Editing Electronic Sound (section)

===Retrospective assessment===
{{Album reviews
|rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
|rev1score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="Ginell/AM">{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/electronic-sound-mw0000532737|first=Richard S.|last=Ginell|title=George Harrison ''Electronic Sound''|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=20 February 2017|archive-date=22 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222084721/http://www.allmusic.com/album/electronic-sound-mw0000532737|url-status=live}}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]''
| rev2Score = {{Rating|2|5}}{{sfn|Larkin|2011|p=2650}}
| rev3 = ''[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]''
| rev3Score = {{Rating|1|5}}<ref name="Harris/Mojo">{{cite magazine|last=Harris|first=John|title=Beware of Darkness|magazine=[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]|date=November 2011|page=82}}</ref>
|rev4 = [[MusicHound]]
|rev4score = 1/5{{sfn|Graff|Durchholz|1999|p=529}}
| rev5 = ''[[:it:Claudio Fabretti|OndaRock]]''
| rev5score = 5.5/10<ref>{{cite web|first=Gabriele|last=Gambardella|url=https://www.ondarock.it/songwriter/georgeharrison.htm#google_vignette |title=George Harrison: Il Mantra del Rock|language=it|website=[[:it:Claudio Fabretti|OndaRock]]|access-date=24 September 2021}}</ref>
|rev6 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
|rev6score = {{Rating|2.5|5}}<ref name="RS guide 2004">[https://web.archive.org/web/20140409112956/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/george-harrison/albumguide "George Harrison: Album Guide"], [[Rolling Stone|rollingstone.com]] (archived version retrieved 5 August 2014).</ref>
|rev7 = ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]''
|rev7score = {{Rating|2|5}}<ref name="Uncut">Nigel Williamson, "All Things Must Pass: George Harrison's post-Beatles solo albums", ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]'', February 2002, p. 60.</ref>
}}
In the 2004 ''[[Rolling Stone Album Guide]]'', Mac Randall called the album and its predecessor, ''Wonderwall Music'', "interesting, though only for established fans".{{sfn|Brackett|Hoard|2004|p=367}} Richard Ginell of [[AllMusic]] says that the same two albums showed that Harrison defied "pigeonholing" in his projects outside the Beatles,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/wonderwall-music-mw0000676515|first=Richard S.|last=Ginell|title=George Harrison ''Wonderwall Music''|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=29 July 2017|archive-date=14 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140914124644/http://www.allmusic.com/album/wonderwall-music-mw0000676515|url-status=live}}</ref> and he writes of ''Electronic Sound'': "Though scoffed at when they were released, these pieces can hold their own and then some with many of those of other, more seriously regarded electronic composers. And when you consider that synthesizers were only capable of playing one note at a time and sounds could not be stored or recalled with the push of a button, the achievement becomes even more remarkable."<ref name="Ginell/AM" />

In his appraisal of Harrison's solo career for ''[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]'' in 2011, [[John Harris (critic)|John Harris]] described the album as the "Fabdom" equivalent of [[Lou Reed]]'s ''[[Metal Machine Music]]'', adding: "Not exactly music, though you could conceivably assume the endless whooshes and random notes were the work of admirably out-there [[Krautrock]]ers."<ref name="Harris/Mojo" /> In his article on the Moog for the same magazine, in 1997, John McCready wrote that the album conveyed "caveman confusion" on Harrison's part, but he grouped it with experimental releases by [[Jean-Jacques Perrey]], [[Dick Hyman]], the Hellers, [[Mort Garson]] and [[TONTO's Expanding Head Band]], saying: "It says something about the compelling-even-when-crap nature of the Moog that it is possible to own and enjoy all these records."<ref>{{cite magazine|first=John|last=McCready|title=In a Moog Mood|magazine=[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]|date=June 1997}} Available at [https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/in-a-moog-mood Rock's Backpages] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170801102340/https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/in-a-moog-mood |date=2017-08-01 }} (subscription required).</ref>

Luke Turner of ''[[The Quietus]]'' includes it among his favourite electronic-music albums. He says that Harrison's fascination with the Moog typified the interest the new instrument received from top rock musicians at the time, and he adds: "Luckily for us he decided to release it (with a great cover painting by a small child) … While my Synth gently beeps."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thequietus.com/articles/21791-benge-favourite-albums-interview-synth-wrangler?page=4|first=Luke|last=Turner|title=While His Synth Gently Beeps: Benge's Favourite Electronic LPs|website=[[The Quietus]]|date=15 February 2017|access-date=17 July 2017|archive-date=14 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514222735/https://thequietus.com/articles/21791-benge-favourite-albums-interview-synth-wrangler?page=4|url-status=live}}</ref> Writing for ''[[The New York Observer]]'', Ron Hart considers it to be one of Harrison's unjustly overlooked works and he says that while it was tainted by the controversy with Krause, the project stands as an "oddly visionary testament to the Zapple label and its unsung promise to bring the avant-garde to the pop crowd".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://observer.com/2017/02/george-harrison-reissue-review-5-most-underrated-albums/|first=Ron|last=Hart|title=George Harrison's 5 Most Underrated Albums|website=[[The New York Observer]]|date=24 February 2017|access-date=17 July 2017|archive-date=29 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729174426/http://observer.com/2017/02/george-harrison-reissue-review-5-most-underrated-albums/|url-status=live}}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|In his liner-note essay for the [[The Apple Years 1968–75|2014 reissue]] of ''Electronic Sound'', Kevin Howlett reproduces Krause's claim regarding the origins of "No Time or Space" and comments: "There is no historical evidence that gives George's view of that assertion."<ref>{{cite AV media notes|first=Kevin|last=Howlett|title=Electronic Sound|others=[[George Harrison]]|pp=11–12|year=2014|type=CD booklet liner notes|publisher=[[Apple Records]] }}</ref>}}

In a 2014 review for ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]'', [[Richard Williams (journalist)|Richard Williams]] said that just as the Beatles' fan-club Christmas records were inspired by [[The Goon Show|the Goons]], Harrison's inspiration for ''Electronic Sound'' appears to have been "another BBC institution of their formative years: the [[BBC Radiophonic Workshop|Radiophonic Workshop]]". According to Williams, the album conveys "the joy of a boy with a new toy" and "sounds like what you might get if you taped a contact microphone to the stomach of a digestively challenged robot".<ref name="Williams/Uncut" />{{refn|group=nb|He concluded by saying that the self-deprecating sleeve note from Arthur Wax "still sums it up".<ref name="Williams/Uncut">{{cite magazine|first=Richard|last=Williams|title=George Harrison ''The Apple Years 1968–75''|magazine=[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]|date=November 2014|page=93}}</ref>}} Scott Elingburg of ''[[PopMatters]]'' welcomed its ''Apple Years'' reissue and described the album as the artist's "most 'experimental' work" and, like the remastered ''Wonderwall Music'', "raw and gorgeous, alive and capable of sparking ingenuity". He said that while Harrison was not a synthesizer innovator in the mould of [[Brian Eno]] or [[Jeff Lynne]], "the intention behind ''Electronic Sound'' is one of exploration and discovery, an artist limbering up his musical mind to discover how far the boundaries of modern instrumentation could take him. Out of context, ''Electronic Sound'' would sound maudlin, even dull. Here, as a key step in the progression of Harrison the solo artist, it sounds audacious in its primitiveness ..."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.popmatters.com/review/189031-george-harrison-the-apple-years-1968-1975/|first=Scott|last=Elingburg|title=George Harrison ''The Apple Years: 1968–1975''|website=[[PopMatters]]|date=20 January 2015|access-date=17 July 2017|archive-date=20 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170620142054/http://www.popmatters.com/review/189031-george-harrison-the-apple-years-1968-1975/|url-status=live}}</ref>