ALBUM OF THE MONTH
GEORGE HARRISON
ALL THINGS MUST PASS 50TH ANNIVERSARY Capitol 9/10
When The Beatles called it a day at the dawn of the 1970s fans were still in a state of shock when George released a triple album boxed set of all the songs that were previously turned down for the Fabs’ LPs. It was like the cork shooting from a bottle of vintage Champagne – where had all these amazing songs been hiding? The extra discs in the special edition of Abbey Road and audio from the Let It Be sessions have revealed that some of the songs here were in fact rehearsed by The Beatles years beforehand, but they didn’t see the light of day until All Things Must Pass debuted in November 1970. The re-release is available in various packages with multifarious extras in some of the more deluxe versions. George’s son and execitive producer Dhani is on record as saying that he wanted to make his father’s work sound more contemporary, and that’s exactly what we find here. Dhani hasn’t changed too much – the vocals on Isn’t It A Pity, for example, sound more plaintive against the original mix – but there’s nothing here that detracts from the brilliance of the original. The whole album merely sounds cleaner and crisper, and is a joy to listen to once again.