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The Quiet One: A Life of George Harrison
Well-researched and frank, this full biography includes an account of Harrison's rivalries, drug abuse, religious obsession, marital ructions, artistic plagarism and finally his reputation as a talented, charitable, middle-aged musician.
- GenresBiography
384 pages, Paperback
First published February 14, 1997
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21 people want to read
About the author
Alan Clayson
64 books10 followersAlan Clayson (Dover, England, 1951) is of a late 1970s vintage of composer-entertainers that also embraces the likes of Wreckless Eric, Tom Robinson, Elvis Costello and John Otway. While he is still making regular concert appearances, he has become better known as an author of around thirty books - mostly musical biography. These include the best-sellers "Backbeat" (subject of a major film), The Yardbirds and The Beatles book box.
He has written for journals as diverse as The Guardian, Record Collector, Ink, Mojo, Mediaeval World, Folk Roots, Guitar, Hello!, Drummer, The Times, The Independent, Ugly Things and, as a 'teenager, the notorious Schoolkids 0z. He has also been engaged to perform and lecture on both sides of the Atlantic - as well as broadcast on national TV and radio.
From 1975 to 1985, he led the legendary Clayson and the Argonauts - who reformed in 2005, ostensibly to launch Sunset On A Legend, a long-awaited double-CD retrospective - and was thrust to 'a premier position on rock's Lunatic Fringe' (Melody Maker).
As shown by the existence of a US fan club - dating from an 1992 soiree in Chicago - Alan Clayson's following grows still as well as demand for his talents as a record producer, and the number of versions of his compositions by such diverse acts as Dave Berry (in whose backing group, he played keyboards in the mid-1980s), New Age Outfit, Stairway - and Joy Tobing, winner of the Indonesian version of Pop Idol. He has worked too with The Portsmouth Sinfonia, Wreckless Eric, Twinkle, The Yardbirds, The Pretty Things, Mark Astronaut and the late Screaming Lord Sutch among many others. While his stage act defies succinct description, he has been labelled a 'chansonnier' in recent years for performances and record releases that may stand collectively as Alan Clayson's artistic apotheosis were it not for a promise of surprises yet to come.
He has written for journals as diverse as The Guardian, Record Collector, Ink, Mojo, Mediaeval World, Folk Roots, Guitar, Hello!, Drummer, The Times, The Independent, Ugly Things and, as a 'teenager, the notorious Schoolkids 0z. He has also been engaged to perform and lecture on both sides of the Atlantic - as well as broadcast on national TV and radio.
From 1975 to 1985, he led the legendary Clayson and the Argonauts - who reformed in 2005, ostensibly to launch Sunset On A Legend, a long-awaited double-CD retrospective - and was thrust to 'a premier position on rock's Lunatic Fringe' (Melody Maker).
As shown by the existence of a US fan club - dating from an 1992 soiree in Chicago - Alan Clayson's following grows still as well as demand for his talents as a record producer, and the number of versions of his compositions by such diverse acts as Dave Berry (in whose backing group, he played keyboards in the mid-1980s), New Age Outfit, Stairway - and Joy Tobing, winner of the Indonesian version of Pop Idol. He has worked too with The Portsmouth Sinfonia, Wreckless Eric, Twinkle, The Yardbirds, The Pretty Things, Mark Astronaut and the late Screaming Lord Sutch among many others. While his stage act defies succinct description, he has been labelled a 'chansonnier' in recent years for performances and record releases that may stand collectively as Alan Clayson's artistic apotheosis were it not for a promise of surprises yet to come.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 23, 2025
Knowledgeable and opinionated. But not very enjoyable to read - sometimes the writer wanders around the topic at hand a little too much.
November 17, 2023
Quite a great book that references comments made to others in person and in interviews that "fit" into the authors story at hand.
The author had to do this as Dark Horse Publications told him that Mr. Harrison is not interested in another life story. So...this book is an unauthorized life account. With that, the hard to read, paragraph spacing being too tight and poorly edited along with constant name dropping made reading this 410 pages a painful chore. (Yes several sentences are incomplete and words screwed up like the account of Dennis O'Brien being the devil and George "and" angel.
The countless name dropping from every one like Gary Glitter, Ron Wood, Eric Clapton, The Hurricanes, Tory Stone, The Rebels, Cilla Black, and on, and on, and on---and even those that left little a mark on rock and roll as a day old bagel. This lists of leafs in the wind and name dropping was too much.
His reasoning for his book was his research, interviews and countless documentation of George to help guide his bias for what song was great and what wasn't. Let's face it he was kind about droaning on about Wonderwall/ (What a collection of crap that was). Theb there were albums like George Harrison 1979 album that is frankly the best.
Some of the discussions about George and who played with him by forming concerts, like Bangladesh and some other tour stuff, was enlightening.
It also explained the corrupt Alan Klein who managed to take a good sum off of each Beatles popularity. The end of the book details the story about how George thought the final, book to be, "A way for some people to make money." perhaps pissed him off as he writes about his defense to do so and "shame on all who think differently," as he calls himself ,"a genius."
Then there are the last two pages about how George's sister---who played a personal campaign in the United States to promote her brother George by going all at it with radio and fan club creation efforts for the Beatles. She had lived in Benton Indiana and apparently George visited there around 1962 and now the house where they all stayed is a historical landmark. She is ok now living on the estate of Friar's Park
The author had to do this as Dark Horse Publications told him that Mr. Harrison is not interested in another life story. So...this book is an unauthorized life account. With that, the hard to read, paragraph spacing being too tight and poorly edited along with constant name dropping made reading this 410 pages a painful chore. (Yes several sentences are incomplete and words screwed up like the account of Dennis O'Brien being the devil and George "and" angel.
The countless name dropping from every one like Gary Glitter, Ron Wood, Eric Clapton, The Hurricanes, Tory Stone, The Rebels, Cilla Black, and on, and on, and on---and even those that left little a mark on rock and roll as a day old bagel. This lists of leafs in the wind and name dropping was too much.
His reasoning for his book was his research, interviews and countless documentation of George to help guide his bias for what song was great and what wasn't. Let's face it he was kind about droaning on about Wonderwall/ (What a collection of crap that was). Theb there were albums like George Harrison 1979 album that is frankly the best.
Some of the discussions about George and who played with him by forming concerts, like Bangladesh and some other tour stuff, was enlightening.
It also explained the corrupt Alan Klein who managed to take a good sum off of each Beatles popularity. The end of the book details the story about how George thought the final, book to be, "A way for some people to make money." perhaps pissed him off as he writes about his defense to do so and "shame on all who think differently," as he calls himself ,"a genius."
Then there are the last two pages about how George's sister---who played a personal campaign in the United States to promote her brother George by going all at it with radio and fan club creation efforts for the Beatles. She had lived in Benton Indiana and apparently George visited there around 1962 and now the house where they all stayed is a historical landmark. She is ok now living on the estate of Friar's Park
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews