368. George Harrison, "All Things Must Pass"

 

Poor George.  He spends years in the Beatles and they only let him contribute a couple of songs an album!  So the Beatles break up and George has SO MANY SONGS saved up and he apparent puts them all out AT ONCE.  I guess this was the first triple album?  (Later, Paul and Wings would release a live album, Wings Over America, also a triple album.  I wonder if that was done specifically as a rejoinder to this.)  This did not need to be a triple album, but let's get to that later.

First, the good: "What Is Life," which you all know, has one of the greatest and most memorable guitar riffs in history.  "If Not For You" sounds like a Dylan song because it's a Dylan song.  Our old buddy Phil Spector shows up again here, bringing the instantly recognizable Wall of Sound to songs like "Wah-Wah" and "Let It Down" and, of course, "My Sweet Lord," Harrison's possibly subconscious update of the Chiffons' "He's So Fine."  (Litigation over that song, by the way, lasted until 1998.)  Then there's "Apple Scruff," that just sounds like Dylan, down to the harmonica, but isn't.

The OK: Some of it just doesn't do much for me.  "I'd Have You Anytime" veers frighteningly close to easy listening.  A lot of the songs are dirgey and flat, like "Isn't It a Pity."  But most of the stuff is fine.

The too much: the last two sides are mostly instrumental jams.  You know how I feel about lengthy instrumental jams.

It's interesting to compare this album to McCartney's Ram, which came out the following year.  Ram sounds like a wild free-for-all, with McCartney just throwing up any fucking thing that crossed his mind that day while whacked out on acid and popular acclaim.  This sounds like George sat down and very carefully worked on every song, then worked on them all again, then sent them around for review, then worked on them some more.  Which gets you good songs, it's just different.  Lighten up, George!