On this day in music history: January 2, 1971 - “All Things Must Pass” by George Harrison hits #1 on the Billboard Top 200 for 7 weeks. Produced by George Harrison and Phil Spector, it is recorded at Friar Park Studios in Henley On The Thames, UK, Abbey Road Studios, Apple Studios and Trident Studios in London from May - October 1970. Following the official break up of The Beatles in April, Harrison begins work on his third solo project. Including songs that he has been stockpiling as far back as 1966, the guitarist enlists the assistance of producer Phil Spector having recently compiled and post produced the final Beatles album “Let It Be” and John Lennon’s single “Instant Karma”. The twenty-three track triple LP boxed set includes appearances by numerous musicians including Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Ringo Starr, Badfinger, Dave Mason and Ginger Baker. The album also comes packaged with a poster of Harrison standing in front of a window at his estate, Friar Park. It spins off two singles including “My Sweet Lord” (#1 Pop) and “What Is Life” (#10 Pop). The album is remastered and reissued in January of 2001, ten months before Harrison’s passing, and is remastered and reissued again September of 2014 for the box set “The Apple Years 1968 -75 and as a stand alone reissue. "All Things Must Pass” is certified 6x Platinum in the US by the RIAA.

I was simply to poor to buy this when it came out and as boxed albums go it was at best mixed but boy with a bit more editing it might have worked, as it contained some peaches and I might have been able to afford it. A bit like his first edition autobiography 'I, Me, Mine' (£250 in 1980?) it is way beyond the pocket of most fans and how's that for materialism eh, Georgie never mind being as 'close as we will get to an autobiography' which fails to cover the period of the Beatles, you know the part that made you rich beyond your wildest dreams! But hey it's wrong to speak ill of the dead and everybody likes 'George' don't they? He could possibly be the most acerbic and biting of the Beatles and had a thinly veiled nasty side to boot, still if he chose to believe that 'My Sweet Lord' saved the lives of heroin addicts so be it! For me I preferred 'Wonderwall'

On this day in music history: November 27, 1970 - “All Things Must Pass”, the third solo album by George Harrison is released. Produced by George Harrison and Phil Spector, it is recorded at Abbey Road Studios, Trident Studios and Apple Studios in London from May - October 1970. With the announcement of The Beatles split in April of 1970, George Harrison wastes no time in beginning work on his third official solo release. With his two previous albums “Wonderwall Music” and the experimental “Electronic Sound” being largely instrumental works, plans for Harrison to record a more straightforward album begin in early 1970. Having worked the expansive recording sessions for “Let It Be” into a cohesive album, George asks producer Phil Spector to work on his album. After Harrison plays Spector literally dozens of songs he has been stockpiling since The Beatles “Revolver” album in 1966, he signs on to the project. Many of the songs are ones the guitarist had presented as potential Beatles songs, but were set aside since Harrison rarely had more than two of his songs (with a few exceptions) on any of the bands’ albums. “All Things Must Pass” features musical support from Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Klaus Voorman, Gary Wright, Dave Mason, Peter Frampton (uncredited) and Ginger Baker. One of the sessions for the track “Art Of Dying” features a then nineteen year old Phil Collins (pre-Genesis) playing percussion, though his overdubs do not make the final mix. Completed in the Fall of 1970, the album is released as a lavish twenty three track triple LP box set with a poster. The main eighteen tracks are contained on the first two LP’s with the last five on the third LP titled “Apple Jam”, consisting mostly of loose instrumental jams. It is a huge critical and commercial success upon its release, spinning off two singles including the chart topping “My Sweet Lord” (#1 Pop) and “What Is Life?” (#10 Pop). Regarded as one of the best post Beatles solo albums, “All Things Must Pass” is inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 2014. The album is remastered and reissued twice on CD in 2001, and again in 2014, with a limited vinyl reissue released on Black Friday Record Store Day in 2012. The vinyl LP set is reissued again in 2017, as both a stand alone release and as part of the box set “George Harrison - The Vinyl Collection”. “All Things Must Pass” spends seven weeks at number one on the Billboard Top 200, and is certified 6x Platinum in the US by the RIAA.