FEATURE:
Hardly Run of the Mill
The Incredible 50th Anniversary Release of George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass
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I am a little late to this news…
but George Harrison’s incredible third solo studio album, All Things Must Pass, has been given a 50th anniversary release (there are seven different physical editions). It was released in 1970. Because of the pandemic and various factors, it has been held back until this year. I am not someone who covers all big anniversary releases. There are some albums that definitely warrant that attention. Harrison’s masterpiece is a six-sided vinyl release packed with tracks! It was hugely acclaimed upon its release and it is seen as one of the best albums of the 1970s. There have been various remastered, and bits and pieces brought out through the years regarding All Things Must Pass. This bumper release is a real treat for fans of the album. Although it is quite a big and expensive anniversary release, owning an expanded celebration of an all-time classic is worth it! I will bring in a couple of reviews for the classic album – to give a sense of why it is so important and revered. Before that, Super Deluxe Edition give us the details regarding the superb 50th anniversary edition of All Things Must Pass:
“George Harrison‘s 1970 album All Things Must Pass will be reissued in August for a belated 50th anniversary edition and will be available in SEVEN different physical editions including an ‘Uber Deluxe Edition’ which comes in wooden crate and contains everything…and more!
Paul Hicks – the mixer/engineer who has worked on the Lennon reissues – has created a new mix of All Things Must Pass, overseen by George’s son Dhani, who is executive producer on this project. There is a new stereo mix, a surround mix and a Dolby Atmos mix of the album. The new stereo mix replaces the original album mix on every format. Speaking of which here are the formats:
Uber Deluxe Edition: 8LP+5CD+blu-ray. Comes in a wooden crate with books, figurines, Klaus Voorman illustration and more.
Super Deluxe Edition (CD): 5CD+blu-ray. Original album, plus 3CDs of demos and outtakes, plus a blu-ray with the surround mixes
Super Deluxe Edition (vinyl): 8LP. Original album plus 5LPs of outtakes/demos
Deluxe Edition (vinyl): 5LP. Original album plus 2LPs of outtakes (no demos)
Deluxe Edition (CD): 3CDs. Original album plus an extra discs of outtakes. Comes in a little box.
Standard Edition (vinyl): 3LP set featuring the new mix of the album. This is available on black vinyl and green splatter coloured vinyl
Standard Edition (CD): 2CD set featuring new mix of the album. Gatefold card sleeve presentation.
The Uber Deluxe Edition comes in a wooden crate and includes figurines of Harrison and those gnomes (click image to enlarge)
The Uber Deluxe and both 8LP vinyl and 5CD+blu-ray Super Deluxe Editions contain 70 audio tracks. There are 23 tracks on the original album, so that leaves 47 demo recordings, session outtakes and studio jams, of which 42 are previously unreleased. On the CD edition the three bonus discs are split into two discs of demos (‘day 1’ and ‘day 2’) and a third disc of outtakes.
George Harrison / All Things Must Pass 50th anniversary super deluxe edition 5CD+blu-ray5CD+blu-ray super deluxe edition (click image to enlarge)
The 5CD+blu-ray super deluxe edition comes in a slipcase with a 56-page scrapbook curated by Olivia Harrison, with unseen imagery and memorabilia from the era, handwritten lyrics, diary entries, studio notes, tape box images, a comprehensive track-by-track and more. It also includes a replica of the original album poster (all formats have the poster).
The 8LP super deluxe has all the tracks from the 5CD set and a 60-page scrapbook with the same contents as above.
The 5LP deluxe edition is the remixed album with two bonus LPs which are the Session Outtakes & Jams. In other words, CD 5 from the super deluxe, or LPs 7 & 8 from the 8LP vinyl super deluxe.
All Things Must Pass 8LP vinyl super deluxe edition (click image to enlarge)
The ‘uber deluxe’ has an “elaborate and expanded” version of the scrapbook and includes a second book (44 pages) chronicling the making of All Things Must Pass through extensive archival interviews with notes. This also comes with a wooden bookmark made from a felled Oak tree (Quercus Robur) in George’s Friar Park, the 1/6 scale replica figurines of Harrison and the gnomes featured on the album cover, a limited edition illustration by musician and artist Klaus Voorman, a copy of Paramahansa Yogananda’s “Light from the Great Ones”, Rudraksha beads contained in individual custom-made boxes and the poster.
All Things Must Pass 50th anniversary edition will be released on 6 August 2021. The SDE widgets below cover all seven physical editions except for the ‘Uber Deluxe’ which is available via the official George Harrison store in the UK or the official store in the USA”.
I would encourage anyone who is in a position to do so to investigate the anniversary editions. It is a superb original album that has been accompanied by so many extras! I am a big fan of the solo albums from The Beatles. Whilst my favourites are from Paul McCartney, one cannot ignore the genius and importance of All Things Must Pass. It still sounds so vital, beautiful and spellbinding after so much time. Harrison was definitely confident through All Things Must Pass. Although it is such an expansive album, I don’t think there is any filler. In their review of the album, this is what AllMusic wrote:
“Without a doubt, George Harrison's first solo recording, originally issued as a triple album, is his best. Drawing on his backlog of unused compositions from the late Beatles era, Harrison crafted material that managed the rare feat of conveying spiritual mysticism without sacrificing his gifts for melody and grand, sweeping arrangements. Enhanced by Phil Spector's lush orchestral production and Harrison's own superb slide guitar, nearly every song is excellent: "Awaiting on You All," "Beware of Darkness," the Dylan collaboration "I'd Have You Anytime," "Isn't It a Pity," and the hit singles "My Sweet Lord" and "What Is Life" are just a few of the highlights. A very moving work, with a slight flaw: the jams that comprise the final third of the album are somewhat dispensable, and have probably only been played once or twice by most of the listeners who own this record. Those same jams, however, played by Eric Clapton, Carl Radle, Bobby Whitlock, and Jim Gordon (all of whom had just come off of touring as part of Delaney & Bonnie's band), proved to be of immense musical importance, precipitating the formation of Derek & the Dominos. Thus, they weren't a total dead end, and may actually be much more to the liking of the latter band's fans”.
Before I wrap up, there is a fascinating article from Best Classic Bands that gives us some background about the album. It is a very long article - though I felt it was worth dropping some in:
“Many arrangements embraced Spector’s “Wall of Sound” ethos, combining multiple drummers, massed guitars and keyboards, and backing choruses into sonic juggernauts, heard through canyons of echo. At its most unbridled, the approach overwhelms with blunt force, most glaringly on “Wah Wah,” a blitzkrieg of jangling guitars, thundering drums, blaring horns, and chanted vocal choruses that surely pinned the needles into the red on the recording console. The final mix is so instrumentally dense as to verge on distortion; Harrison himself was reportedly conflicted in his initial reactions to that track, the first recorded for the project.
Elsewhere, the symphonic weight attainable through force of numbers is managed more effectively. “What is Life” harnesses its orchestral firepower more elegantly, pulling back on the verses to let its lead vocals breathe before adding horn and choral fanfares to punch up its joyous choruses. “Awaiting on You All” shares the same balance of uptempo energy while delving more directly into its religious subtext.
Harrison’s forthright meditations include three portentous songs, risky in the context of a secular rock record, that he manages to pull off with subdued arrangements. “Isn’t it a Pity,” a stately inventory of human failure, is the album’s longest vocal track at over seven minutes, reprised in a second version later in the set.
Restraint likewise frames “Beware of Darkness,” a minor-keyed warning against lost dreams and encroaching demons.
Beyond the lamentation of “Isn’t It a Pity” and the threat of “Beware of Darkness” lies the reflective acceptance of the title track, the least doctrinaire and most durable of the three. Had Harrison not chosen to stretch beyond two LPs of songs to add a third disc of instrumental jams, “All Things Must Pass” would have gained added impact as the album’s final statement.
Joining the Maharishi, Phil Spector and the ur-Americana of The Band and the Bramletts as influences here is no less an icon than Bob Dylan, whom Harrison had bonded with during a visit to Woodstock. The collaboration between the future Wilburys yielded two co-writes that represent the two most straightforward love songs on All Things Must Pass, the album opener, “I’d Have You Anytime,” and “If Not For You,” which Dylan himself would also record for his New Morning album.
George Harrison’s overall success with All Things Must Pass surely drew from confidence gained in producing two earlier instrumental albums, while his eagerness to collaborate outside the Beatles’ rarefied fellowship translated to the scale and party atmosphere of the project’s sessions. That he recognized its importance as his first solo statement as singer, songwriter and producer prompted his involvement in a remastered and expanded version completed a year before his death. In that context, the instrumental jams that comprise the original third LP are worthwhile mementos of those fateful sessions, yet it’s fair to admit that at the time of its original release only a minority of fans spent as much time spinning those loose workouts as the more coherent songs on the first two discs”.
I am saving and hope to get one of the 50th anniversary editions/packages of All Things Must Pass. It is a tremendous album released at a time when The Beatles split, and the four members were going their own way. Harrison proved his songwriting brilliance on 1969’s Abbey Road (Something, Here Comes the Sun). He continued that with aplomb on All Things Must Pass. Not confined to one format and edition, we get a treat in the form of seven physical releases of…
A masterpiece from 1970.