In 1970, a Newcastle group called Half Breed crossed paths with the soon-to-be-former Beatles’ road manager, Mal Evans. Believing he had another Badfinger on his hands, Mal took them into the studio to produce a demo for Apple. Turns out he was half right; the label was interested in exactly half of Half Breed (Quarter Breed?) – singer Bill Elliot and songwriter Bob Purvis.
 

The duo’s proximity to the ex-Fabs paid off almost immediately. As luck would have it, an underground satirical rag, Oz, was in trial for its very existence in England, charged with obscenity. Unwilling to turn down any counterculture cause that caught his fancy, John pledged his support for their legal defense fund by producing a single to raise money and draw attention to their plight. Just as George would soon do his bit for the starving refugees in Bangladesh, John chose some sophomoric wise guys for his largesse.

Though willing to lend his compositional pen to the cause, John wasn’t about to put his voice out in front. To that end – through Mal’s intervention – Bill Elliot was tabbed to cut the lead vocal, after one “Magic Michael” flubbed his shot due to a basic lack of recording studio experience. Backed by John, Ringo, Klaus, and augmented by the brass of Bobby Keys, “God Save Us” was a catchy if repetitive slice of fifties-ish rock, released under the nomenclature “Elastic Oz Band.” (The flipside featured Lennon himself on lead vocals for a noisy piss-take of “The Hokey Pokey” called “Do The Oz.” It has since been issued as a bonus track to the Plastic Ono Band CD release, while John’s guide vocal on the A-side was released on the Lennon Anthology box set in 1998.)

The single would have made a fine high-profile recording debut, had anyone heard it, but “God Save Us” failed to chart. Just the same, Elliot and Purvis maintained their esteem among the ex-Fabs. After some time apart, the pair reunited to cut some demos. One song, “Another Chance I Let Go,” was deemed a superb addition to the soundtrack of a film that Apple was producing, a cinematic treatment of the play Little Malcolm. With lyrics written almost entirely by Mal and featuring Badfinger’s Pete Ham on guitar (at George’s behest), the song – re-titled “Lonely Man” – was included in the film (as were Purvis and Elliot), bringing the duo further into the ex-Beatle orbit.
 

Since it was clear that Apple had reached its end of days, George made Purvis and Elliot – now dubbed “Splinter” – his first signing to the newly-formed Dark Horse Records in 1974. Additionally, he put his money where his mouth was by producing their debut long player, The Place I Love, providing guitar throughout, as well as synthesizer and percussion (under a variety of pseudonyms, of course). Also present were the usual crew: Keltner, Preston, Voormann, Wright, plus guitarist Alvin “I’m Going Home” Lee.

“Costafine Town” was a lilting but catchy slice of piano-based pop, sounding a bit like a Harrisong performed by Marmalade. Released in the U.S. in November 1974, the song peaked at a disappointing seventy-seven; in other markets, however, it was a genuine smash, hitting the Top Twenty in England and the Top Ten in Australia and South Africa. The parent album itself was a Harrisonian delight, reminiscent of Badfinger in places but possessing slightly less edginess, lacking the firepower of the Ham-Molland guitar axis.

For A&M, who had agreed to take on the Dark Horse roster mostly for the sake of having an ex-Beatle in their midst, Splinter’s success was gravy – an unexpected bonus. It is therefore not surprising that they really weren’t prepared to build upon Splinter’s debut, making what followed become steadily more marginalized. Harder To Live, their sophomore effort, featured George on only one cut, the aforementioned “Lonely Man.” Produced by horn player Tom Scott, it marked an increased slide toward Los Angeles-style light rock, perhaps in keeping with the prevailing non-disco trend of the day. Unlike its predecessor, it spawned no hits.

The Dark Horse shake-up, which saw distribution switch from A&M to Warner Brothers, disrupted their career briefly; Two Man Band  came in 1977, over a year after Harder To Live. Sadly, the effect of George’s increasingly hands-off involvement manifested itself in increasingly bland production that downplayed the duo’s unique charms, seemingly in an effort to tailor their sound toward the marketplace. While acts like Firefall, England Dan and John Ford Coley, and Ambrosia were charting soft rock hits effortlessly, Splinter struggled, maintaining a foothold only in Japan.   

George contributed some guitar to Two Man Band but the album marked their U.S. swan song. Though they would go on recording together till 1984, Splinter never lived up to their early success, making Dark Horse’s only non-Harrison hit-makers a Fab footnote.