George Harrison and Ringo Starr in 1970 and 1971
All Things Must Pass, Beaucoups of Blues and Sentimental Journey
In an earlier set of episodes, we sampled songs from the early solo albums of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Here’s a link to that first episode:
John Lennon and Paul McCartney in the early 1970s
During this next set of episodes, we will cover a similar time frame for George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
During today’s episode, we will look at what many consider to be Harrison's magnum opus, All Things Must Pass, which was released as a triple album in 1970. But it was really a double album with a bonus disc of live jams which Harrison had performed with Eric Clapton and some of his other friends. That bonus disc was entitled Apple Jam, and we won’t be looking at that in this episode. You can read more about it on the Wikipedia page for All Things Must Pass.
For a couple of reasons, we will break with our normal practice of sampling four songs from each album during today’s episode. We'll actually look at eight songs from All Things Must Pass because, one, it's a double album, and two, Harrison didn't release another album after that until 1973 while Ringo released two albums in 1970 and 1971.
But, before we get into All Things Must Pass, let's start with Ringo's single from 1971 entitled It Don't Come Easy. Co-written and produced by Harrison, it was a top-ten hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Click below to hear it:
And, actually, the B-side, Early 1970, is worth a listen, too, for its fun references to the other three Beatles. It clocks in at just two minutes and twenty seconds, so let’s give that one a listen, as well.
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And, now, it’s on to All Things Must Pass, which was released the same year as McCartney’s McCartney and Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band, which we looked at here.
Let's start with the album's opener, a collaboration between Harrison and Bob Dylan called I'd Have You Anytime. The song has a lovely melody, and the guitar part is particularly effective. Harrison's lead-guitar playing on this album is colorful, melodic and rhythmically interesting. In short, everything you'd want in a lead guitar part. And it doesn't get any better than on this song.
Frankly, though, I think the lyrics to I'd Have You Anytime are rather subpar. Especially when you consider that the song is a collaboration between two very able songwriters. But it's a really nice production, so I'm not going to let that interfere with my enjoyment of the song, and I hope you won't either. Here's a YouTube link:
By the way, the Wikipedia link for the album, which I shared above, has links to information about each of the songs on ATMP. So, if you want information specific to one of the songs on the album, check there. Here’s that link again:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Things_Must_Pass
The next track on our list, What is Life?, exemplifies Phil Spector's (in)famous Wall of Sound production style as well as anything else on the album with the possible exception of Awaiting On You All. There are those who despise Phil Spector and the changes he brought to the Beatles sound on Let It Be as well as on this album. I’m not one of them. I prefer George Martin’s productions, for sure, but I find it interesting to see what another producer was able to do with the material.
Click below to hear What is Life?
For the next track, I vacillated between Let It Down and Behind that Closed Door. The latter is performed in a sort of country style, so I ended up choosing that because so many of the other songs are much more rock-based. I recommend Let It Down, though. It has unique transitions between quieter major-seventh-chord soaked verses and more raucous choruses. For now, though, click below to hear Closed Door:
I picked Run of the Mill for our fourth track because it is said to have been inspired by run-ins with other members of the Beatles, which is an interesting topic as we saw with Ringo’s Early 1970 previously. You can read more about Run of the Mill here.
It’s a slow rocker with horns, and it has a nice feel to it.
Beware of Darkness is a song that several different people have remade over the years. Among these are Eric Clapton, Leon Russell, Sheryl Crow, Concrete Blonde, Joe Cocker and, perhaps most recently, Spock’s Beard. This track, too, features some stellar lead-guitar playing.
I Dig Love is a fun hippie-era ditty. I’ll bet Harrison had a lot of fun putting this one together. The arrangement is very creative, with some fun interplay between the electric piano, the bass, Harrison’s slide guitar, an electronic organ and other instruments. This is one of my favorite tracks from an album that’s full of strong material.
The Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp should really have been called Let It Roll in my opinion. That said, the Wikipedia page for the song explains who Crisp was and Harrison’s connection to him, and it’s quite an interesting story. And Harrison’s connection through Crisp via the house they both owned led to other Harrison compositions later on such as Ding Dong, Ding Dong and The Answer’s At The End.
As with the opening track, I think the music is stronger than the lyrics, but these lyrics do fit the song quite well. Anyway, give it a listen:
Awaiting On You All is another track where Spector’s out-of-control Wall of Sound is on full display. The song is full of energy and exuberance, and I find it quite contagious even after many listens.
Harrison was an odd guy in some ways. For example, he embraced religion with a sincere seeming devotion on the one hand but had a prickly and vindictive personality on the other. Still, if the world this song takes a listener to is anything like what a true believer experiences in his or her life, I want in. Let’s check it out.
OK, that’s eight, so we’re ready to move on to Ringo’s stuff. But I did want to mention that I Live For You, an outtake that did not appear on the original release of All Things Must Pass but has been made available on subsequent editions, is a fun tune I discovered while putting this episode together. I highly recommend you look that one up and give it a listen.
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Beaucoups of Blues
Beaucoups of Blues was Ringo’s first solo album, and it came out in 1970, the same year as All Things Must Pass, Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band and McCartney’s McCartney as noted above.
The album is a collection of country songs, and this style fits Ringo well. It was hard to limit my picks to just four songs because there are so many good ones here. But I think I have zeroed in on the best ones.
Let's start out with the title tune, which Ringo pronounces as “bookoos”. The word simply means “a lot” or “lots” in French, and it’s pronounced “bow koo” to rhyme with “slow” and “too” in that language. (The ‘p’ is silent.) The French might express this sentiment as “beaucoup de blues”, but there’s a certain charm to Ringo’s Anglicized pronunciation of it.
According to Wikipedia, the song was written by a Nashville singer-songwriter named Buzz Rabin, who released his own version of it four years later on his 1974 solo album Cross Country Cowboy. Let’s give Ringo’s version a listen now.
(Just for fun, if you’re interested, here’s a YouTube link to Buzz Rabin, the author’s, own almost unknown version of the song: )
This next number, $15 Draw, features some impressive playing, including a nice acoustic lead-guitar part, harmonica, slide guitar. I’m not sure why some of my YouTube links display as icons while others display as simple links. But both seem to work, so here is Fifteen-Dollar Draw:
I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to include Silent Homecoming or I Wouldn’t Have You Any Other Way here. The latter is a country ballad and the former a slow country rocker. I opted for Any Other Way, but both are worth listening to. And Homecoming tells a sad, though satisfying, story.
Finally, here’s a song that Ringo was born to sing. And that’s not my subtle way of labeling him as a loser. I don’t mean that at all. It’s just that it sounds so natural coming out of his mouth:
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Sentimental Journey
Okay, let's move on to Ringo's 1971 release, Sentimental Journey, which is a collection of standards or American Songbook tunes. Perhaps Ringo started the trend to revisit these songs, which Linda Ronstadt, Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello and others have since done.
Again, we'll start with the title track. I’ll just mention that Ringo’s version is the first version I ever heard. I’ve heard many versions since then, but I’ve never forgotten this version.
One of the nice things about these albums is that Ringo was able to get top notch musicians to back him up. The piano playing on this track is truly lovely, and there are some really nice orchestral arrangements on the album, as well. You may have noticed that lovely clarinet part on that previous track that plays in harmony with Starr’s vocal in one spot about halfway through.
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Let’s look at Blackbird next. This one starts out simply with a banjo accompaniment and piano fills, and it doesn’t fail to please:
(I’m a) Fool to Care is a lovely little bluesy gem, and Ringo makes it shine. The orchestral arrangement is just icing on the cake. Do yourself a favor and give it a listen:
Night and Day is one of those songs I don’t remember ever not knowing. Whether it was my parents singing it back and forth to each other in the kitchen or hearing it played at church dances, it’s a song that has always been in my consciousness. And it’s fun to hear Ringo put his own stamp on it.
It’s a shame there’s not time enough to check out more than four items per album. If you’ve enjoyed these, I recommend you give Ringo’s versions of (Love is a) Many Splendored Thing and Stardust a listen, as well.
Thanks for joining me today. And stay tuned for a new episode soon, where we will take a look at George and Ringo in 1973 with Living in the Material World and Ringo.
I remember hearing a few of these songs on the radio back when they were originally released. I was too young to really understand who these artists were at the time. I can't imagine what it was like trying to move on after being part of something like The Beatles.