Review by Booklist Review
Grammy-winning writer Kahn has assembled a robust portrait of George Harrison, the so-called Quiet Beatle. Harrison comes into focus not as quiet so much as thoughtful and sincere, with a lot to say, his comments always laced with humor. Kahn has assembled radio and television interviews, magazine interviews, essays, and letters into coverage that follows the evolution of Harrison from "greasy-haired teenager" to "gray-haired man of the manor." It features a few firsts, including the Daily Express columns that Harrison wrote in 1964, his first U.S. interview, and a dual interview with Michael Jackson from a 1979 BBC radio program. Harrison was a musician par excellence, but he was also a seeker and his spiritual side is amply represented. Contributors include such well-known journalists and broadcasters as Maureen Cleave, Barry Miles, David Frost, and Dick Cavett. Harrison died in 2001, in Los Angeles, surrounded by family and fellow Hare Krishna members, and Kahn poignantly shares his last words, "Everything else can wait, but the search for God cannot wait, and love one another." A gift for Harrison's many fans.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The so-called quiet Beatle speaks up in this sweeping collection of the guitarist's words. Music writer Kahn (A Love Supreme) collects Harrison's 1964 columns for the Daily Express, in which he wrote about the Beatles, noting, "we've years of life and great hopes as a foursome... there's still a lot of work to be done and a lot of songs to sing." In a 1974 radio interview, Harrison (1943--2001) names some of the contemporary artists he admires most: "I'm madly in love with Smokey Robinson... I think Ry Cooder is sensational." During a 1987 interview with Rolling Stone's Anthony DeCurtis, Harrison explains that he wrote the song "Devil's Radio" after he saw a church sign that read "Gossip: the Devil's Radio." In a 1979 interview on BBC 1, Michael Jackson asks George Harrison if the Beatles wrote their own songs, wondering how they ever managed to do that; Harrison replies with laughter, "I don't know, they were clever little fellas." Also included are Harrison's final words: "everything else can wait, but the search for God cannot wait, and love one another." Perfect for Beatles fans, Kahn's excellent collection revels in Harrison's humor, spirituality, and his passion for songwriting. (July)
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Review by Library Journal Review
In the latest installment of the "Musicians in Their Own Words" series, editor Kahn (Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece) curates a selection of Beatle George Harrison's conversations with print, television, and radio reporters, from a 1962 radio interview to his family's release of a brief final message after his death in 2001. The sources range from the near obscure to Rolling Stone interviews, and Kahn provides contextual notes, interviewer information, and other background detail. From Beatlemania-era interviews invoking the comic and caustic wordplay of the Fab Four to in-depth discussions on Harrison's interest in spirituality in the later 1960s, the book moves to the Seventies, with a notable appearance on The Dick Cavett Show and then to the late 1980s, when Harrison was more reflective and forthcoming on his past and his legacy. VERDICT Harrison's humanity, thoughtfulness, and humor are on rich display throughout, and a portrait of his entire life emerges. A fascinating addition to the voluminous catalog of Beatle-related literature.--James Collins, Morristown-Morris Twp. P.L., NJ
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A literary playlist to the mind and music of the "Quiet Beatle." After writing about John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Carlos Santana, Kahn turns his attention to the second Beatle, after John Lennon, to be selected for the popular Musicians in Their Own Words series. Kahn has collected more than 40 interviews that span the period from 1962 to 2001, when Harrison died. They include interviews with magazines, newspapers, and TV and radio shows as well as a "number of never-published gems." (Foremost among these are the columns he wrote for the Daily Express in 1964, "offering a peek inside the bubble of the band's ascendancy.") The collection reveals a humorous, witty, self-deprecating, guileless, spiritual man. In 1963, shortly after the group's debut, Harrison joked, "we should have another two years at least, I think." In an interview with Larry Kane, who covered their early American tours, Harrison opined on his band mates, noting how Paul was "the lovely one" and "Ringo was the cuddly one." As early as 1967, Harrison called Ravi Shankar his "musical Guru." Then bang, it's 1970, and the Beatles have broken up, barely 100 pages into this 500-page collection. Harrison was hopeful for a reunion--"I think it's very selfish if the Beatles don't record together"--and he occasionally opened up about why so few of his songs were on the albums. In 1971, he told Dick Cavett that his band mates "very subtly" held him down. In 1974, after his wife left him for Eric Clapton, Harrison claimed he wasn't sad. "Eric's…been a close friend for years," he said, and "I'd rather she was with him than with some dope." In 1988, talking to Kurt Loder, Harrison enthusiastically discussed the Traveling Wilburys and his illustrious band mates, including Bob Dylan, and he was irked by McCartney's decision to skip their 1988 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction: "Paul is a hypocrite sometimes." A terrific collection for Beatles fans to savor. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
