Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Haruhiko Kuroda has arrived here on a two-day visit.
Kuroda’’s visit is expected to reaffirm the ADB’’s strong support for the Bangladesh government’’s economic and social development programmes, which have come under pressure from the global economic crisis, The Independent reports.
Kuroda will hold meetings with top government leaders and civil society [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Bangladesh’
ADB chief arrives in Dhaka to review socio-economic programmes
July 22nd, 2009 |
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Bangladesh favours reopening rail link with India: Sheikh Hasina
July 22nd, 2009 |
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Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has expressed her government’’s interest in reopening a rail link between Bangladesh and India to establish stronger connectivity between the two neighbouring countries in the fields of trade, investment and people-to-people contacts.
The railway link was severed following 1965 India-Pakistan war and has been non-operational since then.
She conveyed this at [...]
Eclipse casts shadow across Asia
July 22nd, 2009 |
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The eclipse was first sighted at dawn in eastern India near the town of Guahati before moving north and east to Nepal, Burma, Bangladesh, Bhutan and China
• Datablog: every eclipse until the year 2200
Tourists, astronomers and residents across a swath of Asia turned their eyes to the heavens today as the longest eclipse of the 21st century arrived.
Viewing for many was marred by heavy clouds and rain, but the drama of the total eclipse – as darkness swept a narrow path across the continent – was unmistakable.
Jiaxing in Zhejiang province, picked out by China’s National Astronomical Observatory as one of the best spots to view the phenomenon, was drenched by rain after days of fine weather. Forecasters had warned all eight of the selected sites could suffer bad weather.
Thousands of foreign tourists had come to the little-knownn city of 3.5 million inhabitants. They reportedly included a party from India who had feared monsoon rains might obscure their view at home.
Around a thousand gathered in a public square for an official ceremony to mark the occasion. There were cheers when a glimpse of sun briefly broke through the clouds, shortly before the eclipse was due to begin at 8.22.20.
Visitors grabbed their darkened glasses in anticipation, following reminders that viewing with the naked eye could damage their eyesight.
But they would have little chance to use them: shortly afterwards the heavens opened and torrential rain hit the six viewing spots across the city.
Said Jin Qinlong, director of the tourism administration, said it was the most popular event in the city.
Despite the stress of organising it, he added, he felt “a deep calm and peace” as darkness swept across the land.
The phenomenon began at dawn over the western coast of India, passing over Surat, Indore, Bhopal, Varanasi and Patna, Nasa said. It moved east across Nepal, Burma, Bangladesh and Bhutan and then along China’s Yangtze river valley, home to 300 million.
Thick cloud cover over India obscured the sun when the eclipse began but the clouds parted in several cities, minutes before the total eclipse took place at 6.24am.
In neighbouring Bangladesh, people came out in droves.
“It’s a rare moment, I never thought I would see this in my life,” said Abdullah Sayeed, a college student who traveled to Panchagarh town from the capital Dhaka to view it.
He said cars in the town needed to use headlights as “night darkness has fallen suddenly”.
One of the best views, shown live on several television channels, appeared to be in the Indian town of Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges river, sacred to devout Hindus.
Thousands of Hindus took a dip in keeping with the ancient belief that bathing in the river at Varanasi, especially on special occasions, cleanses one’s sins. The eclipse was seen there for three minutes and 48 seconds.
From there it passed to southern Japan and across the Pacific Ocean, where it would reach its maximum length of six minutes and 29 seconds.
In Jiaxing, the sun began to slip behind the moon at 8.22.20 and reemerged completely 11.00.21, with total eclipse from 9.35.01 to 9.40.57.
According to Nasa, a total eclipse, when the moon passes between the earth and the sun, is only visible from a narrow strip – about 150km wide – of the Earth’s surface at any one time.
Humans have recorded eclipses for thousands of years, but they were often sources of fear rather than fascination. China’s cabinet – the state council – recognised their enduring power when it issued a directive urging local officials to ensure social stability during the event and urged academics and the media to explain the scientific principles behind it lest it caused blind panic.
Historic Chinese documents suggest that they are portents of change.
“There’s a long tradition in China’s past of the natural world and human world being interconnected so developments in one speak to the other,” said Professor Jeffrey Wasserstrom of the University of California.
“From 2,000 years ago or so, the imperial family was interested in any kind of astronomical knowledge that could help predict eclipses. It’s an early version of spin … if you knew in advance the heavens were displeased you could interpret that as being about bad officials who needed to be reprimanded as opposed to the dynasty being imperilled.
“To what extent anyone thinks in those terms now is another matter.”
On a more prosaic note, Chinese authorities in many towns turned on street lights and ordered all police officers to remain on duty, fearing traffic accidents and other problems.
Yan Jun, director of the National Astronomical Observatories, told the official People’s Daily newspaper that the abrupt blackout might inflict dangers on road transport, shipping, air travel and even medical services and other activities. He suggested telecommunications and power transmission might also be affected due to sudden changes in astronomic gravity and light intensity.
In Jiaxing, residents expressed disappointment at the low visibility but tourists appeared to be taking it in their stride. Pupils from Southend boys high school struck up a rousing chorus of their school song and a briefer rendition of It’s Raining Men as they huddled beneath umbrellas in the square.
“Unfortunately, everything’s eclipsed now,” said Dr Mahamarowi Omar, an amateur astronomer who had brought a tour group from Malaysia just to see the phenomenon.
“It’s something so great that humans should experience it. It’s not only science. We are Muslim and after this we will go and pray to God together. He has brought us the beautiful sky and earth and sun.”
There was still no sign of the sun when the rain cleared, but the sky was darkening second by second as the moon swept across its face somewhere behind the clouds. Grumbles and sighs of frustration turned to gasps.
Moments later Jiaxing enjoyed its second dawn of the day. This time, as the sky lightened, glimpses of an upside-down crescent of the sun could be caught through viewing glasses.
“There’s nothing greater than a solar eclipse,” said Sammy Grech, who had travelled all the way from Malta, where he heads the astronomical society.
“Except the rain,” he added thoughtfully.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Asia watches long solar eclipse
July 22nd, 2009 |
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Millions of people in Asia will see the longest total solar eclipse this century on Wednesday as swaths of India and China are plunged into darkness.
Scores of amateur stargazers and scientists will travel long distances for the eclipse, which will last for about five minutes.
The eclipse will first appear in the Gulf of Khambhat just north of Mumbai.
It will move east across India, Nepal, Burma, Bangladesh, Bhutan and China before hitting the Pacific.
The eclipse will cross some southern Japanese islands and will last be visible from land at Nikumaroro Island in the South Pacific nation of Kiribati.
Elsewhere, a partial eclipse will be visible across much of Asia.
The previous total eclipse, in August 2008, lasted two minutes and 27 seconds. This one will last six minutes and 39 seconds at its maximum point.
Alphonse Sterling, a Nasa astrophysicist who will be following the eclipse from China, scientists are hoping data from the eclipse will help explain solar flares and other structures of the sun and why they erupt.
"We’ll have to wait a few hundred years for another opportunity to observe a solar eclipse that lasts this long, so it’s a very special opportunity," Shao Zhenyi, an astronomer at the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory in China told the Associated Press news agency.
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Special flight provides lifetime experience to eclipse chasers
July 22nd, 2009 |
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Around 30 astronomy enthusiasts boarded a chartered plane at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Wednesday to chase the total solar eclipse up to Gaya above the clouds at a height of 41,000 feet
It was an initiative of travel agency Cox and Kings India, under the guidance of Eclipse Chasers Athenaeum (ECA), a wing [...]
Millions witness longest solar eclipse
July 22nd, 2009 |
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People across the continent are preparing for a solar eclipse
Scientists, students and nature enthusiasts acrossn Asia were preparing for the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century so far, while millions planned to shutter themselves indoors, giving in to superstitious myths about the phenomenon.
The eclipse was first sighted at dawn in eastern India near the town of Guahati before moving in a broad swath moving north and east to Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan and China.
Visible only in Asia it reached its peak in India at about 6:20 am local time (0050 GMT), and will last 6 minutes and 39 seconds at its maximum point.
It is the longest such eclipse since 11 July 1991, when a total eclipse lasting 6 minutes, 53 seconds was visible from Hawaii to South America. There will not be a longer eclipse than today’s until 2132.
The eclipse was seen for 3 minutes and 48 seconds in the eastern Indian village of Taregna, where scientists say residents would have the clearest view.
Over the past week, this village has been swamped by researchers who will study scientific phenomena ranging from the behaviour of birds and other animals to atmospheric changes affected by the eclipse.
Hotels in Patna were fully booked while taxis raised their rates sensing a brief opportunity in the sudden interest in the village. Scientists set up telescopes and other equipment in Taregna a day in advance to make the most of the window of opportunity provided by the eclipse.
“We are hoping to make some valuable observations on the formation of asteroids around the sun,” Pankaj Bhama, a scientist with India’s Science Popularization Association of Communicators and Educators, said.
A 10-member team of scientists from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bangalore and the Indian air force would be flying and filming the eclipse as it becomes visible in different parts of the country, an air force press release said.
Thousands of people lined up outside a planetarium in Patna yesterday to buy solar viewing goggles. The goggles, costing 30p , are supposed to act as filters and allow people to look at the sun without damaging their eyes.
But millions across India were shunning the sight and planned to stay indoors, gripped by fearful myths.
Across India, even in regions where the eclipse was not visible, pregnant women were advised to stay indoors in curtained rooms over a belief that the sun’s invisible rays would harm the fetus and the baby would be born with disfigurements, birthmarks or a congenital defect.
Krati Jain, a software professional in New Delhi, said she planned to take a day off from work to avoid what she called “any ill effects of the eclipse on my baby.”
“My mother and aunts have called and told me stay in a darkened room with the curtains closed, lie in bed and chant prayers,” said Jain, 24, who is expecting her first child.
In the northern Indian state of Punjab, authorities ordered schools to begin an hour late to prevent children from venturing out and gazing at the sun. Others saw a business opportunity: one travel agency in India scheduled a charter flight to watch the eclipse by air, with seats facing the sun selling at a premium.
Additional police and paramilitary troops were posted around Patna and Taregna after Maoist rebels called for a strike Wednesday to protest increases in the price of gas and other essentials.
The rebels, who say they are inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, often target police and government workers.
“Adequate numbers of forces have been deployed at Taregna where top scientists and researchers are gathering to view the celestial wonder,” said R Mallar Vizhi, a senior superintendent of police in Patna.
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Over-65s to outnumber under-fives worldwide
July 21st, 2009 |
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US census bureau report highlights shift in global population that may bring social and economic changes worldwide
The world is about to cross a demographic landmark of huge social and economic importance, with the proportion of the global population 65 and over set to outnumber children under five for the first time.
A new report by the US census bureau highlights a huge shift towards not just an ageing but an old population, with formidable consequences for rich and poor nations alike. The transformation carries with it challenges for families and policymakers, ranging from how to care for older people living alone to how to pay for unprecedented numbers of pensioners – more than 1 billion of them by 2040.
The report, An Ageing World: 2008, shows that within 10 years older people will outnumber children for the first time. It forecasts that over the next 30 years the number of over-65s is expected to almost double, from 506 million in 2008 to 1.3 billion – a leap from 7% of the world’s population to 14%. Already, the number of people in the world 65 and over is increasing at an average of 870,000 each month.
The rate of growth will shoot up in the next couple of years, with both overall numbers and proportions of older people rising rapidly.
The shift is due to a combination of the time-delayed impact of high fertility levels after the second world war and more recent improvements in health that are bringing down death rates at older ages. Separate UN forecasts predict that the global population will top 9 billion by 2050.
The US census bureau has led the way in sounding the alarm over the changes. This is its ninth report drawing together data from around the globe since it first focused on the trend in 1987.
Its latest projections warn governments and international bodies the tipping point will present widespread challenges at every level of human organisation, starting with the structure of the family, which will be transformed as people live longer.
That will in turn bring new burdens on carers and social services providers, while patterns of work and retirement will similarly have huge implications for health services and pensions systems.
“People are living longer, and in some parts of the world, healthier lives,” the authors conclude. “This represents one of the crowning achievements of the last century but also a significant challenge as proportions of older people increase in most countries.”
Europe is the greyest continent, with 23 of the world’s 25 oldest countries. Such dominance of the regional league table will continue. By 2040, more than one in four Europeans are expected to be at least 65, and one in seven at least 75.
The UK comes in at number 19 in the list of the world’s oldest countries. Top of the pile is Japan, which recently supplanted Italy as the world’s oldest big country. Its life expectancy at birth – 82 years – is matched only by Singapore, though in western Europe, France, Sweden and Italy all have life expectancies of more than 80 years (in the UK it is 78.8).
The contrast in life expectancy between rich and poor nations remains glaring. The report shows that a person born in a developed country can expect to outlive his or her counterpart in the developing world by 14 years. Zimbabwe holds the unfortunate record for the lowest life expectancy, which has been cut to 40 through a combination of Aids, famine and dictatorship.
But an important finding of the report is that the wave of ageing that has until recently been considered a phenomenon of the developed world is fast encroaching on poorer countries too. More than 80% of the increase in older people in the year up to July 2008 was seen in developing countries.
By 2040, the poor world is projected to be home to more than 1 billion people aged 65 and over – fully 76% of the world total.
Ageing will put pressure on societies at all levels. One way of measuring that is to look at the older dependency ratio, or ODR, which acts as an indicator of the balance between working-age people and the older population that must be supported by them.
The ODR is the number of people aged 65 and over for every 100 people aged 20 to 64. It varies widely, from just six in Kenya and seven in Bangladesh, to 33 in Italy and also Japan. The UK has an ODR of 26, and the US has 21.
From that ratio, a number of profound challenges flow. Countries with a high ODR are already creaking under the burden of funding prolonged retirement for their older population. Life expectancy after retirement has already reached 21 years for French men and 26 years for French women.
Though retirement ages have begun to rise in developed countries, partly through inducements from governments to continue working, this still puts an extreme burden on public pensions funds.
Socially, too, there are intense pressures on individuals and families.
With women living on average seven years longer than men, more older women are living alone. Around half of all women 65 and over in Germany, Denmark and Slovakia are on their own, with all the consequent issues of loneliness and access to care that ensue.
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Solar Eclipse on July 22 may be most viewed ever
July 21st, 2009 |
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The total solar eclipse passing over some of Earth’s most densely populated regions on Wednesday, July 22, 2009, may become the most viewed eclipse ever.
People across central India and in parts of Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Myanmar will briefly find themselves in daytime darkness before the solar eclipse proceeds into China.
Most of the best [...]
Kalam meets Grameen Bank’’s Yunus in Dhaka, dines with President, PM
July 21st, 2009 |
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Former Indian president A P J Abdul Kalam, who arrived in Dhaka yesterday on a three-day visit, met with Bangladeshi Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, and attended a dinner hosted by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and President Zillur Rahman.
During his hour-long meeting with Professor Yunus, Kalam was briefed about the activities of the Grameen Bank and [...]
21st century’s longest eclipse
July 20th, 2009 |
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BANGKOK (AP) — Millions of people across Asia will witness the longest total solar eclipse that will happen this century, as vast swaths of India and China, the entire city of Shanghai and southern Japanese islands are plunged into darkness Wednesday for about five minutes.
Streams of amateur stargazers and scientists are traveling long distances to [...]
Monsoon chaos sweeps South Asia
July 20th, 2009 |
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Scores of people are reported to have been killed by flash floods in eastern India, as an uneven monsoon brings chaos across the subcontinent.
Authorities in the Indian state of Orissa say that at least 36 people have died in flooding in the past week. Half a million homes have been flooded.
In Pakistan there have been protests amid power outages after heavy rains killed at least 29 people in Karachi.
But in Bangladesh, poor monsoon rainfall is causing widespread alarm.
Weather protests
In the state of Orissa, rivers were reported to have breached their banks and thousands of hectares of crops have been damaged. More rain was forecast.
Analysts say that India has suffered a poor start to to the monsoon season.
Monsoon floods hit India every year, killing hundreds and forcing millions of people to leave their homes.
But this year, some states have experienced drought while others have experienced flooding.
Pakistan’s southern port of Karachi has been subjected to two days of incessant rain, and power has still not been restored in many areas.
Residents furious about rain-related deaths and power failures came out to demonstrate in various part of the city and blocked the main highway out of the city for several hours on Sunday night.
Witnesses say that police fired their guns into the air to disperse the protesters.
According to Pakistan’s meteorological office, the levels of rain recorded in Karachi were the highest since 1970.
Bangladesh fears
Bangladesh is one of the world’s wettest countries and usually suffers heavy flooding, but this year’s annual monsoon rains are much weaker than normal.
The BBC’s Mark Dummett in Dhaka says the situation is a source of anxiety for farmers and government officials. The authorities say that there has been been 40% less rain this year than normal.
The government is concerned that this could have a seriously adverse affect on the next food harvest.
An official in the northern town of Dinajpur said that much farmland there was now bone-dry, so was completely useless for planting rice.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Rain fails to slow Bangladesh spinners down
July 20th, 2009 |
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Bangladesh’s spinners continued to torment the West Indies’ batsman in an afternoon session truncated by the weather and left the home team scrambling on 192 for eight at tea in the second and final Test on Sunday.
At the break, Dave Bernard Jr was unbeaten on 61 and Tino Best was not out on four, after [...]
Waterborne diseases rise in West Bengal
July 18th, 2009 |
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Residents of several districts in West Bengal, after having endured the aftermath of cyclone Aila in May, now grapple with an outbreak of diarrhoea
Waterborne diseases are spreading amongst the 6.8 million people affected by the May 25 cyclone. So far diarrhoea has killed 28 persons and another 85,000 diarrhoea cases have been reported from across [...]
Butt vows to continue fighting for 2011 World Cup hosting rights
July 16th, 2009 |
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Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ijaz Butt has said he will continue to fight for Pakistan’s right to host the 2011 World Cup.
Butt said he would meet International Cricket Council (ICC) president David Morgan in Dubai later this month and discuss the issue of Pakistan being denied hosting rights of the quadrennial event.
Commenting on the [...]
Bangladesh seal rare Test victory
July 13th, 2009 |
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First Test, St Vincent (day five, stumps):
Bangladesh 238 & 345 beat West Indies 307, 181 by 95 runs
Match scorecard
A superb bowling spell from Mahmudullah saw Bangladesh record only their second ever Test victory with a 95-run win against a weakened West Indies side.
Set 277 to win, the home side crumbled to 181 all out as the debutant off-spinner ripped through the batting order with 5-51 in St Vincent.
David Bernard (52 not out) was the only batsman to provide any resistance.
Earlier, Bangladesh lost their last five wickets for 23 runs to finish on 345 with Darren Sammy claiming 5-70.
The victory is Bangladesh’s first overseas – their previous win came against Zimbabwe over four years ago in Chittagong – in 60 matches since their introduction to Test cricket nine years ago.
The victory was made the more remarkable considering captain and strike bowler Mashrafe Mortaza missed the West Indian innings with a knee injury, with vice-captain Shakib Al Hasan deputising in his absence.
"It was probably a blessing in disguise when we got bowled out (on Monday morning) which gave us more time," said Mortaza, skippering his first Test match since succeeding Mohammad Ashraful last month.
"I thought we let ourselves down in the first innings"
Captain Floyd Reifer
"We were looking to bat until lunch and get a lead of about 300 or more, but we lost our last five wickets quickly."
However, Bangladesh’s achievement came against a second-string West Indies side missing 13 of its best players because of an ongoing contract dispute with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).
The board has insisted it will field the same squad – seven of whom made their debuts at Arnos Vale – if no settlement can be reached ahead of the second Test, which starts in Grenada on Friday.
The final day began promisingly for the home side as Sammy claimed three dismissals for his second Test five-wicket haul.
But with 80 overs to chase down 277 on a wearing wicket encouraging turn, the inexperienced West Indies batting line-up succumbed to Bangladesh’s triple spin attack.
Openers Dale Richards and Omar Phillips each fell for 14 before captain Floyd Reifer became the first of Mahmudullah’s five victims for 19.
Reduced to 85-5, Bernard found support in Sammy, but the vice-captain was dismissed by Shakib Al Hasan to leave the home side precariously placed at 119-6.
606: DEBATEYour thoughts on Bangladesh’s victory
Despite reaching his second half century of the match, Bernard could not find adequate support as Bangladesh wrapped up their historic victory 40 minutes from the scheduled close.
"It is disappointing to lose but I think the guys, brought here the night before a Test, fought well," said 36-year-old stand-in skipper Reifer, who made his first international appearance in more than 10 years.
"I thought we let ourselves down in the first innings, when the batsmen did not capitalise on the starts that they got.
"Many of us got a start, but never really carried on. Young Omar Phillips scored 94, but I thought that a lot of other guys, including myself, got starts, and we never carried on to a big score."</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Monsoon watch
July 13th, 2009 |
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By Mark Dummett
BBC News, Bangladesh
This is an anxious time for the people of Char Atra, an island of silt, sand, paddy fields and huts in the middle of the Ganges.
The monsoon is drenching South Asia, and millions of gallons of water are heading towards the Char from as far away as the Himalayas.
By the end of August, the region will be completely inundated. Instead of walking to school or the market, the 10,000 inhabitants may instead have to swim or move about on banana-tree rafts.
Last minute work is now being done to get things ready; the river is too powerful and the island too low to prevent the floods, but homes and paths can be heightened.
A lot of this work has been sponsored by charity Oxfam and carried out by its local partner, the Shariatpur Development Society.
Shfiting sands
Hasina Begum’s tin-sheet and thatch home has been dismantled and a dozen women are piling up sand so that its base can be raised.
She says she is relieved because during last year’s floods, there was so much water in her hut that she had to tie her children to their bed at night to stop them from rolling off and drowning.
Now she will only have to do that if there is a freak flood, a one-in-50-year event. If this does happen then she can build a platform under the roof and sleep there.
Raising her home to a safe level is simple and cheap work, but Hasina, like most islanders, is too poor to be able to pay for it herself.
In the aid-workers’ jargon, they are the "hardcore poor" because they do not own anything and because of their intense vulnerability to the weather conditions and the river level.
Their homes are literally built on sand, and the fact is that one year soon, Char Atra, and everything on it, will be washed away in the floods.
Testing times
I met one old man there – a veteran of the river – who had been forced to move 22 times in his life as each of his homes was destroyed in turn.
Then there is the government school. It is by the far the largest and strongest building on the island. It doubles as a shelter for hundreds of families during floods and cyclones.
Its headmaster, Mohammed Abdur Rashid, says it has been rebuilt eight times since he was a pupil.
He says that his best students all dream of leaving the island, and getting a job in a big city like Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital.
Others hope to migrate, as many families in the area have relatives working in Italy.
Only a small fraction attend school. Despite government attempts to introduce family planning, there are lots of children on the island. It is impossible to imagine where they are all supposed to live.
They will face many of the same problems their grandparents encountered: floods, riverbank erosion and hunger.
For sure, they will receive more help from the government and aid agencies, but they also face a new set of challenges.
Because it is such a low-lying and heavily populated country, Bangladesh is one of the countries most exposed to climate change and faces a series of threats:
• By the middle of the century, sea level rises are predicted to wipe out much of its coastal belt, making millions homeless
• The water in the Ganges is already becoming more saline, as sea water reaches further inland
• As a result of its position at the top of the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh is already one of the countries most prone to tropical storms, and rising sea temperatures could lead to more frequent and more devastating cyclones
• There could be worse floods as the monsoon rains become more erratic, and meltwater from the disappearing Himalayan glaciers hits Bangladesh
• The demise of glaciers could also lead to droughts in the north of the country
The government here is pushing for extra funds from rich carbon-emitting nations so that it can help the people of Char Atra, and elsewhere, adapt to these changes before it is too late.
It, and groups like Oxfam, will be pushing their case later this year when leaders meet in Copenhagen to thrash out a new global deal on climate change.
BBC News will return to Char Atra in a few weeks to see how its residents are coping with the arrival of the monsoon season</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
George Harrison:
Let It Roll: Songs of George Harrison
July 10th, 2009 |
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By: Ron Hart
align=right src="http://images.jambase.com/bands/Wednesday/HarrisonRoll.jpg">
Over the last ten years, Capitol/EMI has been notorious for treating its reissue campaign of George Harrison‘s post-Beatles catalog like some kind of under-appreciated stepchild whose parents force ugly new clothes and disgusting new food onto.
First was the 30th Anniversary reissue of the Quiet One’s masterpiece, All Things Must Pass, from early 2001, considered by many to be the single greatest work by a Beatle outside of the band itself. In addition to the ghastly “colorization” of the original album artwork that would even make the people who tarnished It’s A Wonderful Life cringe, whoever engineered the remaster somehow buried the vocals and guitars even deeper in the mix than original producer Phil Spector had already done initially with his Wall of Sound recording style. Then, there was the label’s 2005 hatchet job on Harrison’s sublime 1971 double-live album chronicling his acclaimed Concert for Bangladesh. While the remastering job of the actual live cuts themselves was great, they cut out the majority of the breaks between songs, destroying the natural flow of the concert that made you feel as though you were right inside Madison Square Garden when listening to the original LP. And worst of all, Capitol finally got its way with the album artwork. After losing its original battle with Harrison over the cover concept – that stunning, iconic image of a malnourished refugee child sitting cross-legged in front of an empty bowl of food, which the suits thought was too depressing and would hurt album sales and then wound up becoming a bestseller and winning the Grammy for Album of the Year in 1973—the label went with the cover they had wanted all along, an image of Harrison from the accompanying concert film, for the reissue (and doing so after Harrison’s tragic demise due to cancer in November 2001, thus adding a whole new layer of sleaze to the whole predicament). Meanwhile, the label’s 2006 reissue of 1973′s Living In The Material World as well as the box set covering the albums released on the guitarist’s own Dark Horse imprint were modest campaigns that somewhat offered a reprieve for fans otherwise annoyed by the label handling of the Quiet One’s catalog thus far, in that it vastly improved upon the original issues in both sound quality and packaging (although some beefier bonus material would have been nice).
Now comes Let it Roll: Songs by George Harrison, a single-disc retrospective released by the EMI group on June 16 touting itself as the first-ever collection spanning the length of George’s career. Compiled largely by George’s widow Olivia Harrison and engineered by legendary Beatles producer George Martin’s son Giles Martin, who did such an outstanding job in 2007 mashing up classic Fabs tracks for the soundtrack to Cirque de Soleil’s Beatles-themed production Love at the Mirage in Las Vegas, the 19-track collection focuses primarily on Harrison’s biggest successes as a singles artist, something he was much stronger at as opposed to his former mates John Lennon and Paul McCartney, who exhibited supremacy creating both killer hit songs and outstanding full-length albums to back them up. Harrison, meanwhile, produced albums that basically consisted of one or two really great songs backed by a majority of filler material that was neither here nor there. True, Harrison did produce some gems in his solo career beyond All Things Must Pass, notably 1973′s Living In The Material World (which, to its credit, EMI did a masterful job reissuing back in 2006) and his 1987 comeback album, Cloud Nine. Not to mention 2002′s posthumous swan song Brainwashed and his pair of experimental solo albums he released while still with The Beatles, 1968′s Moog-tastic Electronic Sound and 1969′s Indian-flavored drone-fest Wonderwall Music, both of which remain woefully out of print at press time.
While there have been George Harrison compilations in the past, none have chronicled the span of his entire career. And though Let It Roll is not exactly a completist’s ideal set, as this collection could have easily been beefed up to anthology status given there are much stronger points in Harrison’s solo catalog than, say, Ringo Starr, but it certainly does an excellent job in gathering the guitarist’s sonic crème de la crème. Sequenced not by chronology but almost seemingly by vibe, the 19 tracks that ultimately made the cut here interweave as though they have existed side by side on the same long player for all these years. For instance, the segue between Brainwashed‘s “Rising Son” and Cloud Nine‘s phenomenal tribute to his old bandmates, “When We Was Fab,” flows one into the other so perfectly. The same can be said for the blending of “Blow Away” off Harrison’s eponymous 1979 effort into the thankfully-included “Cheer Down” from the Lethal Weapon 2 soundtrack, not to mention “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)” going into Let It Roll‘s title track, “The Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp,” originally featured on All Things Must Pass. And while stubbornly elitist Beatles fans (like this writer) might wonder why the likes of “Old Brown Shoe” and “Blue Jay Way” were excluded from the fray here, the inclusion of his big three from his Fab Four output – “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” “Something” and “Here Comes The Sun” – is imperative to any collection with GH’s name on it, and the fact that the versions came from the Bangladesh concert album seems more appropriate for this project. Another great inclusion on this set is Harrison’s rarely-spoken-of cover of Bob Dylan’s “I Don’t Want to Do It,” which was originally featured on the soundtrack to 1985′s comedic bomb Porky’s Revenge (which should give you a good clue as to why it was little heard).
Sure, one can rail against the powers that be who oversaw the creation and production of Let It Roll and their failure to include such glaring absences as “You” off his 1975 EMI swan song Extra Texture and “Crackerbox Palace” from 1976′s diamond-in-the-rough Thirty Three & 1/3 – his first release on Dark Horse. It’s understood there are only 80 minutes on a CD, but these omissions – not to mention the exclusions of such rarities as Harrison’s working version of Ringo Starr’s “It Don’t Come Easy” or “Bangla Desh,” the 1971 charity single that spearheaded the famed concert and has only appeared on album once via 1976′s The Best of George Harrison collection – could have made this very good single-disc set into an excellent double-disc compendium.
Nonetheless, any Beatles fan, be they casual or hardcore, would benefit from adding Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison to their CD shelves, as it is gorgeously packaged in a tastefully designed digipak with a 28-page booklet loaded with great information and amazing photos, making it one of the finer justices given to any kind of Beatle-related reissue in recent years (don’t even get me started on the John Lennon stuff). A quality George Harrison best-of has been a long, long time coming, and one can only be grateful that EMI has finally done right by this amazing man and his cherished legacy.
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