George Harrison's solo career had plenty of peaks: Three No. 1 songs in "My Sweet Lord," "Give Me Love" and "Got My Mind Set on You." A total of eight Top 20 hits, including the No. 2 hit "All Those Years Ago." Nine Top 20 albums, topped by the seven-times-platinum No. 1 smash All Things Must Pass.

That career-defining triple album was quite a post-Beatles introduction, and his 1973 follow-up Living in the Material World became yet another chart-topping success. But Harrison got into the Top 5 on the album chart only one more time, with 1974's Dark Horse. The misses began to arrive more often than the hits, in particular in the late '70s and early '80s.

Harrison mounted an impressive career comeback with 1987's Cloud Nine, and its companion all-star Traveling Wilburys project, only to fall silent until a final posthumous release. The gold-selling Brainwashed returned the late Harrison to the Top 20 in 2002, while also completing a career that finally moved him out of the considerable shadows of bandmates Paul McCartney and John Lennon.

Any rock legend can release a great LP with a misstep (or two) along the way. We take a look at the Worst Song From Every George Harrison Album, in order of appearance, below.

"It's Johnny's Birthday"
From: All Things Must Pass (1970)

Harrison closed out his post-Beatles masterpiece with an admittedly shambolic series of "Apple Jam" recordings on Sides 5 and 6. This mishap makes the rest seem like serious business.

 

"That Is All"
From: Living in the Material World (1973)

All Things Must Pass arranger John Barham does his billowing best, but Harrison's album-closing paean to Hinduism was way too close to easy listening.

 

"Bye Bye Love"
From: Dark Horse (1974)

This soap opera of a track features rewritten words highlighting his marital problems – and truly bizarre rumors that both fellow love-triangle members Eric Clapton and Pattie Boyd took part in the session.

 

"This Guitar Can't Keep from Crying"
From: Extra Texture (Read All About It) (1975)

A superfluous reworking of a Beatles tune served as a signpost for the album's creatively bankrupt, dead-end vibe.

 

"Learning How to Love You"
From: Thirty-Three and a Third (1976)

Harrison ends an often fun, truly underrated album with ... a Rhodes-driven lullaby? It's an oddly somnolent farewell.

 

"Here Comes the Moon"
From: George Harrison (1979)

Seriously? Another Beatles redo?

 

"Baltimore Oriole"
From: Somewhere in England (1981)

Harrison's record company memorably forced him to rework the LP before release. This is the lesser of two (two?) Hoagy Carmichael covers — along with "Hong Kong Blues" — that somehow met the label executives' approval.

 

"Mystical One"
From: Gone Troppo (1983)

A decidedly unmystical attempt at applying this album's determinedly sunny attitude to Harrison's long-held religious beliefs.

 

"Breath Away From Heaven"
From: Cloud Nine (1987)

One of Harrison's most consistently rewarding albums almost fell apart before it reached "Got My Mind Set on You" with this angular, frankly off-putting ballad.

 

"Never Get Over You"
From: Brainwashed (2002)

Not a terrible tune, so much as the best example of how the album's second side isn't quite as strong as the deeply moving first one had been.

Beatles Solo Albums Ranked

Included are albums that still feel like time-stamped baubles and others that have only grown in estimation.

You Think You Know the Beatles?

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