Before former Beatle George Harrison died of cancer almost a year ago, he had been working on a new collection of music. That disc Brainwashed was released this week, with the help of Harrison's son Dhani and fellow musician Jeff Lynne, a member of the Traveling Wilburys.

Dhani and Lynne spoke with Canada AM's Seamus O'Regan and told them how putting the finishing touches on the album -- Harrison's first since 1987's Cloud Nine -- was a bittersweet task.

The 11 songs for the album were basically complete, with George's vocals and instrumentation, but Lynne says the songs sounded very much like demo tracks. So he and Dhani added backup vocals, some acoustic guitar and tidied up the songs to ready them for an album.

Lynne says he and Dhani often had to restrain themselves from overembellishing the songs beyond what Harrison would have liked.

"Before he was really ill, he asked to come and do it at my house. And we were going to do it. But then he got too sick and he did actually say to me once on the telephone, 'Now, I don't want these too posh, you know. I want them still like demos'," Lynne remembers.

Lynne says there was some difficulty making sure he was being true to Harrison's vision. But because they had worked together so often before, it took care of itself.

"You know, on the one hand, I felt equipped to do it, because I knew George so well. And musically, we were very much on the same wavelength, and I knew him. And whatever I didn't think of, Dhani would know," Lynne says.

"So Dhani stopped me going overboard with anything, which is a great help. Because I might have gone too far my way, or made it sound like me. I didn't want it to sound like that. Dhani didn't want it to sound like him, and we both wanted it to sound like George. And I think we achieved that."

The two say that working in the studio, with Harrison's voice all around them, often made them feel like he was right there with them. While it was comforting, it was also heartbreaking at times.

"At first, you know, it was quite hard and the first couple of tracks, we were really kind of just treading new ground," Lynne says. "But then once we had done a couple we felt George is actually with us and there's his voice to prove it. So we decided to enjoy it much more, because there George was with us and we were making the thing and it sounded really good."

"It was great and wonderful and it was really sad as well," Dhani says, but adds, "It was a very, you know, positive thing for me to have done so soon after his death."

The end product of their work is earning hefty praise from reviewers who are saying it's a fitting epitaph for Harrison. Now Dhani and Lynne are working on a tribute concert with Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton. It'll be a way to remember a man for whom music was everything.

Dhani says when he thinks back about his father, he remembers that everywhere he went he loved to play music for people. He says Harrison kept a ukulele in his bag wherever he went and he'd play it in the car, on the road, or on a plane, where he'd play to people in first class.

Jeff agrees that Harrison wasn't concerned with what people thought or what his legacy would be.

"I think George just wrote songs that were very meaningful. And I think what he said in his words, all his songs, were just great messages, very wise and loving, you know. And a little bit naughty sometimes, just for the fun of it. But basically, he believed in love and God. That's what I always got from him."

Dhani says his father was basically a very private man and worked hard to protect him from the public eye and the media storm that surrounded him as a former Beatle.

"I'm happy that my parents have forced me -- not even forced me, just steered me in the direction of privacy rather than the public eye, because, as not many people know, it's not all great being followed and chased and everything. It's nice to be able to go down the street and have your privacy, something that my dad never had."

Dhani says while he loves music and enjoyed working on his father's album, he's not sure he wants to be part of the music industry. The 24-year-old says he enjoys making music but has no plans to record. For now, he is managing his father's estate, all of which was willed to him. When asked whether he feels having responsibility for that kind of money to be a burden, he answers with words his father would have used.

"It's only in the letting go that we can attain everything."