Memorable but uneven album from George

Review Score: (6/10)
Until the "Threatles" reunion with John Lennon via tape for the Anthology series, "Somewhere in England" featured the closest thing to a Beatles reunion for fans. The jazzy single "All Those Years Ago" was written before Lennon was murdered and given to Ringo to record. After John's death, Harrison retooled the lyrics and recorded it himself as a tribute to his bandmate and friend. Featuring Paul McCartney (with Linda and Denny Laine on backing vocals)and Ringo Starr (on drums), "All Those Years Ago" works despite some awkward lyrical bits. It's one of George's most memorable songs on the album.

When George first submitted "Somewhere in England" for release, it was rejected. He was told by Warner Brothers that it wasn't all that good. George went back, rewrote the scathing "Blood from a Clone", remixed some of the album, recorded two Hoagy Carmichael songs and resubmitted it. Warner Brothers felt that "Somewhere in England" had commerical clout now and released "All Those Years Ago" to great airplay and substanial sales.

What we have here is a compromised album. While it features the original rejected artwork for the album, the running order is for the revised released verrsion. It's a pity as the songs dropped from the album would have made marvelous bonus tracks. While I appreciate (and liked)the original artwork, I would much preferred to have the original album in its original unreleased running order with the new tracks as bonus tracks (or with the original released running order and the dropped tracks as bonus tracks). What we get, instead, is a single bonus track (the demo for the fine song "Save the World").

It's a pity as Capitol missed an opportunity here. Still, "Somewhere in England", while it isn't George's best album, sprinkles a number of memorable tracks throughout the disc. The sharp remastered sound by Simon Heyworth brings the album's original production touches to life in a way the previous version of the album was unable to do.

This remastered edition also features a 12 page booklet with lyrics and photos from the same time frame as the sessions. Although not the best of George's solo work, "Somewhere" features enough good material to give it a place next to his better produced and written albums.

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