Brainwashed (album)

Brainwashed
Studio album by George Harrison
Released	18 November 2002
Recorded	1988–2002
Genre	Rock
Length	47:41
Label	Dark Horse/EMI
Producer	George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Dhani Harrison
George Harrison chronology
Live in Japan (1992) Brainwashed (2002) The Dark Horse Years 1976–1992 (2004)
Singles from Brainwashed
"Stuck Inside a Cloud" Released: 2002 (promo only) "Any Road" Released: 12 May 2003

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	77 [1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
Entertainment.ie	[3]
Entertainment Weekly	(B+) [4]
Los Angeles Times	[5]
PopMatters	(favourable)[6]
Robert Christgau	[7]
Rolling Stone	[8]
This table needs to be expanded using prose. See the guideline for more information.

Brainwashed is the final studio album by George Harrison, released in 2002, almost a year after his death at age 58. As a posthumous release, Brainwashed garnered much attention upon its unveiling.

History

Harrison had begun recording the tracks that would eventually see issue on Brainwashed as early as 1988 (with "Any Road" being written during the making of a video for "This Is Love" from the Cloud Nine album) and would continue to do so in a sporadic manner over the next decade and a half. After recuperating from being attacked in his home by Michael Abram on 30 December 1999 Harrison focused more on getting his album finished, simultaneously sharing his ideas for all its details (from the sound of the finished songs to the album's artwork) with his son Dhani — information that would ultimately prove very valuable.

Harrison had successfully battled throat cancer in 1997;^[9] in 2001 he underwent surgery to remove a cancerous growth from one of his lungs,^[10] and radiotherapy for lung cancer which had metastacised to his brain.^[11] Once he realised it was an irreversible situation, he worked further on the album's songs—in conjunction with Dhani and his old collaborator Jeff Lynne—until he was unable to do more. Harrison's final work on the album was done at a recording studio in Switzerland shortly before his trip to the United States for cancer treatment. On 29 November 2001, Harrison died, leaving Brainwashed not quite finished, but with a guide to completing it in the hands of his son and Lynne.

After a few months away from the project, both the younger Harrison and Lynne returned to working on George's final songs and adding the appropriate instruments—as per their composer's specifications—to the recordings. So close to completion was the project that the two used the exact timetable and session bookings which George had booked himself. After some difficult but rewarding sessions, the work was done and George Harrison's final album was completed.

Brainwashed received mostly positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album holds score of 77, based on 16 reviews, which means "generally favorable". ^[1] A live tribute of Harrison by an assembly of his musical contemporaries, entitled Concert for George, took place at the Royal Albert Hall simultaneously with the release of the album. The album sold respectably—though perhaps slightly below expectations—reaching #18 in the US and going gold, and #29 in the UK, where "Any Road" became a Top 40 hit single in spring 2003. In 2004, Brainwashed's "Marwa Blues" won the Best Pop Instrumental Performance Grammy. The album had also been nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album, as well as Best Male Pop Vocal Performance (for the track "Any Road").^[12]

Release versions

Brainwashed was released both as an LP and a CD. A special limited edition CD-box was also released, containing a Brainwashed poster, a Dark Horse sticker, a guitar pick with George's signature on it, and a Bonus-DVD with a seven-minute featurette about the making of the album.

Track listing

All songs by George Harrison, except where noted.

1. "Any Road" – 3:52
2. "P2 Vatican Blues (Last Saturday Night)" – 2:38
3. "Pisces Fish" – 4:50
4. "Looking for My Life" – 3:49
5. "Rising Sun" – 5:27
6. "Marwa Blues" – 3:40
7. "Stuck Inside a Cloud" – 4:04
8. "Run So Far" – 4:05
   • First recorded by Eric Clapton on his Journeyman album in 1989, with Harrison on guitar
9. "Never Get Over You" – 3:26
10. "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" (Harold Arlen/Ted Koehler) – 2:34
11. "Rocking Chair in Hawaii" – 3:07
12. "Brainwashed" – 6:07
    • Includes a concluding prayer, the "Namah Parvati", chanted by Harrison and his son Dhani Harrison in unison

Charts

Chart positions Chart (2002) Position Austrian Albums Chart[13] 62 Danish Albums Chart[14] 19 French SNEP Albums Chart [15] 45 German Media Control Albums Chart [16] 17 Japanese Oricon Albums Chart[17] 21 Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart[18] 9 Swedish Albums Chart[19] 18 Swiss Albums Chart[20] 58 UK Albums Chart [21] 29 United States Billboard 200[22] 18

Certifications and sales Region Certification Sales/shipments Canada (Music Canada)[23] Gold 50,000^ Japan (Oricon Chart) 34,000[24][25] United Kingdom (BPI)[26] Gold 100,000^ United States (RIAA)[27] Gold 500,000^ Summaries Worldwide 1,000,000[28] ^shipments figures based on certification alone

Personnel

• George Harrison – lead vocals, lead guitar, slide guitar, dobro, ukulele, keyboards, bass, percussion
• Jeff Lynne – bass, guitar, piano, keyboards, percussion, backing vocals
• Dhani Harrison – guitar, Wurlitzer electric piano, backing vocals
• Jim Keltner – drums

Additional personnel:

• Mike Moran – keyboards (3)
• Marc Mann – keyboards (3), string arrangement (6)
• Ray Cooper – percussion (6), drums (10)
• Jools Holland – piano (10)
• Mark Flannagan – acoustic lead guitar (10)
• Joe Brown – acoustic guitar (10)
• Herbie Flowers – bass (10), tuba (10)
• Bikram Ghosh – tabla (12)
• Jon Lord – piano (12)
• Sam Brown – backing vocals (12)
• Jane Lister – harp (12)
• Isabela Borzymowska – reading from "How To Know God" (The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali) (12)

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Brainwashed reviews". metacritic.com. http://www.metacritic.com/music/brainwashed. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
2. ^ Brainwashed (album) at Allmusic
3. ^ [1]^{[dead link]}
4. ^ Sinclair, Tom (2002-11-22). "Brainwashed Review". ew.com. Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,390698,00.html. Retrieved 2011-08-30. 
5. ^ Hochman, Steve (2002-11-18). "Harrison sings his final odes". articles.latimes.com. Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2002/nov/18/entertainment/et-hochman18. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
6. ^ Glauber, Gary. "George Harrison: Brainwashed < PopMatters". Popmatters.com. http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/harrisongeorge-brainwashed/. Retrieved 2011-08-07. 
7. ^ "CG: George Harrison". Robert Christgau. http://robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=1983&name=George+Harrison. Retrieved 2011-08-07. 
8. ^ [2]^{[dead link]}
9. ^ Lyall, Sarah (31 December 1999). "George Harrison Stabbed in Chest by an Intruder". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/31/world/george-harrison-stabbed-in-chest-by-an-intruder.html?pagewanted=all. Retrieved 22 February 2010. 
10. ^ Jury, Louise (4 May 2001). "George Harrison undergoes surgery for cancer". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/george-harrison-undergoes-surgery-for-cancer-683674.html. Retrieved 22 February 2010. 
11. ^ "George Harrison Receives Radiation Treatment". ABC News. 9 November 2001. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=117128&page=1last=Carpenter. Retrieved 22 February 2010. 
12. ^ "Grammy Award Winners". nytimes.com. Associated Press. http://www.nytimes.com/ref/arts/music/08grammy-list.html. Retrieved 2011-09-24. 
13. ^ "George Harrison - Brainwashed (album)" (in German). austriancharts.at. http://austriancharts.at/showitem.asp?interpret=George+Harrison&titel=Brainwashed&cat=a. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
14. ^ "George Harrison - Brainwashed (album)". danishcharts.com. http://danishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=George+Harrison&titel=Brainwashed&cat=a. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
15. ^ "George Harrison - Brainwashed (album)" (in French). lescharts.com. http://lescharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=George+Harrison&titel=Brainwashed&cat=a. 
16. ^ "Album Search: George Harrison - Brainwashed" (in German). Media Control. http://www.charts.de/album.asp?artist=George+Harrison&title=Brainwashed&cat=a&country=de. Retrieved 2011-09-23. 
17. ^ ジョージ・ハリスン-リリース-ORICON STYLE-ミュージック "Highest position and charting weeks of Brainwashed by George Harrison" (in Japanese). oricon.co.jp. Oricon Style. http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/release/d/492644/1/ ジョージ・ハリスン-リリース-ORICON STYLE-ミュージック. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
18. ^ "George Harrison - Brainwashed (album)". norwegiancharts.com. http://norwegiancharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=George+Harrison&titel=Brainwashed&cat=a. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
19. ^ "George Harrison - Brainwashed (album)". swedishcharts.com. http://swedishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=George+Harrison&titel=Brainwashed&cat=a. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
20. ^ "George Harrison - Brainwashed (album)" (in German). hitparade.ch. http://hitparade.ch/showitem.asp?interpret=George+Harrison&titel=Brainwashed&cat=a. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
21. ^ "Chart Stats - George Harrison - Brainwashed". UK Albums Chart. http://www.chartstats.com/release.php?release=42445. Retrieved 2011-08-07. 
22. ^ "George Harrison - Billboard Albums". billboard.com. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p4444. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
23. ^ "Canadian album certifications – George Harrison – Brainwashed". Music Canada. http://www.musiccanada.com/GPSearchResult.aspx?st=Brainwashed&sa=George+Harrison&smt=0. 
24. ^ a-ビートルズ "- Yamachan Land (Archives of the Japanese record charts) - Albums Chart Daijiten - The Beatles" (in Japanese). 30 December 2007. http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~yamag/album/al_beatles.html a-ビートルズ. Retrieved 5 December 2009. 
25. ^ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970-2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4871310779. 
26. ^ "British album certifications – George Harrison – Brainwashed". British Phonographic Industry. http://www.bpi.co.uk/certifiedawards/search.aspx.  Enter Brainwashed in the field Search. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Click Go
27. ^ "American album certifications – George Harrison – Brainwashed". Recording Industry Association of America. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?artist=%22Brainwashed%22.  If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
28. ^ "EMI Group Annual Report 2003 - Page 18/96 - Recorded Music Top 20 Albums 2002-03". kronemyer.com. http://www.kronemyer.com/EMI/EMI%20Group%20AR%202003.pdf. Retrieved 2011-08-31. 

External links

• JPGR's Beatles site: George Harrison's Brainwashed