Artist: George Harrison
Album: All Things Must Pass
Released: November 27, 1970
Length: 2 hours, 5 minutes
Vinyl Discs: 3
Might as well start with a doozy, right? 2 hours. 3 LP's. Whew.
And… he put them all . . . all . . . all on this record! All of them! Include some Sides E and F sludge. Man.
George was in a truly spiritual frame of mind in the late 60’s. He was hanging with Norah Jones’ dad and meditating and taking some acid and most relevantly, incorporating a sitar and other Indian classical instruments into rock and roll. It wasn't just the sound of it, though. He was imbued with religion and Hare Krishna and peace on earth.
The lyrics of All Things Must Pass are mostly about: God, loving God, praying, and really loving God. You hear a song and start to think it’s an ode to a gal, and ah yeah, it’s instead a paean to a god. Which is obviously perfectly fine. There just isn’t a ton of complex lyrical content. All Things Must Pass is really about one thing. Dear lord.
When you’re a Beatle (you’re a Beatle all the way?), you have lots of things:
Talent.
Money.
Fame.
Wives.
Gold records.
Access to famous recording studios and producers.
But also really gifted friends. Ones who will oblige you and play on your records. This album is star-studded, to include:
- his future wife-swipin' buddy Eric Clapton
- 5th Beatle Billy Preston
- 4th Beatle Ringo Starr
- Gary Wright ("Dream Weaver," "Love Is Alive")
- Klaus Voormann, German bassman extraordinaire
- Jim Gordon, stud drummer til he lost his fucking shit
- Peter Frampton, age 20
- Pete Drake, pedal steel (played on "Lay Lady Lay," "Stand By Your Man" so many more)
- Badfinger dudes
- Bobby Keys, super sax man on Exile and 100 others
Hell, it goes on, see here -- to the point where Dave Mason said he doesn't know what tracks he's on because "there were so many people in the studio." So they all got together in London town and pumped out a plethora of rock music.
My story: I never really listened to this album before this year. Everyone knows “My Sweet Lord,” and a few of you know about the landmark lawsuit that the Chiffons’ levied at George for ripping off their hit “He’s So Fine.” Score 1 for ABKCO, later seen destroying The Verve.
Other tracks you know from this solo debut include the title track and especially the stellar “What Is Life" -- my favorite all-time George-solo tune and one immortalized in Goodfellas.
I am mostly a post-Beatles fan of Paul and Wings, even with some of his slight fare and silly love songs (actually love that one). Over the last couple of years, I have honed in on Lennon's work before and after his "Long Weekend" and Hollywood Vampires stint and A Toot and a Snore in '74 sagas -- a chapter of Whitneypedia worth mining another time.
And Ringo is just Ringo, god bless 'im. You can hear everything worthy he's done since 1970 in 14 good minutes. ("Photograph" is outstanding, albeit footnoted with Harrison's co-write.)
George? I never gave him the time. Even though his name is G(h)eorg(h)e. I know.
Until this project. And I'm glad I dug in. Here we go, with a newly re-arranged and massively truncated album that rivals any Après-Beatle offering.
George Harrison, All Things Must Pass as a Single LP
Side A (22:12)
1. What Is Life
This song just seems like a killer album opener to me. And so it is now.
2. I Live for You
I follow it up with… an outtake? Yep, good shit. Pete Drake pedal steel. Get some.
3. My Sweet Lord
At #3, we go with the big hit. Hare Hare Krishna Krishna, the thing about the Lord, he’s so fine.
4. Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)
My favorite discovery on this little journey! Frank Crisp, a “microscopist,” and the original owner of Harrison’s London home. Now that is lyrical fun! Love this tune. Let it roll, indeed.
5. Run of the Mill
Now this one really deviates from the peace and love! A nifty little tune with some brass, it sounds pretty Beatles-y. Maybe because it was written when the Fab Four were breaking up; it’s a major slap squarely at Paul. Love it. You go, George.
6. Awaiting on You All
Okay, let’s hustle back to the pew. A rocking little number. Lyrics remind me of our pal Hightower’s ex-gal Allison, who’d joined a cult and shaved her head in the late 1990’s. He went to see her and was catching up, and he told her he was a schoolteacher. She replied curtly, “Okay, but wouldn’t it be better if you were teaching people to chant to God?”
Side B (20:19)
1. Isn't It a Pity (Version 1)
A lovely song. A long song. A Phil Spector-long song. It’s 7:11. You know, like they were recording so long, so late at night, they had to go get Twinkies and burritos and Cokes and then made the song that runtime. Ringo, Billy Preston, Gary Wright. Version 2 is shorter and has Clapton. Eh, I like this one.
2. If Not for You
A cover of a Dylan tune. Is it a cover if it’s by your friend and he only released it one month prior? I don’t know. I like George’s version way better. A toe tapper, and his slide sounds great. Listen for a young Peter Frampton on acoustic guitar. (If you can.)
3. Hear Me Lord
Really enjoy this one. This is a beautiful spiritual with killer keys (piano, keyboard, and amazing organ) and some electric licks from E.C. A great cut.
4. All Things Must Pass
Closing it out with the title track. I wish I loved this song more than I do, but it’s integral to the album and a good message for today.
Wow. What a tight little banger. Wait, what? Seriously, though, it's too bad Sir Martin, a gheorghe in his own right, didn't stop by Abbey Road Studios in the summer of '70 and hack away at the scraps to make this sharp piece of British steel. 42 minutes and 31 seconds lean.
Listen away until the next time. Let it roll.
Posts
Now I see why management gave you that 50% raise. Chef's kiss.
ReplyDeleteFollowing up the tease with action. Well done, Whit!
ReplyDeleteThanks, boys. And happy belated birthday, Mark.
ReplyDeletewhit’s all about the action
ReplyDeleteIndiana!
ReplyDeletepour some out for diane keaton. that's a bummer.
ReplyDeleteWhere does she rank among Keatons?
ReplyDeleteBuster, Michael, Alex P.?
Whit IS rock n roll. So well done.
ReplyDeleteBut do u know the venue for the first live Beatles performance in the States? And who sang the first song on said tour? NO GOOGLING
Shea? George?
ReplyDeleteSomeone has to listen to the playlist and comment on it. New Coole rule
ReplyDeleteThanks for the birthday wish, Whit. Unfortunately, Billy Napier doesn’t like me as much as you do. I have to fly to Kansas City at 6 am Tuesday morning for a hectic work week full of 15 hour days so I’m doing absolutely nothing today post Sunday morning workout other than watching football and possibly taking a nap.
ReplyDeletewatched 45 soccer games over the past two days. only had one negative interaction with parents. pretty solid ratio.
ReplyDeletei'm going to listen now, while i read about the civil war. ed sullivan? twist and shout?
ReplyDeletethat answer is 50% correct
ReplyDeleteShould have clarified - first concert venue which rules out Ed Sullivan. ‘‘Twas the Washington Coliseum. First song a Chuck Berry cover, Roll Over Beethoven sung by George. Now ya know!
ReplyDeleteMy bulldog is snoring on the couch and passing terrible gas. I think she’s back.
ReplyDeleteHey Bulldog! As long as we’re on beatles tunes.
ReplyDeletelove the stripped down version but i think you have room for "beware of darkness" on side 2. that's a good one (and we should beware of darkness)
ReplyDeleteBig day. Just ran across this Atlantic piece that may be of interest to some of you Gheorghies.
ReplyDeleteactually i think i can just steal your playlist and add that song!
ReplyDeleteHey y'all! Happy late b'day, Mark, and hope the busy work week gets to include sports watching. Yay for Oct. baseball! Last few posts have been terrific. Great work by your grown kids, Rob! They're funny. And anything with a memory of Evan is always gold. I'll be listening to the music, too. Our oldest loves George! I've been listening beyond my usual, largely b/c of what I'm about to share next ... Speaking of kids) -- it seems our way of managing this "empty nest" business, which I like to call our "open door" stage (I like to think our house is always that really), we seem to have embarked on home improving to take up the greater quiet and less hub-bub. A week ago we had not planned to buy and install a new closet system and demo the old closet and redesign the bedroom, but we have. This week. Husband has torn out carpet, refinished hardwood floor, painted and redone another bedroom. We've finished the restoring tile underneath gross vinyl in bathroom, bought wallpaper and are readying for its redo with that and paint, as we lean into the mid-century modern bath that it is (tile surround tub, etc.). And in the midst of it all, we've been organizing our millions of Legos (no exaggeration!) bc the opportunity arose when the kids mid-July decided to build a crazy 3 x 4 ft (or so) mountain, bridge, housing, castle thing. All since end of August. Figuring out where the Legos go now...not sure why we're keeping them all. And we just got the new Atlantic (we still get the hardcopy publication, and I love it!), and this whole issue is great! So -- besides work, which is generally good (mostly) and busy there, too, we're living into this time all right. Hope you are faring okay in OBX, Dave -- the weather has been pretty crazy there. We actually have an employee who lives down there. Commutes for a PT role. She's amazing, but what a thing for her. Anyhow, hope the rest of you are good. Anyone going to homecoming this weekend?
ReplyDeleteShould've said -- reason for the listening to different music for me is because husband plays all kinds of stuff for working -- like jazz, lots of eccentric stuff. And bluegrass that I am unfamiliar with, but it's pretty cool. (As if my comment was not long enough already -- HA!)
ReplyDeleteHey Donna, thanks for thinking of us dunebillys (beach version of hillbilly). We're good here on northern part of sandbar. A little damp and wind-blown but nothing severe. Folks on Hatteras Island took bigger hit. Feel for them.
ReplyDeleteGood luck to you and your hubby going all Ty Pennington. And yeah, volume of substantial and watchable sports this time of year is wondrous (Mets fans in audience aside).
Morning Gheorghies. Beat the alarm clock this morning by about 45 minutes. Suboptimal.
ReplyDeletewife and i saw 'one battle after another' last night. still processing it. as a technical accomplishment, it's fantastic - pulsating, propulsive, visually terrific, incredible sound (some of the best soundwork i can remember), just great fun to watch. strong performances by penn (an amazing tightly-wound psychopath), teyana taylor (burns incandescently in her brief time on screen), dicaprio (plays frazzled burnout dad really well), and del toro (really excellent as an uber-competent mellowing influence on dicaprio's character). not to mention young chase infiniti as dicaprio's 16 year-old daughter and plot prime mover.
ReplyDeletethere's been some criticism of the film as yet another attempt by a white filmmaker to assuage white guilt - all of the heroic/noble characters are people of color, and all of the evil ones are white. conservatives are predictably up in arms about this, and about what they perceive as a call to left-wing violence. on the latter point, i think they're wrong - nothing good happens to the lefty perpetrators of political violence, including successful societal change. but i am wrestling with the 'magical negro/latino' vibe of the film.
tl;dr - fantastic, fast-paced watch, would recommend. spend some time thinking about it afterwards.
r.i.p. d'angelo, sexy no longer
ReplyDeleteWhat? That sucks.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletei think perfidia pays the price of being a revolutionary and is not at all portrayed as a stand-up person, and dicaprio as bob at least attempts to be a dad and protect his daughter from his parent's checkered past-- and the way the movement peters out is very like what really happened with the weathermen in the 70s. read "days of rage" for a really dense portrayal of this. mainly, i thought the movie was a good time, like a tarantino movie-- maximum film-making and soundtrack and quite a few laughs for such a paranoid manic plotline. a must see
ReplyDeleteI’ve been dying to see that movie. Just need to get through this hectic stretch for work. Woke up at 3:45 this morning for a flight. Had a massive event tonight that featured a Yacht Rock cover band- The Yachties who were also dressed as Sea Captains. Pretty damn good too. Had some drinks with clients and now I’m in my hotel room and going to pass out.
ReplyDelete