08/05/2021 14:15
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Updated 08/05/2021 02:15 PM
George Harrison's first solo album will finally have his belated 50-year celebration.
The former Beatle's iconic album All
Things Must Pass
has a new remixed version that his son Dhani Harrison said could be
the perfect post-pandemic soundtrack
.
"I think the message of this album is more ready to be received now than when it came out, '' said the musician's son." And the message is even clearer from a sound point of view.
This is a really important piece of music. ''
The original collection was bold for its time as it was the
first triple studio album in rock history
.
And according to the
Rolling Stone
publication
, it is one of the 500 best albums of all time.
"All Things Must Pass," George Harrison's first solo album celebrates 50 years with a special edition by his son Dhani.Photo: Capitol / UMe via AP.
How is the reissue
The edition celebrating half a century of this material and coming out this week has eight LPs (or five CDs) plus an audio disc on Blu-ray, with the album remixed, demos,
discarded takes and jam sessions
.
Plus, it brings reprinted file notes, track annotations, photos, and memories.
The most expensive edition comes in its own wooden box, with the famous garden gnomes figurines featured on the original album cover.
“We're not trying to make it sound modern, '' said three-time Grammy award-winning engineer Paul Hicks.“ I'm not trying to put any kind of stamp on it.
We are very respectful of the mixes that were there and we kept them as much as possible. ''
The skeleton of
All Things Must Pass
was recorded over two days in late May 1970. On May 26, Harrison recorded 15 songs backed by Ringo Starr and his longtime friend, bassist Klaus Voormann.
The next day, he added an additional 15 songs for co-producer Phil Spector, accompanied by just an acoustic guitar.
George Harrison.
His first solo album is reissued in a luxurious way.
Photo: AP Photo / Bob Grieser.
The reissue work
On the original 23-song album, there are several hits by the musician such as
Isn't It a Pity, What Is Life
and
My Sweet Lord
, and now include 47 demos and discarded takes, 42 of them unreleased.
Among others,
Cosmic Empire, Going Down To Golders Green, Dehra Dun, Sour Milk Sea
and
Mother Divine.
Dhani Harrison and Hicks began working on the anniversary editions five years ago, re-digitizing and listening to every song and take made during the 1970 sessions, something Hicks described
almost as "forensic" work.
From that search they were left with 110 different songs and Harrison Jr. and his team had to decide
how to present what they had found
.
And he decided to take the listener through the recording process to hear how the songs had evolved.
"What we were looking for were the ones that really stood out and really screamed something new," Dhani said.
Dhani Harrisonh, the son of former Beatle George Harrison, did extensive work to re-release his father's iconic first album, "All Things Must Pass," from 1970.
The song
Let It Down
, for example, a dynamic tune that was submitted to
Spector's
Wall of Sound
and resembles a James Bond theme, is now a simple acoustic demo version that Harrison recorded on the second day. .
There is also a slower version of
Isn't It a Pity
that is even sadder than the one on the album, and a sublime version of
Art of Dying
.
Some songs were sped up and others were slowed down in the process, something they say will surprise those familiar with those songs.
To hear over and over again
"Once you hear it, you can't stop listening to it. It changes the way you listen to the whole record forever. But it doesn't ruin the experience of knowing the record," said Dhani Harrison.
In the material that are not the songs, there is also an everyday and very human facet of George Harrison, who died at the age of 58 in 2001. Thus, the former Beatle appears asking for orange juice, while playing a version of
Get Back
.
In
Going Down to Golders Green,
the musician plays an Elvis Presley impersonation and,
It's Johnny's Birthday
, is a birthday present for John Lennon.
Anniversary footage includes demos of
Woman Don't You Cry For Me
and
Thirty Three & 1/3
, among others.
And during take number 14 of
Isn't It a Pity
, a Harrison is heard, fed up, changing the lyrics of the song for a: ''
Isn't that a bummer?
/ Why do we do so many takes?
'' ".
“We wanted to show that the guys were having fun, '' Hicks and Harrison said of record number 5 that they call,“ the party record, ”and that it seeks to balance with the rest of the material.“
It's a very emotionally heavy album.
He touches on a lot of deep themes
.
So we really wanted to show a lighter side of the content. ''
A battalion of musicians
George Harrison had assembled a host of musicians to assist him on
All Things Must Pass
, including Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, Pete Drake, and even a young Phil Collins, whose bongo work was not ended up on the album.
"It was a pretty amazing squad of people that he recruited. Like he wasn't playing with this record, 'his son said. Dhani also researched the stories behind the songs, and learned that Clapton sometimes had trouble playing the songs. Harrison's notes. "It was amazing to hear Eric say how difficult it was because he's a guy who doesn't have a hard time playing guitar," she said.
The recording sessions for
All Things Must Pass
began just six weeks after the announcement, in April 1970, of the Beatles' breakup and young Harrison notes that his father was going through many painful situations at the time: in
addition to the Separation from the band, George had lost his mother
and was also leaving a mistress.
“It's a family time capsule and there's so much love in it, '' Dhani said.“ She was brave to do this when she did.
It is almost impossible to achieve.
I think that these conditions may arise only once in a lifetime for an artist. ''
WD
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