George Harrison – All things must Pass [Apple Records 1970]

In January 1969, when The Beatles were grinding through the Get Back project, George Harrison was trying in vain to push forward with his song-writing. He already had a cache of songs he’d written the previous year on the band’s trip to India, some of which ended up on ‘The Beatles’. ‘I me mine’ eventually made it on the ill-fated ‘Let it Be’ album, and the sublime ‘Something’ made it to ‘Abbey Road’, but also debuted at the Get Back sessions were ‘All things must Pass’, ‘Art of Dying’ and ‘Isn’t it a Pity’. All beautifully constructed songs of great quality, but ultimately ignored by Lennon and McCartney. So it was timely that after ‘Let it Be’ was released, and The Beatles came to a natural end, George made plans to make an album featuring these abandoned tracks and many more that were being finalised around this time.

Phil Spector, the legendary producer, who created the ‘Wall of Sound’ was brought in [at the suggestion of John Lennon] to produce, and Apple Records signing Badfinger, along with a star-studded cast of 1000s, such as Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton [and the Dominoes], Delaney and Bonnie and Phil Collins[!]

The opener ‘I’d have you anytime’, co-written with Bob Dylan was worthy of an inclusion on Abbey Road. ‘My Sweet Lord’ became a huge hit both sides of the Atlantic, but Harrison was sued for plagiarism by The Chiffons, who claimed the song was too similar to their hit ‘He’s so Fine’. Harrison lost the court case and had to pay royalties.

There are plenty of examples of Harrison’s continued spiritual outlook on life, such as ‘Art of Dying’, ‘Awaiting on you All’ and ‘Hear me Lord’. A subject also tackled was the break up of The Beatles, and this manifested mainly on two songs, ‘Wah-Wah ‘[“and i’m thinking of you and all the things we used to do”]; ‘Isn’t it Pity’ [“isn’t it a pity, now isn’t it a shame, how we break each other’s hearts and cause each other pain”]. This was ex-Beatle George exorcising his ghosts, wiping the slate clean and moving forward.

The songs on All things must Pass were mostly written during the final months of The Beatles existence, and Harrison may have still believed they would end up on a Beatles album, such was his dedication to the group as a whole. But after Lennon’s announcement at an Apple Records board meeting in September 1969, witnessed by the other Beatles that he [Lennon] ‘wanted a divorce’, Harrison’s songs lay dormant until the right moment came along.

It’s a beautiful album, chock full of classy song-writing, superb production values [although Harrison remixed the album in’99/’00, pairing down the Spector Wall of Sound] and it remains arguably his best work to this day. Start here for solo George!

10/10