Thirty Three & (stylised as Thirty Three & on the album cover) is the seventh studio album by the English musician George Harrison, released in November 1976. It was Harrison's first album release on his Dark Horse record label, the worldwide distribution for which changed from A&M Records to Warner Bros. as a result of his late delivery of the album's master tapes. Among other misfortunes affecting its creation, Harrison suffered hepatitis midway through recording, and the copyright infringement suit regarding his 1970–71 hit song "My Sweet Lord" was decided in favour of the plaintiff, Bright Tunes Music. The album contains the US top 30 singles "This Song" – Harrison's satire on that lawsuit and the notion of plagiarism in pop music – and "Crackerbox Palace". Despite the problems associated with the album, many music critics recognised Thirty Three & as a return to form for Harrison after his tepidly received work during 1974–75, and considered it his strongest collection of songs since 1970's acclaimed All Things Must Pass.
Harrison recorded Thirty Three & at his Friar Park home studio, with production assistance from Tom Scott. Other musicians on the recording include Billy Preston, Gary Wright, Willie Weeks, David Foster and Alvin Taylor. Harrison undertook extensive promotion for the album, which included producing comedy-themed video clips for three of the songs, two of which were directed by Monty Python member Eric Idle, and making a number of radio and television appearances. Among the latter was a live performance with singer-songwriter Paul Simon on NBC's Saturday Night Live. The album was remastered in 2004 as part of the Dark Horse Years 1976–1992 reissues following Harrison's death in 2001.
Background In January 1976, four months after the release of his final album under the Beatles' recording contract with EMI, Extra Texture (Read All About It),Tillery, pp. 117, 163. George Harrison announced his intention to record for his own record label, Dark Horse Records.Badman, pp. 175–76. Harrison had formed the label in May 1974, when he signed a five-year distribution agreement with A&M Records.Clayson, p. 345. In addition to other Dark Horse artists, the contract called for four solo albums from Harrison, the first of which was due by 26 July 1976.John Sippel, "A&M + Harrison: Pact That Failed" , Billboard, 11 December 1976, pp. 6, 53 (retrieved 4 March 2015).
After making the announcement at the annual Midem music fair in Cannes, Harrison spent the early part of 1976 involved in activities other than music-making. Foremost among these was the court case, in New York, for a long-running plagiarism suit launched against him by music publisher Bright Tunes, who contended that Harrison had infringed on their copyright of the Chiffons' song "He's So Fine" in his 1970–71 hit single "My Sweet Lord".Huntley, pp. 130–32. While in Los Angeles in February and March, Harrison worked on a proposed documentary film of his 1974 North American tour with Ravi Shankar.Madinger & Easter, p. 453. On 20 April, he made a guest appearance on stage in New York with the Monty Python comedy troupe, dressed as a Canadian Mountie, as part of the chorus on "The Lumberjack Song".Harry, p. 79.Badman, p. 181. Michael Palin of the Pythons later recalled that Harrison looked "tired and ill"; author Peter Doggett attributes Harrison's poor health to a lifestyle increasingly reliant on alcohol and cocaine, following the failure of his marriage to Pattie Boyd in 1974.Doggett, p. 250.
After beginning sessions for the album in late May,Badman, p. 186. Harrison was struck down with hepatitis and unable to work for much of the summer. He first tried a chanting technique as a cure, as proposed in Paramhansa Yogananda's book Scientific Healing Affirmations, before agreeing to his partner Olivia Arias's requests that he seek conventional medical treatment, which was similarly unsuccessful.The Editors of Rolling Stone, p. 133.Harry, p. 397. Arias then researched natural remedies such as acupuncture. Harrison's health was soon restored through a series of treatments in California with acupuncturist Zion Yu.Tillery, p. 117. Harrison later said: "I needed the hepatitis to quit drinking."Clayson, p. 359. The title for the new album, Thirty Three & , reflected his age at the time of recording, as well as the speed at which a vinyl LP plays on a turntable.Rodriguez, p. 169.Inglis, p. 59.
Songs Harrison prepared the material he would record for Thirty Three & while holidaying in the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea. In musicologist Thomas MacFarlane's view, despite the pressure Harrison was under, the songs he completed demonstrated his sense of humour.MacFarlane, pp. 104–05. Arias recalled that they were joined in the Virgin Islands by Eric Idle of Monty Python, and that the noise they created attracted complaints from television producer Norman Lear and his wife, activist and journalist Frances Lear, who were staying in the neighbouring house. In their respective studies of the spiritual aspects of Harrison's career, Dale Allison and Gary Tillery view the album as the artist reaffirming his Hindu-aligned spirituality after the despondency evident on Extra Texture.Allison, pp. 7–8.Tillery, pp. 116–17. In author Ian Inglis' description, Thirty Three & suggests "a man reborn", as confidence, optimism and success have superseded the previous album's themes of pessimism, suspicion and failure.Inglis, p. 64.
"Crackerbox Palace" was inspired by Harrison meeting the former manager of comedian Lord Buckley at Midem in January 1976.Clayson, p. 358. Written in March, "This Song" was Harrison's sardonic send-up of the "My Sweet Lord"/"He's So Fine" court caseLeng, p. 193. and reflected his experience in the courtroom as musicologists for both sides argued their respective cases.Snow, pp. 56–57. Harrison said he wrote it to "exorcise the paranoia about songwriting" that the episode had fostered in him.Snow, p. 57. "Pure Smokey" was his musical tribute to soul singer Smokey Robinson.Inglis, p. 63.Hunt, pp. 22–23. "It's What You Value" came about after drummer Jim Keltner had declined payment for appearing in Harrison's 1974 tour band, instead requesting a new Mercedes sportscar.Huntley, p. 147. The lyrics reflect the singer's interest in Formula 1, with a reference to the six-wheel Tyrrell P34.Harrison, p. 322.Clayson, p. 367. As a rare cover version, Harrison reworked the Cole Porter standard "True Love" in the pop style.Huntley, p. 148. He later joked that Bing Crosby's well-known version from 1956 "got the chords wrong" and was "a bit slow".
Harrison completed "See Yourself", which he had started writing in 1967 following Paul McCartney's public admission that he had taken the drug LSD.Harrison, p. 108. "Woman Don't You Cry for Me" and "Beautiful Girl" were other compositions dating from the late 1960s that Harrison revisited for Thirty Three & .Rodriguez, pp. 170–71. The first of these was a tune he wrote while on tour with Delaney & Bonnie in December 1969, to showcase his then-recent adoption of slide guitar.Clayson, pp. 279–80. In completing the lyrics to "Beautiful Girl", it became a love song to Arias,Huntley, pp. 146–47. whom he credits with providing the love he "needed for this soul to survive".Inglis, p. 61. Like "See Yourself", "Dear One" was inspired by Swami Yogananda,Inglis, pp. 60, 62. author of Autobiography of a Yogi and a profound influence on Harrison since his visit to India in September 1966.Tillery, pp. 56, 117–18. The ballad "Learning How to Love You" was another song inspired by his relationship with Arias. Harrison originally intended it as a track for singer and trumpeter Herb Alpert, the co-founder of A&M Records.
Allison views "Dear One" as the song that reflects Harrison's renewed faith after his self-styled "naughty period", but with a lyrical ambiguity that equally makes it a call for love.Allison, p. 49. When commenting on how the album's love songs appear to be directed to both a deity and a woman, Harrison said he was conscious of this trait,Kahn, p. 229. and "all love is part of a universal love. When you love a woman, it's the God in her that you see."
Recording Main sessions
Harrison started recording Thirty Three & on 24 May 1976, at his Friar Park home studio, FPSHOT, in Oxfordshire. He had taped the basic tracks for twelve songs before the onset of his bout of hepatitis. Having admitted in a recent interview with Melody Maker that he would prefer to work with a co-producer in future,Badman, p. 176. Harrison enlisted jazz saxophonist and arranger Tom Scott.Leng, p. 191.Huntley, p. 145. Scott's schedule as musical director of the Starsky & Hutch TV series restricted his role to production assistance on the Harrison album.Madinger & Easter, pp. 453–54.
As part of an all-North American line-up of musicians at the sessions, other participants included bassist Willie Weeks, drummer Alvin Taylor, keyboard players Richard Tee and David Foster, and jazz percussionist Emil Richards.Rodriguez, p. 170. Harrison's regular associates Gary Wright and Billy Preston also contributed, on keyboards, the latter in between his commitments to the Rolling Stones' concurrent European tour. Taylor had recently played on the album 2nd Resurrection, co-produced by Preston for the Chicago soul group the Stairsteps, one of several acts signed to Dark Horse Records since 1974.Clayson, pp. 346–48. Together with the Taylor–Weeks rhythm section, Scott's presence on Thirty Three & gave the album a more overt American soul sound compared with Harrison's self-produced Extra Texture.Huntley, pp. 144–45. Author Michael Frontani describes Taylor and Weeks as one of Harrison's most effective rhythm sections. Taylor recalled that he recorded his drum parts live to tape on the basic tracks, without any overdubs, and the aesthetic during the sessions was one of "human feeling".Billy Amendola, "Alvin Taylor" , Modern Drummer, April 2014 (retrieved 8 March 2021).
Overdubbing Harrison selected ten of the original twelve tracks for overdubbing.Giuliano, p. 224. He later said that "See Yourself" was a song that he came to like more and more as further instruments were added onto the initial recording.Giuliano, pp. 223, 224. Harrison recorded "Dear One" after most of the musicians had departed. Aside from Tee on Hammond organ, he played all the instruments on the track, including synthesizers. According to authors Chip Madinger and Mark Easter, one of the few items of recording Harrison was able to do over the summer months was an overdubbed acoustic guitar solo on "Learning How to Love You". Idle contributed the "ratbag" vocal interjections on "This Song", commenting on the track's similarity to 1960s hits by Fontella Bass and the Four Tops.Clayson, pp. 355–56.
After the keyboard-heavy arrangements on Extra Texture, Harrison's lead guitar playing returned to a prominent role in his sound.Huntley, pp. 145–46.Leng, pp. 186, 197. His signature slide guitar dominates the album opener, "Woman Don't You Cry for Me", and is represented in, variously, the twin, interweaving solos on "Beautiful Girl" and the multitracked riffs and commentary on "True Love"Leng, p. 195. and "Crackerbox Place".MacFarlane, p. 107.Lindsay Planer, "George Harrison 'Crackerbox Palace'" , AllMusic (retrieved 15 March 2021). Harrison biographer Simon Leng also highlights his Beatlesque arpeggios in the arrangement of "Beautiful Girl" and the comparatively rare non-slide electric solos he plays on "Pure Smokey".Leng, pp. 192, 196.