This book should have been titled ‘While My Guitar Gentle Weeps’. Not because this is an epic monolith of rock biographies, about the quiet Beatle, George Harrison, but because it made me cry like an out-of-tune Rickenbacker. Let's be clear on one thing: this book is awful. The notoriously ‘quiet Beatle’ was anything but a talent lost in the songwriting shadows of genius tunesmiths: John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Post-Beatle breakup, George Harrison was the most successful solo Beatles, outselling John and Paul until Lennon's untimely death.
For a biography about George Harrison, you have to wade through 190 pages of well-written and well-worn Beatles lore before learning anything about the book's subject. Aside from Lennon and McCartney, George was best friends with Slowhands guitar genius, Eric Clapton, whose rather racy hands saw him have an affair with his best pals wife, Pattie Boyd. Aside from the genius of Something by The Beatles and Layla by Derek and the Dominoes, this book almost feels like a short biography of Eric Clapton as well. I never knew as much about Clapton until reading this biography of... you get my point.
The subject matter is poorly researched, mistakenly authoritative and offers no further information on George that I couldn't have read elsewhere. The prologue, by the author, is also a back-handed apology for writing a 3000-word article about George, which slaughtered his songwriting skills, solo career, and reputation. Had I read that bit first, I would have avoided this book.
Several years ago I read ‘SHOUT’ by the same author, and I’d forgotten that was awful too - lesson learnt!
To quote the late George Harrison ‘ All Things Must Pass’... and so should this book, because it was rubbish.
I scored this book 2/5 on my GOODREADS feed.
the book is available to buy here