Best of Dark Horse 1976–1989

Background

Rather than record a follow-up to his successful 1987 comeback album, Cloud Nine, in 1989, George Harrison chose to wait for his Traveling Wilburys bandmates – Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan and Tom Petty – to become available to start work on a new album. In a July 1989 interview, he described the group's 1988 debut, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1, as "one of the most enjoyable things I've done" and added: "I just have to wait for all the other Wilburys to finish being solo artists …" Harrison instead agreed to issue a greatest hits album, covering his work released on his own Dark Horse record label, from 1976's Thirty Three & 1/3 to Cloud Nine.

Previously released songs

Unlike on The Best of George Harrison (1976), which Capitol Records had compiled after the expiration of his EMI contract, Harrison was involved in the selection of songs for Best of Dark Horse. The compilation includes his hit singles "Crackerbox Palace" (1977), "Blow Away" (1979), "All Those Years Ago" (1981), "Got My Mind Set on You" (1987) and "When We Was Fab" (1988), and two other songs that had placed on one of Billboard magazine's US singles charts: "Love Comes to Everyone" (1979) and "Wake Up My Love" (1982). The new album omitted charting singles such as "This Song" (1976) and "This Is Love" (1988), however. Over these, Harrison favoured a selection of album tracks: "Here Comes the Moon", from 1979's George Harrison album; "Life Itself", from Somewhere in England (1981); "That's the Way It Goes" and "Gone Troppo", from the 1982 album Gone Troppo; and the title track from Cloud Nine, which had charted on Billboard's Album Rock Tracks listings.

New recordings

Harrison recorded two new songs for the compilation – "Poor Little Girl" and "Cockamamie Business" – at his Friar Park home studio in July 1989. Also included on Best of Dark Horse 1976–1989 was Harrison's contribution to the soundtrack for the film Lethal Weapon 2, "Cheer Down", which was issued as a single in the United States in August 1989. The latter song was co-written by Petty and co-produced by Lynne. Although Lynne played on "Poor Little Girl" and "Cockamamie Business" also, and the recordings feature a similar sound to his and Harrison's previous collaborations, production for the two songs was credited to Harrison only. While preparing the compilation for release, Harrison contributed various guitar parts to Lynne's debut solo album, Armchair Theatre.

Release

Best of Dark Horse 1976–1989 was released on 17 October 1989 in the United States and 23 October in Britain. The album cover features a photograph of Harrison taken by Terry O'Neill. Harrison dedicated the album to Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Parents for Safe Food, the Traveling Wilburys, racing-car designer Gordon Murray, and "anyone interested in saving our planet".

For the UK release of the "Cheer Down" single, which took place on 27 November, "Poor Little Girl" appeared as the B-side. "Poor Little Girl" was issued as a promotional single in the US, containing both the full (4:32) version of the track and a 3:25 edit. The song peaked at number 21 on the national Album Rock Tracks chart.

On release, Best of Dark Horse 1976–1989 failed to chart in the United Kingdom and peaked at number 132 in the United States. The album's lack of commercial success was surprising, given the resurgence in popularity that Harrison had experienced since 1987. Originally distributed through Warner Bros. Records, the compilation went out of print some years later and was not reissued by EMI when that company began distributing Harrison's Dark Horse catalogue. "Poor Little Girl", "Cockamamie Business" and "Cheer Down" were omitted from Harrison's 2004 box set The Dark Horse Years 1976–1992, making the Best of Dark Horse compilation the only official release to contain the first two of these three tracks.

Writing for Rough Guides in 2006, Chris Ingham described Best of Dark Horse as "excellent" and regretted that the album was no longer available. With The Best of George Harrison the artist's only compilation in print at that time, and "hardly a satisfying one-stop sampler", Ingham continued, "This state of affairs surely can't last much longer."

Track listing

All tracks written by George Harrison, except where noted.

The vinyl release omitted "Gone Troppo" and reversed the order of "Crackerbox Palace" and "Cloud 9". "Got My Mind Set on You" closed side one and "Cloud 9" opened side two. The cassette release matched the fifteen-song CD track listing. In this format, "Crackerbox Palace" closed side one and "Cloud 9" opened side two.

Personnel

Musicians on new recordings ("Poor Little Girl" and "Cockamamie Business")

According to Simon Leng:

Technical personnel

Adapted from the credits in the Best of Dark Horse CD booklet: