The first solo George Harrison album was supposed to highlight a contradiction in the way George reacted to Indian music. George explained why Indian music meant so much to him. Years before The Beatles disbanded, George Harrison released his debut solo album. George stated that he intended for the album to act as a “mini-anthology of Indian music.” The significance of Indian music in his life was also discussed. The in issue song enjoyed significantly greater success in the United States than it did in the United Kingdom. The first George Harrison solo record served as the basis for a hippie film. Wonderwall Music, George’s debut solo album, was released in 1968, two years before The Beatles’ dissolution. Wonderwall, a film with a hippy theme, had the record as its soundtrack.
George was asked to talk about the album during an interview from 1993 that is included in the book George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters. “Well, in talking about this world music, because of my fascination with Indian music — and by that time, I’d been to India a couple of times — what I was trying to do was a mini-anthology of Indian music when I did that music,” he added. “I was trying to show as many different aspects of what had turned me on in Indian music within the score of that film,” he continued. The shehnais, which are amazing wind instruments, the surbahar, which is like a deep version of the sitar, all the tablas, and other drums were among the many diverse instruments I used.
‘Wonderwall Music’, according to George Harrison, contains an intriguing contradiction. Regarding one of the Indian instruments he used on Wonderwall Music, George had a lot to say. The santoor, which has 116 strings or something, and is played with tiny wooden instruments, is the counterpart of the cimbalom, a Western instrument, he continued. “You play it with little hammers that you hold between your first and second finger and your thumb. It’s a bunch of strings strung over a box.” At the time, George claimed that he found Indian classical music to be thrilling. It sounded both new and ancient to him, which he found appealing. The performer of “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)” thought that by using Wonderwall Music, he might emphasize that contrast.
In the United States, the record was a success, but it failed to take off in the United Kingdom. Wonderwall Music had a modest hit in the United States in 1969. The soundtrack spent 16 weeks on the Billboard 200 list, peaking at No. 49. The fact that it made the top 50 despite not having any singles is evidence of how well-known The Beatles were in the late 1960s. Even now, Wonderwall Music is much more well-known than the related film. The Official Charts Company claims that Wonderwall Music never reached the UK charts. It’s intriguing that, despite George being English, the album did better in the United States than it did in the United Kingdom. Despite Wonderwall Music’s dismal sales in the U.K., it nevertheless contributed to the development of raga rock, a fusion style that combines rock with Indian classical music.
