The Best of George Harrison is a 1976 compilation album by English musician George Harrison, released following the expiration of his EMI-affiliated Apple Records contract. Uniquely among all of the four Beatles' solo releases, apart from posthumous compilations, it mixes a selection of the artist's songs recorded with the Beatles on one side, and later hits recorded under his own name on the other. The song selection caused some controversy, since it underplayed Harrison's solo achievements during the 1970–75 period, for much of which he had been viewed as the most successful ex-Beatle, artistically and commercially. Music critics have also noted the compilation's failure to provide a faithful picture of Harrison's contribution to the Beatles' work, due to the omission of any of his Indian music compositions. In a calculated move by EMI and its American subsidiary, Capitol Records, the compilation was issued during the same month as Harrison's debut on his Warner-distributed Dark Horse label, Thirty Three & ⅓. In the United States, The Best of George Harrison peaked at number 31 on Billboards albums chart and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in February 1977. The album failed to place on Britain's top 60 chart. It is the first of three hits-oriented Harrison compilation albums, and was followed by Best of Dark Horse 1976–1989 and the posthumously released Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison. The album was issued on CD in 1987 featuring the cover artwork from the original British release, rather than the design created in-house by Capitol and used in the majority of territories internationally in 1976. The compilation has yet to be remastered since this 1987 release. Background Ray Coleman of Melody Maker observed in December 1976 that it was "somehow ironic" that EMI, having made "millions of pounds" from the Beatles' recordings, should put out The Best of George Harrison within days of George Harrison's debut release on Warner Bros.-distributed Dark Horse Records. The compilation was instigated by EMI's US counterpart, Capitol Records, a company with which Harrison had grown disaffected since August 1971, due to what author Alan Clayson describes as its "avaricious dithering" over the release of the Concert for Bangladesh album. In a final effort to force Capitol to distribute that live album at cost price, to generate much-needed funds for the refugees from East Pakistan, Harrison had gone public with the issue and embarrassed the