JUNE 30, 2017
“YOUR LOVE IS FOREVER” (WRITER: GEORGE HARRISON)
ARTIST: GEORGE HARRISON
RELEASED 1979 ON GEORGE
HARRISON LP
Few people expected George Harrison to be the most
immediately successful solo Beatle, but his 1970 All Things Must Pass triple album and #1 single “My Sweet Lord”
catapulted The Quiet One into a position of solo super-stardom. He spent
the next several years rolling downhill creatively and commercially.
Nothing Harrison did after ATMP had quite the same commercial appeal, and few would argue
that his mid-70s solo material was his best work. By 1976, it was no longer
guaranteed that his singles or albums would be popular on radio or in the
stores.
He appeared lost during the middle of the
decade, struggling with drugs and drink and finally splitting from Patti Boyd.
He often looked haggard and physically wasted.
Things could only get better, and they did. In 1974, when
Apple Records finally capitulated, Harrison helped set up Dark Horse Records to
issue his work and that of other acts he liked. (A&M Records distributed
the work through 1976, at which point Warner Brothers took over.) While in Los
Angeles, Harrison met Olivia Arias, a secretary at the label, and the two eventually
began a relationship.
The two married in 1978, a month after their child Dhani was
born. Harrison often credited Olivia for helping pull him from the mire and
giving him something to live for. He soon realized that he liked life on his quiet
estate—where he could garden, hang out, and play guitar—more than the rock and
roll business.
The album George
Harrison, released in 1979, reflected this new-found serenity. The songs radiated
optimism, love, patience, and even humor. A long stay in Hawaii informed his
sense of connection to the earth, and recording the album at his Friar Park
estate contributed to the overwhelming calm and good spirit.
With the help of experienced musical friends like Willie
Weeks, Andy Newmark, Gary Wright, Steve Winwood, and producer Ted Templeman, Harrison
whipped up a slightly stoned late-70s hummus of yacht rock, mellow psychedelia,
and breezy pop. He summoned his Beatles past with a new take on an old ‘White
Album’ outtake, “Not Guilty,” and with “Here Comes the Moon,” a shimmering,
trippy sort-of-sequel to you-know-what.
He also enjoyed a moderate hit single with the charming,
inspiring “Blow Away.” “Faster” (his ode to Formula I race driver Niki Lauda)
and “Love Comes to Everyone” (featuring an opening guitar cameo from Eric
Clapton) serve as excellent lite-rock.
On “Your Love is Forever,” Harrison used an open guitar
tuning, which allowed him greater melodic flexibility, and a Roland guitar
effect—possibly the Space Echo—which constructed a luscious sound on what
sounds like a Fender 12-string electric guitar (anyone know for sure?).
Matching this lush, reverberating tone, Harrison wrote equally words and melody.
Sublime
is the summertime, warm and lazy…
These
are perfect days, like Heaven’s about here.
But
unlike summer came and went—your love is forever…
The
only lover worth it all, your love is forever.
“Your Love is Forever” works as a love song to a person as
well as to a higher power. George could be singing about Olivia, or Dhani, but
he could also be singing about God. It doesn’t matter. Like the best of all
music, it works on different levels. The sound, the lyrics, and the melody
combine into a sort of prayer, an acknowledgement of the passing of time and
our place in it.
George Harrison combined his own expressive gift with a feel
for several complementary music traditions. From a diverse palette came music
that felt like a giant cosmic heartbeat and looked like a rainbow.
Beautiful song. I wasn't as inspired by George's work by the mid-1970s and never bought this album. Perhaps never heard it. This is a gem.
ReplyDeleteUnlike Thom, I BOUGHT this album when it came out and was not impressed by the album. HOWEVER, this truly IS a gem and Stu thanks so much for pointing me back to it! WLSClark
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