George Harrison

George Harrison

(5cd Super Deluxe Edition; Capitol Records, 2021)

All things pass

A sunrise does not last all morning

All things pass

A cloudburst does not last all day

(Lao Tzu)

On November 27, 1970, Apple Records released the third solo album by George Harrison, following the inconclusive experimental-electronic diptych made up of "Wanderwall Music" (1968) and "Electronic Sound" (1969).

"All Things Must Pass" was originally conceived as a double LP with a third disc added on, containing mostly instrumental, improvised pieces, effectively making it rock history's first triple album.

Many consider it the finest solo output by any ex-Beatle, and despite the inherently demanding choice of a triple LP, the work itself boasts a coherence and complexity rarely found elsewhere in the discographies of his former bandmates.

"All Things Must Pass" is also an important album due to the participation of rock royalty of the era in the recording sessions, but it's essentially an intimate work through which Harrison finally managed to break free from his role as the luxury sidekick to the two most celebrated and envied songwriters of the Sixties. It achieved excellent sales figures, going platinum in the United States and gold in Britain and Canada.

Between May 26 and 27, 1970, together with Ringo Starr on drums and Klaus Voormann on bass, George recorded thirty demos of songs old and new at EMI's Studio 3 in Abbey Road, many of which would go on to fill the first four sides of "All Things Must Pass". Behind the mixing desk was Phil Spector, chosen to co-produce the album alongside Harrison himself. Some of the material had been written years earlier, such as "Isn't It A Pity" and "Art Of Dying" (both dating back to '66), or "I'd Have You Anytime", which Harrison wrote in '68 with his friend Bob Dylan.

Although they didn't take part in the recording of "All Things Must Pass", Dylan and the Band exert a decisive influence on this work: besides "I'd Have You Anytime", "If Not For You" is George's version of the song Dylan wrote for his own album "New Morning" (1970). "Behind That Locked Door", meanwhile, is a track inspired by Dylan's "Nashville Skyline" (1969), so much so that Harrison brought in pedal steel player Pete Drake, who took part in the album's sessions (his skills can be heard, for instance, on "Lay Lady Lay").

The first single released from the album was the controversial "My Sweet Lord", a mystically-tinged mantra based on the idea of the Edwin Hawkins Singers' "Oh, Happy Day" (1968), which was itself effectively a rip-off of the Chiffons' "He's So Fine" (1963). Even Paul McCartney tried every way he could to talk his friend out of releasing a song so similar to the Chiffons' hit, but there was no changing George's mind — he would later come to bitterly regret the decision and had to acquire the rights to the song to avoid running into further trouble.

As mentioned earlier, the album's credits amount to one of the most mouth-watering "who's who" lists in rock history, rivaled only by David Crosby's "If I Could Only Remember My Name" (1971). "All Things Must Pass" featured contributions from Ringo Starr, Jim Gordon, Alan White, Ginger Baker, Klaus Voormann, Carl Radle, Gary Wright, Bobby Whitlock, Billy Preston, Gary Brooker, Tony Ashton, Pete Drake, Eric Clapton, Dave Mason, Bobby Keys, Jim Price, Pete Ham, Tom Evans, Joey Molland, Peter Frampton, Mike Gibbins, Jerry Shirley, and even John & Yoko (though the latter two limit themselves to handclaps on "I Remember Jeep").

A year late, presumably due to the pandemic that brought the whole world to a halt, the reissue celebrating the album's fiftieth anniversary was released on August 16, 2021, remixed by Paul Hicks, a multiple Grammy-winning sound engineer actively involved in preserving the Beatles' catalogue.

Seven formats are available for this new edition, including the "Uber Deluxe", an extremely limited box set comprising 8 LPs and 5 CDs plus a Blu-ray, built from oak wood taken from the grounds of Friar Park, George Harrison's former estate, and rounded out with two books and various pieces of merchandise. The limited edition, priced at $999.98, sold out immediately. Besides this edition, six further options were made available for the rest of us: the Super Deluxe Edition on CD (5 CDs + Blu-ray), the Super Deluxe Edition on vinyl (8 LPs), the Deluxe Edition on CD (3 CDs), the Deluxe Edition on vinyl (5 LPs), the Standard Edition on CD (2 CDs), and the Standard Edition on vinyl (3 LPs).

The most appealing edition is arguably the 5-CD box set, both in terms of cost (around €119.00 on Amazon) and content. Measuring 18.5×18.5 cm, the box contains a 60-page book, a color poster depicting George at the entrance to his estate, five CDs, and one Blu-ray.

The book, featuring numerous previously unseen photos, offers a brief synopsis of each track on the original album, along with the recording date and the studio where it took place. Every title is accompanied by quotes from Harrison himself or from other musicians involved in the project, and occasionally there are photos of original manuscripts. The lyrics of the songs are not included, which is a shame, as it lends the work a sense of incompleteness. The book continues with a very brief and rather superficial exchange of views on the work between Paul Hicks and Dhani Harrison, before closing with the credits and the complete tracklist. The packaging, and especially the execution of this box set, leave a bitter taste in the mouth given the undeniable historical value of the album and the anniversary being marked, for anyone hoping to accompany their listening with a gripping, detailed read — something that was instead possible with the recent Super Deluxe editions of Lennon's albums, which this edition aspires to resemble.

In addition to the book, the package includes 5 CDs and 1 Blu-ray: the first CD contains the first nine tracks of the album in the "2020 Stereo Mixes" version. The second CD completes the new mixes with the remaining fourteen tracks. The third CD contains the fifteen demos from May 26, 1970, the day on which Harrison, together with Ringo and Klaus, first presented Phil Spector with the idea for the record (including the infamous "Sour Milk Sea", which George had given to Jackie Lomax back in '68, evidently living to regret it). The fourth CD contains another fifteen demos, recorded the following day with the same lineup. The fifth CD presents seventeen tracks between outtakes from the album's recording sessions and rather enjoyable jams, though none of them essential. The audio Blu-ray, finally, contains the twenty-three tracks of the original edition, remixed in Dolby Atmos quality – DTS-HD master audio 5.1 192-24 PCM stereo 48-24 – PCM stereo 192-24.

Compared to the 40th-anniversary reissue, released in 2010, this edition perhaps represents the definitive act of rediscovery, adding fuel to an already blazing fire and throwing both its strengths and its flaws into sharp relief. As happened with the Beatles catalogue, here too the intervention wasn't limited to cleaning up the recordings, since we're talking about an actual remix. However skilfully carried out by professionals who no doubt know the Beatles phenomenon inside out, altering a mix is always a rather delicate matter, since it means changing the original tones and colours. The question worth asking is whether any of this makes sense, and the answer, of course, lies in the feeble economic dynamics driving today's struggling record industry. In fact, what's been happening in recent years is nothing more than a shameless revisionism aimed at upsetting the balance that made the music we love so great. That said, anyone who has worn out these records over the years will at least be curious to find new elements to reckon with, such as the guitars that mirror the horn section in "All Things Must Pass" or the synthesizers that emerge clearly in the arrangements of "Isn't It A Pity". At the very least, it's given us a chance to talk, listen, and fall in love all over again with the grooves of one of the finest records in rock history. That's no small thing.

(September 1, 2021)

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25/04/2026