George Harrison’s triple album, All Things Must Pass, came out in 1971 and was a monumental release for the former member of The Beatles. After he issued the soundtrack to the film Wonderwall in 1968 and the experimental, electronic release Electronic Sound in 1969, many considered All Things Must Pass to be Harrison’s first true solo album.
Harrison often only had one or two songs he wrote included on an album when he was in The Beatles, with the songs of Lennon and McCartney dominating the albums and singles released by the group. All Things Must Pass included songs from the backlog of unrecorded material he had, collaborations with Bob Dylan (“I’d Have You Anytime”), and one with Bill Martin and Phil Coulter (“It’s Johnny’s Birthday”), and a cover of Dylan’s “If Not For You.” As good as the album was, Harrison did not come up with a follow-up studio album until 1973. The soundtrack to The Concert for Bangla-Desh was released in December of 1971. That next album from 1973 was Living in the Material World.
Given the sheer volume of tracks and the all-star backing musicians on All Things Must Pass, it would appear nearly impossible for anyone to follow up that release. Nonetheless, Living in the Material World was a commercial and critical success and in fact many fans and critics actually thought it was a better album than All Things Must Pass.
The album is a more relaxed affair and given it came out in 1973 it was viewed less as an album by an ex-Beatle and more as a solo album from an artist that had by then fully established himself. There were also some people who simply didn’t like All Things Must Pass due to the heavy-handed production of Phil Spector and, being a triple-album box set, it was very expensive.
It has taken until 2024 for the 50th-anniversary editions of the album to be released. It is available in various configurations. For this article, we will focus on the two-LP, vinyl, deluxe edition. As is the case with The Beatles and their solo anniversary reissues, the music has been remixed and remastered. The original album was recorded at Apple Studios and for this new reissue Paul Hicks remixed the album and produced it for stereo.
The sound quality of this mix is one of the better of the various reissues of music of The Beatles and solo albums from the four. Like many reissues from The Beatles and their solo works, vocals are brought up to the foreground, and there is more bass and less hard right and left stereo panning. This makes for a more visceral experience than what was heard on the original album, but thankfully it doesn’t overwhelm the beautiful, meditative tracks on the release.
The title track, “Give Me Love,” and “Don’t Let Me Wait Too Long” were all over the radio at the time and were defining songs of the day. Thematically, Harrison incorporates both deep songs of spiritual searching and bitter screeds of the greed and lawyerly entanglement that had engulfed him since the waning years of The Beatles up until that time.
The second disc of album extras is a delight, offering acoustic and alternate versions of songs from the album, as well as various takes. Hearing these unadorned versions offers an intimate experience that cuts right to the heart of Harrison’s songs and vocal interpretations. Listening on a vinyl album to these tracks makes for a sound quality that at times rivals the first disc. It was a nice touch adding the single “Miss O’Dell” to the album extras disc. That single and some of these other extras have been previously released on CD. Some of these extras were released in various packages that included DVDs and Blu-rays and there was also the Early Takes, Volume 1, which has had several vinyl releases.
Like on All Things Must Pass, Harrison works with a core group of musicians chosen for their musical prowess but also in some cases because they are friends and people with whom he is comfortable working. Unlike on All Things Must Pass, which included a sprawling cast of musicians, this release utilized a relatively intimate group of musicians. Returning here from All Things Must Pass are Gary Wright, Klauss Vormann, Ringo Starr, Jim Gordon, and John Barnham. New members on this album include Nicky Hopkins, Jim Keltner, Jim Horn, and Zakir Hussain. Phil Spector did not return as producer except on “Try Some, Buy Some,” with Harrison producing the album himself.
While not having the multi-format, super deluxe edition precludes any observation on that set, one advantage of this two-LP vinyl set is that, unlike the super deluxe edition set, this one includes a 72-inch double-sided poster. The double album gatefold package is housed in a slipcase, with the two vinyl albums housed in poly-lined sleeves. A 12-page booklet is included. There are also reproductions of the original vinyl record sleeves, which is a nice touch. The vinyl albums were pressed in the Netherlands.
This is an excellent reissue and there are more future releases to come of the music of Harrison as well as non-Harrison music from his label Dark Horse Records. The reissue project that is probably most anticipated is The Concert for Bangladesh. The film has been reissued on VHS and DVD, but never on Blu-ray. It has also been reissued on CD, but never on vinyl. While a Blu-ray would be welcome, a reissue of the vinyl box would be something Harrison fans have been waiting for, for decades.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
B+
