All Things Must Pass - Harrison, George (CD 2001)

Couch Concerts

Over the years dad periodically brought records home for the family, and he made us all sit and listen to them, from front to back, start to finish all the way from the left hand edge. Only albums that were in the truly amazing category warranted a couch concert; which meant that he and mom would get high, and we would have to sit very quietly for the duration. Sgt. Peppers and the White Album were two that made that kind of impact. Pet Sounds and Smiley Smile by the Beach boys, and Dave Mason s Alone Together were a few others. I can tell you, I don t remember being introduced to a lot of music later in the seventies maybe Stevie Wonder s Talking Book, but other than that, give me 1970.

George Harrison s All Things Must Pass was one such album. It was a three-album set, and dad sat us all down and played it side after side. It was our dinner entertainment that night, as much a praise album as anything. George was a spiritual man, a slide/blues guitar player, and a songwriter of deeply moving emotional grist.

I ve Been Lou Adlered

There is a picture at my dad s house in South Texas of he and George sitting in a recording studio together. Lou Adler (a name you will remember from line in the Simon and Garfunkle song Been Lou Adlered ) had dad (Mike Deasy Sr) playing a new guitar that he had gotten a twelve string fretless guitar. Fretless guitars are difficult to play at best the expertise and the fingers and George came in the studio and sat with dad and they jammed for a while. George had made a name for himself with one of the very early 12 string electrical guitars, and was fascinated with the new unit that dad was playing with. Lou has tapes of those sessions somewhere probably music that will die in the anonymity of a jam session gone right, mysterious fortunes indeed. It was a session that dad talked about often, and made even more alive Harrison s music for me as a child, and then as an adult.

George delved deeper into Far Eastern Mysticism than his counterparts in the band. He learned the Sitar and discipled under Ravi Shankar there are songs on this album that reflect that. The music has a strange mix of the sadness that George often felt, and the peace that he had uncovered during his meditations, during his travels to India. This album is really packed with songs that George had been storing up through the second half of the Beatles career. He only got to do one or two songs on each of the Beatles albums, always overshadowed as a songwriter by Paul and John. So we were blessed with a great storehouse when it came time for George to record.

Wall of Sound

Phil Specter produced this, and it is evident in the lush production quality. There are some lovely strings, and the arrangements are at times reflective of a time some years past. I think this was Specter s finest hour, certainly it was for George. I also believe that George was grossly underestimated as a guitar player, and as a song writer it would have been interesting if My Sweet Lord or Wah Wah had made it onto an album past Abbey Road if one had come out. A shame in a way, that we ll never hear it like that.

I remember listening to this album for hours as a child. I was seven when it was released, and fell in love with Let it Roll and Isn t It a Pity. It reminds me of the various colored Apple labels on the various sides, the shades distinguishing one record for the next. It became a family tradition to put it on every so often and remember the feel of it all. There were a lot of musicians on this album who did studio work for the Beatles over the years, always un-credited. Klaus Voorman played bass on this, Billy Preston keyboards and Bobby Keys (who did a lot of work for the Stones); all made appearances on Beatles albums in the past, and were un-credited to forward the myth of the musical brilliance. There were never any albums done during that era without some studio players, including this one.

e s got gnomes e has (cockney accent)

The cover art is interesting only in the fact that George is sitting so profoundly quiet on his single chair, big boots and big beard, he looks to me like he just got rested from being a Beatle. And then there are the delightfully British gnomes surrounding him. Are they cherubs or just little, laughing forest nymphs who knows, but they are perfect an innocent and yet amused audience for the stoic George.

The Tracks

Disc 1

1 I d Have You Anytime a delightful love song, moving and stirring with a patented George slide guitar solo at the heart of it. The chorus is built into and if you listen you can hear a crying out for his love. This is perhaps his finest love song. The guitar sounds like it is almost going to be Hawaiian. Can it be a little luau love song?

2 My Sweet Lord George s praise song, worship to God from his heart. This song has only been re-recorded fifty or sixty times by artists ranging from Boots Randolph to Percy Faith. There is a big, fat choir sound chanting and harmonizing singing about Hare Hare, and Krishna Krihsna. There are also more acoustic guitars than we are perhaps used to these days. This one had a lot of controversy surrounding it, as he was sued for and lost for copyright infringement. Apparently it was just a little too close to the Chiffon s He s So Fine . Honestly, while this was easily the most famous track on the album, it was a throw away from my perspective.

3 Wah Wah Maybe the hardest rocker on the album, George s tribute to the pedal that helped take him to the pinnacle of what he was to become as a musician. For those of you too young to know it, a WAH WAH peddle was an effect device run between the guitar and the amp that would bend the sound but was controlled by the foot of the player. It was similar to a tone bender on an early synthesizer. Pearl Jam actually uses a lot of WAH WAH effects on some of their early stuff. Great horn work on this tune.

4 Isn t It a Pity (version 1) the saddest song on the album by a mile. This one is truly another of Harrison s laments about the condition of the world at large, the pain of the planet. Lovely piano work and gentle heartedness at the very center of this song, I think this was George s way of also weeping a little about the way the band split up how they forgot to give love back to each other over time.

isn t it a pity, boy isn t it a shame
how we break each other s hearts
and cause each other pain?

The melody is haunting and the back ground vocals make the song all the more enchanting and horrible. This is my favorite from the album.

5 What is Life This is another song that got a great deal of airplay and has been recorded many times. For those of you who haven t heard the album, watch Patch Adams sometime, it is on the soundtrack. It has also be redone by country artists and many others.

Another touching love song that began to demonstrate to me that Paul wasn t necessarily at the complete heart of the romance of the Beatles. I think George was more at the heart of things than any of us knew.

6 If Not For You This is the albums country song. This one could have come straight off of the Nashville Skyline album, and indeed has a very Lay Lady Lay kind of feel to it. There is a lot of fairly nice Dobro work on this song and it is touching by any means. I am surprised he didn t get an invite to the Grand Ole Opry with this one. Listen for some sweet harmonica work from Dylan, and know that the influence was there all the way.

7 Behind That Locked Door another light and trippy groove that could easily have gotten some country airplay. There is a pronounced pedal steel guitar working its way into and out of the lovely lead vocals. This was another Dylan influenced foray into the Nashville Skyline sound. What a time for music this was.

8 Let It Down Harder, edgier than a lot of the other music on this album. Really dramatic horn lines, power the beginning and then it settles into an eerie melody. The delightful little bridge stepping off into the scary world of unresolved minors. And then he just takes us into a bluer and bluer mystic. This is a delightful song, and always relaxed me, listen to this one in a darkened room and a warm bath sometime. SHIVER!

9 Run of the Mill Is this song just as it is named, I think so. This is another one about how we are living about the spiritual turns that he is wondering about for all of his life, and the lives of those around him. Musically it is a little mundane certainly. There is a little twinge of horn dancing, but that is about it.

10 Beware of Darkness This is a dark and moving song. Warning to those out there who might not know of the pain of the earth. Cat Stevens did his warning that baby, it s a wild world , Dylan had to warn his blue eyed son , really just warnings to America, to those of us who might be foolish enough to form parts of our lives and psyche based on the greatest poets of their era. You can have Maya Angelou and Paul Simon sorry gang; give me George, Dylan, and maybe Leon Russell.

The song is a delight, and a request to us all to listen and watch for those in the establishment who want to hit us and hurt us. Great Harrison slide guitar solo.

11 Apple Scruffs Funny harmonica work, and a cute song, as a little kid I always wanted to sing Apple SAAAAUUUCCCEEE. While this was certainly nothing to do with the song itself, it is certainly the campfire song that it sounds like. There is just some lovely harmony work, and an interesting little twist in the chorus that makes it a lot of fun to sing. Teach this one to your kids they ll thank you when they grow up.

12 Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let it Roll) Tender little song, and just very British and interesting. To the fountain of perpetual Mirth .let it roll for all its worth.. a quaint song indeed.

13 Awaiting on you All another of George s praise songs the Lord is awaiting on you all and it just feels an awful lot like a church choir to me. There are a lot of tambourines and choiristic vocalizing.

14 All Things Must Pass unfortunately George was among them. This was a swan song for his guys again. I think that in the context of his introspection he tried to come to grips with the break up of his band, of his boys and of the love that he felt for so long. I don t think George knew how stressed he probably was, or how little was thought of who he was. This is a beautiful lament, crying out for all of we saddened fans, that its not always gonna be this gray . . This was a real treat for the fans, and a kiss on the cheek goodbye to the days.

Disc 2

1 I Dig Love An interesting little piano line at the beginning, but nothing really here. It could have been on Abbey Road, and it is certain that this is Ringo playing on this song. It is just a very simple little statement song.

2 Art of Dying Hard rocker yet again, great horn line with Clapton and Ginger Baker cranking out the rhythm. Clapton s guitar work at the beginning is cranking and you definitely have Cream at the heart of this song. The horns are right off of Exile on Main Street (Yeah same horn player). George is really on the hunt with this song.

3 Isn t it a pity (version 2) - an even slower and more tender version of this inquiry. I think this was just that tender part of George that had to ask why? Why did it all have to happen the way it did, and why did the guys have to go at each other. It s a metaphor for all of life.

4 Hear me Lord This is my favorite song for God on the album. He is crying out to God in all contexts begging to be heard, forgiven and vowing to do better. It is really a very emotional song, piano driven and choir making us feel very in church. If God is in heaven with George tonight, I think that he probably hugged him for having written this song, for sharing this kind of inner love with the world. It is a heart cry and devastating to listen to if you are searching at all. George has his strongest vocal performance on this song, a cry from the heart. Very tender guitar solo takes it out.

5 Out of the Blue - The beginning of the jam session recordings. This part of the album has been criticized over the years, but if you are any kind of fan of instrumental music at all then you are in for a real treat here. Purely blused based and very dark, Keys and Jim Horn play some Rock-N-Roll kind of saxophone soloing, with a lot of hard cranking guitar. This is pure jam session, as are the songs to follow a glimpse into George s garage and the after hours and deeply stoned music of the time.

6 It s Johnny s Birthday This is quite a silly little quip. It is a repeating line and it falls into a various speeding movement of ridiculousness. While it was fun, it was just designed to be a snippet, like off of Sgt. Peppers.

7 Plug Me In Another of the jam session songs, this one driven by a much faster run, with some nice solo work by Dave Mason, and Billy Preston s piano playing guiding it along, if you aren t careful it can take on that Lady Madonna groove and speed. Welcome to the stoners people, don t bogard that Joint my friend pass it over to me.

8 I remember Jeep starts out with the synth work, which can definitely be mistaken for the overheating sound of the engine of the jeep, which is perhaps where they are going. This one feels like a fun little groove, fueled by a Little Richard like triplet pattern on the piano. Goodness Gracious, it s the band having a really good time. Kind of neat to hear the early synth work laid out by Preston, who had just been playing with his Outa Space stuff.

9 Thanks for the Pepperoni should have been called thanks for Johnny B Goode, and it was definitely the end of the album. The jam session tracks are interesting as period pieces if nothing else. The sad part is that the music is no different than the same songs played by a hundred other garage bands, in a hundred dives. Just better pickers.

Will the circle, be unbroken ?

Twenty years ago, during my senior year of high school, John Lennon was lost. Shot dead in the street, killed for his differences - the peacemaker that he wanted to be and for living a life of Give Peace a Chance. Now, it is my son Elliott a senior at Union High School in Tulsa and the circle has come around. We lost George two days ago, and it seems a great voice in our world of music was lost. He had just re-released a re-mastered copy of All Things in the last year, and was in preparation for re-releases of most of the rest of his catalogue.

Nineteen Seventy had an amazing number of really fine albums come out, but the crown jewel of the music industry that year was George s hoarded songs that he broke out and laid on the world.