Apple Jam recordings
The last of the three All Things Must Pass discs was titled Apple Jam, and contained a series of studio jams and throwaway recordings.Those jams happened all the time. You know, we were very relaxed: there was no pressure and we had time to jam as we warmed up, or after we did a track. It was never organised – somebody would just start playing something, we’d all join in and started jamming around. In the end, George had a whole tape of this stuff – he knew from all the past sessions that so many things were just forgotten, so this time he thought he’d just keep the machine on.
While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Simon Leng
‘Plug Me In’ and ‘Thanks For The Pepperoni’ were both recorded on 1 July 1970 in EMI’s Studio Three. Both feature Harrison, Eric Clapton and Dave Mason on guitar, Carl Radle on bass guitar, Bobby Whitlock on keyboards, and Jim Gordon on drums.
‘Out Of The Blue’ was recorded as ‘Jam 3’ at EMI on 2 July 1970. It featured Harrison and Eric Clapton on guitar, Carl Radle on bass guitar, Bobby Whitlock and Gary Wright on keyboards, Jim Gordon on drums, Jim Price on trumpet, and Bobby Keys on saxophone.
‘I Remember Jeep’ was taped on 3 July as ‘Jam 4’. It had a different line-up, with Harrison and Clapton on guitar, Klaus Voormann on bass guitar, Billy Preston on keyboards, and Cream’s Ginger Baker on drums.
The remaining Apple Jam track, ‘It’s Johnny’s Birthday’, was the last of the album to be recorded. It was taped shortly before 9 October 1970, John Lennon’s 30th birthday, and had vocals by Harrison, Beatles roadie Mal Evans, and engineer Eddie Klein.
#OTD 9OCT1970 George presents @johnlennon with #ItsJohnnysBirthday @AbbeyRoad for his 30th. http://t.co/wJmFMKhXb2 pic.twitter.com/1bsr1YMVi3
— George Harrison (@GeorgeHarrison) October 9, 2014
Harrison visited Lennon at EMI Studios on 9 October, during a recording session for the latter’s song ‘Remember’ session. Arriving in his dark blue Ferrari 330 GTC, Harrison presented Lennon with a plastic flower and the pair hugged one other.
George Harrison had a Ferrari, a 330 GTC, which was dark blue with a cream interior, and it was parked out the front of the studio. And stuck to his windscreen he had a little vase holder with a little plastic flower in it. He took it out, walked into Studio 3 and said, ‘Happy birthday, John.’ He gave him the plastic flower and they had a hug. Yoko had brought in this present for John, which was a sensory box. It was about twice the size of a shoebox, with lots of holes in it. You had to put your finger in – one hole would be warm and mushy, one would be wet, one would have a pin in it. John had such a ball with it.
The Apple Jam sessions also led to the creation of a brand new band. Derek And The Dominos were formed by Clapton, Whitlock, Radle and Gordon. All four had previously played together in Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, but the band came together during the July 1970 sessions.
Harrison performed on the band’s debut single, ‘Tell The Truth’, which was produced by Phil Spector and recorded on 18 June.
Derek And The Dominos’ sole studio album, Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs, was mostly written about Harrison’s wife Pattie Boyd, and Clapton’s unrequited love for her.
Overdub sessions
John Barham’s orchestral arrangements for All Things Must Pass were recorded during the next set of sessions in September 1970.
Barham had been present when the backing tracks had been laid down, so was familiar with the material from the outset.
George liked me to be present at all of the sessions, even if I wasn’t playing or conducting. His approach to recording backing tracks was of course much freer and less structured than the orchestral arrangements – the instrumental lineups for the sessions were very large, which contributed to a less personal feeling in the studio.
While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Simon Leng
Other overdubs recorded during this time included Harrison’s lead vocal and slide guitar parts, and the multi-layered backing vocals credited to “the George O’Hara-Smith Singers”.
Outtakes
Numerous additional outtakes were recorded during the All Things Must Pass sessions, many of which remain unreleased.
The recordings include ‘Down To The River’, ‘I Love You’ (which was re-recorded by Ringo Starr as ‘I’ll Still Love You’ in 1976), ‘Dehra Dun’ (a song composed in Rishikesh in 1968), ‘I Live For You’, ‘Going Down To Golders Green’, ‘Om Hare Om (Gopala Krishna)’, and a jam of The Beatles’ ‘Get Back’.
Many of the studio outtakes have emerged on bootleg releases, including the triple-CD The Making Of All Things Must Pass, which contains multiple takes of several songs from the album.
One of the best beatles solo albums but I think it’s overproduced. A stripped down version would be nice, but I think that’s hard to do, because the songs were meant to have the spector stuff (unlike let it be, that’s why let it be… Naked exists). The only way to get a stripped down version is to buy the new early takes, vol. 1 I think but I don’t really like demos
I agree. Wah Wah for example is a great hard song and would sound fantastic with just a electric rhythm guitar, lead wah guitar, a bass and some drums, but there’s so much unnecessary instrumentation on the album.
also I believe Harrison said he regretted how much echo was in the album and I agree. it sounds like it was recorded in a tunnel. fantastic album either way
I don’t really agree, I love the Phil Spector sound on the album. Especially on songs like Wah Wah, it’s a sonic masterpiece. The whole record has a great classic sound. Paul and John’s early solo works were extremely minimal in production value, and George went the other way, but I think it really worked in his favor.
Does a complete sessionography of the All Things Must Pass recording sessions exist? I mean a detailed list of recording dates and musician participants? I am looking to see how the album was recorded over the months from May to October 1970.
Can anyone definitively answer the question as to whether a de-Spectorized version of this album is even possible? Was the echo added during the recording phase and thus permanently burned-in to the master multi-track tape? or was it added during post-production mix-down? The above notes from Spector seem to indicate that George was acting as producer for the recording sessions and producing preliminary mixes, with Spector acting merely as an adviser. This seems to correlate with George’s claims that he essentially produced the recording sessions because Spector was too drunk to attend the sessions. Since Spector produced the final mixes – which George initially hated – and given that the Beatles were not accustomed to recording music in the Spector “wall of sound” style with echo chamber, this would seem to indicate that the echo was added in post production mix-down.
Can anyone actually confirm this theory please?
Didn’t they release a ‘reverb’ minimal version of the album around 2000 ?
No. George originally wanted to remix it as he didn’t like the reverb but he let it roll as he remastered it.
the record was recorded dry. GH wanted the flexibility. a new remix could yield a very different sound. Unnecessary, tho.
Yes there is a de-spectorized version of this album (all things must pass) . I believe it was released around 2001. The new cut of this album is much cleaner and is truer to George as an artist. Harrison on reflection couldn’t believe he released the Spector version of the album – although at the time he was ok with the mix. I suspect the commercial and critical acclaim afforded to the initial release of the album would have cemented George’s view that using Spector was generally speaking a reasonable decision. One final note – yes – Spector was very volatile and drunk during the production of this album and much production was done by George and those around him.
no, the 2001 version is not de-spectorized, even if George had the will to do it, but preferred to not. it’s only remastered. the one without the wall of sound is available only on bootlegs such as Songs for Patty
All Things Must Pass is a monumental effort by George Harrison ; his finest solo achievement and one of the greatest of pop/ rock history. He and Phil Spector at their best. The years of waiting behind Lennon and McCartney ironically worked in Georges favor with such a great backlog of songs. My Sweet Lord, What Is Life?, Isnt It A Pity,Beware of Darkness, All Things Must Pass,Wah-Wah and Id Have You Any Time are all personal favorites of mine. It was George Harrisons birthday just the other day and how the world misses him.
This record grows with you – as you progress thru. Tracks I loved in my 20’s are different from ones that resonate tom
The Beatles anthology has the early recordings that were not released as Beatles songs, & later were released on All Things Must Pass. No wall of sound on those!
I bought atmp in 1974 in a record shop in Belfast called—Harrison’s!, played it until. It was almost white . I loved everything about it ,the music ,of course, but the packaging was great the coloured sleeves with lyrics ,the brilliant poster,right down to the orange apple labels and stunning apple jam label.all those years ago!,,,
It was definitely ahead of its time, as well. It’s big sound and celebrity roster were like the prototype for the super group tours like Ringo’s All Star Band and his own Bangalalesh benefit. Harrison was always my favorite Beatle, but I didn’t realize the depth of the impact his death had on me until I bought the CD version of ATMP. I only made it through a few songs before I broke down in tears and had to turn it off. Its such a masterpiece… both musically and lyrically… Who knew such greatness was hiding inside what was always the shyest and most subdued member of the Fab Four? I remember his words from an interview “I”m just a gardener tending to God’s garden”. (About his private life at his sprawling estate) For someone of his fame and stature level, to be that materially stripped down and philosophically aware, is totally inspiring. I’m proud to say he’s one of my biggest, if not THEE biggest, hero I’ve ever had.
EVERYONE seems to put down PHIL SPECTOR’s work with the Beatles – including THE ‘producer’ of the final Beatles albums… (not GEORGE MARTIN)….PAUL McCARTNEY who
even went so far as to remix LET IT BE (‘Naked’)… which he had a right to do as the ‘featured artist’ on what was HIS album idea for the Beatles to ‘Get Back’ to the very basics of how they USED to record & work in the beginning… only to abandon & hate the whole idea in realizing they’d grown as artists (and men) with ideas & concepts that couldn’t be done like that anymore, and DUMPED the whole LET IT BE disaster in SPECTOR’s lap… and even McCARTNEY himself after doing THE LONG & WINDING ROAD ‘stripped down and naked’ & performed it LIVE that way went BACK to using the horn arrangements (less full choir) that SPECTOR had arranged/produced.
And now Phil’s work on ATMP is being attacked for “his” WOS echoing style.
Harrison’s album WAS & IS a masterpiece – and (as far as THIS musician is concerned) still the FINEST solo album of those four legendary figures ever released.
Just ‘LET IT BE’ – as it was… ?
Nope…
Yep…
Bobby Whitlock plays harmonium and tubular bells aka xylophone
Tubular bells and xylophone are not the same instrument.
Greatest music of all times.
No musician can match George s. Versatility
We are all so blessed to hear his music
Original ATMP contained a poster ! I never knew l was robbed. I paid 5 pounds for it and was only on 4 pounds 10 shillings a week pay took me weeks to save up for it. Anyway great album great to read the comments and that people care about great music
The All Things Must Pass box set contains a lot of new information regarding the recording process, including recording dates of the individual tracks. Hopefully a lot of the new info can be added here.
Phil Spector never should have been let near anything but Motown-type songs where that huge wall of sound was appropriate. It never suited Lennon’s solo stuff, nor did it suit Harrison’s. To me this whole album is ruined by it.
I love this album and it’s a masterpiece. My sister gave me a copy of the album on remastered 180g vinyl for my 30th birthday in 2019 – it was the 2017 vinyl remaster. IIRC, I first became aware of the album’s existence because my best mate from school Cameron Masters’ parents owned it on vinyl, but it’s so long ago that my memory may not be accurate.
As I have said in a previous post, my favourite recording of the title track is the demo version that you hear on “Anthology 3” and where George is singing in a light and sensitive falsetto voice while playing his electric guitar with a prominent tremolo effect plus some other guitar overdubs.
Too bad Bobby Whitlock was washed out of an album he had much input on and much playing as a member of the “core” band. So is life.
ATMP is the best selling solo Beatle album thanks to the help of Phil Spector’s reverb. He created an album with a unique ethereal grandeur that complements the songs. Take it away and you’re left with dry sounding demos. Sparse production didn’t help Lennon and McCartney sell albums in 1970. You can quibble all you want but removing Phil’s production styles would not have made a better album.
Great album, although i don’t like Spector’s production of this.
Too much echo on everything.
Imagine if George Martin had been the producer!
The above article states that this amazing album “(…) remained at number one in the UK for eight weeks, from 6 February to 27 March”. But … the truth, when considered historically, turns out to be much more complicated. As the author of the website “The Beatles Complete U.K. Discography” (www.jpgr.co.uk) rightly notes:
On 26th December 1970 the album entered the chart at number 13, eventually peaking at no.4 on 30th January where it stayed for five weeks.
It’s full chart run: 13-13-5-5-13-4-4-4-4-4-9-9-9-9-18-19-24-35-out-28-21-out-36-32 (on 19th June), then not seen in charts after that.
But …. Allegedly in 2006 the official chart company found data that showed the album hit number 1 for 8 weeks.
The error was said to be due to a postal strike in Britain during February and March of 1971,
when the national chart compiler of the time failed to receive any sales data from retailers.
So in July 2006, the Official UK Charts Company changed its records to show that All Things Must Pass was the top-selling album throughout that time.
BUT …. the charts ….. AT THE TIME … did not ever show the album at number one and that’s what we were living through in 1971″.
So with the above in mind, today’s claim that All Things Must Pass was the No. 1 album in the UK in 1971 is a bit like “correcting” history.