Update (5/24/03) No audio online yet, but you can see a transcript of the interview here. (Thanks to Diane and Carol-Anne Lennie.)

(5/23/03) Dhani Harrison was interviewed Thursday on BBC2's "Johnnie Walker Show." Among other things, he said the long-awaited program of George reissues will start next year. A DVD and "George Harrison Anthology" are also planned. The interview wasn't archived as of Thursday night, but, given what BBC2 usually does, it should available soon at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2.

We have several reports on the show. We'll start with Paul Soper:

Hi Steve,

Just listened to the Dhani Harrison Radio 2 interview. Here are the key bits of info:

George's catalogue will be reissued next year, including the two Travelling Wilbury albums. He spoke of how George was slightly miffed that the record companies left certain tracks off albums such as 'George Harrison', so these would be included on the reissues, and the artwork would be restored. (It wasn't clear to me whether this will include the remaining EMI albums. Dhani spoke of the 'Dark Horse' label albums not being available in the stores, but that those that weren't owned by him had been reissued. (the 1992 EMI releases of "Living in the Material World," etc)

There will be a 'George Harrison Anthology', but Dhani said he needs a holiday first!

There will be a DVD of George's music videos, as well as "hilarious" home movie footage Dhani has of George.

Dhani spoke of the making of 'Brainwashed', saying the release schedule was as his father intended. He defended Jeff Lynne's production and the accusation he made the tracks too "posh", saying the demos were quite posh to begin with, as they were recorded on 24- track with Jim Keltner on drums.

He also spoke of George's love of gardening, saying he would garden until it was pitch black, "because then he couldn't see the weeds and could envisage how the garden should be". His passion for gardening meant it was difficult to get him into the studio to record tracks, and they often had to wait a long time!

He also said that George never thrust the guitar on him, but he did teach him how to play a 12 bar blues.

Hi Steve,

Just a note to let you know that Dhani was in conversation with veteran DJ Johnnie Walker on Radio 2 this evening (between 6.30pm and 7.00pm).

Dhani spoke about the process of finishing 'Brainwashed' after his dad's death (humourously backing Jeff Lynne's production skills when JW mentioned that George didn't want his stuff to be 'overdone'; Dhani countered that his dad's 'demos' were all on 24 tracks and quite sophisticated by the time Jeff got his hands on them!) and confirmed that next year will see the re-release of his dad's back catalogue (perhaps with amended track listings/artwork?), including the Wilbury albums.

He mentioned that his dad was a home video addict and that he will be making use of the many many hours of film he has for a low key documentary project. He touched on the promo clips for George's singles and said that they, too, are part of the long-term release plan.

Dhani talked about how hard it was to get his dad out of the garden ("he'd be in the garden 'til it got dark!") and that it was an effort to get him in the studio ("he didn't care about the music industry").

Perhaps the most poignant recollection was of his dad enthusing about the string arrangement for 'Rising Sun' and him not being around to hear the final mix coming through the speakers. JW also read out a touching email from a George Harrison fan which Dhani seemed to be quite choked with.

Sadly the time elapsed too quickly, but Dhani was as dignified and down-to-earth as ever.

Keep up the good work!
Carol-Anne

As you've asked for a summary, here it is! I taped the interview so I haven't had to rely on my memory but I have summarised and paraphrased. Anything in quotes though are Dhani's words.

The show opened with "What Is Life" and then I had to sit through an hour and a half of absolute drivel until they played "Looking for My Life" and the interview with Dhani started.

First off, he repeated the story of how he came to finish Brainwashed and how George had planned it to be and then he was asked for his reaction to comments that the album is "posher" than George wanted. So Dhani explained that his father's idea of "rough" was using a 24-track system with amazing players rather than the 8-track that most people use for demos and that, for example, he (George) had already written the string parts for "Rising Sun" with Mike Moran. He also said that it would've been "crazier" if his dad had been able to finish it himself and that he (Dhani) and Jeff really did only tidy it up and actually felt quite restrained because "we were too nervous of being, you know, ... blamed." (Said with a laugh.)

He went on to talk about the pleasure and pain of completing the album without his father being there but also said that, in the end, it was very cathartic. The hardest part for him was that George couldn't hear the final versions of the songs he'd been hearing in his head. He also explained that some of his (Dhani's) guitar and vocals had been added while George was still alive and some after he'd died.

Johnnie Walker (the presenter) then played "Stuck Inside a Cloud" after which he read out a very nice email from a fan to which Dhani responded very nicely. He was then asked about George's passion for gardening and Dhani replied that he was a "relentless gardener" and that the hardest thing was to get him in the house to get down to recording. Apparently, he routinely gardened in the black of night, in Dhani's opinion because then he couldn't see the weeds at night and it was easier for him to imagine it as he really wanted it. (More laughter.)

Walker then asked him if he was pushed into playing the guitar and Dhani said that George never forced him to do anything. He'd had a mini drum kit as a kid and learned to play the piano till he was about 9 and then got into the guitar. But George never pressured him to play a particular way ... except for a "proper 12-bar blues".

Walker then asked him if there was any prospect of a George anthology and Dhani said, yes, absolutely in a couple of years. First, next year, they're going to re-issue his entire catalogue, putting back tracks that George was forced to remove by the record company (he mentions "George Harrison" and "Dark Horse" as two examples of this) and then follow that by re-issuing the two Traveling Wilburys albums. He then went on to say that George constantly walked around with a camcorder filming things and that there's miles and miles of footage, some of which is hysterically funny - a "his-eye view of the world". So they're going to do "a little George documentary" with this plus a DVD of all his videos. (Hooray!!! - my comment!)

He then talked about their shared love of motor racing and that Aerton Senna (spelling?) was the racing driver he most admired and that racing nowadays has become "dumbed down". (How can going round in circles very fast get dumbed down? - Again, my comment.)

Finally, he was asked if he was going to continue his father's work for peace and he said that he would continue to give much of the proceeds of future projects to charity, but that he had no plans to become a "charity worker". They played out with "Run So Far."

So, there you have it. It was a good interview, not totally predictable, and Dhani's a great kid.

HI, Thought you might be interested in a interview that Dhani Harrison gave on Radio 2 this evening - over here in England. Talking about the Brianwashed album the interviwer asked Dhani if there would be any other releases of George's music. Dhani said that next year he would be re-packaging all of his father's albums and by repackaging he meant reissuing all of the albums in the format that they were originally intended (i.e. including some songs that George had originally wanted on the albums but which didn't appear for one reason or another, and with the sleeve designs that George originally wanted) Apparantly George was very keen to get his albums back in the shops so that they could be available to his fans, as it is often difficult to find them these days.

Dhani then went on to talk about a DVD that he hopes to put out in the next couple of years which will feature all of the videos that have been made for George's songs, in addition to camcorder footage that George himself took. Apparantly George was an avid user of a hand held camcorder and Dhani has hours and hours of footage that Dhani described as fascinating and very funny showing the "world through George's eyes." He referred to the DVD as a mini 'Anthology.!!

This is all great news. It was a really nice interview with Dhani reminiscing about George's love of gardening - "he would often go outside at night in the dark with a beer and do some weeding!" Classic.

Keep up the great work. Rock on Macca in Liverpool!! Can't wait!!

Cheers,
Adrian Porter

(Thanks also to Jonathan Dancey.)