GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD

Martin Scorsese's George Harrison documentary, Living In The Material World, has been in the making for a long time. It was worth the wait.  The first half seemed like watching The Beatles Anthology documentary from a George-centric view, but there were some great scenes.  I'd never seen the footage of an older, wiser George in the '70s, watching video of The Beatles performing.  Also, there was a great story of John Lennon and George Harrison visiting Stu Sutcliffe's girlfriend Astrid (who was interviewed for the special) after Stu died.  She took some photos of them in the area where Stu did his paintings. I'd never seen those photos before, they were incredible.  The second half covered the Beatles breakup and the years after.  There was a lot about All Things Must Pass, and from there it concentrated more on his relationships with Monty Python's troupe, his friendship with Ravi Shankar, and his life at home.  Which is fine, I didn't like many of his albums between All Things Must Pass and Cloud 9. I wish the doc  talked more about Cloud 9, which was the album that introduced him as a solo artist to a younger generation (myself included).  I would have loved to see Jeff Lynne talk more about the making of that album... and also George's final record, Brainwashed.

I wish there was more Traveling Wilburys footage - pretty much everything here is the same footage included on the DVD that comes with the recent Traveling Wilburys collection that compiled both of their albums. And speaking of them, it would have been great if they got Bob Dylan in this doc (especially since Scorsese did a wonderful Dylan doc, No Direction Home).

But I really loved watching it. The interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were great.  It was cool to see Tom Petty talking about him, and the interviews with Olivia Harrison, Dhani Harrison, Eric Clapton added a lot to the picture of George.

If you missed it, I think it comes out on DVD (with extra footage) in six months, and it is still airing on HBO - if you want to see it, check out HBO.com and search for George Harrison.

ROBBIE ROBERTSON: NEW ALBUM?

I write a lot about Levon Helm, the drummer and singer from The Band. But I'm also a big fan of guitarist/songwriter/producer Robbie Robertson's post-Band career, although he hasn't done much lately. In an interview with Mojo to promote the soundtrack to Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island (which he produced), Robbie mentioned that he's working on a solo album that will be the guitar heaviest thing he's done since he toured with Bob Dylan back in the '70s. Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Tom Morello and Robert Randolph guest on the album with him. That's pretty cool! His last album was 1998's Contact From The Underworld Of Redboy (which I loved, but I know a lot of people dismissed it).

DEMME HELMING MARLEY AND YOUNG FILMS

A blog owned by Variety magazine called The Set List is reporting that Martin Scorsese is no longer working on the Bob Marley doc, and that Jonathan Demme is taking over. The reason given was "scheduling reasons." It's well known that he is also working on a George Harrison doc.

The article also mentions that Demme is working on his second Neil Young doc. He did the great Heart Of Gold concert film a few years back, and he shot some of Neil's shows on his Chrome Dreams II tour last year. Nice work if you can get it!

MARLEY FILM VS. MARLEY FILM?

Two films about Bob Marley are now competing with each other. One is a documentary that Martin Scorsese is working on (Marty, who recently directed the excellent Bob Dylan doc, No Direction Home, and The Rolling Stones concert/doc Shine A Light, out this week, is also working on a George Harrison doc).

The other is the latest in a long line of biopics. The Marley family is involved in both films, but it is getting messy, which is a shame. Bob Marley is probably the most universally loved musican ever - more than The Beatles, Dylan, or anyone else.

It's kind of a bummer. But to read more about it, check The Playlist - a cool blog about movies and music.