Brainwashed —en español: Cerebro lavado— es el duodécimo y último álbum de estudio del músico británico George Harrison, publicado por la compañía discográfica Dark Horse Records en noviembre de 2002. El disco, el primero de estudio en quince años desde el lanzamiento de Cloud Nine, fue grabado en su estudio personal de Friar Park y en los Swiss Arm Studios de Suiza entre 1997 y 2002. Brainwashed incluyó una mezcla de nuevas composiciones, caracterizadas por una marcada impronta espiritual destacada por la prensa musical, y canciones antiguas como «Rockin’ Chair in Hawaii» —de las sesiones de All Things Must Pass—, «Any Road» —compuesta durante el rodaje del videoclip de «This Is Love» en 1987— y «Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea» —una versión del tema de Harold Arlen grabada en directo en 1992—. Tras su fallecimiento a causa de un cáncer en noviembre de 2001, su hijo Dhani y su amigo Jeff Lynne, compañero en el grupo Traveling Wilburys, finalizaron Brainwashed siguiendo las pautas marcadas por el músico.
Su hijo Dhani
Como disco póstumo, Brainwashed ganó la atención de la crítica musical desde su publicación y es generalmente considerado como uno de los trabajos más refinados e intimistas de su carrera. Al respecto, David Fricke, de la revista Rolling Stone, escribió: «Es un buen y encantador epitafio de un hombre que, al final de su vida, creyó que el rock and roll era el cielo en la Tierra». Sin embargo, su éxito comercial fue moderado: solo alcanzó el puesto dieciocho en la lista estadounidense Billboard 200 y el veintinueve en la lista de discos más vendidos del Reino Unido. Sin embargo, el tema instrumental «Marwa Blues» ganó el Grammy a la mejor actuación instrumental en la 46ª edición de los premios, una gala donde el álbum también fue nominado como mejor álbum de pop vocal y «Any Road» como mejor interpretación vocal pop masculina.
Trasfondo
Durante los quince años que separan la publicación de Cloud Nine y Brainwashed, Harrison mantuvo un ritmo de trabajo inferior a años anteriores. Después de formar el grupo Traveling Wilburys con Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne y Tom Petty y de publicar dos discos, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 y Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3,[11] ofreció su última gira; una serie de doce conciertos en diciembre de 1991 por Japón junto a Eric Clapton.[12] Tras el lanzamiento de Live in Japan, disminuyó progresivamente su actividad musical y sus apariciones públicas fueron mínimas.
Una vez completado el proyecto The Beatles Anthology con Paul McCartney y Ringo Starr, realizó colaboraciones puntuales con amigos y músicos como Gary Wright,[13] Carl Perkins[14] y Bill Wyman.[15] [14] Su última aparición en televisión tuvo lugar en mayo de 1997 en el canal VH1 con motivo de la publicación de Chants of India, un álbum de Ravi Shankar producido por el propio Harrison.[16] Durante el programa, interpretó una versión acústica de «Any Road», además de las canciones «All Things Must Pass» —que dio título a su primer disco de estudio en solitario—, «If You Belonged To Me» —publicada en Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3— y «Prabhujee» —incluída en Chants of India—.[17] [18]
A pesar de colaborar en proyectos musicales de diversos amigos, el músico mostró reticencias a la hora de volver a grabar un nuevo trabajo.[19] Según Klaus Voormann: «George me habló de sus intenciones de hacer otro producto, y cómo de vacilante y dividido estaba sobre hacerlo en realidad».[19]
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BRAINWASHED
Brainwashed is the twelfth and final studio album by George Harrison, released in 2002, almost a year after his death at age 58. As Harrison’s first posthumous release, Brainwashed garnered much attention upon its unveiling.
History
Harrison began recording the tracks that eventually saw issue on Brainwashed as early as 1988 (with “Any Road” being written during the making of a video for “This Is Love” from the Cloud Nine album) and continued to do so in a sporadic manner over the next decade and a half. Progress was delayed due to business problems with Harrison’s former manager, Denis O’Brien, as well as his work with the Traveling Wilburys, Ravi Shankar, and his work on the Beatles’ Anthology.[1] In an interview in 1999, Harrison announced the title of his next album to be Portrait of a Leg End, and played songs entitled “Valentine”, “Pisces Fish” and “Brainwashed”.[2] During the promotion for the 2001 re-release of All Things Must Pass, Harrison joked that the name of the album would be Your Planet Is Doomed – Volume One.[3] After recuperating from being attacked in his home by Michael Abram on 30 December 1999, Harrison focused on finishing the album, simultaneously sharing his ideas for all its details (from the sound of the finished songs to the album’s artwork) with his son Dhani – information that ultimately proved very valuable.
Harrison successfully battled throat cancer in 1997;[4] in 2001 he underwent surgery to remove a cancerous growth from one of his lungs,[5] and radiotherapy for lung cancer which had metastasised to his brain.[6] Once he realised it was an irreversible situation, he worked further on the album’s songs – in conjunction with Dhani and his old collaborator Jeff Lynne – until he was unable to do more. Harrison’s final work on the album was carried out at a recording studio in Switzerland shortly before his trip to the United States for cancer treatment. On 29 November 2001, Harrison died, leaving Brainwashed unfinished, but with a guide to completing it in the hands of his son and Lynne.
After a few months away from the project, both the younger Harrison and Lynne returned to working on George’s final songs and added the appropriate instruments, as per their composer’s specifications, to the recordings. So close to completion was the project that the two used the exact timetable and session bookings that George had booked. After 14 years of indefinite delays and some difficult but rewarding sessions, the work was done and George Harrison’s final album was completed.
Release
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 77/100[7] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [8] |
| The A.V. Club | (favourable)[9] |
| Billboard | “Spotlight”[10] |
| entertainment.ie |  [11] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+[12] |
| Los Angeles Times | [13] |
| Music Story | [14] |
| PopMatters | (favourable)[15] |
| Rolling Stone | [16] |
| San Francisco Chronicle | [17] |
| Uncut | [18] |
Brainwashed was released on 18 November 2002 to mostly favourable reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album scores 77, based on 16 reviews, which means “generally favorable”.[7] The album was released on LP and CD. A limited-edition CD box was also released, containing a Brainwashed poster, a Dark Horse sticker, a guitar pick with George’s signature on it, and a bonus DVD with a seven-minute featurette about the making of the album. The album sold respectably, reaching number 18 in the US and going gold, and number 29 in the UK, where “Any Road” became a top 40 hit single in spring 2003. A live tribute to Harrison by an assembly of his musical contemporaries, entitled Concert for George, took place at the Royal Albert Hall simultaneously with the release of the album.
In 2004, Brainwashed‘s “Marwa Blues” won the Best Pop Instrumental Performance Grammy; Also that year, Harrison’s former bandmate Paul McCartney named the song as one of his all-time favourites.[19] The album itself had also been nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album, as well as Best Male Pop Vocal Performance (for the track “Any Road”).[20]
Three of the tracks from Brainwashed were included on Harrison’s career-spanning compilation album, Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison: “Any Road”, “Marwa Blues” and “Rising Sun”. Notably absent from the track listing was “Stuck Inside a Cloud”, the first promotional single from Brainwashed.
FUENTE:
MIGA PRIMERA 