I've just discovered an unheard George recording for the 'Wonderwall' film! WOW!

[Kylenz]

This may not be news to some of you.. but to me, this is like earth-shattering.

I was pottering around YouTube, listening to George stuff, when I checked out this clip of the trailer to the 1968 'Wonderwall' movie, to which George contributed the soundtrack, and became the first Beatle solo album -



I listened to the song playing in the background. Very cool song! Psychedelic and trippy, loved it. But there was something familiar about the voice.. it sounded a bit like George! Could it be George? A George recording I haven't heard before? Whoa! :D

So I did some digging, and it was a song originally left off the Wonderwall film and George recorded it with a band called 'The Remo Four', and the song was titled 'In The First Place'. You can actually download a 320k mp3 of it here - http://soundcloud.com/expo67/remo-four-in-the-first-place

George is credited as producer.

The big mystery is.. is George doing the lead vocal? It sure sounds like him, in other spots perhaps not. I've read many arguments over the internet whether it really it is him or not. On the IMDB.com forums for the Wonderwall film, there's a thread discussing the soundtrack and someone claiming to be the son of Remo Four's Colin Manley asserting it is his father on lead vocals.

I can hear two vocals - perhaps it is a duet? Man it is such a cool song.. I like it just as much as the likes of Blue Jay Way, Only A Northern Song etc. What do you think of the song?

[Kylenz]

Nobody with any opinions on the song? I think it's really cool! And I've grown to like quite a lot of George's music on the Wonderwall soundtrack, there's a searing track he does with Eric Clapton, I think it's called 'Skiing'. Find it on YouTube!

[Greg]

Holy (add a few random swear words and an exclamation point),

That is great.  That is the Beatle-Gem of the year for me.  Very cool.

I found this on a message board:  The song is credited to (Colin) Manley and (Tony) Ashton, but part of me wonders if Harrison co-wrote (or fully wrote) the track, but let the Remo Four members benefit as much as they could from song royalties, much like how Ringo Starr was given full songwriting credit for "It Don't Come Easy."  The person who wrote the post had over 3,000 posts on the site, so it does stand a good chance of being accurate.

Kylenz...nice find my brother.

Modified portion:

In 1998, thirty years after the film's release, and with Massot an established film director, he decided to restore and re-release his first film. Harrison's search for master recordings turned up a lyrical song, "In the First Place" by the Remo Four, which he hadn't submitted the first time around, believing Massot only wanted instrumental music. "In the First Place" was released as a single in 1999. Harrison is believed to have not only produced it, but to sing and play on it, although he asked to be only credited as producer. Massot was happy to include the song in the restored film, which was released to critical acclaim the second time around, and got a distribution deal.

[Kylenz]

It's an amazing track isn't it! How this song ever slipped me by I'll never know.

Now there are two mixes floating around, one is called the 'original mix', and the other is called the 'movie mix' - this is the other version (the movie mix I assume):
http://www.mediafire.com/?oxg5rizziv4dfgw

Apparently George's vocals are more prominent on one version than the other, and I think I can hear George more on this one.

They could well be right about George giving the songwriting credit to the Remo Four guys. It sure sounds like a George song, in the vein of Blue Jay Way, Only A Northern Song etc.

Anyway I'm happy you like it, I wonder if the cd single is available on Amazon? Time to go have a looksie!

[Rory Storm]

I'll listen next time I have my earbuds on me.I love the Indian sounds.I have a wonderful Ravi Shankar c.d.Hey,did you know Peter Tork of  the Monkees plays banjo somewhere on the "Wonderwall" soundtrack?fascinating to think that whnever someone uses sitar music in something about the sixties as a halllmark of the period,,this is largely due to Harrison's influence on Western culture.Period,end of story.The man was THAT great.God bless Olivia and Dhani Harrison.