#george's fpshot

[harrisonarchive]

Photo by Arnold Newman.

“[W]e built a little studio at home to save the drive up and down the M4. And the studio is really very nice — little plug for Eddie Veale of Audiotech because he did a fantastic job and it sounds really nice. You know, because most home studios have a lot of trouble, you know. And it’s not really practical in some cases for people to have a home studio.” - George Harrison, Capital Radio, 1974 “Of all the former ‘Fabs,’ to use his customary term, George Harrison has remained the greatest creative homebody. […] George has rolled out of bed and returned again and again to Friar Park Studios, Henley-on-Thames (or F.P.S.H.O.T., for short) to tinker, compose and do his formal recording. […] Besides 'Cloud Nine,’ George recorded the 'Dark Horse,’ '33 1/3’ and 'George Harrison’ albums in his F.P.S.H.O.T. atelier, located in what was formerly a ballroom of the house. 'The studio was installed round 1971 and there’s been a few updates, cause when I originally put the studio in it was a 16-track. In terms of the monitoring system, after all those years in the Abbey Road EMI Studios, I put in Altec speakers. My experience in Abbey Road was that whenever the Beatles worked there and we thought we had a great sound, we’d play it back on the Altecs and it sounded terrible — ordinary. So they’re very boring in a way — and this must sound strange — but they’re also accurate! See, the Altecs don’t flatter the sound; it’s not easy to get good bass and drum sounds with them. But when I built my studio I didn’t want hype. I wanted what I’m hearing to be what it is. That way, when you play it back anyplace else it sounds fantastic! […] I’ve since made F.P.S.H.O.T. into a 24-track board. […] I’m going to get a few different choice modules made soon, but I don’t really want to go for a brand new SSL board and all that. Automation is nice in some respects, but I got my first skills at Abbey Road, so I prefer the old components, and spending a friendly weekend getting the manual mix you want. Just as I much prefer my ancient Fender Strat.’” - Musician, November 1987 (x)

[beatlesblogger]

Dark Horse Records Goes Big for RSD Black Friday 2023

Dark Horse is to release three titles on vinyl for this year’s Record Store Day Black Friday. One of the three is Splinter’s The Place I Love, the very first record to come out on George Harrison’s then new label. Produced by and featuring Harrison, The Place I Love was one of the earliest recordings to be made at the FPSHOT studio in his Friar Park home. DETAILSEvent: BLACK FRIDAY 2023Release…

[odk-2]

Traveling Wilburys - Wilbury Twist (1991) Tom Petty / George Harrison / Bob Dylan / Roy Orbison / Jeff Lynne from: "Wilbury Twist" (12" Single) "Traveling Wilburys, vol.3" (LP|CD)

Rock and Roll | Roots Music

JukeHostUK (left click = play) (320kbps)

Album Personnel: Spike Wilbury (George Harrison): Lead and Backing Vocals / Guitars / Mandolin / Sitar Clayton Wilbury (Jeff Lynne): Lead and Backing Vocals / Guitars / Keyboards Muddy Wilbury (Tom Petty): Lead and Backing Vocals / Guitars Boo Wilbury (Bob Dylan): Lead and Backing Vocals / Acoustic Guitar / Harmonica

Jim Horn: Saxophones Buster Sidebury (Jim Keltner): Drums

Produced by Spike Wilbury / Clayton Wilbury

Album Recorded: @ Wilbury Mountain Studio in Los Angeles, California USA and FPSHOT (George Harrison's Studio) (Friar Park Studio, Henley-on-Thames) in Oxfordshire, England UK during April–May and July of 1990

Album Released: on October 29, 1990

Single Released: on March 25, 1991

Wilbury Records

[pmak2002]

Dhani Harrison Fun Facts

He understands Spanish but doesn’t speak it

He used to be given off to for going to school with scruffy shoes because he stayed up all night listening to Ravi Shankar recording at FPSHOT

He was the coxswain for Brown’s rowing team

He failed a module in one of his final year exams (in physics, I believe) in Brown so he doesn’t have a complete degree (or something along them lines)

He quit working at McLaren because (here are some of his reasons): He had to commute for an hour and half to and from work every day. He was sitting right in front of a massive industrial fan. He wasn’t getting paid for all of his ideas that McLaren were using

He doesn’t trade in on the ‘Harrison’ name except for once when he got into a sold out Foo-Fighters concert

It’s rumoured he went out with Zooey Deschanel hence why there was the logo of thenewno2 on a fridge in Deschanel’s show ‘New Girl’

He drove the same Audi for the last 10 years (well up to 2012 at least) it eventually broke down and without a phone on him, Dhani had to walk home.

He also owns George’s McLaren Chassis #025, painted ‘Dark Purple Pearl’ because it matched Dhani’s racing helmet. It has the licence plate M7 AUM

His favourite show is South Park but he also loves Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad.

His favourite film soundtracks are ‘American Beauty’ and ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’.

His ex-wife, Sola’s, favourite newno2 song is ‘Make You Home’.

Speaking of Dhani + rowing originally I believe he was trying to qualify for the Olympics

[george-harrison-marwa-blues]

At FPSHOT, 12 June 1978

Photo Credit: Arnold Newman

[monkberries]

“They were getting to be like Paul’s band, which they didn’t like,” quoth the Yoko, via The Huffington Post. The interview’s from 1987, and it’s from Rolling Stone, so we can expect it to be simple-minded and St. Lennon-ish; but this canard deserves a bit of scorn. Can I? Thanks. Oh what a shame it was for Paul to run roughshod over those other three grown men, forcing stuff like “Hey Jude” and Abbey Road on the world. Why, instead of wasting all that time, John and Yoko could’ve given 500 more interviews, and filmed countless more asses. Or John could’ve continued to explore the fascinating nexus of ragged Chuck Berry covers and heroin. And let’s not forget George, who supposedly suffered the most during Paul’s reign of terror. After all, George was in a living hell, a 27-year-old musician with the time and money and prestige to record anything he wanted with anyone, take long excursions to India, and buy his own freakin’ castle. (And what do you think paid FPSHOT’s bills in the 70s, 80s and beyond? Dark Horse, or Abbey Road?)

Michael Gerber, blog post on Hey Dullblog (for @pivoinesque)

[harrisonarchive]

George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Denny Laine, and George Martin during the "All Those Years Ago" recording session, F.P.S.H.O.T., 1981; photos by Linda McCartney.

“I originally wrote ‘All Those Years Ago’ for Ringo. He was doing an album at the time, and I wrote it with slightly different words. It had the same chorus, but it was more of an uptight kind of lyric. You know, ‘You did this, and you did that... blah, blah.’ I don’t think Ringo did the recording sessions. Or maybe I never finished the song. Then, with what happened to John, straight away I changed it. I made it more of a song about John, specifically about him.” - George Harrison, I Me Mine

Q: “Did you start writing ‘All Those Years Ago’ before John was killed?” GH: “Yeah, I did.” Q: “The lyric — where you jump from Lennon being ‘weird’ to God and the reason we exist — always puzzled me.” GH: “It is a strange choice of words. The way I saw it was, I’m talking all about God and he’s the only reason we exist — now that’s something I believe to be true.” Q: “Were you saying you were weirder than John?” GH: “No, no, no. What I was saying is there’s all these weird people who don’t actually believe in God and who go around murdering everybody, and yet, in the broad sweep, it’s like they were the ones pointing fingers at Lennon, saying he’s a weirdo. Sometimes my lyrics get a bit abstract in place — I get so many thoughts coming from different angles, I’m not sure if they come across right. But I think that’s what I was trying to say.” - Creem, December 1987/January 1988

“Well George was writing that song right in the days when John died. He wanted it to say something about John but didn’t want it to be too sad. I mean it’s not a dirge but he certainly was clear about how he felt about John.” - Olivia Harrison, Billboard, 3 April 2017 (x)

[harrisonarchive]

George Harrison with Ray Cooper and Joe Brown; photo by Alan Davidson.

Q: “George worked with so many great musicians, including Ray Cooper, a great percussionist who’s on many of George’s songs, including ‘I Really Love You.’ Can you tell us about Ray at these sessions?”

Olivia Harrison: “Ray was the kind of guy who sits quietly, silently at your shoulder when you’re doing something. You know he was a real guiding hand for George — a lot of people, Terry Gilliam in films. Ray was always right there. So he was around a lot of that time, a really erudite man. And he brought a lot of classical music into the house, he brought a lot of world music into the house, so always interesting. But in that particular song, those are his footsteps; at the beginning of the song you hear sort of walking. Because he always wore these big hobnail boots. He still does. George used to say, ‘Why are you wearing those? I know, why don’t you go in the back hallway and just stomp around and we’ll mic you up down there.’ So that was Ray with his big boots. And that was one thing about the house, you had to be careful when you walked into a room, because like he set [Jim] Keltner up on a gallery outside the studio, Ray might be down the back passage of the house; you never knew what you might interrupt. Be careful. You had patch cords all around the house so that — because he knew there was different sounds, really dry sounds, echoey things all over the house. So he put patch cords everywhere.” - Dark Horse Radio, 2018 (x)

[harrisonarchive]

George Harrison photographed at his Friar Park home studio F.P.S.H.O.T. in 1978; photos by Arnold Newman/Arnold Newman Properties/Getty Images.

“It was not until 1978 that the first Beatle entered the permanent collection [at the National Portrait Gallery]. This was George Harrison who had agreed to be photographed as part of a series of photographs for Arnold Newman’s project of recording the then 50 Greatest Living Britons.” - The Beatles: Classic, Rare & Unseen

“I didn’t know what to expect. What does a middle-aged photographer whose taste runs more to classical music expect from one of the Beatles? However, we were greeted warmly at his unbelievable mansion at Henley, a perfectly restored Victorian building with gargoyles and carved mahogany staircases. Upstairs was one of the most complicated arrays of recording equipment I have ever seen and a studio where George Harrison cuts his records. I had a great deal of fun photographing him against the lights of the console. We were impressed with his seriousness and his perception of the pressures of the music business. But if he didn’t know about it, who would?” - Arnold Newman, The Great British: Photographs by Arnold Newman (x)

More about George's studio in this post.

[harrisonarchive]

George Harrison in the studio (screenshot from the making of Brainwashed feature).

“I always compare his recording work to the life of a Persian carpet maker who handcrafts an exquisite design with a hundred stitches to the inch. George was like that: indefinitely patient, a fine craftsman always confident that he was producing the right thing.“ - Sir George Martin, Virgin In-Flight Magazine (?), 2002

“George was an extraordinary musician and the sweetest of men, and, over the years, I grew to adore his gentle nature, his music, his deep spirituality and his friendship. [...] He could be amazingly fastidious, keeping his cars immaculately clean and taking such care and time over his gardens, both at his home near Henley, England and in his tropical paradise on Maui. This determination to get things exactly right extended to his music. George would work and work until a song was totally as he wanted it to be — not just right, but precisely right, so precisely right that it would almost sound as if it had evolved naturally, out of nothing, dreamily and effortlessly.” - Sir Jackie Stewart, Winning Is Not Enough (2007)

“As a musician he wanted to immerse himself in a song for days, even weeks at a time.” - Olivia Harrison, translated from Süddeutsche Zeitung, 25 November 2011 (x)

[harrisonarchive]

Along with a handful of musicians, engineer Hank Cicalo moved to [Friar Park] for six weeks to record [‘Thirty Three and 1/3’ in 1976], and still remembers the convivial atmosphere. ‘The meals were always vegetarian, but then [pianist] Richard Tee showed up, this hulking, six-foot-plus guy, and there was no way he was gonna go for that,’ Cicalo says. ‘So George made sure they got some ribs for Richard that night. He said, “We’ve never had meat in this house since I bought the place!” But that’s how hard he tried to be accommodating. He was a very sweet and loving guy — just a joy to be around.’

Entertainment Weekly, 14 December 2001 (x)

[harrisonarchive]

George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Barbara Bach, and Al Kooper at FPSHOT, 1980; photo from Kooper’s Backstage Passes & Backstabbing Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock ‘n’ Roll Survivor.

“The night before the sessions the phone rang about 9:30 p.m. ‘Is this Al?’ a voice asked. ‘This is George Harrison. I was just calling to see if you wanted any special keyboards for tomorrow. I’ve gotten you a Hammond B3 organ, a Fender Rhodes, and a Wurlitzer piano. We also have an Arp Omni. Will those be okay for you?’ I thought it was Herbie [Flowers] having me on. Something told me to answer normally though, just in case. ‘Uhhhhhh, yeah, that sounds like everything I need. Thank you and I guess I’ll see just see you tomorrow… Good night.’ […] [At Friar Park] George came out to greet us. He had incredible eyes that could look right through you. I had not met anyone with that powerful a stare since Dylan. ‘You didn’t think it was me on the phone last night, did you, Al?’ he said, laughing. ‘No, I didn’t,’ I admitted. ‘I thought it might be Herbie having a go.’” - Al Kooper, Backstage Passes & Backstabbing Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock ‘n’ Roll Survivor (x)

[harrisonarchive]

Alvin Taylor with the Harrison album he played on: Thirty-Three & 1/3. Photo courtesy of the Desert Sun.

“I had never played with George before, and I have to say that my entire drumming technique changed from working with him. I learned things that I’d never thought about, just working with and watching him in the studio. It literally revolutionized my life. He gave me a different perception altogether about playing the drums. The first thing George did was sit me down, pick up a twelve-string guitar, and start strumming the rhythms to the songs that we were going to be playing. He never told me what to play. Rather, he would express to me what he was looking for as if we were going over a script. I began to see that music was more than playing sounds; it had a lot to do with taking on a ‘character,’ as if I was an actor in a movie — becoming familiar with my role and inserting myself into it.” - Alvin Taylor, Modern Drummer, Issue no. 413, 2014

“George Harrison, by far, is one of the most amazing people I ever met in my life… always concerned about other people.” - Alvin Taylor, The Fest For Beatles Fans, Twitter, 11 October 2014

“The most impactful experience that I had was with George Harrison of The Beatles, recording the album titled, Thirty-Three And A Third, while staying in his castle at Friar Park, Henley-on-Thames. He was the most amazing person that I ever met.” - Alvin Taylor, Coachella Valley Weekly, 19 July 2017

George Harrison: “The drummer — it was the first time I’d used Alvin [Taylor] on the album and he’s another great guy.” - George Harrison, A Personal Music Dialogue With George Harrison At 33 & 1/3, 1976 (x)

[harrisonarchive]

George Harrison's home studio, Friar Park Studio Henley-on-Thames (F.P.S.H.O.T.), as designed and photographed by Veale Associates (VA) Studio Design, and courtesy of va-studiodesign.com; George in his studio on 12 June 1978, photographed by Arnold Newman, photo © Arnold Newman/Getty Images.

"Of all the former 'Fabs,' to use his customary term, George Harrison has remained the greatest creative homebody. […] George has rolled out of bed and returned again and again to Friar Park Studios, Henley-on-Thames (or F.P.S.H.O.T., for short) to tinker, compose and do his formal recording. […] Besides 'Cloud Nine,' George recorded the 'Dark Horse,' '33 1/3' and 'George Harrison' albums in his F.P.S.H.O.T. atelier, located in what was formerly a ballroom of the house. 'The studio was installed round 1971 and there's been a few updates, cause when I originally put the studio in it was a 16-track. In terms of the monitoring system, after all those years in the Abbey Road EMI Studios, I put in Altec speakers. My experience in Abbey Road was that whenever the Beatles worked there and we thought we had a great sound, we'd play it back on the Altecs and it sounded terrible — ordinary. So they're very boring in a way — and this must sound strange — but they're also accurate! See, the Altecs don’t flatter the sound; it’s not easy to get good bass and drum sounds with them. But when I built my studio I didn’t want hype. I wanted what I’m hearing to be what it is. That way, when you play it back anyplace else it sounds fantastic! […] I’ve since made F.P.S.H.O.T. into a 24-track board. […] I'm going to get a few different choice modules made soon, but I don’t really want to go for a brand new SSL board and all that. Automation is nice in some respects, but I got my first skills at Abbey Road, so I prefer the old components, and spending a friendly weekend getting the manual mix you want. Just as I much prefer my ancient Fender Strat.'" - Musician, November 1987 (x)

[harrisonarchive]

Billy Preston and George Harrison onstage during the Dark Horse Tour, Landover, Maryland, 13 December 1974; photo by David Hume Kennerly.

“[Billy is] someone I would never have come on the road without, because I love him so much and need him so bad.” - George Harrison, Fort Worth, 22 November 1974, quoted in While My Guitar Gently Weeps: The Music of George Harrison

“Behind Preston, [George] was the good-natured but awkward white guy, twirling his fingers overhead at the wrong spots on ‘Circles,’ joining Billy for a little skittering Can-Can before bowing out and back to his place.” - Rolling Stone, 19 December 1974

“Billy Preston would dance across the stage on one leg and get the crowd going. George joined in with Billy, but he was really making fun of the fact that he was so white, so unblack and unfunny. It was almost a piss-take of himself, and he did it to accentuate his total whiteness and Billy’s beautiful blackness.” - Andy Newmark, While My Guitar Gently Weeps: The Music of George Harrison‬

“George is wonderful. George is very spiritual. He's a very loving and humble person. He's a very good friend and is like a brother to me.” - Billy Preston

“[Billy] used to play with George a lot in his studio [FPSHOT] at home in England and he had Billy's [Hammond] B3. We just called it 'Billy's B3.' Billy would sit and dance on that seat and on the pedals of that organ. He really did. His seat would just dance across there, he was just amazing. Such a sweet man. So gentle and what a talent. He had absolute fluidity on that organ and on any keyboard really.” - Olivia Harrison, Billboard, 3 April 2017 (x)