George Harrison "All Things Must Pass" 

 

George Harrison demonstrates how many of his song the other Beatles would not let him sing by recording a triple lp. This record seemed to be everywhere in the early 70s. I have not fact checked but it feels like the most successful triple lp ever in terms of sales and chart placings. I always wondered what it sounded like. 

 

I think all those purchasers of this record were just glad to have a Beatles-sounding lp again, after all the experimentation from "Sgt Peppers" onwards. Some of the songs are quite short and catchy with a solid 4/4 beat. So far, so gear. 

 

The lp was produced by Phil Spector, so most of the songs have roughly a thousand instruments and voices on them, rendering the, fairly weak, material overblown. Harrison sounds like he had been listening to a lot of Bob Dylan, and even collaborating with him on some of the songs. "All Things Must Pass" is part of a series of albums from The Band's first two lps to Dylan's "Nashville Skyline" and "New Morning" to Derek and the Dominoes' "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs" to probably lots of others that I cannot immediately think of that defined a strand of rock music formed on song-based material, often building up from strummed acoustic guitars. Lyric concerns could be specific, like The Band's, or general, like Harrison's here. This strand of rock ultimately led to The Eagles and adult-orientated rock and formed a sort of counter weight to the more outre ambition and general foolishness exhibited by the progressive rock bands.  

 

I think that if I had heard this record during the early 70s I would have liked it a lot more than I do hearing it now. There is nothing on the record that I find an exciting or a challenging listen. Even the more pleasant songs (and there are lots of these) leave me a bit meh. Although undoubtedly sincere, Harrison's voice always sounds diffident to me. It is a thin and weedy instrument. Overall, I am not convinced by the lp. A lot of the songs sound very Bob Dylan influenced or are actual Dylan covers. Much of the material is overblown and over long.