George Harrison – Download Special (iTunes)

Back in November’s issue we assessed the arrival of John Lennon’s solo catalogue on iTunes, and now it’s the turn of George Harrison’s post-Beatles output. Although not his complete solo output by any means, Harrison’s is the last of the four solo Beatles to arrive online, not only on iTunes but all the major digital download platforms. As Olivia Harrison said of the releases, “George had begun the digital remastering of his albums, but had no idea how the digital world would change the way we access and listen to music…”

All Things Must Pass
The top selling Harrison song on iTunes is – unsurprisingly - My Sweet Lord, so and the album it comes from, All Things Must Pass is a great place to start exploring his catalogue. All the bonus tracks from the 30th Anniversary Remaster are available, including Beware of Darkness and the backing track to What Is Life. But you’ll find that the three songs that clock in at over five minutes (Isn’t It A Pity, I Remember Jeep and Out of the Blue) are available only when you download the full album. One thing you can download by itself though is the EPK for the album’s 2001 reissue which costs £1.89 for just over seven minutes of video.

Cloud Nine, Brainwashed
While middle-period Harrison catalogue might be an acquired taste, his later work – 1987’s Cloud Nine and his final, 2002 outing Brainwashed are both vital listening. The former houses his second-most downloaded song, Got My Mind Set On You and is bolstered by the addition of a little-heard title tune for the Madonna/Handmade Films clanger Shanghai Surprise. Stuck Inside A Cloud is a highlight of Brainwashed, as is the Grammy award-winning Marwa Blues.

George Harrison, Somewhere In England, Gone Troppo
These three albums from Harrison’s ‘middle’ period work well in the era of single track downloads. Because where they might not have hung together – or sold – particularly well as full albums, they contain scores of interesting songs and tracks which are well worth 79p as individual buys. Like the single Blow Away from George Harrison, which also contains Not Guilty (written for the White Album sessions) and a demo version of Here Comes The Moon. And if you only download one track from Somewhere In England, make it All Those Years Ago, his tribute to John Lennon. Coming fresh to 1982’s brilliantly-titled Gone Troppo, I found a whole set of songs that had a lovely Clapton, solo-Lennon feel to them, and am downloading several as I type.

Live In Japan
iTunes own write-up states this early 90s, 19-track live set “easily surpasses McCartney’s Tripping The Live Fantastic or Paul Is Live.” Highly contentious, but this is a must listen set if only to browse through the preview snippets of solo renditions of Taxman, Something and While My Guitar Gently Weeps.

Living In The Material World
This 1973 album is well worth downloading for anyone that either doesn’t already own it or hasn’t got round to buying the 2006 expanded reissue. A full-album download includes the US number one single Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth) and the two bonus tracks, Miss O’Dell and Deep Blue, previously issued as B-sides.

Thirty Three & 1/3
One of Harrison’s lost classic albums, this one includes two instantly catchy, long-forgotten singles, This Song and Crackerbox Palace, and first appeared on his own Dark Horse label in 1976. It makes a confusing appearance on iTunes as two versions of the album are listed, one as the original release and the other as a 2001 remaster. But neither version includes the hilarious videos for the singles, so you’ll have to go to RC’s official YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/group/recordcollector) to watch those. Also missing in action: three of Harrison’s biggest solo creative statements: the Wonderwall, Electronic Music and Concert for Bangladesh albums. Let’s hope these ones appear sooner rather than later.

Britney Spears – Gimme More (Junkie XL Dub) (iTunes)

Against all the odds, Blackout has been described as Britney’s best album to date. And it’s certainly the first to offer fans of bona fide mashed-up electro breaks something to get their teeth into. This remix by JXL is the best of three bonus tracks available exclusively on the iTunes version of the album.

Radiohead - In Rainbows (radiohead.com)

The most talked-about digital release of the year arrives just in time for our Christmas issue. As Time magazine said when the album was announced, “What makes In Rainbows important - easily the most important release in the recent history of the music business - are its record label and its retail price: there is none, and there is none.” So if you haven’t heard already, you can go to Radiohead’s website and pay what you want for the album, which comes as a 160kbps .ZIP file of MP3s. If you love physical product, there’s a very collector-friendly £40 box set version - or Discbox – available too. So, yes, you can download the new Radiohead album and pay nothing at all for it if you want to.

But there’s no such thing as a free lunch. They wont let you take it without handing over your name, email address, postal address and mobile phone number. And is the album actually worth download, even if you don’t pay anything for it? Tracks like Bodysnatchers, which has been in the works for several years, are interesting, possible classic Radiohead songs, but not quite. And while thumping pieces like Reckoner are surely going to go down well in the US, it’s climbing back into the fragile world of Radiohead in Nude, a ballad first heard on the OK Computer tour, that means that, yes, you should have a good listen to this album, regardless of what you want to pay for it.

Motorhead – Overkill (Exclusive Version) (iTunes)

This has been available on iTunes for much of the year so is well overdue a mention. It’s a three-minute update by Lemmy, Mickey Dee and - most notably - drummer Phil Campbell of a ‘head classic. As one iTunes user noted, “this is worth the 79p, after all that aint even half a pint these days is it!”.

Laguna Meth - Laguna The Puma (Island)

This is a digital-only release on Island records for an album recorded ten years ago by LA’s Michael Laguna. It was originally planned for release on Go! Discs but fell into No Mans Land when the much-missed label went into liquidation. Now the music of the man who, as a teenager, tripped on LSD while perusing Jim Morrison’s and poetry (his childhood friend was the son of Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek) can finally be heard and – as you might expect – it’s a suitably modern, Flaming Lips-style take on quality psychedelia.