Looking for the Light: George Harrison’s Living in the Material World

A deluxe edition shines a new hue on a Quiet Beatle classic

November 13, 2024November 13, 2024 Gillian G. Gaar 0 Comments 1973, 2024, BMG, Dark Horse Records, Deluxe Edition, George Harrison, Living in the Material World, The Beatles

Living in the Material World promo poster (Image: Apple Records)

In the early 1970s, George Harrison was on a roll.

After splitting from The Beatles, the guitarist released his magnum opus, the triple-album set All Things Must Pass, to great acclaim in 1970. The single “My Sweet Lord” became an international hit (an accomplishment somewhat marred when Harrison was later found guilty of “unconscious plagiarism” of the song later in the decade). In 1971 came the Harrison-organized concerts for Bangladesh, the first large scale charity concerts staged by the rock community.

Sorting out the tax issues that arose from the charity shows meant that Harrison didn’t get around to working on his next album, Living in the Material World, until late 1972. For some, on the album’s release in 1973, it marked a turning point. Critics like Roy Carr and Tony Tyler, in their jointly-written book The Beatles: An Illustrated Record, were among those who felt that Harrison spiritual beliefs were now intruding too heavily on his songwriting, a view that would become increasingly common throughout the rest of the decade. The “Quiet Beatle” was seen as a hectoring prophet.

Living in the Material World deluxe edition (Image: BMG)

The passage of time has tempered such sentiments. And the new 50th anniversary edition of album seeks to reintroduce Material World to listeners with a new mix, and, in the deluxe versions, bonus tracks featuring alternate takes of every song on the album (among other things, the bonus tracks do make you wonder why he needed to do 93 — yes, 93! — takes of “Who Can See It”).

“Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth),” which opens the album, proves to be one of the strongest tracks; a simple, unadorned plea of hope set to a catchy melody. And comparing it with the acoustic version of the song that’s included as a bonus track reveals how much it gained by the addition of Harrison’s typically tasteful slide guitar work in the final version. Indeed, this album is often cited as having some of Harrison’s best guitar playing.

Gatefold Image from Living in the Material World (Image: Discogs)

Harrison’s religious beliefs do come to the fore in numbers like “The Lord Loves the One (Who Loves the Lord),” a toe-tapper that one critic suggested Aretha Franklin should consider covering, a great suggestion. Tough Harrison does make a relationship with God sound transactional: “And the law says if you don’t give/you don’t get loving.” The reflective “The Light That Has Lighted the World” casts a sorrowful eye on people who criticize those who are seeking out that light (drat those unbelievers). Other songs strike a more ambiguous tone. “Don’t Let Me Wait Too Long” is all jangly ’70s pop with its ringing guitars, and could be seen as directed toward an absent loved one, but could just as easily be read as a cry for salvation. And while “The Day the World Gets ’Round,” which features a delicate, keening Harrison vocal, gives a nod to the Lord, it’s really a more generalized hope for world harmony.

VIDEO: George Harrison “Be Here Now”

But while he reaches for enlightenment, Harrison’s stilled mired in our earthly realm, and it’s the songs addressing that issue that give this album its bite. Ironically, Harrison’s legal troubles inspired some of his best work; the mighty “Wah Wah” (from All Things Must Pass) was written after a particularly contentious Beatles business meeting. On Material World, the song “Sue Me Sue You Blues” has delightful couplets like “You serve me, and I’ll serve you/Swing your partners, all get screwed,” the upbeat music standing in nice contrast to the pungent lyrics. And the album’s title track gets the secular/spiritual balance just right. It’s a sturdy rocker in the verses (which also feature a potted Beatles history), then switches to a more ethereal tone in the bridge, when Harrison sings of the “spiritual sky.” It’s the one song that acknowledges the push and pull between the secular and sacred worlds.

And oddly, for an album that holds out salvation for all those who “see the light,” the record ends on a curiously downbeat note with the mournful “That Is All.” It’s another song carefully written so that the love Harrison sings of could be for the Lord or a romantic partner. But on this outing Harrison sounds so forlorn, the song ends up being rather dreary.

George Harrison Living in the Material World, Apple Records 1973

Material World fared well on its release, becoming Harrison’s last #1 album; the single “Give Me Love” also reached the top of the charts. But his subsequent albums were increasingly patchy, with sagging sales and chart positions (until redemption arrived in the shape of his 1987 album Cloud Nine, a surprise hit). Seen from a 21st century perspective, Material World now stands as one of Harrison’s stronger works.

Never the kind of showman who had an unquenchable need to seek out the limelight (like his fellow Beatle Paul McCartney), some of Harrison’s later albums seemed as if they were being released out of a sense of obligation rather than inspiration.

Living in the Material World captured a Harrison who still had things he wanted to say.