Photo: George Harrison ALL THINGS MUST PASS
George Harrison's landmark album, 1970's All Things Must Pass, is being re-released on August 6th in celebration of its 50th anniversary -- albeit nine months later. The original release was November 27th, 1970.
The 23-song, three-record set, Harrison's first post-Beatles effort, has been completely remixed from the original tapes, making it sound brighter, fuller and better than before.
Commenting on the album for its 30th anniversary reissue in 2001, Harrison said, “I still like the songs and believe they can continue to outlive the style in which they were recorded.” He added, “It was difficult to resist re-mixing every track. All these years later I would like to liberate some of the songs from the big production that seemed appropriate at the time."
Among the songs on this album are "My Sweet Lord," What Is Life," "Isn't it a Pity," "Beware of Darkness" and the title track.
The 50th anniversary edition will be released in multiple configurations, including a Uber Deluxe Edition with eight vinyl albums, five CDs and one Blu-ray 5.1 surround sound disc housed in an artisan designed wooden crate. There are 47 demos and outtakes, 42 of which have never been released.
The crate contains two books -- an elaborate and expanded 96-page scrapbook curated by his widow, Olivia Harrison, with unseen imagery and memorabilia from the era, handwritten lyrics, diary entries, studio notes, tape box images, a comprehensive track-by-track and more.
The second is 44-pages long and it chronicles the making of the album through extensive archival interviews with notes. This book pays homage to Harrison’s love of gardening and nature and contains a wooden bookmark made from a felled Oak tree on his Friar Park estate.
But wait, there's more.
Also included are 1/6 scale replica figurines of Harrison and the gnomes featured on the album cover, a limited-edition illustration by musician, artist and Harrison friend Klaus Voormann, and more.
There is also the Super Deluxe Edition boxed set, a five-LP or three-CD Deluxe Edition, the main album on its own as two-CD or three-LP set, or a limited-edition three-LP color vinyl.
All versions are available for pre-order now ahead of its release on August 6th.