Studio Three, EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Producers: George Harrison, Phil Spector
Engineers: Phil McDonald, John Leckie
Friday 12 June 1970 was the 12th recording session for George Harrison’s third solo album All Things Must Pass.
Two songs were worked on during this session: ‘The Ballad Of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)’ and ‘Behind That Locked Door’.
This, as was the previous day’s session, was ostensibly an overdub session for pedal steel guitarist Pete Drake, who was due to fly back to the USA shortly afterwards. The full band was not present. Over the two days Drake worked on the best takes of both songs.
During this session Drake demonstrated to Peter Frampton his ‘talking steel guitar’ – a talk box he had used with his pedal steel guitar on his 1964 country music hit ‘Forever’. Drake played ‘Danny Boy’ and ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ to demonstrate the effect. It had a marked effect on Frampton, who used the talk box on several of his biggest hits in the 1970s.
He put this tube in his mouth and started playing the pedal steel and, oh my God, it was unbelievable. And we were just going wild about it and I said, ‘Where do I get one of those?’ He said, ‘Well, I made this one myself,’ and then after that he lent that exact talk box to Joe Walsh to do ‘Rocky Mountain Way’. Then Joe went to Bob Heil of Heil Sound and said, ‘Hey Bob, make me one that’s louder.’ So, that’s where the Heil talk box comes from and Bob Heil gave me one for Christmas because he knew I loved it and the rest is history.
A 10-day break in the scheduled sessions followed this day, during which Derek and the Dominos, who had played on the earlier album sessions, performed their first live show and recorded their debut single.