It's hard to know exactly what to make of posthumous albums. After all, the artist may have had a very different concept of how the finished product should have sounded from the one that is eventually released. In the case of 'Brainwashed', though, that was never likely to happen, what with George Harrison's son Dhani and close friend Jeff Lynne supervising the album's completion following his death.
The result is pretty much what you'd expect from an album bearing Lynne's name on the credits - plenty of slide guitar and a lush, classic rock (although in places too shiny) finish borne out of recording with some of sessionland's top names, including Lynne himself, drummer Jim Keltner and rent-a-percussionist Ray Cooper.
The big surprise is that the bite of Harrison's writing is still present and correct, whether throwing in barbed witticisms like the "concrete tuxedo" in 'P.2. Vatican Blues', as he gently sends up the Catholic Church, or the English eccentricity in the imagery of 'Pisces Fish', where "Canadian geese crap along the bank/Back wheel of my bike begins to quiver/The chain is wrapped around the crank".
That's not to say this is an overly flippant set of songs. Indeed, many of the other tracks focus on Harrison's spiritual beliefs and quest for inner peace, from the self-explanatory 'Looking For My Life''s declaration - "Oh Lord, I feel so stuck that I can't get to you" - to the pleading almost prayer-like sentiments of the title track, where he asks "God God God/Won't you lead us through this mess".
Meanwhile, the instrumental 'Marwa Blues' lets Harrison demonstrate what a fine guitarist he really was, with some haunting slide work. The title track also boasts the kind of sneering vocal style Harrison's close friend Bob Dylan made his own, as George tell us how we're "Brainwashed by computer/Brainwashed by mobile phone/Brainwashed by the satellite/ Brainwashed to the bone". The track ends with a reading of a Yoga aphorism, as Harrison's fears from the modern world fades into a tabla-backed meditation from the old order.
But while, lyrically, 'Brainwashed' may not do much to peel away the public face of the cantankerous Quiet One, the music has the warmth and feeling of Harrison's best work. So while Sir Paul continues his one-man crusade to rewrite history and Ringo indulges himself with his mates, George, for the final time, emerges from the shadows and leaves us with dignity intact.
