Dark Horse Records Albums 1974-1989 In early 1974, George

Dark Horse Records Albums

1974-1989

In early 1974, George Harrison was considering purchasing the

remaining stock in Apple Records so that he and Ringo could run

the company, given that Paul and John seemed disinterested.

However, by that point Apple had too much “baggage,” so George

began working on ideas for his own label – a label that would allow

artists to do creative things without worrying about commercial sales.

That had been one of the concepts behind Apple in 1968.

George had seen an Indian tin that featured the image of the Uchchaihshravas,

a snow-white seven-headed horse that artists occasionally depicted as the steed of the Indian sun god,

Surya. Bhagavad-Gita 10:27 reveals the horse to be an incarnation of Krishna. In British slang, the term

“dark horse” indicates someone who is somewhat mysterious – perhaps someone having surprising skills.

The quote on this page comes from Joseph Conrad (in a book of his works published in 1921).

The term “dark horse” described George Harrison perfectly.

George combined the concept of a dark horse in the British sense with the same expression in American

English (meaning a longshot, an unlikely winner). Then he commissioned an image based on the

Uchchaihshravas of an Indian-themed dark horse. After talking with Jerry Moss of A&M Records in Paris

in May 1974, Dark Horse Records was born.

Front Cover Monarch DJ Monarch

CTH DJ Terre Haute

CP DJ Pitman Clog Music pub credits

SP-22001 Splinter The Place I Love

First Appearance in Trade Magazines: October 5, 1974

The Monarch job number is  19284.

Front Cover Monarch DJ 1 Monarch DJ 2

CP DJ Santa Maria Columbia, Monarch

Clog Music pub credits

SP-22002 Ravi Shankar Shankar Family ૐ Friends

First Appearance in Trade Magazines: October 5, 1974

The Monarch job number is  19362.

Shortly after the release of the first two albums, as George Harrison was preparing for his latest tour, Dark

Horse Records released an interview with George that promoted the new label and its LP releases.

No Cover

Front Cover Monarch DJ 1 Letter

Elaine Corlett joined with Dark Horse in December 1974, with the

intent of serving as a general administrator for the label. Within

four months, she resigned. Dark Horse released no albums

between October 1974 and October 1975.

Notice the presence of Olivia Arias in this 1974 photo. She went on to become Olivia Harrison in 1978.

G. Harrison Int. 1/2 George Harrison Dark Horse Radio Special

First Appearance in Trade Magazines: November 1974

Although Monarch pressed this record, the matrix indicates no job number.

Front Cover Monarch DJ Monarch

Columbia DJ Columbia

SP-22003 Jiva Jiva

First Appearance in Trade Magazines: October 11, 1975

The Monarch job number is  20082.

Front Cover Monarch DJ Monarch

Columbia DJ Columbia

SP-22006 Splinter Harder to Live

First Appearance in Trade Magazines: October 11, 1975

The Monarch job number is  20083.

Front Cover Monarch DJ Monarch

Columbia DJ Columbia

SP-22006 Henry McCullough Mind Your Own Business!

First Appearance in Trade Magazines: November 1, 1975

The Monarch job number is  20100.

Front Cover Monarch DJ Monarch

Columbia DJ Columbia

This album was recorded in August-September 1974.

SP-22007 Ravi Shankar Music Festival From India

First Appearance in Trade Magazines: February 21, 1976

The Monarch job number is  20277.

Front Cover Monarch DJ Monarch

Columbia DJ Columbia

SP-22004 Stairsteps 2

nd

Resurrection

First Appearance in Trade Magazines: February 14, 1976

The Monarch job number is  20291.

Front Cover Monarch DJ Monarch

Columbia DJ Columbia

SP-22008 Attitudes Attitudes

First Appearance in Trade Magazines: February 21, 1976

The Monarch job number is not known.

Dark Horse Pressing Original Pressing

Around the time when Billy Preston was working on his tenth studio album, It’s My Pleasure, Billy and

George Harrison considered seeing whether A&M Records would be amenable to moving some of Billy’s

back catalog over to Dark Horse. Labels were printed and used, but the project was scrapped. To date,

only one copy is known to exist of this record with Dark Horse labels, and no copies of his other A&M

records are known on Dark Horse.

SP-3526 Billy Preston Everybody Likes Some Kind of Music

First Appearance in Trade Magazines: September 29, 1973

One of the key features of the contract between Dark Horse Records and A&M Records was the provision

for A&M to release records by George Harrison after his departure from EMI in early 1976. When Harrison

signed with A&M on May 15, 1974, they understood that they would be able to release Harrison solo

albums as soon as the former Beatle’s contract with EMI expired. A&M’s position was that they would

release other artists on Dark Horse, but they were due from Harrison a total of four albums of new

material – the first of which would be available by July 25, 1976. George himself had chosen that date. He

had planned to release his next album on or about June 26

th

, which was George’s 33 1/3 birthday. The

date of July 25

th

gave him an extra month to complete the project.

Although George started recording on May 24

th

, he began to feel as though he had food poisoning.

Instead, that turned out to be a case of Hepatitis B, which George battled for most of the summer. When

the deadline for submission passed, A&M quickly pointed out that George now owed them the return of

the advance that they had paid him – which counted as a loan (under the terms of the contract). George

completed the recordings for the album on September 13

th

and would have it ready for his 33 2/3 birthday.

He met with A&M executives in Los Angeles on September 17

th

. Harrison said later that he believed that

his relationship with A&M was being “rebuilt” during those talks. However, A&M was shocked to learn

that on September 24

th

, Dark Horse cleaned out their offices in the A&M building without telling anyone

at the parent company what was going on.

That action signaled to A&M an intent by Harrison to renege on his contract, and they filed suit against

him on September 28

th

. His attorneys responded on the 29

th

, and the matter went to court. While the

matter was being litigated, George took the opportunity to shop Dark Horse around. He met with Mo

Ostin of Warner Brothers Records, and on November 1

st

, Warner Brothers announced that they were

going to throw a party for George to celebrate his signing with the label. The party was timed to coincide

with the conclusion of the legal case on November 15

th

– at which point George had agreed to repay the

advances to A&M and was free to turn Dark Horse over to Warner Brothers.

Warner’s placed Dark Horse records in their main

series. At the time, their prefixing used two

letters. Dark Horse albums had a DH- prefix.

Capitol: LA; Jax; Winchester

PRO-649 George Harrison A Personal Music Dialogue With George Harrison

DH-3005 George Harrison Thirty-Three and 1/3

First Appearance in Trade Magazines: November 27, 1976.

Capitol: LA; Jax; Winchester

DH-3021 Attitudes Good News

First Appearance in Trade Magazines: May 14, 1977.

Capitol: LA; Jax; Winchester

DH-3022 Keni Burke Keni Burke

First Appearance in Trade Magazines: September 3, 1977.

Capitol: LA; Jax; Winchester

DH-3073 Splinter Two Man Band

First Appearance in Trade Magazines: October 15, 1977.

Capitol: LA; Jax; Winchester Columbia Record Club

DHK-3255 George Harrison George Harrison

First Appearance in Trade Magazines: February 24, 1979

Allied (ARC), Specialty

In November 1967, Mark Boyle produced one of a

series of conceptual studies. He later published these

studies in volumes known as Journey to the Surface

of the Earth. The study of interest was one of 100

randomly-selected parts of London. This one was

located on Holland Park Avenue near Norland Road;

it is known simply as “Holland Park Avenue Study.”

The original work of art has been in the Tate Gallery

since 1969. Famously, George is photographed in

front of it on the cover to his 1981 LP.

George originally completed the album in September

1980, but Warner Brothers found it not suitable for

release. George needed to remove some tracks and

make the album more commercial.

The label also rejected the dark cover art, prompting George to select Mark

Boyle’s image. One of the songs that George added to the album was “Blood

from a Clone,” and upbeat-sounding song about his struggles with Warner

Brothers.

DHK-3492 George Harrison Somewhere in England

First Appearance in Trade Magazines: June 20, 1981

The Allied job numbers are B-15669 and B-15670.

Allied (ARC); Specialty;

Capitol Jax, Winchester

This was the fourth album for George on Dark Horse. It would have concluded his contract with A&M;

instead, it finished out his contract with Warner Brothers.

1-23734 George Harrison Gone Troppo

First Appearance in Trade Magazines: November 13, 1982

The Allied job numbers are B-17210 and B-17211. Also Sheffield number -2628.

Peaked at #67 (Cash Box) and #108 (Billboard).

Allied (ARC); Specialty; RCA Record Club

Capitol Jax, Winchester

Columbia Record Club Sticker Standup

25643-1 George Harrison Cloud Nine

First Appearance in Trade Magazines: November 14, 1987

Specialty RCA Record Club

Columbia Record Club Sticker Standup

1-25726 George Harrison Best of Dark Horse 1976-1989

First Appearance in Trade Magazines: November 11, 1989