[14] As well as accompanying Harrison throughout his ensuing North American tour with Ravi Shankar,[17] Arias's "dusky Mexican features", in the words of Nicholas Schaffner, "grace[d] the label" of his Dark Horse album, released in December 1974.
[18] Like Harrison, Arias was dedicated to a spiritual path aligned with Hinduism, meditation and yoga,[19][20] and her presence helped him overcome the fallout following that controversial tour,[21] particularly his continued alcoholism that led to a near-fatal bout of hepatitis in mid 1976.
[2] Author Ian Inglis recognises some of the lines in the newly written second verse as both a "fitting description of the freedom and relaxation that had replaced the tension and constraints of his previous life", and an obvious example of Harrison's gratitude to Arias:[24] Never seen such a beautiful girl Got me quickly untied Calling to me she made me realize ... She has always been there A lover needed for this soul to survive.Harrison's musical biographer, Simon Leng, views the structure of the song as typical of its composer's style, where, as in "Isn't It a Pity", "Beware of Darkness" and "Give Me Love", the chorus and verse are one and the same.
[35] The musicians accompanying him on the basic track for "Beautiful Girl" were bassist Willie Weeks, drummer Alvin Taylor, Richard Tee on piano[36] and, according to authors Chip Madinger and Mark Easter, keyboard player Gary Wright.
[9] In between his touring commitments with the Rolling Stones, Billy Preston overdubbed further keyboard parts,[9] including what AllMusic critic Lindsay Planer terms the song's "billowing organ runs".
"[26] A&M Records took advantage of Harrison's late completion of the new album, which he was contracted to deliver by 26 July 1976,[39] to launch legal proceedings against him in order to offload the loss-making Dark Horse label.
[46][47] Music critics praised Thirty Three & 1/3 as a return to form for Harrison,[46][47] with "Beautiful Girl" a noted example of him having rediscovered the melodic flair that had been lacking on his previous two albums, Dark Horse and Extra Texture.
[48] Billboard magazine described the release as "a sunny, upbeat album of love songs and cheerful jokes" and added: "Harrison's often-spectacular melody writing gift gets brilliant display here.
"[24] Another Harrison biographer, Elliot Huntley, similarly approves of "Beautiful Girl"'s "enchanting melody" and notes its transformation from the 1970 demo version into "a masterpiece, complete with a thrilling conversational guitar solo", in which the two parts "interweave and answer one another".
[55] Author Andrew Grant Jackson includes the track in his book subtitled The Essential Solo Beatles Songs, and writes that "the chiming electric arpeggios perfectly capture the feeling of seeing a beautiful face for the first time.