The Society of Sound

 "What Is Life” reached the Top 10 in the US, and #1 in Australia and Switzerland.  In the UK, it had also been released as  the B-side to the “My Sweet Lord” single on January 15, 1971.

Its success meant that George was the first ex-Beatle to have two Top 10 solo US hits. 

The US single sleeve below:

The video at the top of this post was directed by Brandon Moore, chosen as the winner of a contest hosted by Olivia & Dhani Harrison to coincide with what would have been George’s 74th birthday in 2017. 

As they wrote at GeorgeHarrison.com at the time, “We were totally surprised and delighted by this video and it was a clear favourite for both of us. The dancer really expressed unbounded joy, and managed to capture the spirit of ‘What is Life’ through movement, which the director captured beautifully.” 

You’ve heard the song before, of course, and are hopefully playing it now. Once you’re done with that, let’s break it down. It’s my favorite solo George song, definitely my favorite from All Things Must Pass, among my favorite 1971 singles by anyone, and more important for the proceedings here, it’s complex enough to both merit and benefit from a little closer scrutiny.

Although Phil Spector’s “Wall of Sound” approach to producing All Things Must Pass had its desired effect – Rolling Stone called it “Wagnerian, Brucknerian, the music of mountain tops and vast horizons" – George was the first to admit that some of it was a bit much. 

When remastering the 30th Anniversary Edition of All Things Must Pass released in January 2001 (see? Even George associated ATMP with 1971), he included a number of stripped-down demos that got closer to his original intent, but as a delightful contrast, he also included Phil Spector’s original backing track for “What Is Life?”, which was way, WAY too much. 

“When we were going through all the tapes, I just found this version that was like a rough mix on which I tried having this piccolo trumpet player like the guy who played on Penny Lane. It wasn’t actually the same bloke but I wanted that sound. So I had an oboe and a piccolo trumpet and I had this part for them all written out but they couldn’t play it the same; they couldn’t do this this kind of ‘hush’ phrase, and they played it very staccato like a classical player. So I must have just recorded them on it, then rough mixed it, and then ditched that.

And as I was saying earlier, most of it was live. I hadn’t done the vocal overdub because I’m playing the fuzz guitar part that goes all through the song. So all I could do on the take was to give the band the cue line - the first line of each verse - and then go back to playing that riff. So that rough mix without the vocal - I’d forgot all about it - was a novelty I found.” (more here)

It really is a lot of fun! Check it out!

One More For The Guitar Nerds!

What’s that you say? You want to hear George Harrison’s lead guitar isolated? Done! 

It’s a lovely little fuzz tone that somehow simultaneously evokes surf music and Motown! Take a listen, see if you hear it.

But wait! ANOTHER For The Guitar Nerds!

The “Wall of Sound” wasn’t just a production trick. Yeah, George’s voice is layered onto 8 of the 16 tracks, but there’s also a ton of musicians here, playing mostly live, including all of Delaney & Bonnie’s backing band, all four members of Badfinger, and one Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Sir Eric Patrick Clapton.

Protect ya ears on this one! 

The video is very quiet for the first 20 seconds as George counts the band in and Eric waits his turn, so don’t be turning that volume up too high just yet – but once he takes off, he burns rubber. Listen to the first minute and a half or so to see what kind of chaos he’s laying down, then if you want to skip ahead, pick it up around the 4 minute mark, where Eric goes absolutely nuts on the outro. (Clapton nerds in particular won’t want to miss a lick, though!)

It’s easy to see why this was too much even for Phil Spector, who mixed Eric’s part way the hell down. Fortunately for the snoops among us, an enterprising lad on YouTube created his own version of a mix that pulls Eric’s version equal to George (here if you want it) …

…but if you want to really get a feel for what Eric was attempting, it works better to hear his part on its own – as another bonus track, if you will.

Last but not least….

One For The Drum Nerds!

And honestly, if you’re not a drum nerd, you can skip this…but if you are, this’ll be the best thing you’ve heard in ages. 

Jim Gordon’s tale is a tragic one (drugs and paranoid schizophrenia don’t mix: he’s serving a life sentence for murder in a California psychiatric prison, and we’re fortunate that the body count he left behind is as low as it is), but man, he gave us some amazing music, including this iso track of his drum work on “What Is Life?” 

Jim was the definition of a “pocket” drummer, with an unerring sense of groove that transcended mere rhythm. High profile gigs with Delaney & Bonnie, Mad Dogs & Englishmen, Derek & The Dominoes, and here on All Things Must Pass are just the tip of it: he was surely among the top two or three most in-demand studio drummers in the 70s. This bonus track will give you an idea of why.

What Is Life? What a ride! 

I’m the first to admit that you may not ever need to hear some of these alt takes twice, but they really help illuminate what all these fellas got out of their work together, and why they kept crossing each other’s paths in various ways over the years.

When everything else is said and done, though, the version to listen to is the good ol’ original. 

The Original! The Move’s 1971 banger, “Do Ya!”

You’ve heard the 1976 hit version from The Electric Light Orchestra, a pop classic by any measure – but this stripped-down 1971 version by The Move SLAMS! It’s obviously the same song of course, but it really sounds beamed in from another dimension as peeling back all the layers reveals the downright weirdness at its heart. 

(Seriously, one of the weirdest songs ever to become a hit.)

Presumably you’ve already hit play and heard the biggest difference between this and the 1976 ELO version: that one had an orchestra and choir, and this one is just composer Jeff Lynne, Roy Wood, and drummer Bev Bevan BANGING. Although Jeff wrote it, the song’s original title was named for a spontaneous outburst of Roy Wood’s at the end of the song, “Look Out Baby There’s A Plane A-Comin’”. (Yes, that was the original title! I think “Do Ya” works better tho.)

(Tom Petty later told Jeff that he thought “Look out baby there’s a planet coming” was one of the coolest lyrics he’d ever heard, and was disappointed to learn the proper words.)

Although the song had been a staple in ELO’s live sets, they didn’t get around to recording it until 1976, after Todd Rundgren’s cover on Another Live became something of a hit itself in 1975 (with Todd repaying a favor to Jeff, who’d regularly been performing Todd’s early Nazz track “Open Your Eyes”). 

In fact, it was this original version’s complete lack of orchestration that landed the song with The Move rather than ELO. (Both Message From The Country and ELO’s debut were recorded more or less simultaneously, with the more orchestral tracks naturally landing with ELO,) 

Recorded December 19, 1971, and released as the B-side to “California Man”, it failed to chart in the UK, and in 1972, barely cracked the US Top 100, landing at #98. Its days as a chart-topper were yet to come.

I do love ELO’s 1976 version, and the 1975 version by Todd Rundgren’s Utopia (which I’ll discuss in full another day) might even be my favorite, but there’s something special and irreplaceable about the original “Do Ya” from 1971.