George Harrison by George Harrison: Day Turned to Bright

The last album released by Harrison in the Seventies, the eponymous George Harrison is a record whose importance and quality deserve to be considerably re-evaluated. Few pop artists have been able to offer the public such a high-calibre beginning and end to a decade.
Although appreciated by the public and commercially successful at the time, George Harrison has been somewhat underestimated, perhaps coinciding with the historical moment at which it was released, with new wave increasingly dominating the music scene.
Instead, this album should be recognised for admirably closing a difficult decade that George himself had gone through without entirely escaping unscathed. To some extent, George’s detachment from the music scene and its fashions contributed to the album’s timeless quality, replete with melodies, acoustic instrumentation and mellow tones. A real ear-candy production made possible through the collaboration between Harrison and Russ Titelman, one of key figures of Warner Bros. at the time.
Enriched by images and photos, the volume George Harrison by George Harrison. Day Turned to Bright tells the story of one of Harrison’s most melodic albums and of the period that lie beneath its creation (1977–79), retracing the main events of his life (the death of his father, the birth of his son Dhani and the marriage with Olivia) and also paying attention to Harrison’s passion for gardening and for Formula 1, which proved itself a not only a relief valve for him but also provided inspiration for some songs and prompted George to get back to music after a period of detachment. In its detailed account of the album’s creation and analysis of its songs, based on contemporary sources and an in-depth interview by the author with co-producer Russ Titelman, the book guides readers through the elements that make this record a triumph of simplicity.
The album’s instrumentation reflects the wide array of inspirations and nuances of Harrison’s songs, ranging from soft ballads to catchy pop tunes, from Latin atmosphere to psychedelic touches, from exotic, spiritual nuances to more mundane subjects as motor racing: a blend of tradition and innovation. An essentially acoustic album, George Harrison
features some latest state-of-the-art synthesizers such as Minimoog, Polymoog, Prophet, Yamaha CS-80 and Oberheim – a modern touch that add to the joyous and harmonious atmosphere of the album. The technical setup of Harrison’s own studio, F.P.S.H.O.T., is also explored.
The volume covers the timeline of the sessions, the stories behind the songs of the album (including the outtakes, the demos and other songs from the period), their harmonic and rhythmic inventions, the lyrical analysis. A fascinating insight into an album that boasts a melodic quality unparalleled in Harrison’s discography.