Out Today: George Harrison’s ‘All Things Must Pass’ Box Set

Out today (August 6th) is George Harrison's All Things Must Pass '50th Anniversary Edition' in a variety of formats. The famed 1970 triple album has been issued as a five-LP or triple-disc “Deluxe Edition” that pairs the main album with the sessions outtakes and jams. The main album is available on its own as double-disc, triple-LP, or on limited edition three-LP color vinyl. In addition to the original album, the new collection features 42 previously unreleased demos and outtakes.

Also available is a very limited “Uber Deluxe Edition” box set, teeming with non-musical extras which includes the album on eight LP's on 180-gram vinyl and five-CD + 1 Blu-ray audio discs housed in an artisan designed wooden crate, that sells for just under $1,000.00

All Things Must Pass, George Harrison's first post-Beatles album, was released on November 27th, 1970 and held down the Number One spot in the U.S. for a whopping seven weeks. Among the guest performers on the set were Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Badfinger, Billy Preston, Dave Mason, Gary Wright, Peter Frampton, Phil Collins, and Procol Harum's Gary Brooker, among many others.

In addition to the four-week Number One hit, “My Sweet Lord,” All Things Must Pass featured the Top 10 single, “What Is Life,” along with such Harrison standards as the title track, “Isn't It A Pity,” “Beware Of Darkness,” “If Not For You,” “Awaiting On You All,” and “The Ballad Of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll),” among others.

The late-Phil Spector set the scene prior to him signing on to produce Harrison's first post-Beatles album, the triple record set, All Things Must Pass: “(Paul) McCartney was making an album, John (Lennon) had a single ready to go and now John was talking about making an album already — the Plastic Ono Band (album) — and I said to George, 'Y'know, you ought to consider making an album.' I went to George's (estate) Friar Park, which he had just purchased, and he said, 'I have a few ditties' for you to hear.' It was endless! He literally had hundreds of songs — and each one was better than the rest. He had all this emotion built up when it released to me.”

Prior to leaving Humble Pie, Peter Frampton was befriended by Harrison who asked him to contribute acoustic guitar to assorted tracks for All Things Must Pass: “George called me up and he said, 'Look, we need to do some more acoustics,' and this was the best thing ever for me. We just sat, the two of us, in Abbey Road Studios — the studio they'd done Sgt. Pepper in, and they would just put up another reel. They went through the whole album, basically, and said, 'We need some more acoustics here,' so George and I would just add acoustics (guitar), overdub acoustics, maybe one or two tracks to each track. So basically, I'm playing on just about everything that's not fully electric.”

Shortly before his 2001 death, George Harrison revealed that he knew he was treading in uncharted waters by recording All Things Must Pass: “(I) was nervous because I'd never done a solo album before. Well, I had done a soundtrack album on my own, but I'd never really done a solo album of me as kind of the artist.”

Harrison's widow, Olivia Harrison says that some critics and fans misinterpreted George's spiritual lyrics as being so serious that they bordered on preachy. She says that George often used his songs as his own form of spiritual guidance: “He also wrote these things to remind himself. People sometimes accused him of preaching (laughs). But y'know, he was really preaching to himself. He wasn't trying to say, 'You be like this because I'm already like this.' No, he was always trying to remind himself. And that's the reason he liked India so much, because he said that, 'Everywhere you went, there was a reminder.'”

The tracklisting to George Harrison's All Things Must Pass “50th Anniversary Edition“:

Disc 1 (Main Album)
1. I’d Have You Anytime
2. My Sweet Lord
3. Wah-Wah
4. Isn’t It A Pity (Version One)
5. What Is Life
6. If Not For You
7. Behind That Locked Door
8. Let It Down
9. Run Of The Mill

Disc 2 (Main Album)
1. Beware Of Darkness
2. Apple Scruffs
3. Ballad Of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)
4. Awaiting On You All
5. All Things Must Pass
6. I Dig Love
7. Art Of Dying
8. Isn’t It A Pity (Version Two)
9. Hear Me Lord
10. Out Of The Blue *
11. It’s Johnny’s Birthday *
12. Plug Me In *
13. I Remember Jeep *
14. Thanks For The Pepperoni *

* Newly Remastered/Original Mix

Disc 3 (Day 1 Demos – Tuesday 26 May 1970)
1. All Things Must Pass (Take 1) †
2. Behind That Locked Door (Take 2)
3. I Live For You (Take 1)
4. Apple Scruffs (Take 1)
5. What Is Life (Take 3)
6. Awaiting On You All (Take 1) †
7. Isn’t It A Pity (Take 2)
8. I’d Have You Anytime (Take 1)
9. I Dig Love (Take 1)
10. Going Down To Golders Green (Take 1)
11. Dehra Dun (Take 2)
12. Om Hare Om (Gopala Krishna) (Take 1)
13. Ballad Of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll) (Take 2)
14. My Sweet Lord (Take 1) †
15. Sour Milk Sea (Take 1)

Disc 4 (Day 2 Demos – Wednesday 27 May 1970)
1. Run Of The Mill (Take 1) †
2. Art Of Dying (Take 1)
3. Everybody/Nobody (Take 1)
4. Wah-Wah (Take 1)
5. Window Window (Take 1)
6. Beautiful Girl (Take 1)
7. Beware Of Darkness (Take 1)
8. Let It Down (Take 1)
9. Tell Me What Has Happened To You (Take 1)
10. Hear Me Lord (Take 1)
11. Nowhere To Go (Take 1)
12. Cosmic Empire (Take 1)
13. Mother Divine (Take 1)
14. I Don’t Want To Do It (Take 1)
15. If Not For You (Take 1)

† Previously Released

Disc 5 (Session Outtakes and Jams)
1. Isn’t It A Pity (Take 14)
2. Wah-Wah (Take 1)
3. I’d Have You Anytime (Take 5)
4. Art Of Dying (Take 1)
5. Isn’t It A Pity (Take 27)
6. If Not For You (Take 2)
7. Wedding Bells (Are Breaking Up That Old Gang Of Mine) (Take 1)
8. What Is Life (Take 1)
9. Beware Of Darkness (Take 8)
10. Hear Me Lord (Take 5)
11. Let It Down (Take 1)
12. Run Of The Mill (Take 36)
13. Down To the River (Rocking Chair Jam) (Take 1)
14. Get Back (Take 1)
15. Almost 12 Bar Honky Tonk (Take 1)
16. It’s Johnny’s Birthday (Take 1)
17. Woman Don’t You Cry For Me (Take 5)