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Friday, November 22, 2002

GEORGE HARRISON
'Brainwashed' (Capitol)

The single, "Stuck Inside a Cloud," is everything a fan of the spiritual one could ask for in a message from beyond, recalling as it does the more acoustic side of all his greatest solo work with lyrics guaranteed to break your heart as they capture the sound of a man who's clearly learned the art of dying accepting his fate but "crying out loud" as he does.

The slide guitar, of course, is guaranteed to make you think of Harrison's post-Beatles masterpiece, "All Things Must Pass." And "Stuck Inside A Cloud" is strong enough to hold its own against the weight of that daunting comparison.

But ultimately, "Brainwashed" is more typical of all his other solo albums, where the few good songs are good enough to make you wish he'd tried a little harder on the others.

Here, the highlights range from "Stuck Inside a Cloud" to the lighthearted Dylanesque romp of "P.2. Vatican Blues," the melancholy pledge of devotion in "Never Get Over You" and the bittersweet grace of "Run So Far."

There's also something to be said for both the heartfelt prayer of "Looking for My Life" and the spirited ukelele-driven cover of "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea."

The rest is pretty unexceptional, but rarely bad enough to be embarrassing, despite Jeff Lynne's production, which isn't as bad as you'd think -- unless, of course, you enjoy his production, in which case it isn't as good as you'd think.

But at the risk of contradicting Meat Loaf's take on fractions, I'd argue that one out of three songs ranking with strongest solo work in more than 30 years ain't bad for an artist whose interest in making a musical statement kept him off the new release rack for more than a decade.

"Brainwashed" is his first release since 1987.

And it's better than the last one.

But given the promise of "Stuck Inside a Cloud," I'd like to think that if he'd lived to see the project through, it would have been a better album.

And if not, at least he would have lived a little longer. He deserved it.

-- Ed Masley

JOHN LENNON
'Mind Games' (Capitol)

The title cut is Lennon at his most majestic, which alone would be enough to make this underrated gem a vital part of any pop collection worth its weight in plastic if it weren't for the fact that you can also find it on a couple of different greatest hits releases. Still, there are plenty of other reasons every Lennon and/or Beatles fan should own it -- from the fragile ache that underscores the emotional urgency of Lennon's near-falsetto vocals on such unsung classics as "Out of the Blue" and "One Day (at a Time)" to the anthemic power-to-the-people-pop of "Only People" and "Bring on the Lucie (Freeda Peeple)," a rocker that makes you wonder if Lennon was handed a bunch of Lou Reed albums when he landed in New York (when it was more than likely Yoko). And Beatlemaniacs will no doubt recognize the riff that starts "I Know (I Know)," bearing more than a passing resemblance to "I've Got a Feeling."

As for the bonus tracks on this reissue, while it's interesting to hear acoustic work-in-progress versions of three of the songs, there's not much need to hear them more than once. Unless you thought "Anthology" was better than "Revolver," in which case you may be really weird. And for the record, I'd give it an extra half-star without the bonus tracks.

-- Ed Masley