and being distributed completely free so no evil bootleggers making money. the early records are a mixed bag these days I prefer the capitol box versions (anyway I grew up with the US versions of the albums, so it's kind of nice to return to the admittedly fucked up tracklistings.though I do think 'the second album' is pretty awesome).Īnyway yeah the purple chick stuff is pretty exciting, it seems to have just popped up in the past few months? or at least that's where I heard about it.
I think the regular cd stereo versionns of MMT and Pepper are alright (and really don't have any serious problems with white album or abbey road either I think abbey road is a pretty glorious sounding cd). The stereo of those albums (some of them) is very wide so that's why ebbetts did cd versions of almost everything though, including weird shit like canadian stereo versions, etc, which differ slightly. But I REALLY think it makes more sense to get the unreleased and live material wedded on to the appropriate albums - if nothing else, it means getting MORE of it, right? Granted, they would still be kind of weirdly-sequenced albums with one or two singles at the front followed by a bunch of obscurities. But if they sweeten the deal I just might think it over, at least for a couple, assuming they went ahead and added more outtake/live stuff. I guess I'm just coming from a perspective where, if they just remaster the CDs I'll take a pass because I have the LPs already.
The Anthologies are just plain obnoxious, especially the first one with all the talky-talky bits. The PM sets are also really oddly-balanced, anyway - not quite a greatest hits, not quite an odds-and-sods. OK, so it's kind of cool to have all the singles in one place, but it also robs them of context AND presents a somewhat confusing picture for buyers, who can't figure out which album it is that has "I Want To Hold Your Hand" on it. Seriously, I don't see what's so much better (and less cash-cow-ish) about retaining Past Masters and Anthology. LET IT ROLL balances these two periods, swapping any Beatles-era song ("Something," "Here Comes the Sun," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps") for a live version from THE CONCERT FOR BANGLADESH, then mixing it all up chronologically, so the set starts with the pristine bounce of "Got My Mind Set on You" before giving way to "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)." If anything jars, it's the sounds of the times, as Jeff Lynne's clean, manicured arrangements don't necessarily fit with Phil Spector's lush, magisterial productions, but that's a minor quibble about a useful compilation that consolidates all of Harrison's signature tunes on one very enjoyable disc.Which-let's be realistic here-most people really don't want to hear (or have piggy-backed onto pricey new editions)Īre the people not interested in paying for pricey new editions of things really the target market for remastered versions of CDs that are available in droves in used CD stores the world over? This extended gap is the chief reason there hasn't been a career-spanning Harrison collection until 2009's LET IT ROLL: SONGS BY GEORGE HARRISON, the first-ever disc to gather songs from George's stints at both Apple and Dark Horse, and only his third-ever hits collection (following 1976's Beatles-heavy THE BEST OF GEORGE HARRISON and THE BEST OF DARK HORSE, released in 1989 in the afterglow of CLOUD NINE's comeback success).
George Harrison had two periods of great commercial success, separated by 15 years and two record labels.