Thoughts on ATMP 50

Amazon Music Unlimited made the 50th Anniversary release of ALL THINGS MUST PASS available a couple of midnights ago. Unfortunately the surround mixes are not included, but the other five discs were all accounted for. The 2020 remix of the album did not impress me; I don’t think there is much anyone can do to unclutter a Phil Spector production, least of all this one. Also, I think it’s difficult to recapture the original coup de theâtre of George Harrison releasing his first post-Beatles solo album as a three-disc box set; it was a powerful gesture then, but - my own opinion - I don’t think many of the songs have aged particularly well; it’s the proud, bluff production that bolsters the album as a whole.

I love the sinuous, inviting, seductive pull of the opening track, “I’d Have You Anytime”; the strangely irresistible clamor of “Wah Wah”; the lilting warnings of “Beware of Darkness”; the title track; and what is (for me) the most haunting track of all, “The Ballad of Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll).” It sounds like a lot to love, and would be for any single album, but this three disc set is now greatly expanded to include demos (which sometimes reveal how slight the original compositions were), jams, attempts at songs that once didn’t make the final cut. The advantage of these sparer performances is that, being relatively uncluttered, they sound much better, clearer, detailed than the Spector cues. Even so, if "If Not For You" is a major Harrison track, it's still Dylan at his most meagerly, and I don’t need to study “I Dig Love” from different angles. 

Despite my criticisms, I’d still like to hear the surround mix at some point, which might make the Wall of Sound more like a Pool of Sound.

(c) 2021 by Tim Lucas. All rights reserved.

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