On the 30th anniversary of the release of "All Things Must Pass", Harrison decided to re-master, re-design, and re-write liner notes for this historic recording. He is pretty smart to do this, because this album ranks as one of the best solo-Beatle releases. Following the dismal months of the Beatle's breakup in 1970, Harrison collected some of his favorite musician friends and set out to record all the piled up songs that accumulated over the years. Most of these songs were probably un-recorded because of that dynamic duo known as Lennon and McCartney! With The Beatles pretty much out of the way, George took full advantage in recording his material. There was so much here that, at the time, Harrison had to release a triple album! For the sake of the cd generation, it's remastered here in a nice 2 cd set. The sound quality is vastly improved over the original album and cd release. If you should only own one George Harrison album, this would be the one.
The list of musicians on this recording reads like the "who's who" of popular English music thirty years ago. Ringo Starr plays drums with Harrison, which is great since it gives the recording solid drumming and a little extra touch of The Beatle's sound. Others include Eric Clapton, Badfinger, Dave Mason, Billy Preston, Klaus Voormann, Gary Brooker (Procol Harum), and a host of others. Also, a very young Phil Collins played congas on "Art of Dying" and Harrison gave him a big "thank you" after 30 years! Phil Spector did the production work for this album, and his "wall of sound" is very prominant here. The most popular songs on "All Things Must Pass" are "My Sweet Lord" and "What is Life". Both songs were radio hits for Harrison in 1970, and both are reflections in Harrison's long time following of Hinduism and Eastern religion. Besides these two well-known songs lay a very solid collections of great songs. "Wah-Wah" begins with some tough and solid guitar work that would make any of today's grunge and alternative rockers proud. I've read that Harrison wrote this song after a spat with McCartney during the last days of The Beatles. It definitely sounds true; "And I know how sweet life can be, so I'll keep myself free". A nice array of percussion adds to the great guitar of the song. Harrison does a nice cover of Bob Dylan's "If Not For You" highlighted with some pleasant slide guitar work. "Let It Down" is a pretty heavy song, typical of the times. What's nice about this release is the bonus track of Harrison's original demo on acoustic guitar. Somehow, you find that the studio recording losses some of it's sweetness and blues feel from the basic demo. "Apple Scruffs", one of my favorites on this cd, is an ode to the groupies or "Scruffs" that The Beatles had hanging around the Apple offices in the late 60's and early 70's. The song features some very cool harmonica along with acoustic guitars. It's a happy song that thanks the Scruffs for flowers, smiles, and standing "around for years". "Awaiting on You All" deals again with Harrison's spirituality. It rips a little on the "peace and love" generation of this time. Instead of love-in's (a knock on Lennon?), church houses, horoscopes, and Temples, all George thinks you need is "Chanting the name of the Lord and you'll be free". This fast moving and heavily intrumented song then goes on to take a jab at the Pope and organized religion. I have a feeling that the song would cause plenty of controversy if released for the first times in 2001! In addition to all the original 18 tracks from the original release, plus the instrumental"Apple Jam" material that graced album three of the original are 5 bonus tracks. Besides the great "Let it Down" demo, Harrison included the unreleased "I Live For You" and the demo for "Beware of Darkness". The track getting the most attention is "My Sweet Lord 2000". Featuring acoustic guitar from Harrison's son Dhani and background vocals from Sam Brown, the song at first was difficult for me to accept. After a few listens though, it's a well recorded new version of this song that may even top the standard version. The glossy production is a nice change from Spector's production work.
There is so much more that I can write about this album, but I don't want to end up boring anyone! This and 1987's "Cloud Nine" is George Harrison at this best. Rumor has it that Harrison is ready to release a new album, his first since the last Traveling Wilbury's release in 1990. Harrison is sometimes a difficult artist to get in to. His music is moody at times, and not as contemporary as McCartney's or even Ringo's solo work. I usually have to be in a certain mood to listen to Harrison's solo work, but this re-release gives me reason to listen more often. Here's hoping that some of his mid-70's work gets the same treatment.
