George Harrison : Why was George's solo work (not in a band nor covers) the weakest link?

I adore George's Beatles songs and influence on the band's sound as a whole, his work with The Travelling Wilburys and his involvement with Handmade Films.

But My Sweet Lord 'unconsciously' used part of She's So Fine.
Got My Mind Set On You was a cover.
These 2 are great songs, I'm just pointing out that I can't count them as original as such.
Crackerbox Palace is a better name for a song than it is a song.

Only When We Was Fab in 1987 really stands out to me as something wholly his that I really like in his solo years. By that time, he was on the cusp of forming The Travelling Wilburys (so technically not solo there) with a good start in Handle with Care which he wrote and also contributing harmonies to Tom Petty's 'I Won't Back Down', written by Petty and Lynne.

Later, George put his guitarwork to use on Lennon's Free as a Bird and Real Love.

Let me get this straight . As far as I'm concerned, in 1965 either George with Think For Yourself or The Who with I Can't Explain essentially invented the ingredients of punk rock. There may be 50s songs you could point to but, relying on electric power, George was more or less a pioneer.

I love Taxman, Love You To and the underrated I Want To Tell You.

For me, coupled with Blue Jay Way in 1967, 1965-1967 was George's true flourishing. After that, for me, he was aping other styles. For While My Guitar Gently Weeps, regard it as a bit Eric Clapton. Even Something and Here Comes The Sun, great as they are, could have been McCartney songs, albeit top drawer McCartney songs. I'm not disparaging these great songs of course, just saying that, as opposed to 1965 when he was a quiet leader, the later songs pointed to someone who could lose a sense of himself.

I just don't get the love for All things must pass and how it affected him until the 80s. It was pseudo hippy and he was much better than it.

I think the answer is , artistically, George thrived on competition, collaboration, within a band.

I quite like a lot of the songs on All Things Must Pass (seeing as they were written during his Beatles years). Hear Me Lord, What Is Life, All Things Must Pass, etc. are all fantastic songs. I'm also a big fan of Cracker Box Palace, even if he was just playing it for laughs.

I agree with you that I Want To Tell You is underrated as heck. I think the pinnacle was his raga/psychedelic years where he explored eastern music so heavily. Within You Without You is my favorite George song. But I also think that about the rest of the band. John and Paul were clearly at their peak in '66/'67, at least for me.

~ I'm a 21st century man and I don't wanna be here.

The op is a hateful republican !! He may not get the irony !!!

The irony of what, musicbytes? And I'm British so can I really be a Republican without having a US vote?

You do not get the irony !!!

Well personally 'Living in the Material World' (1973), 'George Harrison' (1979) and 'Cloud Nine' (1987) are amongst my favourite albums. I also think Wonderwall Music is groundbreaking and that George did some great production work with Billy Preston and Doris Troy

Personally Long, Long, Long, The Inner Light and Old Brown shoe are my favourite Beatles tracks