NEW YORK — George Harrison’s landmark album “All Things Must Pass” is celebrating its belated 50th anniversary and the former Beatles’ son thinks a new remixed collection might make the perfect post-pandemic soundtrack, according to AP.
“I think that the message of this record is more ready to be received now than it was when it first came out,” said Dhani Harrison. “The message is clearer and now it’s sonically clearer. This is a really important bit of music.”
The original collection was audacious for its time — the first triple studio album in rock history, a virtual flurry of vinyl. The anniversary editions out this week make that look quaint, containing eight LPs (or five CDs) plus a Blu-ray audio disc, with the remixed album, demos, outtakes and jams.
There are reprinted archival notes, track annotations, photos and memorabilia. The most expensive edition comes in its own wooden crate, complete with figurines of the famous garden gnomes featured on the album cover. But first is the music, which Rolling Stone lists among the 500 greatest albums of all time.
“We’re not trying to make it sound modern,” said triple Grammy Award-winning engineer Paul Hicks. “I’m not trying to put any sort of stamp on it. We are very respectful to the mixes that were there and follow 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 record 15 songs backed by Ringo Starr and his longtime friend, bassist Klaus Voormann. The next day, he played an additional 15 songs for co-producer Phil Spector on just an acoustic guitar.
The original 23-track album — complete with hits “Isn’t It a Pity,” “What Is Life” and “My Sweet Lord” — has been remixed for the anniversary editions from Capitol/UMe and are now augmented with 47 demos and outtakes, 42 of them previously unreleased.
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