The artwork
All Things Must Pass was a triple vinyl album, housed inside a box with a hinged lid. The box was designed by Tom Wilkes of Camouflage Productions.The design was unusual in rock music at the time, being more commonly associated with classical or operatic releases.
The cover artwork was taken on the main lawn of Harrison’s home Friar Park by Barry Feinstein, Wilkes’ partner at Camouflage. It depicted a seated Harrison, wearing wellington boots and surrounded by four languishing garden gnomes.
The gnomes had recently been delivered to Friar Park. By making Harrison loom over the quartet, the image was perceived as a commentary on the new album in comparison to The Beatles.
Originally, when we took the photo I had these old Bavarian gnomes which I thought I would put there, like kinda… John, Paul, George and Ringo. Gnomes are very popular in Europe and these gnomes were made in about 1860.
Yahoo!, 15 February 2001
A poster and lyric sheet were included with the box set. The poster had a photograph of Harrison standing before an ornate iron-framed window inside Friar Park.
The release
All Things Must Pass was originally planned for an October 1970 release, but mixing was not completed until the middle of that month.
On 28 October, George and Pattie Harrison arrived in New York, where he and Phil Spector undertook final preparations for the release.
The last batch of edits, mastering and sequencing were done at Mediasound Studios in early November, after which All Things Must Pass was complete.
At some point in the process, a three-disc set of production acetates was pressed. This did not include any of the ‘Apple Jam’ recordings, but instead contained the following running order:
This Side: ‘Art Of Dying’, ‘Apple Scruffs’, ‘The Ballad Of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)’, ‘Awaiting On You All’, ‘All Things Must Pass’
That Side: ‘I Dig Love’, ‘What Is Life’, ‘Isn’t It A Pity’ (Version 2), ‘Hear Me Lord’
And Another Side: ‘I’d Have You Anytime’, ‘My Sweet Lord’, ‘Isn’t It A Pity’ (Version One), ‘Beware Of Darkness’
The Other Side: ‘Wah-Wah’, ‘If Not For You’, ‘Behind That Locked Door’, ‘Let It Down’, ‘Run Of The Mill’
Since EMI and Capitol Records had expected to release All Things Must Pass in October, they began promoting it in September. This helped built anticipation and momentum before its eventual release on 27 November 1970 (30 November in the UK).
All Things Must Pass was the first triple album by a single act; Woodstock: Music from the Original Soundtrack and More had predated it by six months.
‘My Sweet Lord’ was chosen as the first single, although Harrison vacillated over the release. On 23 October he announced the single to the press, only to change his mind three days later and declare: “I don’t want the single to detract from the impact of the All Things Must Pass triple album.”
The single was released in the US on 23 November, with ‘Isn’t It A Pity’ on the b-side. It contained a different mix from the album version, with less echo and different backing vocals.
Exceptional public demand and radio airplay forced Apple to belatedly release ‘My Sweet Lord’ as a single in the UK, on 15 January 1971. The b-side was ‘What Is Life’, which was released as a single in its own right in some countries.
‘My Sweet Lord’ was an international number one at the end of 1970 and the early months of the new year. It was the first solo Beatles song to top the charts, and became the biggest seller by any member of the band in the 1970s.
All Things Must Pass was similarly successful, topping the album charts in Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, UK, and USA. It remained at number one in the UK for eight weeks, from 6 February to 27 March. In the USA the album topped the Billboard chart for seven weeks.
The album was also released as a double 8-track cartridge set, Apple 8XWB-639. This release, which sported the rarely-used red Apple logo, contained a different running order from the vinyl edition.
The first cartridge ran as follows: ‘I’d Have You Anytime’, ‘My Sweet Lord’, ‘Isn’t It A Pity’ (Version One), ‘Ballad Of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)’, ‘What Is Life’, ‘Behind That Locked Door’, ‘Let It Down’, ‘Run Of The Mill’, ‘Art Of Dying’, ‘Beware Of Darkness’, ‘Wah-Wah’, ‘Apple Scruffs’, ‘Awaiting On You All’, ‘All Things Must Pass’, ‘I Dig Love’, ‘If Not For You’, ‘Isn’t It A Pity’ (Version Two), ‘Hear Me Lord’.
The second cartridge was devoted to the Apple Jams, and split some of the recordings: ‘Out Of The Blue’ (Part 1), ‘Out Of The Blue’ (conl.), ‘It’s Johnny’s Birthday’, ‘Plug Me In’, ‘I Remember Jeep’ (Part 1), ‘I Remember Jeep’ (concl.), ‘Thanks For The Pepperoni’.
#AllThingsMustPass "Contains 2 8-Track Cartridges. Equivalent to the THREE RECORD SET. 8XWB-639." #ATMP #8track pic.twitter.com/OihKW7pYXF
— George Harrison (@GeorgeHarrison) July 18, 2017
One of the best beatles solo albums but I think it’s overproduced. A stripped down version would be nice, but I think that’s hard to do, because the songs were meant to have the spector stuff (unlike let it be, that’s why let it be… Naked exists). The only way to get a stripped down version is to buy the new early takes, vol. 1 I think but I don’t really like demos
I agree. Wah Wah for example is a great hard song and would sound fantastic with just a electric rhythm guitar, lead wah guitar, a bass and some drums, but there’s so much unnecessary instrumentation on the album.
also I believe Harrison said he regretted how much echo was in the album and I agree. it sounds like it was recorded in a tunnel. fantastic album either way
I don’t really agree, I love the Phil Spector sound on the album. Especially on songs like Wah Wah, it’s a sonic masterpiece. The whole record has a great classic sound. Paul and John’s early solo works were extremely minimal in production value, and George went the other way, but I think it really worked in his favor.
Does a complete sessionography of the All Things Must Pass recording sessions exist? I mean a detailed list of recording dates and musician participants? I am looking to see how the album was recorded over the months from May to October 1970.
Can anyone definitively answer the question as to whether a de-Spectorized version of this album is even possible? Was the echo added during the recording phase and thus permanently burned-in to the master multi-track tape? or was it added during post-production mix-down? The above notes from Spector seem to indicate that George was acting as producer for the recording sessions and producing preliminary mixes, with Spector acting merely as an adviser. This seems to correlate with George’s claims that he essentially produced the recording sessions because Spector was too drunk to attend the sessions. Since Spector produced the final mixes – which George initially hated – and given that the Beatles were not accustomed to recording music in the Spector “wall of sound” style with echo chamber, this would seem to indicate that the echo was added in post production mix-down.
Can anyone actually confirm this theory please?
Didn’t they release a ‘reverb’ minimal version of the album around 2000 ?
No. George originally wanted to remix it as he didn’t like the reverb but he let it roll as he remastered it.
the record was recorded dry. GH wanted the flexibility. a new remix could yield a very different sound. Unnecessary, tho.
Yes there is a de-spectorized version of this album (all things must pass) . I believe it was released around 2001. The new cut of this album is much cleaner and is truer to George as an artist. Harrison on reflection couldn’t believe he released the Spector version of the album – although at the time he was ok with the mix. I suspect the commercial and critical acclaim afforded to the initial release of the album would have cemented George’s view that using Spector was generally speaking a reasonable decision. One final note – yes – Spector was very volatile and drunk during the production of this album and much production was done by George and those around him.
no, the 2001 version is not de-spectorized, even if George had the will to do it, but preferred to not. it’s only remastered. the one without the wall of sound is available only on bootlegs such as Songs for Patty
All Things Must Pass is a monumental effort by George Harrison ; his finest solo achievement and one of the greatest of pop/ rock history. He and Phil Spector at their best. The years of waiting behind Lennon and McCartney ironically worked in Georges favor with such a great backlog of songs. My Sweet Lord, What Is Life?, Isnt It A Pity,Beware of Darkness, All Things Must Pass,Wah-Wah and Id Have You Any Time are all personal favorites of mine. It was George Harrisons birthday just the other day and how the world misses him.
This record grows with you – as you progress thru. Tracks I loved in my 20’s are different from ones that resonate tom
The Beatles anthology has the early recordings that were not released as Beatles songs, & later were released on All Things Must Pass. No wall of sound on those!
I bought atmp in 1974 in a record shop in Belfast called—Harrison’s!, played it until. It was almost white . I loved everything about it ,the music ,of course, but the packaging was great the coloured sleeves with lyrics ,the brilliant poster,right down to the orange apple labels and stunning apple jam label.all those years ago!,,,
It was definitely ahead of its time, as well. It’s big sound and celebrity roster were like the prototype for the super group tours like Ringo’s All Star Band and his own Bangalalesh benefit. Harrison was always my favorite Beatle, but I didn’t realize the depth of the impact his death had on me until I bought the CD version of ATMP. I only made it through a few songs before I broke down in tears and had to turn it off. Its such a masterpiece… both musically and lyrically… Who knew such greatness was hiding inside what was always the shyest and most subdued member of the Fab Four? I remember his words from an interview “I”m just a gardener tending to God’s garden”. (About his private life at his sprawling estate) For someone of his fame and stature level, to be that materially stripped down and philosophically aware, is totally inspiring. I’m proud to say he’s one of my biggest, if not THEE biggest, hero I’ve ever had.
EVERYONE seems to put down PHIL SPECTOR’s work with the Beatles – including THE ‘producer’ of the final Beatles albums… (not GEORGE MARTIN)….PAUL McCARTNEY who
even went so far as to remix LET IT BE (‘Naked’)… which he had a right to do as the ‘featured artist’ on what was HIS album idea for the Beatles to ‘Get Back’ to the very basics of how they USED to record & work in the beginning… only to abandon & hate the whole idea in realizing they’d grown as artists (and men) with ideas & concepts that couldn’t be done like that anymore, and DUMPED the whole LET IT BE disaster in SPECTOR’s lap… and even McCARTNEY himself after doing THE LONG & WINDING ROAD ‘stripped down and naked’ & performed it LIVE that way went BACK to using the horn arrangements (less full choir) that SPECTOR had arranged/produced.
And now Phil’s work on ATMP is being attacked for “his” WOS echoing style.
Harrison’s album WAS & IS a masterpiece – and (as far as THIS musician is concerned) still the FINEST solo album of those four legendary figures ever released.
Just ‘LET IT BE’ – as it was… ?
Nope…
Yep…
Bobby Whitlock plays harmonium and tubular bells aka xylophone
Tubular bells and xylophone are not the same instrument.
Greatest music of all times.
No musician can match George s. Versatility
We are all so blessed to hear his music
Original ATMP contained a poster ! I never knew l was robbed. I paid 5 pounds for it and was only on 4 pounds 10 shillings a week pay took me weeks to save up for it. Anyway great album great to read the comments and that people care about great music
The All Things Must Pass box set contains a lot of new information regarding the recording process, including recording dates of the individual tracks. Hopefully a lot of the new info can be added here.
Phil Spector never should have been let near anything but Motown-type songs where that huge wall of sound was appropriate. It never suited Lennon’s solo stuff, nor did it suit Harrison’s. To me this whole album is ruined by it.
I love this album and it’s a masterpiece. My sister gave me a copy of the album on remastered 180g vinyl for my 30th birthday in 2019 – it was the 2017 vinyl remaster. IIRC, I first became aware of the album’s existence because my best mate from school Cameron Masters’ parents owned it on vinyl, but it’s so long ago that my memory may not be accurate.
As I have said in a previous post, my favourite recording of the title track is the demo version that you hear on “Anthology 3” and where George is singing in a light and sensitive falsetto voice while playing his electric guitar with a prominent tremolo effect plus some other guitar overdubs.
Too bad Bobby Whitlock was washed out of an album he had much input on and much playing as a member of the “core” band. So is life.
ATMP is the best selling solo Beatle album thanks to the help of Phil Spector’s reverb. He created an album with a unique ethereal grandeur that complements the songs. Take it away and you’re left with dry sounding demos. Sparse production didn’t help Lennon and McCartney sell albums in 1970. You can quibble all you want but removing Phil’s production styles would not have made a better album.
Great album, although i don’t like Spector’s production of this.
Too much echo on everything.
Imagine if George Martin had been the producer!
The above article states that this amazing album “(…) remained at number one in the UK for eight weeks, from 6 February to 27 March”. But … the truth, when considered historically, turns out to be much more complicated. As the author of the website “The Beatles Complete U.K. Discography” (www.jpgr.co.uk) rightly notes:
On 26th December 1970 the album entered the chart at number 13, eventually peaking at no.4 on 30th January where it stayed for five weeks.
It’s full chart run: 13-13-5-5-13-4-4-4-4-4-9-9-9-9-18-19-24-35-out-28-21-out-36-32 (on 19th June), then not seen in charts after that.
But …. Allegedly in 2006 the official chart company found data that showed the album hit number 1 for 8 weeks.
The error was said to be due to a postal strike in Britain during February and March of 1971,
when the national chart compiler of the time failed to receive any sales data from retailers.
So in July 2006, the Official UK Charts Company changed its records to show that All Things Must Pass was the top-selling album throughout that time.
BUT …. the charts ….. AT THE TIME … did not ever show the album at number one and that’s what we were living through in 1971″.
So with the above in mind, today’s claim that All Things Must Pass was the No. 1 album in the UK in 1971 is a bit like “correcting” history.