| Thirty Three &1⁄3 | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 19 November 1976 (1976-11-19) | |||
| Recorded | 24 May–13 September 1976 | |||
| Studio | FPSHOT (Oxfordshire) | |||
| Genre | Pop rock[1] | |||
| Length | 39:15 | |||
| Label | Dark Horse | |||
| Producer | ||||
| George Harrison chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Thirty Three &1⁄3 | ||||
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Thirty Three &1⁄3 (stylised asThirty Three &1⁄ॐ on the album cover) is the seventh studio album by the English musicianGeorge Harrison, released in November 1976. It was Harrison's first album release on hisDark Horse record label, the worldwide distribution for which changed fromA&M Records toWarner Bros. as a result of his late delivery of the album's master tapes. Among other misfortunes affecting its creation, Harrison sufferedhepatitis midway through recording, and the copyright infringement suit regarding his 1970–71 hit song "My Sweet Lord" was decided in favour of the plaintiff, Bright Tunes Music. The album contains the US top 30 singles "This Song" – Harrison's satire on that lawsuit and the notion of plagiarism in pop music – and "Crackerbox Palace". Despite the problems associated with the album, many music critics recognisedThirty Three &1⁄3 as a return to form for Harrison after his poorly received work during 1974–75, and considered it his strongest collection of songs since 1970's acclaimedAll Things Must Pass.
Harrison recordedThirty Three &1⁄3 at hisFriar Park home studio, with production assistance fromTom Scott. Other musicians on the recording includeBilly Preston,Gary Wright,Willie Weeks,David Foster andAlvin Taylor. Harrison undertook extensive promotion for the album, which included producing comedy-themed video clips for three of the songs, two of which were directed byMonty Python memberEric Idle, and making a number of radio and television appearances. Among the latter was a live performance with singer-songwriterPaul Simon onNBC'sSaturday Night Live. The album was remastered in 2004 as part of theDark Horse Years 1976–1992 reissues following Harrison's death in 2001.
In January 1976, four months after the release of his final album underthe Beatles' recording contract withEMI,Extra Texture (Read All About It),[2]George Harrison announced his intention to record for his own record label,Dark Horse Records.[3] Harrison had formed the label in May 1974, when he signed a five-year distribution agreement withA&M Records.[4] In addition to other Dark Horse artists, the contract called for four solo albums from Harrison, the first of which was due by 26 July 1976.[5]
After making the announcement at the annualMidem music fair in Cannes, Harrison spent the early part of 1976 involved in activities other than music-making. Foremost among these was the court case, in New York, for a long-runningplagiarism suit launched against him by music publisher Bright Tunes, who contended that Harrison had infringed on their copyright ofthe Chiffons' song "He's So Fine" in his 1970–71 hit single "My Sweet Lord".[6] While in Los Angeles in February and March, Harrison worked on a proposed documentary film of his1974 North American tour withRavi Shankar.[7] On 20 April, he made a guest appearance on stage in New York with theMonty Python comedy troupe, dressed as aCanadian Mountie, as part of the chorus on "The Lumberjack Song".[8][9]Michael Palin of the Pythons later recalled that Harrison looked "tired and ill"; authorPeter Doggett attributes Harrison's poor health to a lifestyle increasingly reliant onalcohol andcocaine, following the failure of his marriage toPattie Boyd in 1974.[10]
After beginning sessions for the album in late May,[11] Harrison was struck down withhepatitis and unable to work for much of the summer.[12] He first tried achanting technique as a cure, as proposed inParamhansa Yogananda's bookScientific Healing Affirmations, before agreeing to his partnerOlivia Arias's requests that he seek conventional medical treatment,[13] which was similarly unsuccessful.[14][15] Arias then researched natural remedies such asacupuncture. Harrison's health was soon restored through a series of treatments in California with acupuncturist Zion Yu.[13][15] Harrison later said: "I needed the hepatitis to quit drinking."[16] The title for the new album,Thirty Three &1⁄3, reflected his age at the time of recording, as well as the speed at which a vinyl LP plays on a turntable.[17][18]
Harrison prepared the material he would record forThirty Three &1⁄3 while holidaying in theVirgin Islands in theCaribbean Sea.[7] In musicologist Thomas MacFarlane's view, despite the pressure Harrison was under, the songs he completed demonstrated his sense of humour.[19] Arias recalled that they were joined in the Virgin Islands byEric Idle of Monty Python, and that the noise they created attracted complaints from television producerNorman Lear and his wife, activist and journalistFrances Lear, who were staying in the neighbouring house.[20][nb 1] In their respective studies of the spiritual aspects of Harrison's career,Dale Allison andGary Tillery view the album as the artist reaffirming hisHindu-aligned spirituality after the despondency evident onExtra Texture.[21][22] In author Ian Inglis' description,Thirty Three &1⁄3 suggests "a man reborn", as confidence, optimism and success have superseded the previous album's themes of pessimism, suspicion and failure.[23]
"Crackerbox Palace" was inspired by Harrison meeting the former manager of comedianLord Buckley at Midem in January 1976.[24] Written in March,[7] "This Song" was Harrison's sardonic send-up of the "My Sweet Lord"/"He's So Fine" court case[25] and reflected his experience in the courtroom as musicologists for both sides argued their respective cases.[26] Harrison said he wrote it to "exorcise the paranoia about songwriting" that the episode had fostered in him.[27] "Pure Smokey" was his musical tribute tosoul singerSmokey Robinson.[28][29] "It's What You Value" came about after drummerJim Keltner had declined payment for appearing in Harrison's 1974 tour band, instead requesting a newMercedes sportscar.[30] The lyrics reflect the singer's interest inFormula 1,[31] with a reference to the six-wheelTyrrell P34.[32][33] As a rare cover version, Harrison reworked theCole Porter standard "True Love" in the pop style.[34] He later joked thatBing Crosby's well-known version from 1956 "got the chords wrong"[7] and was "a bit slow".[35]
Harrison completed "See Yourself", which he had started writing in 1967 followingPaul McCartney's public admission that he had taken the drugLSD.[36] "Woman Don't You Cry for Me" and "Beautiful Girl" were other compositions dating from the late 1960s that Harrison revisited forThirty Three &1⁄3.[37] The first of these was a tune he wrote while on tour withDelaney & Bonnie in December 1969, to showcase his then-recent adoption ofslide guitar.[38] In completing the lyrics to "Beautiful Girl", it became a love song to Arias,[39] whom he credits with providing the love he "needed for this soul to survive".[40] Like "See Yourself", "Dear One" was inspired by Swami Yogananda,[41] author ofAutobiography of a Yogi and a profound influence on Harrison since his visit to India in September 1966.[42] The ballad "Learning How to Love You" was another song inspired by his relationship with Arias.[43] Harrison originally intended it as a track for singer and trumpeterHerb Alpert, the co-founder of A&M Records.[16]
Allison views "Dear One" as the song that reflects Harrison's renewed faith after his self-styled "naughty period", but with a lyrical ambiguity that equally makes it a call for love.[44] When commenting on how the album's love songs appear to be directed to both a deity and a woman, Harrison said he was conscious of this trait,[45] and "all love is part of a universal love. When you love a woman, it's the God in her that you see."[46]
Harrison started recordingThirty Three &1⁄3 on 24 May 1976, at hisFriar Park home studio,FPSHOT, in Oxfordshire.[11] He had taped the basic tracks for twelve songs[47] before the onset of his bout of hepatitis.[12] Having admitted in a recent interview withMelody Maker that he would prefer to work with a co-producer in future,[48] Harrison enlisted jazz saxophonist and arrangerTom Scott.[49][50] Scott's schedule as musical director of theStarsky & Hutch TV series restricted his role to production assistance on the Harrison album.[51][nb 2]
As part of an all-North American line-up of musicians at the sessions, other participants included bassistWillie Weeks, drummerAlvin Taylor, keyboard playersRichard Tee andDavid Foster, and jazz percussionistEmil Richards.[56] Harrison's regular associatesGary Wright andBilly Preston also contributed, on keyboards,[57] the latter in between his commitments tothe Rolling Stones' concurrentEuropean tour.[12] Taylor had recently played on the album2nd Resurrection, co-produced by Preston for the Chicagosoul groupthe Stairsteps,[7] one of several acts signed to Dark Horse Records since 1974.[58] Together with the Taylor–Weeksrhythm section,[56] Scott's presence onThirty Three &1⁄3 gave the album a more overt American soul sound compared with Harrison's self-producedExtra Texture.[59] Author Michael Frontani describes Taylor and Weeks as one of Harrison's most effective rhythm sections.[60] Taylor recalled that he recorded his drum parts live to tape on the basic tracks, without anyoverdubs, and the aesthetic during the sessions was one of "human feeling".[61][nb 3]
Harrison selected ten of the original twelve tracks for overdubbing.[47] He later said that "See Yourself" was a song that he came to like more and more as further instruments were added onto the initial recording.[63] Harrison recorded "Dear One" after most of the musicians had departed.[12] Aside from Tee onHammond organ, he played all the instruments on the track,[12] includingsynthesizers.[64] According to authors Chip Madinger and Mark Easter, one of the few items of recording Harrison was able to do over the summer months was an overdubbed acoustic guitar solo on "Learning How to Love You".[12] Idle contributed the "ratbag" vocal interjections on "This Song", commenting on the track's similarity to 1960s hits byFontella Bass andthe Four Tops.[65]
After the keyboard-heavy arrangements onExtra Texture, Harrison's lead guitar playing returned to a prominent role in his sound.[66][67] His signature slide guitar dominates the album opener, "Woman Don't You Cry for Me",[49] and is represented in, variously, the twin, interweaving solos on "Beautiful Girl"[39] and the multitracked riffs and commentary on "True Love"[34][68] and "Crackerbox Place".[69][70] Harrison biographer Simon Leng also highlights his Beatlesquearpeggios in the arrangement of "Beautiful Girl" and the comparatively rare non-slide electric solos he plays on "Pure Smokey".[71]
After the enforced lay-off until late in the summer, Harrison completed work on the album on 13 September 1976.[72]Hank Cicalo was the recording engineer for the sessions, assisted by Kumar Shankar,[73] the nephew of Ravi Shankar.[31]Phil McDonald was the mixing engineer.[73] It was the first Harrison album to be recorded entirely at FPSHOT.[74]
By mid 1976, A&M Records were concerned that Dark Horse's roster of artists – which included Shankar, the Stairsteps,Splinter, Jiva,[75] and Keltner and Foster's bandAttitudes[76] – had failed to provide a return on the company's investment from the past two years.[35] A&M decided to offload the label and, in an attempt to recoup its costs, the company sued Harrison for $10 million in September 1976, citing his late delivery ofThirty Three &1⁄3.[16][77] That same month, New York judgeRichard Owen ruled on the copyright infringement suit,[78] stating that Harrison had "subconsciously plagiarised" part of the melody to the Chiffons song in his 1970 composition.[79] Having settled with A&M by returning his personal advance,[77] Harrison moved Dark Horse over toMo Ostin-runWarner Bros. Records,[57] where his friendDerek Taylor held an executive position.[80][81][nb 4]
Warner's announced the worldwide distribution deal with an event held atChasen's in West Hollywood on 17 November, which Harrison attended.[84][85]Thirty Three &1⁄3 was released on the Dark Horse imprint on 19 November in the UK and 24 November in the US.[86] The album'slead single, "This Song" backed by "Learning How to Love You", was issued on 15 November in the US and four days later in the UK.[84] The LP's gatefold cover was designed byBob Cato,[87] who also took the photographs for the package.[73] Further to the Hindu imagery on Harrison's previous album covers, the fraction in the title was rendered with the numeral 3 stylised as anOm symbol (ॐ).[88]
Thirty Three &1⁄3 outsoldDark Horse andExtra Texture in America,[35][89] where it peaked at number 11[90] on its way to being certified gold by theRIAA and selling around 800,000 copies.[91] The album's sales were nevertheless hindered by EMI/Capitol releasing theBest of George Harrison compilation in November 1976.[92][93][nb 5] In Britain, the album reached number 35.[97] While the singles "This Song" and "Crackerbox Palace" both became US hits, peaking at number 25 and 19, respectively, on theBillboard Hot 100,[90] none of the three singles issued in the UK – "This Song", "True Love" and "It's What You Value" – placed on the national chart, then a top 50.[98] Music journalistPaul Du Noyer later wrote of the contrasting reception: "Punk rock rendered Harrison obsolete in his homeland but US radio warmed to the expertise and tunefulness of it all."[99]
In 2004,Thirty Three &1⁄3 was remastered and reissued, both separately and as part of the deluxe box setThe Dark Horse Years 1976–1992,[100] with the addition of a bonus track, "Tears of the World".[101] The latter was an outtake from the 1980 sessions for Harrison's albumSomewhere in England.[102][nb 6]
I think generally the album's nice because it's happy ... We go through so many crazy things in our lives and I've been up and down and up and down, and the music always reflects it ... This one is just happy and up, that's what I like about it.[104]
Harrison undertook extensive promotion forThirty Three &1⁄3,[105] the first time he had done so for one of his albums.[82][nb 7] Trade advertisements for the release included a copy of hisbirth certificate under the tagline "1943 Was a Great Year for Music".[86] Harrison taped an interview with the editor ofRadio & Records magazine, which Dark Horse issued to radio stations asA Personal Music Dialogue with George Harrison at33+1⁄3.[12][106]
Other promotional activities included print and television interviews across selected cities in the United States during November 1976.[12][107][108] He also recorded TV interviews in the UK forGranada Reports andThe Old Grey Whistle Test.[109] During the first of these, in Manchester, Harrison agreed to a photo opportunity with former British prime ministerEdward Heath;[110] while in Washington, DC, he visited US Secretary of StateHenry Kissinger and gave him a Dark Horse Records T-shirt[111] and a copy of Yogananda'sAutobiography of a Yogi.[107] Reporting forRolling Stone, Charles Young described the Harrison–Kissinger meeting as a moment of "absurdist humor" and likened it to the "wonderful cultural clash" in the Beatles' 1964 filmA Hard Day's Night when Harrison encounters an earnest marketing executive.[112][nb 8] After holidaying in India with Arias and Wright,[115] where they attended the wedding of Shankar's niece, he carried out further promotion in Europe in early February 1977.[116][117]
Harrison also made promotional films, all in a comical vein,[56] for "This Song", "Crackerbox Palace" and "True Love".[118] Warner's distributed the three clips to selected TV stations internationally,[118] where they were aired in conjunction with his personal appearances.[12] "This Song" was directed by Harrison and satirised the New York court proceedings he attended in February. Shot at a Los Angeles courthouse,[46] it included guest appearances by his musician friends Jim Keltner andRon Wood.[119] Eric Idle directed the clips for "Crackerbox Palace"[64] and "True Love",[31] both of which were filmed at Friar Park.[120][nb 9]
The clips for "This Song" and "Crackerbox Palace" first aired in the US on 20 November as part of Harrison's appearance onSaturday Night Live.[122] In the same episode, he andPaul Simon performed "Here Comes the Sun" and "Homeward Bound" before a studio audience.[86][nb 10] The ratings for the episode were the highest yet achieved bySNL,[110] whose producer,Lorne Michaels, had recently made a regular theme out of spoofing the increasingly lucrative offers for a Beatles reunion.[126] In the show'scold open,[127] Harrison joined in the satire by haggling with Michaels for the full $3000 appearance fee he had offered for the four former Beatles to perform onSNL.[128][129] Doggett comments on the effectiveness of Harrison'sdeadpan humour in this scene and his willingness to play "the comic Beatle", saying that ego would have preventedJohn Lennon from satirising himself on TV, and McCartney's propensity forhamming would have "ruined the sketch".[126]
For Beatles fans, according to biographer Robert Rodriguez, the Harrison–Simon duets created a deep emotional response akin to when Lennon appeared on stage atMadison Square Garden withElton John in November 1974.[122] As throughout his promotion for the album, Rodriguez continues, Harrison's calm demeanour and physical appearance on the show – looking healthy and devoid of his usual facial hair – regained for him a position of public affection that had waned as a result of his 1974 US tour.[130][nb 11] AuthorAlan Clayson similarly highlights Harrison's new healthy, clean-shaven image and easy engagement as part of a winning strategy for his Dark Horse Records debut.[82][nb 12]
Saturday Night Live was Harrison's only musical performance while promotingThirty Three &1⁄3, apart from a mimed performance of "This Song" for German TV,[133] on 5 February.[134] Early in the campaign, he discussed the possibility of a world concert tour, to begin in the summer of 1977. By the time of his European promotional engagements, he had gone off the idea.[82] He then took a sabbatical from the music industry for the remainder of the year,[135][136] during which he and Arias travelled with the1977 Formula 1 World Championship.[137][138][nb 13]
After the disappointments ofDark Horse andExtra Texture over 1974–75,Thirty Three &1⁄3 was widely viewed as a return to form for Harrison.[143] It earned the artist his strongest reviews sinceAll Things Must Pass[144] and many critics compared it favourably with the triple album.[122]Billboard magazine described the LP as "a sunny, upbeat album of love songs and cheerful jokes that is his happiest and most commercial package, with least high-flown postures, for perhaps his entire solo career". The reviewer rated the production "top-notch" before concluding: "And Harrison's often-spectacular melody writing gift gets brilliant display here."[145]
InMelody Maker,Ray Coleman remarked on Warner Bros.' need to re-establish Harrison, adding: "The question is merely whether the music [onThirty Three &1⁄3] merits it. Unequivocally, the answer is yes." Coleman praised Harrison's vocals on this "fine album" and likened the quality of his melodies to that on the Beatles' 1965 albumRubber Soul.[146]Michael Gross wrote inSwank magazine that Harrison "seems with33⅓ to have come unstuck", adding: "If the new record company, new girlfriend ... Olivia Arias, and new disc have put him in a more secure place in the material world, he could well recapture his spot as the Beatle to watch."[147] In a review that Michael Frontani terms "particularly laudatory",Richard Meltzer ofThe Village Voice described Harrison's new work as "his best LP sinceAll Things Must Pass and on par with, say, [Bob Dylan's]Blood on the Tracks".[60] FellowVillage Voice criticRobert Christgau gave the record a B-minus and said, "This isn't as worldly as George wants you to think – or as he thinks himself, for all I know – but it ain't fulla shit either." He highlighted "This Song" and the album's second side, particularly "Crackerbox Palace", which he regarded among Harrison's best songs since his Beatles days.[148]
Less impressed,Rolling Stone continued to regard Harrison in an unfavourable light after what Elliot Huntley terms its "volte-face" in 1974.[149] The magazine's reviewer,Ken Tucker, noted the accessibility of "fast, cheerful numbers" such as "Woman Don't You Cry for Me" and "This Song" but lamented both "George's persistent preaching" elsewhere and that Scott's presence rendered the album as "music with the feeling and sincerity of cellophane".[150] In theNME,Bob Woffinden admired Harrison's guitar playing but dismissed him as a lyric writer, before concluding: "Harrison's general demeanour is more encouraging ... While it is an album of no particular merit in itself, it is one which leads me to believe that his best work may not necessarily be behind him."[151][152][nb 14]
Writing in 1977,Nicholas Schaffner found that, in comparison withAll Things Must Pass, the songs onThirty Three &1⁄3 "rely on pure melody and George's own musicianship instead of dazzling orchestrations and production". Schaffner added: "The tastefulness of his performance on his two pet instruments, slide guitar and synthesizer, is unmatched in rock, andThirty-three and a Third boasts the most varied and tuneful collection of Harrison melodies to date."[64] In the 1978 edition ofThe Beatles: An Illustrated Record,NME criticsRoy Carr andTony Tyler describedThirty Three &1⁄3 as Harrison's "best effort – by far" sinceAll Things Must Pass.[154] Carr and Tyler concluded: "Itmust be the production. For no individual track really presents itself as typifying a New Harrison Approach – and yet the impression left by the album as a whole is definitely of a more balanced, poised and devil-may-care Hari ..."[155]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [156] |
| All-Music Guide to Rock | [157] |
| Blender | [99] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B−[158] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [159] |
| Mojo | [160] |
| Music Story | [161] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [162] |
| Uncut | 7/10[163] |
In a review forRolling Stone following Harrison's death in November 2001,Greg Kot said ofThirty Three &1⁄3: "'Crackerbox Palace' has a twinkle in its eye, the kind of song that had previously eluded the increasingly self-serious Harrison ... The tune's melodic sweep is nearly matched by 'This Song' ... The two tracks form the center of the guitarist's strongest collection since his solo debut."[164] Having interviewed Harrison forGuitar World magazine in 1987,Rip Rense praised the solos on tracks such as "Learning How to Love You" and "Beautiful Girl", while opining of Harrison's "underrated solo [career]": "his work is my choice for best among the ex-Fabs for being the most substantial in melody, structure, and content.Thirty-Three and a Third, for instance, might yet be hailed as a minor masterpiece ..."[165]
In the 2004Rolling Stone Album Guide, Mac Randall named "Beautiful Girl" as "one of the many highlights of his upbeat return to pop form,Thirty-Three &1⁄3".[166] Writing forThe Word that year, Paul Du Noyer referred to the album as "the lost treasure" among Harrison'sDark Horse Years reissues,[167] and in a concurrent review forBlender, he highlighted "Crackerbox Palace" and "Learning How to Love You" as the standout tracks.[99]
With some albums, the backstory is more fascinating than the music, but in this case the songs and performances are inseparable from the swirling circumstances enmeshed in their creation – romance, redemption, acrimony, epiphany.Thirty Three &1⁄3 stands as a pivotal album in Harrison's body of work, the document of a man in the act of discovering exactly where he belonged.[43]
In another 2004 appraisal, forPopMatters, Jason Korenkiewicz wrote that the remaster "allows the guitars to ring, and the percussion has a crispness that was hidden in past releases". Korenkiewicz included "the magnificent 'Dear One'" among the album's "countless classic tracks" and considered thatThirty Three &1⁄3 "features more consistent high points than any Harrison album sinceAll Things Must Pass".[168] Conversely, Kit Aiken ofUncut described it as an "oddly ordinary album" that reflected the "blow to his confidence and inspiration" as a result of the court's ruling on "My Sweet Lord".[169] Writing for the same magazine in July 2012,David Quantick includedThirty Three &1⁄3 among Harrison's best solo releases, along withAll Things Must Pass andCloud Nine.[163]
Robert Rodriguez has written of A&M's folly in parting with Dark Horse Records and thereby missing out on a work that would stand as "possibly [Harrison's] most commercialever".[170] Rodriguez adds: "If ever an album cried out for a tour, it was this lively, energetic, and colorfully upbeat collection."[133] FormerMojo editorMat Snow views it as a "confident, if not quite classic" album on which Harrison "had his groove back".[89] In his review of Harrison's 2014Apple/EMI reissues, Alex Franquelli ofPopMatters citesThirty Three &1⁄3 as an example of how "Harrison's artistic output remained coherent with itself" followingAll Things Must Pass, and he describes the album as "well above the average pop songwriting".[171]
All songs written byGeorge Harrison, except where noted.
For the 2004 digitally remastered issue ofThirty Three &1⁄3, abonus track was added:
iTunes bonus track:
According to the album credits,[73] except where noted:
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA)[181] | Gold | 500,000^ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[182] | Silver | 60,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
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