article

Former Beatle Still Kicking
By: David Bauder
Associated Press Writer

New York---Dont ever count the Fabs out.
     It's a lesson that bears repeating, as George
Harrison patiently waits for a computer
system that he's overwhelmed to come back to
life. The former Beatle is participating in his
first online chat, which has temporarily
crashed under the weight of some 300,000 par-
ticipants.
     "They should call it more of a Web type
because you don't actually chat," he said,
wryly, in a telephone interciew before it began.
"Somebody here at Capitol Records is doing it.
I'll just answer the questions and they'll type
them in."
     If Britney Spears or Justin Timberlake were
online, you could understand the crush. But
this is a 58-year old man who's been silent
musically for more than a decade and is only
appearing to promote the rerelease of a 30-
year- old record.
     Yet there's obviously a bottomless reservoir
of good will toward the men who changed
musid during a brief, happy stretch of the
1960s. The stunning success of the Beatle's
greatest hits CD, 1, over the past few months
made that plain.
     The Beatles' reappearance at the top of the
music charts is "very nice," Harrison said.
     "The thing that pleases me the most about it
is that young people like it," he said. "Its given
kids from 6 to 16 an alrernate view of music to
what's been available for the past 20 years."
"I think the popular music has gonr truly weird,"
he said. "Its either cutesy-wutesy or
it's hard, nasty stuff. It's good that this has life
again with the youth."
     The guitarist for the world's most famous
rock 'n' roll band is now semiretired and
spends most of his time at his mansion 25
miles west of London. He's an avid gardener
who seems most animated on the Web chat
when a fan asks about some of his favortie
plants.

Harrison's family reacted angrily late last
year when the man, Micheal Abram, was found
innocent of attempted murder by reason of
insanity.
     The round of interviews to promote All
Things Must Pass represents Harrison's public
re-emergence since the attack.
     "I feel pretty good," he said. "You know, it's a
difficult thing to get over. But I feel like I've
gotton over it physically. My breathing is a
little bit less percentage than it used to be.
Other than that, I'm pretty cool."
A stab wound to the chest and a bout with
throat cancer---it's hard to think of two
tougher handicaps for a singer. Harrison,
though, offers a newly recorded song in the
album repackage by updating his hit single,
"My Sweet Lord." The weakness in his voice is
evident, though his cool guitar licks and new
arrangement make the song musically more
intersting than the original.
     He resisted the temptation to rerecord a lot
more of the album since its production, with
Phil Spector's Wall of Sound and heavy scho on
the voice, sounds dated today.
     "At the time, it seemed right," he said.
     All Things Must Pass, a triple album com-
pacted to two CD's, was harrison's failbreak
record. he'd stockpiled most of the songs
during the final few years of the Beatles, when
competition with the Lennon-McCartney song-
writing team allowed him to get only a few on
record.
     the album is notable for a songwriting col-
aboration with Bob dylan---predating the
Traveling Wilburys---and the then-uncredited
work of Eric Clapton. Harrison said the pre-
famous Phil Collins also appears, playing
congas on "The Art of Dying."