All Things Must Pass by George Harrison (1970).

This has been one of my favorite albums since around 1974, when my best boyhood friend introduced me to it. Oh god, what a great album this is!

George Harrison is dead. You can look it up.

But before that, he made huge contributions to western music, mostly by incorporating eastern music. But not only that; if not for George Harrison, the standard for a rock guitar lead or solo might have been chaos. Harrison took great care to insure that the solos on his songs and (much to his credit) Lennon and McCartney songs, would be melodic and consistent with the feel of the song. He demonstrated early a wonderful feel for the true music that lay beneath an otherwise banal pop song.

For instance, this morning on National Public Radio I heard a fellow (whose name I can’t recall, but it was on 11-30-01) describe beautifully the texture of Harrison’s lead for The Beatles’ cover of “Til There Was You.” This is a great example of the contribution Harrison made; that solo is so consistent with the song that you’d think it was part of the score. And yet it contains elements of Harrison’s love of rockabilly and early Sun recordings by Carl Perkins, which the composers would not have included among their influences. The solo is unobtrusive, yet unforgettable.

But George Harrison showed on All Things Must Pass that his unique skills and vision had allowed him to write songs that expressed something that only he could express, but that anyone could appreciate. The album was the first of any post-Beatles LP by any of them to hit number 1. I think that’s important, but not too important.

What I think is most important are the songs.

The title track is beautiful. On the album it’s a little overproduced by Phil Spector, but you can hear a more spare demo on the third volume of The Beatles Anthology. In my opinion the Anthology version shows Spector’s genius, since the version on All Things Must Pass combines a very lush arrangement with a tender sound that allows anyone to understand the lyrics. Without the Anthology version we’d have no ready comparison, but with it we see the importance of a sensitive producer.

Other wonderful tracks on this album include “What is Life,” which I think is a timeless pop song, and “Run of the Mill,” which I could play on my 12-string guitar for a very long time without getting tired of it. “My Sweet Lord” gets talked about a lot because of the lawsuit, and in my opinion there is not much doubt that “My Sweet Lord” resembles “He’s So Fine” enough to constitute plagiarism. But I also think that to obsess over this is the same as obsessing over the similarities between Roman and Greek mythology. If you get the message, relax.

I also adore the song “Isn’t It a Pity,” although it’s not something I’d play in a bar for a holiday crowd.

One could argue that the album is too long, not deserving of three vinyl or two plastic discs, and I suppose I could be convinced. Harrison, from what I’ve heard, wanted to release a lot of pent up songs from his late Beatles years, and this certainly was a good opportunity for that.

In George’s defense, let me say that I’ve never regretted a minute I spent listening to this album. Even “I Dig Love.” This album kicks so much ass that a song called “I Dig Love” can grow on you. I don’t think I could ever record such an album.

Harrison was a subtle genius on guitar. I wish I were.