George Harrison’s 'All Things Must Pass' to get lavish reissue treatment

Recorded and released in the wake of The Beatles’ April 1970 dissolution, George Harrison’s landmark solo album, All Things Must Pass was produced by Harrison and Phil Spector.

The 23-track studio effort was the first triple studio album. It spans rock, country, gospel, blues, pop, folk, R&B, Indian classical music and devotional songs. Despite the album's success and Harrison’s affection for it, he would write in the liner notes for the 30th anniversary remaster, released in 2001, “I still like the songs on the album and believe they can continue to outlive the style in which they were recorded,” adding, however, “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."

Decades in the making and lovingly crafted by the Harrison family, All Things Must Pass has now been completely remixed from the original tapes for a suite of 50th-anniversary releases that fulfills Harrison’s longtime desire. 

Executive producer Dhani Harrison, producer David Zonshine and award-winning engineer Paul Hicks all worked on the sonic upgrade.

Scheduled for Aug. 6 via Capitol/UMe, All Things Must Pass 50th Anniversary Edition will be available in a variety of formats:

UBER DELUXE EDITION

Exclusive to GeorgeHarrison.com, uDiscover, and Sound of Vinyl, All Things Must Pass 50th Anniversary Edition will be available as a very limited Uber Deluxe Edition box set, which includes the album on 8LP (180g) and 5CD + 1 Blu-ray audio disc housed in an artisan designed wooden crate (approx. 12.4” X 12.4” X 17.5”). The collection explores the 1970 album sessions through 47 (42 previously unreleased) demos and outtakes, offering an inside look into the creative process. The Blu-ray allows fans to experience the main album in a high-res stereo, enveloping 5.1 surround sound and Dolby Atmos mixes.

The crate contains two books, an expanded 96-page scrapbook curated by Olivia Harrison, with unseen imagery and memorabilia from the era, handwritten lyrics, diary entries, studio notes, tape box images, a track-by-track, and more; while a second 44-page book chronicling the making of All Things Must Pass through archival interviews with notes is also contained within. The book pays homage to Harrison’s love of gardening and nature. The book also contains a wooden bookmark made from a felled Oak tree (Quercus Robur) in George’s Friar Park. This truly unique box will also contain 1/6 scale replica figurines of Harrison and the gnomes featured on the iconic album cover, a limited edition illustration by musician and artist Klaus Voormann, as well as a copy of Paramahansa Yogananda’s “Light from the Great Ones” and Rudraksha beads, contained in individual custom-made boxes.

SUPER DELUXE EDITION

The Super Deluxe Edition box set, presented on 8LP (180g) or 5CD + 1 Blu-ray audio disc, explores the 1970 album sessions through 47 (42 previously unreleased) demos and outtakes. The Blu-ray allows fans to experience the main album in a high-res stereo, 5.1 surround sound and Dolby Atmos mixes. The collection contains a 60-page scrapbook curated by Olivia Harrison, with unseen imagery and memorabilia from the era, handwritten lyrics, diary entries, studio notes, tape box images, a track-by-track, and more. It also includes a replica of the original album poster.

All Things Must Pass will be released in multiple physical and digital configurations, including as a 5LP or 3CD Deluxe Edition that pairs the main album with the session's outtakes and jams. The main album will be available on its own as 2CD, 3LP, or limited edition 3LP color vinyl. All versions are available for pre-order now.

"Since the 50th-anniversary stereo mix release of the title track to my father’s legendary All Things Must Pass album in 2020, my dear pal Paul Hicks and I have continued to dig through mountains of tapes to restore and present the rest of this newly remixed and expanded edition of the album you now see and hear before you,” says Dhani Harrison.

“Bringing greater sonic clarity to this record was always one of my father’s wishes and it was something we were working on together right up until he passed in 2001. Now, 20 years later, with the help of new technology and the extensive work of Paul Hicks we have realized this wish and present to you this very special 50th Anniversary release of perhaps his greatest work of art. Every wish will be fulfilled."

The original release of All Things Must Pass collected 18 songs over two LPs alongside a third LP – dubbed “Apple Jam” – showcasing four improvised instrumentals including a pair recorded as part of Derek and the Dominoes’ first-ever official recording session in June 1970. In addition, the “Apple Jam” disc includes “It’s Johnny’s Birthday,” sung to the tune of Cliff Richard’s 1968 hit “Congratulations” and recorded as a gift from Harrison to mark John Lennon’s 30th birthday.

The All Things Must Pass session tapes created in 1970 include over twenty-five hours of music on forty-nine 1” eight-track tapes, four 2” sixteen-track tapes, and forty-four ¼” stereo tapes. Richard Radford, Archivist for the George Harrison Estate oversaw the preservation of the tape collection, with the original analog multi-track and stereo tapes transferred to 192 KHz/24bit digital preservation copies.

Hailed by Rolling Stone as “the War and Peace of rock and roll” and “an intensely personal statement and a grandiose gesture,” All Things Must Pass was met by unanimous critical acclaim and spectacular commercial success, spending seven weeks at #1 on Billboard’s “Top LPs” chart and eight weeks atop the UK’s official albums chart (though chart records until 2006 mistakenly stated that it had peaked at #4). Currently certified 6x platinum by the RIAA, All Things Must Pass later received a 1972 GRAMMY® Award nomination for “Album of the Year,” while “My Sweet Lord” earned a GRAMMY® nod for “Record of the Year.” “What Is Life,” the album’s second single, also became an international hit, reaching the top 10 in the US and Canada as well as #1 in Australia and Switzerland.

All Things Must Pass has only grown in influence and stature in the half-century since its initial release, including induction in the GRAMMY® Hall of Fame and inclusion on The Times of London’s “The 100 Best Albums of All Time” and Rolling Stone’s 2020 listing of “The Top 500 Albums of All Time.” Pitchfork declared it to have “changed the terms of what an album could be.”

TRACKLISTING

(5CD/BR)
Disc One (Main Album)

1. I’d Have You Anytime
2. My Sweet Lord
3. Wah-Wah
4. Isn’t It A Pity (Version One)
5. What Is Life
6. If Not For You
7. Behind That Locked Door
8. Let It Down
9. Run Of The Mill

Disc Two (Main Album Cont.)

1. Beware Of Darkness
2. Apple Scruffs
3. Ballad Of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)
4. Awaiting On You All
5. All Things Must Pass
6. I Dig Love
7. Art Of Dying
8. Isn’t It A Pity (Version Two)
9. Hear Me Lord
10. Out Of The Blue *
11. It’s Johnny’s Birthday *
12. Plug Me In *
13. I Remember Jeep *
14. Thanks For The Pepperoni *

* Newly Remastered/Original Mix

Disc Three (Day 1 Demos – Tuesday 26 May 1970)

1. All Things Must Pass (Take 1) †
2. Behind That Locked Door (Take 2)
3. I Live For You (Take 1)
4. Apple Scruffs (Take 1)
5. What Is Life (Take 3)
6. Awaiting On You All (Take 1) †
7. Isn’t It A Pity (Take 2)
8. I’d Have You Anytime (Take 1)
9. I Dig Love (Take 1)
10. Going Down To Golders Green (Take 1)
11. Dehra Dun (Take 2)
12. Om Hare Om (Gopala Krishna) (Take 1)
13. Ballad Of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll) (Take 2)
14. My Sweet Lord (Take 1) †
15. Sour Milk Sea (Take 1)

Disc Four (Day 2 Demos – Tuesday 27 May 1970)

1. Run Of The Mill (Take 1) †
2. Art Of Dying (Take 1)
3. Everybody/Nobody (Take 1)
4. Wah-Wah (Take 1)
5. Window Window (Take 1)
6. Beautiful Girl (Take 1)
7. Beware Of Darkness (Take 1)
8. Let It Down (Take 1)
9. Tell Me What Has Happened To You (Take 1)
10. Hear Me Lord (Take 1)
11. Nowhere To Go (Take 1)
12. Cosmic Empire (Take 1)
13. Mother Divine (Take 1)
14. I Don’t Want To Do It (Take 1)
15. If Not For You (Take 1)

† Previously Released

Disc Five (Session Outtakes and Jams)

1. Isn’t It A Pity (Take 14)
2. Wah-Wah (Take 1)
3. I’d Have You Anytime (Take 5)
4. Art Of Dying (Take 1)
5. Isn’t It A Pity (Take 27)
6. If Not For You (Take 2)
7. Wedding Bells (Are Breaking Up That Old Gang Of Mine) (Take 1)
8. What Is Life (Take 1)
9. Beware Of Darkness (Take 8)
10. Hear Me Lord (Take 5)
11. Let It Down (Take 1)
12. Run Of The Mill (Take 36)
13. Down To the River (Rocking Chair Jam) (Take 1)
14. Get Back (Take 1)
15. Almost 12 Bar Honky Tonk (Take 1)
16. It’s Johnny’s Birthday (Take 1)
17. Woman Don’t You Cry For Me (Take 5)

Blu-ray Audio Disc (Main Album Only; Surround, Atmos, Hi-Res)

1. I’d Have You Anytime
2. My Sweet Lord
3. Wah-Wah
4. Isn’t It A Pity (Version One)
5. What Is Life
6. If Not For You
7. Behind That Locked Door
8. Let It Down
9. Run Of The Mill
10. Beware Of Darkness
11. Apple Scruffs
12. Ballad Of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)
13. Awaiting On You All
14. All Things Must Pass
15. I Dig Love
16. Art Of Dying
17. Isn’t It A Pity (Version Two)
18. Hear Me Lord
19. Out Of The Blue
20. It’s Johnny’s Birthday
21. Plug Me In
22. I Remember Jeep
23. Thanks For The Pepperoni

For more information and other configurations go to GeorgeHarrison.com