I’d Have You Anytime / My Sweet Lord / Wah-Wah / Isn’t It A Pity / What Is Life / If Not For You / Behind That Locked Door / Let It Down / Run Of The Mill / Beware Of Darkness / Apple Scruffs / Let It Roll / Awaiting On You All / All Things Must Pass / I Dig Love / Art Of Dying / Isn’t It A Pity #2 / Hear Me Lord
It might be a guess to suggest that even the most hardened Beatles cynic has heard of ‘All Things Must Pass’ if not ‘Ram’ or ‘Imagine’. It generally floats towards the top of “Best of Beatles solo” lists and, were it not for the lack of notable singles from the album – Admit it, ‘My Sweet Lord’ while instantly hummable is broadly more secular than ‘Uncle Albert’ or even ‘Imagine’ – while ‘What Is Life’ is not quite as memorable than the previous, it would certainly foreshadow the main two 1970 / 1971 releases by the recently shaggy fabs.
As we heads know, the newly hirsute Hari had more than a couple of tricks up his sleeve by the time of the Beatles split and his monolithic triple album, featuring a supergroup by presence only, dropping in November 1970 was the perfect introduction to the wads of lyrics that he had folded in his pockets – of interest was the fact that George had been able to pull on the contacts that he’d made through the years and bring in a collection of friends that would rival some of the newcomers and session players that his ex-bandmates could rustle up, even then, we have to assume that if it was safe entry for Bob Dylan to join in, he might have been there.
This disc, taken from a prepared tape that was remastered by Steve Hoffman and due to be released as a gold disc for the DCC audiophile collection, is part of a collection that the no label group have been putting out – previously I had been quite friendly towards their copy of the Wings, ‘Wildlife’ issue, suggesting that I preferred it over the 90’s, Peter Mew remastering of the set and that it would sound better to the ear. ‘ATMP’ being a fantastic album, I was hoping for pretty much the same effect.
Firstly, let’s get this out of the way, it’s a single disk – Leaving off at ‘Hear Me Lord’, none of the “Apple Jam” LP has made it on to the main disk itself but was a separate CDR was issued alongside also featuring some of the bonus outtakes that came from the John Barrett tapes in the late 1990s. Sorry if that’s disappointing to you but for those of you that weren’t a fan of the meandering jams, you’ll be pleased to know.
The sound is what we’re here for though and for those of you with tired ears, you’ll be happy in the knowledge that Steve hasn’t brick-walled this set at all. Put against the hefty 2014 reissue (I have the 2000 edition and the 10’s issue. I never kept the bulky Fatboy cased, expensive, issue that was the albums first incarnation) here’s a much more lenient effort to do the album justice after it was levelled by Phil Spector, that said, the difference is still subtle. A little balancing between the 2014 re-issue and this DCC version reveals … Not much apart from the bass has been tweaked to a bigger level on the CV. I went in search of the low mumbles on ‘Let It Roll’ and the harmonies of ‘Isn’t It A Pity (Part 2)’ – They’re still there but a shadow more apparent on the DCC remaster.
I’ll admit, I was expecting more from this disk, especially after the Wings disk, however, due to the much more recent issue of the album and the movement in technology, it would appear that they seemed to use the Hoffman master as a template but botched up the bass as a “company standard”.
Purchase this disk if you’re a fan of the novelty of owning multiple variations of the album or have an undying love for Steve’s workmanship. There’s very little here, if much at all, to differentiate from the album that you either own already or can pick up cheaper online.
Still a bloody good album though.
