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.
[
All Things Must Pass received a deluxe anniversary reissue in 2001, one supervised by
George Harrison in one of his last creative acts. A handful of bonus tracks were added and the sequencing on the third LP--the one with all the instrumental jams--were rejiggered, all welcome bonuses to an already generous album. Supervised by
Harrison's son
Dhani and his collaborator
Paul Hicks, the 50th Anniversary reissue of
All Things Must Pass dwarfs any previous anniversary edition. Officially, there are seven different 50th Aniversary editions of
All Things Must Pass--ranging from straight-up reissues of the proper album on both CD and LP to an expensive, extravagant set housed in a wooden crate--but the main attractions are the Super Deluxe Editions that contain a host of demos and outtakes over the course of five CDs or eight LPs; the CD incarnation also includes a BluRay with surround mixes. Every version, including the leanest editions, features a new mix by
Dhani Harrison and
Hicks, one that brightens the original and moves
George's voice to the front of the mix; it freshens the album without unnecessarily modernizing it. The real news lies in all the demos, alternate takes and outtakes on the Super Deluxe Edition. Many of the demos circulated on a bootleg called Beware of ABKCO! back in the 90s--the title comes from a wry aside from
Harrison during "Beware of Darkness"--but they fidelity here is much better, plus there are more of them. There are also several unheard songs debuted here, such as the joshing rockabilly number "Going Down to Golders Green" and the sprightly "Cosmic Empire," not to mention another stab at "Sour Milk Sea," a song George gave to Jackie Lomax in 1968. There are also a bunch of loose informal jams, including offhand rambles through "Wedding Bells (Are Breaking Up That Old Gang of Mine)" and "Get Back." There's a wealth of material here, all underscoring how the recording of
All Things Must Pass found
Harrison at a joyously creative peak.] ~ Richie Unterberger & Bruce Eder