Dark Horse (George Harrison Album) - Reception

Reception

Dark Horse received some of the most negative reviews of any release by a Beatle up to that point. Released amid the furore surrounding his refusal to play "Beatle George" during that first post-breakup US tour, it was as if Harrison had already "crossed a line", in author Simon Leng's words, and committed "acts of heresy". As such, he couldn't hope to have his new work judged purely on its own merits.

Under the heading "Transcendental mediocrity", Jim Miller of Rolling Stone called Dark Horse a "disastrous album" to match the "disastrous tour", and a "shoddy piece of work"; the musicians were "merely competent studio pros" (notwithstanding Tom Scott, Billy Preston, Willie Weeks, Ringo Starr, Jim Keltner et al. being named on the sleeve credits) and Harrison’s guitar playing was "rudimentary". The NME’s Roy Carr and Tony Tyler conceded that the playing was "impeccable", but Dark Horse’s lyrics were "sanctimonious, repetitive, vituperative and self-satisfied"; and as for the album as a whole: "One wishes it had not come from an ex-Beatle." Given particularly harsh press in the UK were two tracks dealing with the singer’s troubled personal life, "Simply Shady" and "So Sad".

Village Voice and sometime Rolling Stone contributor Nicholas Schaffner found some justification in his colleagues' sniping at the "shoddy performance" and "preachy, humorless message". While singling out for derision "Bye Bye, Love" (the album's "nadir", "a ghastly rendition") and "Ding Dong, Ding Dong" ("a string of greeting-card clichés, with trite music to match"), he praised the song "Dark Horse" and Harrison’s guitar work throughout, particularly on "So Sad", which made for "delectable listening".

A lone voice of genuine support in the US came from Michael Gross in Circus Raves, albeit some two months after Harrison's North American concerts. Combined with an enlightening feature on the tour, Gross's review of Dark Horse even described it as matching All Things Must Pass, and "surpassing" it at times, thanks to the new album's "clarity of production and lovely songs". He found "So Sad" a "luxurious track" and "Māya Love" a "soft, funky rocker spiced by superb Billy Preston piano riffs"; as for "Ding Dong", "Dark Horse" and "Far East Man", they were "all, simply, good songs".

Having previously championed Harrison's work since 1970, Rolling Stone would not change its unfavourable verdict over the ensuing decades − and Harrison would similarly never completely forgive the magazine for the treatment he received during this period. In 2002, writing in the Rolling Stone Press book Harrison shortly after his death, Greg Kot approved of Dark Horse’s "jazzier backdrops" compared with Living in the Material World, but still dismissed the album, saying Harrison’s voice "turns much of Dark Horse into an unintentionally comic exercise". In the same publication, though, Mikal Gilmore acknowledged it as "one of Harrison’s most fascinating works − a record about change and loss".

While the album has never received the dramatic critical turnaround that Paul and Linda McCartney’s Ram has, other recent commentators have identified a number of positives. Richard S. Ginell of Allmusic highlights the title track and the "exquisite" Harrison−Wood composition "Far East Man". Alan Clayson describes "It Is 'He' (Jai Sri Krishna)" as "wonderful" and "startling". Simon Leng considers "Dark Horse" and "Far East Man" to be among Harrison’s best songs, and describes "It Is 'He'" as "charming, upbeat … Krishna skiffle".

One blog writer has speculated on Dark Horse's possible status as a concept album. Harrison’s character, "Hari", begins the album in concert − "Hari's On Tour (Express)" − after which we see the seedier side of his rock 'n' roll lifestyle, with "Simply Shady", and his unhappiness at the root of it, in "So Sad". By the end of the original LP's side one, Hari has denounced all things māyā and begins side two determined to "ring out the old, ring in the new". This determination becomes defiance in the title track, after which Hari, his identity and purpose re-established, is able to embrace the universal in "Far East Man" before re-affirming his faith and spiritual journey with the album closer.

Leng, the first author to write purely on Harrison’s career rather than on his standing as a musical celebrity, considers Dark Horse to be "another remarkably revealing album", a "musical soap opera" even. (Harrison himself would dodge questions regarding his personal life before the tour with a suggestion that people wait for the new album − "It’s like Peyton Place," he’d joke.) While bemoaning the state of Harrison’s voice and the "sonic patchwork" nature of the set − the lack of a coherent sound across the album, resulting from the truncated approach to recording − Leng notes that both "So Sad" and "Far East Man" were received positively when first released on albums by Alvin Lee & Mylon LeFevre and Ron Wood, respectively. The difference come winter ’74–75 was that, by championing Ravi Shankar’s Indian music segments during the tour and neglecting his duties as an ex-Beatle in America, Harrison had "committed the cardinal counterculture sin − he had rejected ‘rock ’n’ roll’".