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Dark Horse
There is no George Harrison album that will out-due "All Things Must Pass". I mean let's face the facts a moment. It's the beat album he's ever done. "LITMW" is also a nice album. And then there's this, "Dark Horse". I'd give it 3 1/2 stars. Don't get me wrong I love George Harrison and this album, but it's not as good as I wanted it to be.

I really love the "Hari's On Tour"; it's a nice upbeat instrumental. "Simply Shady" is also a good and catchy song. If you really listen to the lyrics, you'll know what he's talking about. "Ding Dong" is a cute song, remains me of new years. When I first heard the title track, I didn't like it, but the more I listen to it, it sounded great, I know he was sick and his voice wasn't sounding right, but it actually made the song sound pretty good. I wonder what it would have sounded like if he wasn't ill? I love the song "Far East Man", it's really nice song, I played that song over and over again. "It Is He" is an okay song. The rest of the songs on the album could have been better. Overall, this wasn't a bad album, I wish his voice was a little better, but like I said before, "ATMP" will aways be his best.

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Four good tracks
Having begun his solo career with a bang ("All Things Must Pass") and putting out a pretty good followup album ("Living In the Material World"), George eventually ran out of gas and spent most of the seventies putting out a series of inconsitent and fairly boring releases. To be sure, there are bright moments on "Dark Horse" - the title track remains a good song, and in many ways a defining one for the artist. "Ding Dong" is a catchy song for New Year's eve - everyone and their uncle puts out a Christmas song, but very few have given us anything so durable for New Year's. "Far East Man," written with Ron Wood, is a cool, somewhat bluesy song that holds up well today. And "It is He," Harrison's usual nod to Hindu chanting, is also catchy and spirited. All of these tracks come from the album's second half. Unfortunately, the first half is a snooze, lacking good melodies and swimming in a kind of bathos. There is a ghastly version of the Everly Brothers' "Bye Bye Love" (if you can find the melody in it) that is meant to be a joke about Harrison's friend Eric Clapton taking off with George's wife Pattie, but it sounds fairly creepy and sardonic today. The others are a yawn, with the possible exception of the depressing "So Sad." In short, George only had four decent songs here, which might have been better released as two singles instead of a whole album.

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4.5 stars - severely underrated
Dark Horse (1974.) George Harrison's third solo album.

It's amazing how quickly George Harrison managed to find success in his post-Beatles solo career. Sure, Paul McCartney remained the former Beatle that the public followed the most, but Harrison was no slouch when it came to writing musical masterpieces. His albums All Things Must Pass and Living In The Material World were regular masterpieces, as was his live collaboration, Concert For Bangladesh. In 1974, Harrison released his third solo studio album, Dark Horse. Read on for my review.

Harrison doesn't waste any time rocking here. The opening track, Hari's On Tour, is a guitar-heavy instrumental, and a damn good one too. The opening track on an album should grab the listener's attention and hold it, and this opener does just that. Simply Shady comes next. This is one of George's most underrated songs, in that it experiments with a number of different styles - and succeeds! Why didn't this song become a bigger hit? It's every bit as good as any number one hit Paul McCartney ever had in his solo career. So Sad is a song that George wrote about his (failing) marriage to Patty Boyd, who would end up leaving him for his best friend, Eric Clapton - and she left HIM not long after. Odd story, but it made for a good song nonetheless. Next up we have Maya Love. This is an excellent tune with some slight jazz influence which resembles his Beatles-era number, Savoy Truffle. It's another damn fine underrated Harrison tune. Ding Dong Ding Dong is a weird song, but, it too, manages to be a pretty good one overall. Another one of the many underrated masterpieces is Far East Man. The lyrics here are about never turning your back on a friend - and Harrison pulls it off excellently. The title track was the only really big hit to emerge from the album, and it's only natural that the song became so popular - it's nothing short of excellent. We even get a cover of the old Everly Brothers tune Bye Bye Love! Although this version of the song differs substantially from Phil and Don's original, I actually like it better than the original! The closer, It Is He, is quite different from the other songs on the album, but is nothing less in the quality department. It was an excellent way to finish off the album.

In the end, I would have to say that this album is some of Harrison's most underrated work. And that's a real shame, because it's also sone of his best. Although the album doesn't top All Things Must Pass (it's doubtful anything ever will, in my book), it's solid nonetheless, and well worth buying if you're a fan of George's.