With some of his earliest stuff only just recently becoming available on CD, this George Harrison greatest hits collection is just the ticket for those who don’t feel like trying to track down a bunch of out-of-print vinyl (and the turntable necessary to play it). Though it’s heavy on songs from the Jeff Lynne-produced Cloud Nine, which was only two years old when this CD was originally released, there is a lot of good stuff on here.
Personal favorites include “Blow Away” (possibly the best song Harrison has ever written), “All Those Years Ago” (which predates “When We Were Fab” with its tribute to Harrison’s heyday in the Beatles), and “Crackerbox Palace”. And of course, there are the obligatory new tracks which only exist on this collection – “Cockamamie Business” and “Poor Little Girl” (particularly the latter) have the odd distinction of sounding like a summation of all of Harrison’s stylistic tricks, neither sounding terribly original. Also included from the Lethal Weapon 2 
soundtrack is “Cheer Down”, which I’ve always rather liked.
If nothing else, this collection makes one glad that the old Harrison material is now returning to the shelves. He really did have something going before Cloud Nine, especially the early songs – many of which had been tried and rejected by the Beatles – where his sound was still very new.
- Poor Little Girl (4:32)
- Blow Away (3:58)
- That’s The Way It Goes (3:34)
- Cockamamie Business (5:14)
- Wake Up My Love (3:32)
- Life Itself (4:24)
- Got My Mind Set On You (3:50)
- Crackerbox Palace (3:56)
- Cloud 9 (3:14)
- Here Comes The Moon (4:07)
- Gone Troppo (4:24)
- When We Was Fab (3:56)
- Love Comes To Everyone (3:40)
- All Those Years Ago (3:44)
- Cheer Down (4:07)
Released by: Warner Bros.
Release date: 1989
Total running time: 60:28
