Originally released November 27, 1970
Reissued October 3, 2025
Dark Horse Records
3xLP
With apologies to dear, sweet Ringo, it’s commonly acknowledged that the crowning achievements of Fab Four’s post-Beatles works are Band On The Run, Imagine*, and All Things Must Pass. The latter has a runtime of 106 minutes. Band On The Run and Imagine, by turn, can be listened to in a combined 83 minutes. In literal and figurative terms, it is the grandest (arguably) album to be released under the greater-Beatles oeuvre. And it might be the greatest.
Harrison, always the quiet one, used All Things to burst from under the shadow of the McCartney-Lennon partnership/rivalry. Most of these songs were long-gestating drafts either passed over or outright rejected on Beatles albums. For the better, ironically, as Harrison was able to toil away and perfect the definitive statement of his unsung genius. The end results speak for themselves.
So then what are some other arguments for it’s greatness? Well, how the mind-boggling effectiveness of Phil Specter’s maniacal pomp almost never (see: Wah-Wah) overcoming Harrison’s tenderness. Or the murderer’s row of all-time collaborators (Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Peter Frampton, the remaining Beatles). Or how ’bout the fact that it’s massive runtime necessitated a literal redesign of the commercial LP format, becoming the first ever triple studio album. There’s more arguments for sure, but the best ones aren’t found on a reductive post such as this. To really understand the brilliance of All Things Must Pass, you have to let it was over you. All 106 minutes of it.
