George Harrison - All Things Must Pass [BOXED EDITION]
![All Things Must Pass [BOXED EDITION]](/images/All-Things-Must-Pass-BOXED-EDITION-B00005214X-L.jpg)
|
List Price: Our Price: $9.32 You Save: $15.66 (63%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Canadian Music Store
Music Reviews of All Things Must Pass [BOXED EDITION]
Music Review: Far from that fountain of perpetual mirth
Rating: 5 Stars
And so, armed with a pretty great portfolio of songs rejected by John and Paul, the quiet Beatle decides to blow his wad and release the whole damn thing in one go as a triple album. Classic little-brother move there. He was king for a day. Foolhardy at first glance--some would argue he should have rationed this A-list material out more carefully--but it was probably a good idea. Judging from bootlegs from this era, even minor songs that never saw the official light of day were more compelling than what would come later. In short, George was in the zone--a place he'd never been, and would never be again. I think it was a smart move going for broke here.
That said, I've always had reservations about this album. George had an exasperating habit of keeping his sly humor out of his songs, leaving us with his rarely attractive sermons (and what a born scold he was, even before he found God--maybe that was why he could relate to Dylan). And, as George rather grumpily suggests in his liner notes, Phil Spector's often magnificent production does, at times, steamroll over the delicate material. Still, he has Phil to thank for crafting the only sonically rewarding album in his catalog. Overblown at times, perhaps, but this is a sublime piece of record-making.
I've been terrorizing the wife and kids for the past year with my guitar-playing around the house, and in learning the 'All Things Must Pass' songbook I have gained a new dimension of appreciation for these strange, beautiful constructions. George knows when to haul out the Dsus2 and the F#m7, but also knows when to keep it simple. It's that uncanny Beatles-coached balance of instinct and hyper-fluent attention to detail.
I have little patience for the George Harrison cult, those people who would have us believe that he was the equal of (or better than) John and Paul. He wasn't. But there is such a thing as a George Harrison Song--with its own lovely qualities, born right out of that Harrison hard-drive--and it finds its perfect moment in this very necessary, if never repeated, freedom-drunk masterpiece.
Music Review: "George Harrison Came Of Age With This Masterpiece" (now with extra tracks)
Rating: 5 Stars
George Harrison wrote lots of songs during the Beatles years that were never recorded by the band, as he often had to plead just to have them heard.
The huge majority of those songs appeared on this large outpouring of material (3 vinyl LP's in 1970). This mammoth collection, along with John Lennon's "Imagine", Paul McCartney's "Band On The Run" and Ringo Starr's "Ringo" albums is arguably the greatest solo project by any of the Beatles.
The personnel ? A who's who of rock at the time; Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Gary Brooker, Klaus Voormann, Alan White, Dave Mason, and uncredited performances by the likes of John Lennon, Peter Frampton and a young Phil Collins was a phenominal lineup.
Legendary producer Phil Spector was also on board for the basic tracks.
Though not present for the sessions, Bob Dylan's presence was felt as a writer, having written "If Not For You" on his own and co-written "I'd Have You Anytime" with George.
The selections were eclectic, which gave the album it's charm.
The religious rock of "My Sweet Lord", "What Is Life", "Hear Me Lord", "Awaiting On You All", "Beware Of Darkness", "The Art Of Dying" and "Isn't It A Pity";
The humor of "Wah Wah", "Apple Scruffs", "Let It Roll" and "I Dig Love";
The raw, human emotion of "Run Of The Mill", "Behind That Locked Door" ( a song about Bob Dylan), "Let It Down" and the title cut "All Things Must Pass";
All these styles and approaches from folk ballads to steel guitar filled country to high powered rock give the listener variety.
A collection of in-studio jamming was also included.
This re-release includes several bonus tracks including several early versions of album tracks, a previously unissued recording titled "I Live For You", and a 30th anniversary re-recording of the mega hit "My Sweet Lord" further enhances this rock classic.
If you love George's music, this is one you can't live without. 5 stars.
Music Review: Ahhhhhhhhh!! Sweet Memories
Rating: 5 Stars
Remember the Goodle Daze? The days when we all had our "Favorite" Beatle? Mine was George. I just thought that he was the Kewlest. He looked the Best in the Mop Top Hair, he played the Meanest Guitar, he was free of affectations, and he very nicely told off the "Trend Mongers" in "A Hard Days Night".When ATMP was released in 1970 I was 14 years old. I remember asking for nothing but this album for Christmas that year! ($10.00 for a triple album, imagine that!)
I still remember unwrapping and holding it like it was a Treasure handed down from the sky. It immediately became my favorite album and remained so through my college days (sure wish I still had that poster). The roster of friends that helped George of this album is probably the most impressive ever gathered. Eric Clapton (along with the rest of Derek & The Dominos), Badfinger, Ringo, Jim Keltner, and Dave Mason just to name a sampling. According to the Liner notes even Phil Collins made an appearance!
I hadn't listened to this album in 20 years. I had almost purchased it on CD on a few occasions but had been turned off by reports of poor sound quality. When I heard of this release I purchased it as soon as it became available. Now, 30 years later it has become my favorite album once again! I got a huge kick out of opening the miniature CD box. The colorization and the additions to the inside sleeves show evidence of a slightly twisted sense of humor as well as an acknowledgement of changing times.
I enjoyed reading the liner notes. I find it very interesting to read George's reflection's upon his 30 year old masterpiece. There is really no need to apologize for the "Wall of Sound" production. That's part of album's charm!
Most importantly, after 3 decades the music stands on it's own merit! The songwriting, musicianship, and production don't show any evidence to me of being "Good for it's day". Over the years I have purchased many "Beatle Related" releases. This one remains my favorite. Nuff said.
Music Review: George Harrison for the Millenium!
Rating: 5 Stars
Not only does the re-issue sound great, but Harrison has added some extra treats to it as well- a new packaging with a timely ecological message...i prefer the original album artwork, but we have that already on the previous CD release and on those records for those of us that were around in the days of vinyl...also added are 5 bonus tracks, which are really nice..."i live for you" is a true gem, a surprisingly exquisite bonus track, which Harrison has completed with his son...then there is a unplugged versions of "beware od darkness" and "Let it down"...the latter with beautiful finishing touches..the most dismissable is the "what is Life" backing track...the new version of "My sweet Lord" has brought about many mixed feelings, but I like it, but I didn't expect much from the start as it was only a bonus track...the opening sitar , and then some new guitar solos sound great...it's nice to hear Harrison again, and I like how he ends it with applause and a brief comeback...however, I'm sure there are many more unreleased tracks from these sessions...maybe he's saving those for a george harrison anthology one day (let's hope so)...as for the album itself, it would be impossible to comment on all the songs here...my favorites are "Isn't It a Pity", which is haunting Harrison melody among his best, "Art of Dying" which really rocks along with a great heavy sound, and "run of the Mill"..great melody, great lyrics....but I can say that almost of all the other songs on the album except perhaps "I Dig Love" and the Apple Jam...the other minor complaint is that I wish they would have had the inner sleeves of the the original vinyl with poster and all, but that is a minor complaint...the music sounds great and from the look of things we might have a new Harrison album by the end of the year with more re-issues along with bonus tracks, and for me...it couldn't get any better than that..Music Review: A Bit Too Much of a Good Thing
Rating: 4 Stars
After being relegated to only one or two songs on each Beatles album, George Harrison let his pent-up musical frustration explode on "All Things Must Pass," a sprawling 3-LP (now 2-CD) set. While the album remains the best of George's solo career, and is of almost uniformly high quality throughout, its epic length was a musical overreaction to George's time in the shadow of Lennon & McCartney, and results in otherwise great music becoming tiresome by the end.Backed by an all-star cast of musicians, and produced by Phil "Wall of Sound" Spector, the sound of "All Things Must Pass" matches its hefty size. This is jangly George Harrison at his best, with a nice country-blues flavoring. The overall impression left by the album is sort of a happiness-and-sunshine (i.e. Beatlesque) flip-side to the Stones' sound of the same period ("Sticky Fingers," "Exile...," etc.).
Nonetheless, excessive length is the album's Achilles' heel. The 3rd LP (2nd half of the second disc on this set) consists entirely of an instrumental multi-song jam session. While not bad music, it is simply unnecessary (and tiresome) after 2 LPs worth of finely crafted songs. Furthermore, with the exception of "I Live For You," the bonus tracks added to this remastered edition do not match the quality of the original album. They're simply more unnecessary filler.
Had George pared this material down to only 2 LPs on the original release (perhaps using a couple of the shorter jams as instrumental interludes between the regular songs), "All Things Must Pass" would have been an unqualified classic equal to "Exhile on Main Street." Had he actually compressed his best material into one LP, it would have been a masterpiece of British rock, perhaps bested only by "Abbey Road." It's unfortunate that he felt the need to release this material in the bloated manner he did (both then and now).