The “grubby” album that George Harrison wished he could have remake: “I was in a real down place”
Whether an artist tries to block it out or not, the world around them always and inevitably comes floating in.
It’s called contextualism, the theory that the meaning of an artwork is always shaped by the social, political and personal world in which it was created. With that in mind, it offers a useful perspective when considering the album George Harrison always wished he could redo.
In some cases, context is exactly what makes an artwork great. Staying with The Beatles, Paul McCartney’s first solo records are a clear example. McCartney is inseparable from the moment it was made: him retreating to his home after the band’s split, working alone while battling depression and uncertainty about whether he even wanted to continue making music. The absence of other musicians makes sense in that light, as do the record’s heightened emotions and tenderness, especially on songs about his wife Linda, whom he sings about as a rock during difficult times.
On his follow-up, the joy of Ram is undeniably tied to the joy of McCartney returning to making music with others, and it can’t be removed from that context, as it colours every decision and every note. The same goes for the rest of the group, as John Lennon’s work became endlessly more political after he moved to New York and mixed with a more political crowd, and George Harrison’s debut was fuelled by a fight to prove himself, and that alone feels like context as to why it was a triple album.
But sometimes, context works against you, and in the quiet Beatle’s life, even though he never directly stated it, his dislike for Extra Texture seems to fall victim to that. If he could have, Harrison would have redone the record, reflecting on which he claimed, “Extra Texture was a grubby album in a way. The production left a lot to be desired, as did my performance”.
There are some good moments, or perhaps only one, as ‘You’ is really the only track that truly stands out, but overwhelmingly, Harrison’s mind was busy elsewhere, busy going through it.
“I was in a real down place,” he admitted about it, and that was really it; he didn’t say anything else, or go into any details, but one quick glance at a timeline lands the making of Extra Texture directly in the moment when Harrison and his wife, Pattie Boyd were separating.
It’s a wonder it had lasted that long, for not only had his best friend, Eric Clapton, been actively pursuing his wife since 1970, but Boyd admitted later that the reason for their split came down to the musician’s repeated infidelities and worsening addictions. “George used coke excessively, and I think it changed him,” Boyd said, “It froze his emotions and hardened his heart”.
You can hear that on this record, too, as it lacks any real emotional strength. Pair that with a distracted mind in the studio, and the context becomes a recipe for disaster, as Harrison said, “Some songs I like, but in retrospect I wasn’t very happy about it”.
