George Harrison's third solo album 'All Things Must Pass' was his masterpiece release.
Released as a triple album on November 27th 1970, it was Harrison's first solo work after the break-up of the Beatles in April that year.
The original vinyl release consisted of two LPs of songs and a third disc of informal jams titled Apple Jam. Several commentators interpret Barry Feinstein's album cover photo, showing Harrison surrounded by four garden gnomes, as a statement on his independence from the Beatles. George famously said in a 2000 interview "That was the great thing about [the Beatles] splitting up: to be able to go off and make my own record ... And also to be able to record with all these new people, which was like a breath of fresh air."
Among the large cast of backing musicians were Eric Clapton and members of Delaney & Bonnie's Friends band as well as Ringo Starr, John Lennon and Yoko Ono hand claps can be heard on the song "I Remember Jeep, Gary Wright, Billy Preston, Peter Frampton, Dave Mason, Gary Brooker and Ginger Baker. No Paul McCartney however.
The sessions produced a double album's worth of extra material, most of which remains unissued. The most famous track to come off the album was "My Sweet Lord", which not only helped take the album to #1 around the world, but it also took George into court, after he was accused of copyright infringement, due to its alleged similarity to the Ronnie Mack song "He's So Fine", a 1963 hit for the New York girl group the Chiffons.
In 1976, Harrison was found to have subconsciously plagiarized the song, a verdict that had repercussions throughout the music industry. He said he had instead used "Oh Happy Day" by the Edwin Hawkins Singers as his inspiration for the melody.
From the Concert for George show on the first anniversary of his passing, here is the late Billy Preston, leading an all star band through "My Sweet Lord". Look out for George's son Dhani on stage and how many superstars can you spot in this video? Enjoy!
