Wonderwall Music

Untitled

Wonderwall Music was George Harrison's first solo album and the soundtrack to the film Wonderwall. The songs are virtually all instrumental (except for some non-English vocals, and a slowed-down spoken word track), and were recorded partly in December 1967 in England, and the rest the following January (1968) in Bombay, India. Wonderwall Music is notable for being the first official solo album by one of the Beatles.

While the Indian musicians were largely credited under their real (or adopted) names, as were pianist John Barham and members of the Remo Four, several of the rest are pseudonyms for Harrison, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr and Peter Tork. Harrison is listed merely as producer, arranger and writer for the album.

Also recorded during the Indian sessions was the backing track to "The Inner Light", which became the B-side to "Lady Madonna", the final Beatles single on Parlophone in the UK and Capitol Records in the United States.

All of the tracks were composed by Harrison, and it was the first album release on the newly formed Apple Records, released in November of 1968, a few weeks before The Beatles. It would also be the first Apple record to be deleted, though it was reissued on remastered CD in 1992.

Not charting at all in the UK, Wonderwall Music reached #49 in the U.S. in the early part of 1969.

Track listing

All songs by George Harrison.

1. "Microbes" – 3:42
2. "Red Lady Too" – 1:56
3. "Tabla and Pakavaj" – 1:05
4. "In the Park" – 4:08
5. "Drilling a Home" – 3:08
6. "Guru Vandana" – 1:05
7. "Greasy Legs" – 1:28
8. "Ski-Ing" – 1:50
9. "Gat Kirwani" – 1:15
10. "Dream Scene" – 5:26
11. "Party Seacombe" – 4:34
12. "Love Scene" – 4:17
13. "Crying" – 1:15
14. "Cowboy Music" – 1:29
15. "Fantasy Sequins" – 1:50
16. "Glass Box" – 2:22
17. "On the Bed" – 1:05
18. "Wonderwall to Be Here" – 1:25
19. "Singing Om" – 1:54
    • Tracks 2, 5, 8, 10, 11, 14, 16 & 18 recorded in England
    • Tracks 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 12, 13, 15, 17 & 19 recorded in India

Personnel

England (December 1967)

• John Barham - piano and flügelhorn
• Colin Manley - guitar and steel guitar
• Tony Ashton - jangle piano and organ
• Philip Rogers - bass
• Roy Dyke - drums
• Tommy Reilly - harmonica
• Peter Tork - banjo (uncredited)
• Eddie Clayton (Eric Clapton) - guitar
• Richie Snare (Ringo Starr) - drums (rumoured)

India (January 1968)

• Aashish Khan - sarod
• Mahapurush Misra - tabla and pakavaj
• Sharad Jadev - shehnai
• Hanuman Jadev - shehnai
• Shambu-Das - sitar
• Indril Bhattacharya - sitar
• Shankar Ghosh - sitar
• Chandra Shekhar - sur-bahar
• Shiv Kumar Sharma - santoor
• S. R. Kenkare - flute
• Vinaik Vora - thar-shehnai
• Rij Ram Desad - harmonium and tabla-tarang

External links

• Soundtrack of Wonderwall at IMDb
• More information on John Barham