The Concert For Bangladesh (1972 film)

This film was the victim of bad accountancy. The concert, its album and film was meant to generate proceeds that aid Bangladesh refugees as they try to win independence from Pakistan which had liberated itself from India which only 25 years earlier freed itself from Britain. What happened was the concert got the tax classification of a charity benefit, but the accountants forgot to classify the album and film as a tax deduction and it got taxed by the British government well out of 80% of its gross. People thought it was a tax hoax but he got taxed and no money as it was going to go Ravi Shankar's charity. Other than that it is an exceptional concert film. Not the multi-star event of Woodstock, Monterrey or Altamont but for being made on the quick it did well bringing celebrities tanks to George's friends in high places. John couldn't make it because Yoko wasn't welcomed and Paul didn't want to make the appearance as it would heighten reunion rumors. The other bad news was Eric Clapton and Badfinger made it but they didn't take center stage and sing for themselves. What you get is a 20 minute Ravi instrumental which is great but not a great opener. Then George goes into a few songs from his breakthrough album All Things Must Pass. Only the Beatles song "Something" and his duet with Bob Dylan are not from that album. Bob Dylan gets 5 songs. "Just Like A Woman" is the duet. The other 4 likewise came from 1963-1966 well established tunes except the Highway 61 Revisited album track "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry." "Blowin' In The Wind" "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall" being the other 3. So from George and Bob you get what you probably already have. That makes the real treasure the song Billy Preston, Ringo Starr, and Leon Russell each got to bring along. Billy does a lively performance of his gospel favorite "That's The Way God Planned It" pure classic. Ringo hops into his 1971 megahit "It Don't Come Easy" (marking Ringo's triumphant return to music after going on a acting stint that would continues to the mid 70s and re-emerge in the early 80s). Leon Russell does a classic rock medley "Jumpin' Jack Flash/Youngblood" which didn't match the tone of the event. Could of had Eric play "Layla" and it would've fitted better. All the same film is good. A bit too rushed and one-sided and I cannot help but wonder how much better it would have been with a just a couple of more guests and a more even distribution of each and player and a broader song catalog.

Vertical Man (1998 album)

As you may already knew I became a huge Beatles fan after Anthology. And immediately afterward I pondered who I liked more John Lennon or Ringo Starr? After all I use to watch Shiny Time Station and imagine how stoked I was to find a whole nother secret career of his it was like finding the Batcave. Well a couple years later Ringo released Vertical Man and I loved it thinking it would be his GREAT COMEBACK. I didn't understand how a legendary musician who just made a great album not get a comeback after all the Monkees hit the top 20 with "That Was Then This Is Now" and the Beach Boys came back to #1 with "Kokomo". And I still think those songs are mediocre compared to the Vertical Man effort. Admittedly I didn't get Flaming Pie from Paul McCartney but I didn't know a song from it at the time but I heard "La De Da" on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and thought okay I have an excuse to buy this album because if my parents asked I needed to name a song I liked and "La De Da" would do. Eventually I did the same dumb mistake again as I did with The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash. I sold it. The logic being I was always telling people the Beatles were the best band ever with no one to match my enthusiasm and thought after watching hours of VH1 over a period of months that there may be better bands out there and to be fair and for the interest of getting my own interests mainstreamed I thought I'd experiment what else was out there. For over a decade I poured through Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, Queen, Nirvana, Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Neil Young, The Who etc. I even tried the Doors, the Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa, the Kinks, Prince, Marvin Gaye, David Bowie, Alice Cooper, Eric Clapton, R.E.M. (just to try to include all the Classic Rock artists I've bought multiple albums of and in case you're wondering about Led Zeppelin or the Rolling Stones I bought Led Zeppelin IV and Hot Rocks and thought that was enough and don't even get me started on Lynyrd Skynyrd.) Anyway I still didn't find to match my enthusiasm combining with the consideration of making me less of a musical social outcast in a town that loved Kid Rock, Metallica, Limp Bizkit, Insane Clown Posse and Eminem. If I could go back ten years in my past rather than discuss why I'm still dateless and jobless and still living with my parents I would have giving my self this simply advice listen to "What In The ... World" "I Was Walkin'" "Without Understanding" and realize that this was the beginning of a wonderful relationship with the Beatles solo work that my only regret would be that these albums are so rare to find.