Reissues

2001

Shortly before his death in 2001, Harrison oversaw a reissue of All Things Must Pass to belatedly mark the album’s 30th anniversary.

The two-CD set had five bonus tracks. ‘I Live For You’ was previously unreleased, which had first emerged on bootlegs in 1999. There were also performances of ‘Beware Of Darkness’ and ‘Let It Down’, made for Phil Spector at Abbey Road in May 1970, and a remix of ‘What Is Life’.

The last bonus track was ‘My Sweet Lord (2000)’, a reworking of the song with new lead guitar, Indian drone, Harrison’s son Dhani on acoustic guitar, Sam Brown on backing vocals, and percussionist Ray Cooper on tambourine. The trio also worked on Harrison’s posthumously-released Brainwashed around the same time ‘My Sweet Lord (2000)’ was recorded.

Harrison also changed the sequencing of the Apple Jam tracks to restore the order he had originally wanted. Beginning with ‘It’s Johnny’s Birthday’, it continued with ‘Plug Me In’, ‘I Remember Jeep’, ‘Thanks For The Pepperoni’, and ending with ‘Out Of The Blue’.

In the liner notes of the 2001 reissue, Harrison expressed a desire to remix the All Things Must Pass songs to remove some of Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound effects.

It’s been thirty years since All Things Must Pass was recorded. I still like the songs on the album and believe they can continue to outlive the style in which they were recorded. 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, but now seem a bit over the top with the reverb in the wall of sound.

George Harrison, 2001

The 2001 reissue was released by Gnome Records, a label set up by Harrison for the project.

The album had newly colourised artwork across the booklet and two CDs. The original image was amended to add skyscrapers, smoking factory chimneys, and flyover roads, eventually obscuring Harrison’s name and the album title, reflecting his concern with the effect of the modern world on ecology and environment.

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I thought we’d have a bit of fun with the package. If you haven’t already noticed, our planet has been concreted over at an alarming rate and let’s hope in another thirty years we don’t have to add Planet Earth to the R.I.P.’s. Than you Barry Feinstein for being so generous and cooperative with the original photographs, qualities not to be taken for granted today. Also thanks to David Costa and Wherefore Art? who produced the new designs.
George Harrison, 2001

The 2001 reissue of All Things Must Pass was a critical and commercial success. It entered the Billboard Top Pop Catalog Albums chart at number four, and topped its Internet Album Sales chart. In the UK it peaked at number 68.

Harrison’s death on 29 November 2001 coincided with renewed interest in his back catalogue, with All Things Must Pass re-entering the album charts once more on both sides of the Atlantic.

2010

All Things Must Pass was reissued on 26 November 2010 for its 40th anniversary.

EMI released a limited, numbered replica of the original vinyl box set, in its original running order. A digitally-remastered 24-bit version was also made available to download from Harrison’s official website.

2014

A box set, The Apple Years 1968–75, was released on 22 September 2014. It contained six albums spread over seven compact discs, from Wonderwall Music to Extra Texture (Read All About It), plus a DVD and book.

All Things Must Pass was spread over two discs, with the Apple Jam tracks following the amended running order of the 2001 version. The packaging also contained a fold-out poster and lyric sheet, and Harrison’s words on the album from 2001.

The albums were remastered, and were also made available as high-definition digital downloads, mastered in 96kHz/24-bit from the original master tapes by Dhani Harrison.

2021

In June 2021 eight different formats of a belated 50th anniversary reissue of All Things Must Pass were announced.

The new versions were released on 6 August 2021. All Things Must Pass was originally released on 27 November 1970, but the anniversary reissues were delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The most noteworthy format was the limited Uber Deluxe box set, housed in a bespoke wooden crate. It included 70 tracks spread over eight vinyl LPs and five CDs, including 47 demo recordings, outtakes and studio jams; a Blu-ray disc featuring hi-res stereo, 5.2 surround and Dolby Atmos audio mixes; 96 page scrapbook containing lyrics, diary entries and notes; a wooden bookmark from a Friar Park oak tree; illustration print by Klaus Voormann; a copy of Paramahansa Yogananda’s book Light from the Great Ones; rudraksha beads; and a replica of the original album poster. Completing the set, which retailed for £859.99/$999.98, were 1/6 scale replica figurines of Harrison and the gnomes featured on the cover.

The other formats were a super deluxe 8xLP box set; super deluxe 5xCD and Blu-ray; deluxe 5xLP; deluxe 3xCD; standard 3xLP; an ‘E-Commerce exclusive’ 3xLP splatter vinyl box set; and standard 2xCD. All formats included a new remix by engineer Paul Hicks.

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2001 liner notes

It’s been thirty years since ‘All Things Must Pass’ was recorded.

I still like the songs on the album and believe they can continue to outlive the style in which they were recorded. 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, but now seem a bit over the top with the reverb in the wall of sound.

Still, it was an important album for me and a timely vehicle for all the songs I’d been writing during the last period with The Beatles. I began recording just months after we had all finally decided to go our separate ways and I was looking forward to making the first solo album of ‘songs’ (as opposed to ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘Electronic Sound’ which were instrumental).

I was fortunate to be in the right place to have the remnants of the Delaney and Bonnie band. The drum, bass and keyboard players, namely Jim Gordon, Carl Radle and Bobby Whitlock had come to England to hang out with Eric Clapton (fast becoming Derek and the Dominoes). They had just been touring with Delaney & Bonnie as I had been the year before. We even recorded two of the Dominoes songs, ‘Roll It Over’ and ‘Tell the Truth’, during the ‘All Things Must Pass’ sessions which they re-recorded later. It was really nice to have their support in the studio and helped me a lot.

It goes without saying that it has always been a pleasure to have my old friend Ringo playing drums, and although he probably can’t remember, he did play on a good fifty or sixty percent of the album along with Klaus on bass, Billy Preston on piano and a few new friends I was in the process of making: Gary Wright and Gary Brooker.

Some of the sessions were very long in the preparation of the sound and the arrangements had at times various percussion players, sometimes two or three; two drummers, four or five acoustic guitars, two pianos and even two basses on one of the tracks. The songs were played over and over again until the arrangements were sorted out so that the engineer in the control room could get the sound with Phil Spector. Many of the tracks were virtually live.

A lot of people new to me came into the sessions, I know not how; the most famous being Phil Collins. During one such session, Phil was allegedly playing congas on ‘Art Of Dying’, and although it’s taken me thirty years I would like to thank him for his participation.

Above all, I would like to acknowledge my old friend Eric Clapton, who played many memorable guitar parts on the album. At that time we weren’t ‘allowed’ by our record companies to acknowledge our presence on each other’s albums so he hasn’t had a credit for thirty years.

I still see a number of the musicians and friends who helped me with the album… some more often than others. ‘Some are dead and some are living’, but after thirty years of life’s lessons I’m grateful to have had three decades of friendship with them.

Rest in Peace Mal Evans, Carl Radle, Pete Drake, Pete Ham, Tom Evans and two of the O’Hara-Smith singers, Betty and Cyril.

I thought we’d have a bit of fun with the package. If you haven’t already noticed, our planet has been concreted over at an alarming rate and let’s hope in another thirty years we don’t have to add Planet Earth to the R.I.P.’s. Than you Barry Feinstein for being so generous and cooperative with the original photographs, qualities not to be taken for granted today. Also thanks to David Costa and Wherefore Art? who produced the new designs.

Last but certainly not least, the amazing Mr. Phil Spector, who produced so many fantastic records in the sixties. He helped me so much to get this record made. In his company I came to realize the true value of the Hare Krishna Mantra. God bless you Phil.

George Harrison

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