George Harrison / Splinter - Hari + Splinter’s Dark Horse (Reissue) (1974-77/2008)

Splinter were a duo, Bill Elliott and Bobby Purvis, who caught the attention of George Harrison in the early seventies through Mal Evans. Harrison initially wanted them to record their debut album for Apple Records, but when that company was going through struggles, Harrison signed them to his own Dark Horse Records in 1973.
They released their first album "The Place I Love" in 1974 and then recorded five albums in total before dissolving in 1984 and slipping into obscurity.
"The Place I Love" was produced by George Harrison and features his guitar playing and other duties on every track under a variety of pseudonyms.
Backup and guest musicians also includes: Alvin Lee, Billy Preston, Gary Wright, Jim Keltner and Klaus Voorman.
The George Harrison estate owns the rights to "The Place I Love" and show no signs of releasing it which is a shame because Harrison produced, played guitar and contributed some backing vocals to the material and it should be included amongst some of his best work in the seventies.
Luckily for us, bootleggers under the Godfather label redress the deficit by pressing the first album complete. Plus, they have included the songs which Harrison played on from Splinter’s following two albums, "Harder To Live" and "Two Man Band". They use a pristine vinyl copy of the album with no evidence of its origin except for the single edit of “Lonely Man” which has slight surface noise. The sound is full, fresh and warm and stands as one of the better Beatle related releases of the year.
The original album "The Place I Love" took eighteen months to record and was first released on 20th September 1974 and was the very first album on the Dark Horse label. Unfortunately, even though Splinter had a hit single with “Coastafine Town” which peaked at no.17 in the UK charts, none of their albums charted. Of course this gives all of them a rarity value.

Some claim that Harrison’s guitar playing is among the best of his career on “Somebody’s City,” “Drink All Day” and “The Place I Love.” and therefore make this release essential listening.

Splinter’s second album "Harder To Live" was released on October 24, 1975.
The only song with George’s participation is “Lonely Man,” a gorgeous ballad punctuated by Billy Preston’s swirling organ lines. It was used in the obscure film "Little Malcolm And His Struggle Against The Eunuchs" and the lyrics to the first verse and chorus were written by Bob Purvis & Mal Evans. (Evans also wrote the lyrics for the last two verses).
Godfather also includes the single edit, plus, since “Lonely Man” was a hit in Japan, Splinter recorded the song in Japanese with the help of the singer Masatoshi Nakamura and that was released in October, 1976.

Splinter’s third album "Two Man Band" was released by Warner Brothers in September 1977 (cover picture at foot of this webpage).
The only song that has Harrison’s participation is the excellent “Round & Round,” a song that was issued as single but never charted.

The c.d. is packaged in a three-way folding cardboard gatefold sleeve with detailed recording information on each track of the main album.