| Extra Texture (Read All About It) | ||||
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| Studio album by George Harrison | ||||
| Released | 9 September 1975 (UK) 22 September 1975 (US) |
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| Recorded | June - July 1975 Except "You" and "A Bit More Of You": backing tracks recorded in February 1971 |
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| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 41:53 | |||
| Label | Apple | |||
| Producer | George Harrison | |||
| George Harrison chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Extra Texture (Read All About It) | ||||
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| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [1] |
Extra Texture (Read All About It) is an album by George Harrison which was released in 1975. Following the Dark Horse debacle, Extra Texture (Read All About It) was Harrison's last album under his contract with Apple Records (and also the last studio album on Apple) and EMI, all set to embark on his own Dark Horse Records imprint, initially distributed by A&M Records.
Once Harrison allowed himself some needed time to rest following the events of 1974 and busied himself with other Dark Horse acts, he finally got around to recording his "contractual obligation" album - the bulk of which was cut at A&M Studios in Los Angeles in the summer of 1975. Among the musicians he used to record Extra Texture (Read All About It) were Jim Keltner on drums, Leon Russell on piano, and a young David Foster - then contracted with Dark Horse Records with a band called Attitudes - who provided three string arrangements and keyboards. Different bass guitarists appear on nearly every track, and include Klaus Voormann, Carl Radle, Paul Stallworth, Willie Weeks, and Harrison himself, playing synthesized Arp bass.
Specially for the album, Harrison completed "You", a song he had intended for Ronnie Spector to record, and which went no further than its backing track back in 1971. It subsequently became a Top 20 hit in the United States, and reached #38 in the United Kingdom. The follow-up single in February 1976, "This Guitar (Can't Keep From Crying)" - a lyrical sequel to "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" - was the last new release on Apple Records until the label was revived in the 1990s, and also the first solo Beatles single to miss the charts. "Ooh Baby (You Know That I Love You)" was the first of two Smokey Robinson tributes Harrison would release.
Extra Texture (Read All About It) was better received than Dark Horse by the critics, though it was still considered slightly below par by the general public. Harrison himself would later designate the album as his worst. The album reached #8 in the US - his last Top 10 album there for twelve years - and went gold,[2] while reaching #16 in the UK.
Points of interest: Perhaps a joke referencing the impending demise of The Beatles' Apple Records label, the Apple logo is presented on Extra Texture (Read All About It) as an eaten away apple core. In addition, Harrison is pictured on the inside jacket with the caption "OHNOTHIMAGEN" ("Oh not him again"); a humorous take on Harrison's dwindling popularity at this time. The album's title is a pun on the slogan that street corner paperboys would yell out to sell "extra" late-breaking news editions of their newspapers: "Extra! Extra! Read all about it!"
Extra Texture (Read All About It) was remastered for CD release in 1992.
Contents |
All songs written and composed by George Harrison
| Chart (1975) | Position | Weeks |
|---|---|---|
| United States Billboard 200 [3][4] | 8 | 11 |
| Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart (top 20)[5] | 8 | 10 |
| Japanese Oricon Weekly LP Chart (top 100)[6] | 9 | 12 |
| UK Albums Chart (top 60)[7] | 16 | 4 |
| Region | Certification | Sales/shipments |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA)[2] | Gold | 500,000^ |
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^shipments figures based on certification alone |
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