George Harrison received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today, the same day that EMI/Capitol announced plans to release a first ever career-spanning retrospective of Harrison's solo career.
Attending the star dedication ceremony was his widow, Olivia Harrison, and son Dhani. Also in attendance were former Beatles' bandmate and childhood friend Paul McCartney and fellow Traveling Wilburys mates Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne.
Let it Roll: Songs By George Harrison will be released June 16. The full tracklisting has not been announced, but some details about the set have been. A previous Harrison hits compilation covered his successful '70s solo career and songs from that era like his #1 hit single "My Sweet Lord" will be on the set as will other hits like "Isn't it a Pity" and "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)." Let It Roll will also include his late '80s hit "Got My Mind Set On You" and live performances of three of his most famous Beatles compositions that were performed at his Concert For Bangladesh ("Something," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," and "Here Comes The Sun"). The collection will be given the deluxe packaging treatment with liner notes and rare photographs.
Harrison is the last Beatle to have his solo work properly summarized. Let It Roll will now sit beside Paul McCartney's 2-CD Wingspan: Hits & History, Ringo Starr's Photograph: The Very Best of Ringo Starr, and John Lennon's Lennon Legend and Working Class Hero as nearly perfect snapshots of the solo careers of four of the greatest musicians of the 20th Century.
Article comments
1 - Kit O'Toole
Interesting development, and of course it's high time for an updated George Harrison compilation. I assume these tracks will be remastered? I also hope that a box set may appear one day, as well as a video compilation (there are unofficial DVDs floating around, but I'd love a clean copy!).
2 - Shiva nataraj
great cant wait to get it :)
3 - Josh Hathaway
Kit, there is an official DVD out there. As for a box set, I'd love to see one but I'm not sure how much solo Harrison work is in the vault. He took long breaks throughout his career but I'm not sure he did a lot of writing/playing during them. I'd love to think there is and would love to see it happen. There actually is a box set, but all it does is collect his albums for his own Dark Horse label. There's not much in the way of previously unheard material.
All of George's solo records with the exception of the posthumous Brainwashed have already been remastered and sound quite good. I'm guessing they'll use those tracks to assemble this compilation.