Europe on vacation, spending much of the journey chanting the Hare Krishna mantra. Krishna scholar Joshua Greene later described this trip as Harrison’s spiritual preparation for the recording sessions of “Living in the Material World”, which was released on May 30, 1973.
This time Harrison decided to create something entirely new, focusing on songs written during the Bangladesh concert period rather than returning to leftover material from his previous album.
“I didn’t really care if nobody ever heard from me again. I just wanted to play, make records and work on musical ideas,” Harrison said.
Some of his fans viewed this deeply spiritual album as a cry for help from George Harrison himself. He had grown weary of the materialism and overwhelming success surrounding “All Things Must Pass”. Some have also suggested that his turbulent marriage to Pattie Boyd influenced his emotional state, pushing Harrison to seek the most basic things in life: love, inner peace, and spiritual balance, themes that became central to the album’s beautiful single “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)”.
Some of the songs on “Living in the Material World” were inspired by Harrison’s spiritual teacher Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. They distill the idea that the pursuit of fame, wealth, or social status ultimately has little meaning. The album reflects George Harrison’s fascination with both the spiritual and everyday worlds, while emphasizing the importance of overcoming the temptations of material life in order to remain focused on eternal truths.
Several songs still address the legacy of “The Beatles”. On the title track “Living in the Material World”, Harrison portrays the materialistic world in which the band had once been trapped, while “Sue Me, Sue You Blues” openly criticizes Paul McCartney over the lawsuit he filed against the remaining members of the group following the breakup.
Harrison’s clear desire to live in the present, free from the burden of his former identity, is expressed beautifully in songs like “The Light That Has Lighted the World” and “Be Here Now”.
For the album, Harrison surrounded himself with musicians who completely understood his artistic and spiritual mindset, including Gary Wright on keyboards and organ, bassist Klaus Voormann, orchestral arranger John Barham, and drummer Jim Keltner, who had previously worked with him during the Concert for Bangladesh. The lineup also featured Ringo Starr, Zakir Hussain, and Leon Russell on piano.
The album artwork was once again entrusted to art director and photographer Tom Wilkes. He photographed George Harrison’s hand holding a Hindu medallion using high-voltage electrical photography known as Kirlian photography, creating the glowing aura that surrounds Harrison’s hand on the cover.
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music
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