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(c) Ian Hammond 1999
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In the early days Harrison and McCartney shared a more equal status. History has retrospectively rewritten those roles.

Harrison's folly was to avoid songwriting until Help!, after which he was in catch-up mode. This did not have to be: remember, Please Please Me was probably the first complete song Lennon wrote.

After two years of rock songwriting Harrison Went East for over a year, establishing Raga Rock on the way. After he returned from his epic journey, with a heart, he quickly caught up, overtaking John and Paul in the Pop Song and Ballad department on their last album.

Harrison did not match the output of Lennon and McCartney. On the other hand he wrote fewer fillers. Most of his songs appear in respectable album slots. McCartney was similar on the early albums where Lennon dominated. On each album George took a leap forward in terms of songwriting. Like all successful pop merchants, Harrison learned fast. From Rubber Soul on he tended to lead rather than follow in terms of songwriting. Harrison peaked just as Lennon and McCartney were nadiring. He was bursting with material when they closed down.

Harrison's has a number of strengths as a songwriter. More than anything else, he easily achieves a broad architecture for his songs with well matched verses and bridges. His tempo and key are always exactly matched to a song. The broad-strokes are also applied to the clean chord progressions which always guarantee a solid momentum. Harrison's songs never lag (although the coda of one or two early pieces falls apart). Harrison's melody is always rock, and is often minimal on his earlier songs. Never the Weak Verbal Type, Harrison's lyrics are usually competent, occasionally shining.

The story of his development as a songwriter is naturally the story of a young man learning how to express himself, but at the same time the story of his creative development as he grows in order to achieve that goal. In 1963 Harrison's passion was to collect U.S. Sheriff memorabilia (guns and badges). By 1965 he had swapped C & W and the hip-shooter for plain hip. By 1967 the ex-Beatle he had been thoroughly orientalized and domesticated. In 1968 he channeled all these experiences back to his rebirth as a pop artist, arriving just in time for the last Beatles' album.

By the time the band broke up, the gawky kid with the lopsided smile had become a complete songwriter, guitar player and singer. Lennon and McCartney agreed to Harrison receiving more slots on the album after Abbey Road, which they never made. Instead Harrison went on to make two number one triple albums. But that's another story for another day...


Electronic Sounds
In 1969 Harrison released a Zapple album with two tracks of synthesizer music entitled plainly Electronic Sounds. I have the album and I've managed to listen to all of it at least once. It's very pleasant electronic music characterized by lots of space. It deserves a more in-depth treatment at some later date.

Harrison cements his avant-garde credentials with this album, not that he seems to make much use of these in his post-Beatles existence.

The Harrison Attack
One of my hobbies is to listen to exactly how singers attack (and release) notes. In general (and this is real simplification) Lennon likes to kick from the start of a note to the main accent where McCartney likes to slide . (By the way, one reason that listeners find it hard to identify the singer of the bridge return to the verse in A Day In The Life is because these tell-tale fingerprints are missing, replaced by long glissando slides). 

Harrison's vocal attack and release in the early days tended to be a bit random. Well, it was actually chaotic, which made double-tracking messy. (I still haven't worked out what he did when singing harmony parts, but he seems to use a different attack on these).

I have a theory that it's the early weaknesses that later on become the stylistic signatures of an artist. In Harrison's case, if you listen to his note attack on Something and Here Comes The Sun you'll hear this process in action. He uses a number of techniques, including some interesting swoops, but the most characteristic attack is a slight quiver, which retains the uncertainty of his early days, but fills the gap. The affect, to my mind, is very friendly and very warm (which I know is very subjective, but this has been a long article and I'm allowed at least one).