Lakshmi Shankar: I Am Missing You (1974)

 |   |  <1 min read

Lakshmi Shankar: I Am Missing You (1974)

When George Harrison established his own Dark Horse record label it allowed him to release projects that were close to his spiritual heart, if not exactly commercial propositions.

That said, both the Shankar Family and Friends (1974) and Ravi Shankar's Music Festival from India ('76) albums were absolute delights of immacuately produced, beautifully played Indian music which gently roamed from a musical suite (the second side of Family and Friends) to folk tunes, contemporary pieces and invocations.

And pop.shankar

This song by Ravi's sister-in-law (a dancer, singer and swarmandal player) appeared on Shankar Family and Friends and boasts a pure pop production by Harrison -- and has Jim Keltner and Ringo on drums, Billy Preston (keyboards), Klaus Voorman (bass), Tom Scott (saxophones), Emil Richards (percussion) and Harrison playing guitar.

This is one of the few songs Ravi Shankar has written in English and there were two versions on the album.

This was the version which could have been a radio hit . . . if it had appeared within months of Harrison's My Sweet Lord four years previous.

No matter. It still sounds sublime. 

For more oddities, one-offs or songs with a backstory see From the Vaults

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   From the Vaults articles index

Simon and Garfunkel: A Simple Desultory Philippic (1966)

Simon and Garfunkel: A Simple Desultory Philippic (1966)

When Simon and Garfunkel released their Bridge Over Troubled Waters album in 1970, many critics read the song The Boxer as an oblique attack on Bob Dylan whose career at the time was in limbo and... > Read more

Steve Reich: It's Gonna Rain (1965)

Steve Reich: It's Gonna Rain (1965)

Sampling, found sound, loops and tape manipulation are commonplace these days -- but back in '65 this piece by minimalist Steve Reich (interviewed here) anticipated a whole style of experimental... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

Jane Ira Bloom/Mark Helias: Some Kind of Tomorrow (bandcamp)

Jane Ira Bloom/Mark Helias: Some Kind of Tomorrow (bandcamp)

Demanding times require new solutions and for soprano player Bloom and bassist Helias that meant duetting by the internet when their worlds were in separate lockdown. Not that you know of the... > Read more

THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Luckless

THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Luckless

As singer-songwriter Luckless, Auckland-raised but now footloose Ivy Rossiter has been taking her charged up songs which employ loops and loudness to audiences nationwide for some years now.... > Read more