REVIEWS:
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(reviewed by Casey Brennan)
HIGH POINTS: Wah-Wah, All Things Must Pass, Let It Down, Beware Of Darkness, What Is Life, Isn't It a Pity (Version 1), My Sweet Lord, Art Of Dying, Awaiting On You All. LOW POINTS: some of the jams on the third set.
It's still amazing to see the most overlooked member of the Beatles release an album that contains about three albums worth of material less than one year after the band's final recording session. Much of these songs date back to the Let It Be sessions in early 1969, while others were either in the vaults or written during the making of the album in question. "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun", which are the two last songs recorded by Harrison from the Beatles (not counting the previously recorded "I, Me, Mine", which was only refined a bit during the bands' last session ever), easily rank up there with any McCartney/Lennon classic, so it is not a terrible surprise that the songs for All Things Must Pass would be very high quality as well. The greatness of Harrison's late-60's era Beatles-tunes simply continues right into this first effort. Unlike the polished and up-front production sound of the Beatles, such as on Harrison tracks like "Savoy Truffle" and "Old Brown Shoe", this first full-blown album by George is produced by Phil Spector, which means that the instruments are piled on top one another like layers of clothing, and that the atmosphere is majestically expansive, even sort of echoey.
For many of the Harrison songs found on here, and I mean many, since there is about three albums' worth of material on this set (25 songs in all), the production works wonderfully. The main thing though, as I said before, is that the songs are of awfully high quality. It's really great to hear that the album is sequenced in a way that it rarely gets monotonous as well; the elegant beauty of the opener "I'd Have You Anytime", which contains emotive and restrained lead guitar from George's fine friend Eric Clapton and an overall dreamy vibe, sits nicely next to a more heavily-produced number like the earth-shattering hit "My Sweet Lord". Quieter emotive ballads, rockier numbers, the occasional pop number (such as "Awaiting On You All"), and majestic 'building-up' epics sit together and flow like they were meant to be.
In order to reach the full potential of each song George Harrison enlisted a stellar cast of players including bassist Klaus Voormann (yep, you know him as the guy who created the Revolver cover), Keyboardist Billy Preston (among others), drummer Ringo Starr(yeah!), and uncredited players Peter Frampton and Eric Clapton (as I already mentioned). There are tons of others too but I won't list em' all of course. This knockout crew sure brings a lot of life and tremendous power to the memorable shining hits "My Sweet Lord", an enormously uplifting song with a choir-like quality, simple message, and beautifully melodic slide-guitar fills from George, and "What Is Life", an up-tempo pop number that starts with a famous George riff you'll remember once you hear it again, but most especially on the epic numbers.
The epic track "Let It Down" is a minor masterpiece that comes to an incredible full-band peak whenever the drums, guitars, saxes, and piano, majestically clang together during the amazingly bombastic chorus. The tune, which itself begins with the chorus banging away, is tied together by the stately minor-key melody of the verses with absolute perfection. Many artists can't reach the moving nature of a tune like this. This is because George only used a tune for the final album if, instrumentally, himself and the band 'got' the right feel to the tune; if not, the tune was left in the vaults. When they did get the right feel is when they got some of the most moving, as well as sincere and heartfelt, music of the post-Beatles solo career.
This is so powerfully captured on emotive tunes like the gloom-tinged ballad "Beware of Darkness" (lyrically and musically the mood here is captured perfectly - one of his best ballads), the powerful title track, which seems to sum up his feelings about the break-up of the Beatles in a hopeful manner (this tune seems to come from heaven), and the two epics "Isn't It A Pity" (version 1) and "Isn't It A Pity" (version 2). The first version of "In My Pity" (the better and longer of the two) builds from its' pleasant beginnings into a grand orchestral statement that seems to lift off high into the air within seven minutes, while the second one is rather down-to-earth. Simple words and a simple melody are given a grandiose treatment quite successfully here.
As great as that is, there are still a few tracks that deserve very high attention. One of these is the mighty "Wah Wah", a track where the band creates an absolute racket - and that's not a bad thing either! A nice double-riff starts off the tune, but then gets shoved into the background when the great 'wall-of-sound' comes in (heavily percussive and with lots of rhythm guitars played by Badfinger, probably); this is where Phil Spector's production job is at its' most effective. As pounding as it is, it's a pop song at heart with a vocal melody buried underneath it all that's no less than stunning, and the electric guitar lines that pop out from time to time in the mix are very melodic and sweet.
Slightly underneath that in quality is another glorious rocker called "Art of Dying", while on the lighter side of things is "I Dig Love", where you have to dig those melodic piano lines that make up this simple tune, and the Spectorized pop song "Awaiting On You All", which is the third song they play on classic rock radio after the other two. Amongst these weighty tracks are a half a dozen minor pleasantries that range from such 'ditties' as "If Not For You" (which contains a lot of pedal steel guitar), "Behind That Locked Door", "Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp" and "Apple Scruffs", to poppier numbers like "Run of the Mill". It's good that All Things Must Pass is balanced out by these fun little numbers.
After the final track "Hear Me Lord" (meaning side four of album two) is where we get the five-song jam set, all of which aren't something one would want to listen to after hearing the main portion of the album. "Out of the Blue" is probably the most fun of these, and it is good to hear a tribute to John's 30th birthday in "It's Johnny's Birthday", but these tracks aren't exactly worthwhile either. If it wasn't for these sort-of desultory jams that ride out at the end of the record, this album would definitely get a 10. Instead, it gets half a point lower, which isn't bad for the best solo career album by any Beatle (beating out Plastic Ono Band ever so slightly).
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COMMENTS
Hi,
I'm a 16 year old George Harrison fan from Australia and I think All Things Must Pass is the BEST album of its time.
I've got it on CD and I play it heaps. "What Is life" is probably my favourite song, but "My Sweet Lord" is up there too. The 30th anniversary CD is a fantastic package. I very much like the 2000 version of "My Sweet Lord". The slide guitar kicks ass!
George4eva,
Mandy Turner
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