On The Records

The new remix of Let It Be is excellent, but let’s begin where the album did in 1969, the previously unreleased Glyn Johns mix of Get Back.  Now we know why The Beatles rejected this album mix, it’s a mess.  Johns has produced a lot of great music, but the versions of songs he chose for the album are not as good as those on the released Let It Be album.  Only three of the versions, “One After 909”, “Get Back”, and “Let It Be” are worthy of being on a Beatles album.  In the box set book, it says Glyn Johns purposely selected earlier takes to show The Beatles less polished.

Fans hoped this “raw” version of The Beatles would be good, but if the Get Back album had been released in the Glyn Johns mix, it would have been an embarrassing way to end the recording career of The Beatles.  If you’re looking for the “just the band” style originally intended for the album, go with Let It Be…Naked.  It’s a much better mix of mostly the same songs.

The one cool thing about having the Get Back album is they included the cover that was planned…which has the photo that ended up being used for the Blue Album collection.

Here’s what the Super Deluxe CD set looks like.  The photos on the 100-page book normally show through the cutouts in the black cardboard sleeve.  The CD’s store in a trifold holder.  The vinyl version has the same covers for the records that you see on the CD’s.

The 2021 remix of the Let It Be album is impressive, fuller and clearer. It’s definitely the best the original album has ever sounded.  It doesn’t lose the feel of the Let It Be we’ve always known, but it’s a refreshing listening experience.  The guitars have a truer ring, the bass & drums sound more real, and the singers are in the room with you.

Giles Martin & Sam Okell were able to somewhat improve the most notoriously arranged Phil Spector production…”The Long And Winding Road”.  The remix does a better job of blending the background chorus into the orchestra to lessen the “angel voices” (as Paul McCartney called them).  Despite some errors in judgement, Spector deserves credit for putting together a much improved version of the album.

The book has excellent information on each of the songs on the original Let It Be album, giving details of how the recordings were developed, including which take was used for each song.

(Click to enlarge. The vinyl records have the same tracks.)

As for the extra tracks of alternate takes and rehearsals…seeing what songs they worked on is more interesting than actually hearing them.  The box set has five songs that ended up on Abbey Road, but none of the versions even approach the completed songs that are on that album.  It’s the same for songs that ended up on their solo albums.

There are a couple of really welcome cuts.  Take 28 of “Let It Be” is the one used in the original Let It Be film.  It includes the alternate lyrics “There will be no sorrow” (which rhymed with “Shine until tomorrow”).  It’s good to have this version in such a quality mix.  The remix of the “Don’t Let Me Down” single is the best it’s ever sounded.

Through the years, Let It Be has been overly criticized.  All of the breakup controversy, and even comments by The Beatles, have unfairly cast a shadow on the album.

The original concept was to just have The Beatles playing live, without any “studio tricks” or overdubs. That plan slowly eroded.

The first change in the plan was the addition of keyboardist Billy Preston.  He had a positive effect on The Beatles’ recording practices, and added some excellent touches to many of the songs.

Next, when it came time to release a single in April of 1969, producer Glyn Johns and Paul McCartney (by each other in this photo) edited together two takes of “Get Back”.  That made it better than any of the single-take versions of the song.  The flip side, “Don’t Let Me Down”, included overdubbed vocals.  So, the “live only” idea was fudged on long before the Let It Be album was put together.

The same “cheating” happened again in early 1970 for the song “I Me Mine”.  On January 3rd, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr recorded a new version  of “I Me Mine” that was needed for the Let It Be film.  Later, Phil Spector would add orchestration and remix it.

When it was determined “Let It Be” would be released as a single in early 1970, George Martin wrote an orchestration for it that added horns and cellos.  Above, you can see George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Linda McCartney were at the session, and George Martin even had them record background vocals for the track.  Phil Spector used that version for the album, except he made the orchestration more prominent in the mix, and George Harrison added a new, more rocking, guitar lead.

So, with all the changes from when the album was started, what could have improved Let It Be even more?

1.  If only Paul McCartney hadn’t been estranged from Apple.  He normally would have been involved as Phil Spector was working on the album.  Paul would have been able to nullify some of Spector’s excess arrangements and over-the-top production tendencies.

2.  The original “live only” concept should have been eliminated sooner.  With all the “cheating” going on anyway, each song should have been made in its best version, even if that meant using overdubs and other recording techniques.  By dropping the pretense that this was somehow a “live” album, it could have had an improved running order.

3.  The presentation of the album would have worked better if it had been divided into these two sides…Studio and Live.  Here’s what it might have looked like.  (If you’d like to try this playlist, the tracks are from the remix Disc 1, except where noted.)

Side 1…Studio

1. Get Back (single from Beatles 1 or Past Masters)
2. Across The Universe (Anth. 2, Let It Be Naked, or Disc 1)
3. I Me Mine
4. Let It Be
5. For You Blue
6. The Long And Winding Road

Side 2…Live

1. Two Of Us
2. Don’t Let Me Down (from Let It Be Naked or Disc 2)
3. I’ve Got A Feeling
4. One After 909
5. Dig A Pony
6. Get Back

(Back of the proposed Let It Be album)

The album makes more sense this way, with both sides flowing better.  Side 1 features studio recordings of six good songs, bringing it in line with some of the best Beatles albums.

Instead of being out of place between studio cuts, the rooftop performances complement each other.  By putting the mini-concert on the second side, Let It Be would have have been more like Abbey Road, with a unique Side 2.

“Two Of Us” wasn’t performed on the rooftop, but it was performed live in the studio, and the silly intro “Doris gets her oats” ties it in with the looser feel and chatter used for the rooftop performances.  It makes a strong opener for that side, and then we can enjoy the concert.

Any album that has so many good songs, including three #1 singles (“Get Back”, “Let It Be” & “The Long And Winding Road”) should not be looked at in any way as a bad or lesser album…as Let It Be is sometimes characterized.  The Beatles probably should have continued working on Let It Be after filming ended January 31st, 1969 (instead of starting Abbey Road three weeks later), but they were anxious to leave the filming behind and get back to making albums the way they knew best.

The large companion book for the new Beatles documentary, The Beatles: Get Back, is a winner!

Above is the book I received on Tuesday, October 12th.  The cover photo is by Linda McCartney.  Below are photos and quotes from the book to give you an idea of what it’s like.

It’s a fairly large coffee table book, seen here with the very large Anthology book, and a couple of my other favorite Beatles books, for comparing the size.  The hard cover of the 240-page book has the picture printed on it, and there’s a small Let It Be jacket cover toward the bottom.

Get Back director Peter Jackson provides the foreword, and the book contains transcribed conversations from the film that was used to make the documentary.  It also has hundreds of photos by Ethan Russell and Linda McCartney, plus a lot of screen shots from the film.

The rehearsals and filming began on January 2nd, 1969 at Twickenham Film Studios.  It was a large, unusual place for The Beatles to be working, and that uncomfortable space, along with having cameras on them all the time, added to the pressure of having to write and learn songs.  Besides that, there was a plan to do a live performance as soon as January 18th.  The schedule was too ambitious, and the text in the book reveals The Beatles couldn’t come up with a good location for a concert.  They weren’t even sure they wanted to do it, with George the most opposed.

The book is generously filled with many previously unseen and cool photos of The Beatles as they were working on songs.  It was amazing to me how many songs they had started by January 6th.  Since they began on a Thursday, and took the weekend off, there were only three days of filming by Monday the 6th.  The songs they played parts of included “One After 909”, “All Things Must Pass”, “The Long And Winding Road”, “Let It Be”, “Two Of Us”, “Don’t Let Me Down”, “Golden Slumbers”, “Carry That Weight”, “I’ve Got A Feeling”, “Across The Universe”, “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”, “Oh Darling”, “She Came In Through The Bathroom Window”,  and “Something”.  These were mostly just the early formative stages of those songs, rather than being complete, but that was quite a start for the 1969 albums that would become Let It Be and Abbey Road.

It was also on January 6th that the infamous disagreement happened between George and Paul.  As they were working on “Two Of Us”, Paul wanted to keep the arrangement simple, and then add to it later.  George thought it would be better to try guitar parts right away to see what worked. At one point, George said… “I’ll play, you know,  whatever you want me to play, or I won’t play at all if you don’t want me to play.”  A few moments later, John said to Paul… “I think if it’s your song, you’ve got to do exactly like you want it.  You say, don’t play that.  Play that.  It’s up to you, you know…”

It was four days later, January 10th, when George said… “I think I’ll be…I’m leaving.”  John says…”What?”  George… “the band now.”  John…”When?”  George… “Now.”

The three Beatles even mentioned (probably not seriously) getting another lead guitarist if George didn’t return.  They met privately with George twice, and decided to move the whole project to the much more comfortable studio they had installed at Apple.  The Beatles, including George, returned to recording.

After that change, the sessions became much happier. The Beatles helped each other with the songs as they were being created.  The transcripts show there was a lot of humor and cooperation during most of their time together.

Now at Apple, it looks like there are six Beatles.  Keyboardist Billy Preston was a welcome addition to the recording sessions.  Yoko Ono was at John’s side almost all of the time (as he wanted it), and the quotes in the book show the other Beatles grew to accept that.  Paul knew that John would choose Yoko over The Beatles if he had to.  In talking with the others when John wasn’t there, Paul said… “It’s going to be such an incredible sort of comical thing like, in 50 years’ time, you know: ‘They broke up ‘cause Yoko sat on an amp.’  (laughs).”  Paul also said… “It’s all right, let the young lovers stay together.”

In a total of just 21 days of recording from January 2nd through January 31st, the songs became more polished, and The Beatles pulled off their rooftop concert.

The rooftop performance was January 30th, and The Beatles returned to the studio on the 31st for one more day of filming. 

That’s when they nailed the film versions of “Two Of Us”, “The Long And Winding Road”, and the final song recorded that January, “Let It Be”.  Those performances were the highlights of the original movie.  Without them, they really wouldn’t have had enough good songs to put an album together.  Of course then they could have saved those songs for Abbey Road, and Paul could have given them the full production treatment any way he wished.

If you really want to know what The Beatles were thinking during the recording of Let It Be, this book will fill you in on all of it…plus you get the photos.  The $60 list price book was marked down to $30 on Amazon in 2022.

Having finished the filming and the live style of recording (without overdubs), The Beatles soon decided to convince George Martin to help them record an album the way they had in the past, and the result was Abbey Road which was completed in August of 1969.  At least eleven of the songs on that album were introduced by the group during the Let It Be sessions.

The Let It Be box set is out, and the nearly 8-hour Get Back documentary is now on Disney+.  It’s being released on DVD and Blu-ray, but the original release date of February 8th, 2022 was postponed to July 12th, 2022 due to a technical problem.

Here’s the link to my review of the new box set:  https://ontherecords.net/2021/10/let-it-be-2021-box-set-review/

Extra:  Here’s the 240-page Get Back book next to the 100-page book that comes in the box set.

How we consume music has changed significantly, with streaming now far and away the biggest way we pay for it.

The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) has released the figures for the first half of 2021.   Streaming accounted for 84% of all music sales.  There are more than 80-million subscriptions to streaming.  Physical sales were only about 10% of revenues.  About two-thirds of that is vinyl records, which saw a 94% increase (skewed some by the pandemic, which hurt last year’s in-store sales).

The biggest album for physical sales was Taylor Swift’s Evermore, which sold over 100,000 vinyl copies in one week…more than any other album in the last 30-years.  Even with significant growth in vinyl sales, listening to records is mostly a hobby, and not the major way we consume most of our music.  Remember, artists used to sell millions of vinyl albums in the ‘70’s & ‘80’s.  Records and CD’s do make nice keepsakes of our favorite artists.

While vinyl continues to grow, CD purchases are still going down.  Box sets, like my George Harrison All Things Must Pass (shown above) are still money makers, but CD’s only accounted for one-third of physical sales.  To be fair, CD’s also cost much less than vinyl, so the number of units sold could actually be similar.  Update: (Feb., 2022)  Sales of CD’s rose slightly in 2022, for the first time after many years of decline.

Digital purchases, such as on iTunes, have fallen drastically in the past few years, and now provide around 5% of sales.

That leaves music licensing (such as for films, commercials, and venues), which accounted for less than 2% of music sales.

The way we get our music shifted amazingly fast once services like Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music gave us access to millions of songs for relatively low monthly fees.  For the price of one box set, you can have a year’s worth of music on streaming.

He was almost in the Eagles, and he was almost a big solo star.  His friends became very famous…Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Glenn Frey, and Don Henley.  John David Souther may have just missed stardom, but he was very successful.

(Photos from 1971 and 1972)

J.D. Souther was born in Detroit in 1945, and was raised in Texas.  When he moved to California in the late 60s, he met another Detroit native, Glenn Frey, and they formed a Country Rock duo called Longbranch Pennywhistle.

What?  You don’t remember their 1969 album?  It would probably be completely forgotten if it weren’t for the historical perspective it provides.  As the Eagles formed in 1971, J.D. Souther was encouraged to join.  They even worked on one of his songs, “How Long”, but J.D. thought the band already had enough guitarists & singers, and decided solo was the way to go.

His self-titled album came out in 1972, just like the Eagles’ first album.  One of the albums was a hit, and one went to the cut-out bins.  Souther wouldn’t release another solo album for four years; however, he soon found great success…as a songwriter.

Let’s look at some of the songs J.D. Souther helped write for these albums.

Here are the songs J.D. co-wrote (mostly with Don Henley & Glenn Frey):

”Doolin’-Dalton”, “Best Of My Love” (#1), “You Never Cry Like A Lover”, “James Dean”, “New Kid In Town” (#1), “Heartache Tonight” (#1), and “The Sad Cafe”.  That’s three #1 singles, and they’re on some of the best-selling albums of all time.

Three decades later (2007), the Eagles released J.D. Souther’s “How Long” as a hit off their final studio album, Long Road Out Of Eden.  The song won the Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group.  It also was a hit on the Adult Contemporary charts.

Besides the Eagles, J.D. Souther helped with the success of one-time girlfriend, and lifetime friend, Linda Ronstadt.

Here are the songs J.D. Souther wrote that Linda Ronstadt recorded (including duets on which he sang):

”I Can Almost See It”, “Don’t Cry Now”, “The Fast One”, “Faithless Love” (duet), “Prisoner In Disguise” (duet), “Silver Blue” (duet), “Simple Man, Simple Dream”, “White Rhythm And Blues”, and “Hearts Against The Wind” (duet on the Urban Cowboy soundtrack).

Obviously, with the extreme popularity of Linda Ronstadt and the Eagles, J.D. Souther was earning an amazing living as a songwriter.  He would see some success as a solo artist starting in 1976, but first…a band.

There was an attempt to form a “supergroup” by putting J.D. Souther, Chris Hillman (of The Byrds), and Richie Furay (of Poco) together as a band.  It resulted in two albums (I bought), and some success.  The albums reached #11 and #39 in 1974 & 1975, but the group split up after the second album.  It was partly because they were put together by their label, rather than having come together naturally.  Next were the solo albums.

I picked up these albums as they were released in 1976, 1979, 1984, and 2011.  The Black Rose album included several songs Souther had written for Ronstadt, plus more originals.  As a young man, J.D. had been influenced by Jazz artists, so besides the Country Rock feel, there are touches of Jazz in some of the arrangements.  It’s a really good album, but only made it to #85 on the Top 200 chart.

J.D. Souther’s greatest solo success was in 1979.  His single “You’re Only Lonely” went to #7 on the Top 100 chart, and spent multiple weeks at #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.  The You’re Only Lonely album peaked at #41, his best solo showing.  It’s also his best album, though Black Rose is close.

Between albums in 1981, James Taylor & J.D. Souther released the duet “Her Town Too”.  It went to #11 on the Top 100 chart, and hit #5 on the AC chart.  The song was written by the two singers, and guitarist Waddy Wachtel.

Neither of Souther’s next two albums, Home By Dawn and Natural History charted, but the latter one featured cool stripped-down versions of some of the songs he co-wrote with the Eagles.  At this point, Souther dropped the periods from his initials, and became JD Souther.

You might have caught JD on TV.  He had a significant role on season three of Thirty Something (1989-1990), and more recently was a recurring character in the country music show Nashville (2012-2017).

In an interview, JD Souther addressed the question of fame.  “The closest I got to being really famous was during the ‘You’re Only Lonely’ period, and I really didn’t like it that much, frankly.  It’s a relief in some ways, though it doesn’t pay quite as well.”

While not well known by the general pubic, JD Souther is famous with musicians and songwriters.  He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame in 2013.  John David Souther had an impressive career…with maybe just the right amount of fame.

Update:  (January 6th, 2024)  JD Souther joined the Eagles for one of their Long Goodbye concerts at The Forum in Los Angeles.  He sang with them on several songs, and took the lead on “New Kid In Town”.

(JD Souther and Don Henley, January 5th, 2024 in L.A.)

Update 9/17/24:  Sadly, it was confirmed today that John David Souther has died at the age of 78.  The cause of death was not provided, but he passed away peacefully at his home in New Mexico.  JD had performed a show in Delaware just five days earlier.

Extra:  In case you’re not familiar with his recordings, here’s a recommended playlist of JD Souther songs you can stream.  The first six songs are from You’re Only Lonely, and the next six are from Black Rose.

1. You’re Only Lonely
2. The Last In Love
3. If You Don’t Want My Love
4. Songs Of Love
5. White Rhythm & Blues (Phil Everly on Harmony)
6. Til The Bars Burn Down
7. Simple Man, Simple Dream
8. Silver Blue
9. Midnight Prowl
10. I Can Almost See It (Demo)
11. Faithless Love
12. Doors Swing Open
13. Go Ahead And Rain
14. Hearts Against The Wind (with Linda Ronstadt)
15. The Sad Cafe
16. It Might Be Mine (with Linda Ronstadt)
17. The Heartbreaker (with Souther-Hillman-Fury Band)
18. New Kid In Town
19. Something In The Dark
20. I’ll Be Here At Closing Time

 

A 5-CD plus Blu-ray “Super Deluxe” box set of Let It  Be was released on October 15th, 2021 (vinyl too).

The discs include the new remix of the Let It Be album, the original unreleased 1969 Get Back album, plus songs from sessions and rehearsals.  You can see a hardback book of photos and information is included.  It’s a 100 page book, as compared with the 240 page The Beatles: Get Back book that came out October 12th.  The book in the box set has detailed information on the recordings, and comments from Paul McCartney, Glyn Johns and more, whereas the other book has dialogue from the film.  Both have previously unreleased photos.   The list price for this Super Deluxe set is $139.98.  (The vinyl version is $199.98.)

Here are the track listings from the back of the box (click to enlarge & make clearer):

Each of these playlists is short enough to fit on a vinyl record, so the Super Deluxe vinyl box set is 5-discs too (4 LP’s and an EP).  The list price is $199.98.

A 2-CD Deluxe set (below) contains the new remix, plus a disc of selected highlights from the rest of the box set.  The list price is $24.98.  The remixed album is also available as a single disc or record.

The never-released Get Back album (with no overdubs) that was assembled by Glyn Johns comes with a nice touch.  Both the CD & Vinyl sets include the cover that was planned for that 1969 album.  Here’s a shot of it from my box set.

The Super Deluxe sets also include two discs of recordings from sessions and rehearsals, and a 4-track EP that includes remixes of the “Let It Be” & “Don’t Let Me Down” singles.  The CD set also has a Blu-ray audio disc of the new remix album with 5.1/Dolby Atmos.  

Some fans are disappointed the full rooftop concert isn’t included.  When asked about it, Giles Martin said the rooftop versions are best when watching the film of The Beatles performing them.  The whole concert is in the new film.  Of course the five songs from the rooftop concert are in the box set.  “I’ve Got A Feeling”, “Dig A Pony”, and “One After 909” are the rooftop recordings.  The first rooftop take of “Don’t Let Me Down” is also included.  “Get Back” is made to sound like it’s the rooftop version, with comments from the concert edited onto the beginning and end of the song.  Update:  The entire rooftop performance was released to music streaming services on January 28th, 2022.  The sound quality is excellent.

The front of the box set is very similar to the original Let It Be album cover.  Those pictures are on the book, and are visible through four cutouts in the black cardboard case.

There’s even a vinyl picture disc!  $35.98 ($10 more than the standard vinyl.)

The Let It Be remix hit #1 on the Billboard Album Sales chart, and #5 on the Top 200 Albums chart (which factors in streaming).

Here’s the link to my review of the new box set:  https://ontherecords.net/2021/10/let-it-be-2021-box-set-review/ 

The Country Rock band Poco released their first album in 1969, but it wasn’t until a decade later that they finally had a hit.

(Jim Messina, Randy Meisner, George Grantham, Richie Furay, Rusty Young)

When their band, Buffalo Springfield, broke up in 1968, Jim Messina and Richie Furay (guitarists, vocalists, & songwriters) started the band Poco.  They added Randy Meisner on bass & vocals, George Grantham on drums & vocals, and Rusty Young on steel guitar, banjo, guitar & vocals.  Country Rock was just heating up, and with this talented line-up Poco was sure to be a big success, even though their name means “little” in Spanish.

Unfortunately, their first two albums in 1969 & 1970 only made it to #63 and #58 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart.  Bassist Randy Meisner left the band as the first album was being released.  He went on to play in Rick Nelson’s Stone Canyon Band, and then become a founding member of the Eagles.  He stayed with the Eagles through the album Hotel California.

Poco’s singles weren’t hits either….including “You Better Think Twice” #72 and “Just For Me And You” #110.

I started buying Poco albums when they released the live album Deliverin’ (#26) in 1971.  Timothy B. Schmit had replaced Randy Meisner on bass, and he would replace him in the Eagles years later.  When I bought the studio album From The Inside, (#52) also in 1971, I found out Jim Messina had left (to get together with Kenny Loggins), and he was replaced by Paul Cotton.  Cotton became the lead guitarist, one of the lead vocalists, and one of the songwriters for the band.

(This is probably the most classic line-up of Poco.  Timothy B. Schmit. Richie Furay, George Grantham, Rusty Young, and Paul Cotton.)

Paul Cotton was a little familiar to me, because I had purchased an album by The Illinois Speed Press from a cut-out bin in 1970.  The best song on the album is “Bad Weather”, which Paul Cotton also did with Poco on From The Inside.  Here’s the Illinois Speed Press version from my original 1970 vinyl album:

(Poco’s best studio album, Crazy Eyes , released in 1973.)

Poco kept almost making it big.  By 1973, the Eagles were taking Country Rock into the upper portion of both the album and singles charts.  Poco’s label, Epic, brought in Guess Who producer, Jack Richardson, who helped create a really solid album, Crazy Eyes.  Some of the songs featured extensive orchestration like the Eagles would come to use on some of their songs.

Tracks on Crazy Eyes included a beautiful rendition of “Magnolia”, an excellent ballad by J.J. Cale.  It also had the first recording of “Brass Buttons” written by Gram Parsons.   He had been a member of The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers.  The centerpiece of the album is “Crazy Eyes” (by Richie Furay) which is over nine-and-a-half minutes long, and is brilliantly arranged.  The song is in reference to Gram Parsons, who died at the age of 26 from a drug and alcohol overdose that year.

Crazy Eyes was the highest charting of Poco’s first ten studio albums, but at #38, it still wasn’t the level of success they had hoped for.  Richie Furay left to join The Souther-Hillman-Furay band with Chris Hillman and J.D. Souther.  Instead of replacing Furay, Rusty Young stepped up his songwriting and vocal work.  Poco followed the advice of their 1975 song “Keep On Tryin’” (#50), as they moved to the ABC label.

Finally, in 1979 a song written and sung by Rusty Young, “Crazy Love”, made it to #17 on the Top 40 chart, and #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.  As a reminder, here’s the song:

The album, Legend, climbed to #14, their best showing ever.  It also contained the hit “Heart Of The Night” (#20), written and sung by Paul Cotton.

The album’s cover drawing of a horse was by Phil Hartman of Saturday Night Live.  You can see the artwork was incorporated into multiple Poco album covers (above).  Hartman was a graphic artist before he became an actor and comedian.  His brother, John, was the manager for Poco and the band America.  Phil Hartman also did the excellent cover art for the album History: America’s Greatest Hits.

After 1979, Poco released another seven studio albums, and lots of various “Best Of” collections.  I particularly liked the 2 CD set shown above.  It contained the songs recorded while they were with the Epic label.

In 1989, the original members of Poco got together for the album Legacy which made it to #40, and had their final two Top 40 hits, “Call It Love” (#18), and  “Nothin’ To Hide” (#39).

The truth is, no other Country Rock bands ever came close to the popularity of the Eagles, and few even equaled Poco’s popularity.  It seemed like the acts were too Country for Rock radio stations, and too Rock for Country stations.

In 2021, we lost two of Poco’s most important members.

Rusty Young, shown above on banjo & steel guitar, passed away of a heart attack on April 14h, 2021 at his home in Missouri at the age of 75.  Lead guitarist Paul Cotton, shown above on guitar, passed away August 1st, 2021.  He was at his Summer home near Eugene, Oregon.  His wife said he died suddenly, but no cause was given.  He was 78.

Even though Poco never became immensely popular, they still attracted a large following of devoted fans who attended their live shows for decades.  The musicians of Poco were respected professionals who made a great living doing the thing they loved.  Nearly everyone would call that a big success.

Most artist don’t wait 14 years to follow up a big Grammy winning album, but Alison Krauss and Robert Plant did.

Raise The Roof was released on November 19th, 2021.  The first single is “Can’t Let Go”, which sounds like a long lost hit by the Everly Brothers (even though Lucinda Williams wrote it).  You may remember that the Everly’s “Gone Gone Gone” was the first hit from their previous album.  Here’s the link to “Can’t Let Go”:

https://youtu.be/U-sPS9y7y5c

Their 2007 album Raising Sand won five Grammy awards, including Album Of The Year.  Once again, T Bone Burnett (who also won a Grammy for the last album) is the producer, and he used top session players.  One song, “High And Lonesome” is an original, and the other eleven songs are by outside writers.  Here’s the track list:

Eleven of the twelve songs are covers of relatively obscure tracks that the duo and producer T Bone Burnett have shaped into their own style.  Two of the songs that feature both Plant and Krauss throughout, “Quattro (World Drifts In)” and “Can’t Let Go” are standout tracks.  Many of the songs are more like solos, with some harmony help from the other singer.  One such song, and another highlight, features Robert Plant’s “High And Lonesome”, which he wrote with Burnett.  The 73-year-old singer’s voice is still strong, and sounds impressive throughout the album.  Of course Krauss, at 50, has one of the most beautiful voices in all of music.

The arrangements and the production by T Bone Burnett are as important as the stars’ vocals.  An example of how rearranging a song can be transformative is “The Price Of Love”.  It’s an old Everly Brothers song that didn’t particularly resonate.  Here it’s slowed down to become a moody piece sung mostly by Alison Krauss, with the harmonies saved for the chorus.  It works so much better.

If you liked the first album by these two, you’ll enjoy Raise The Roof too.  The quality is still there (it may even be a little better), but with some major releases this year, it may not win at the Grammys.

Krauss and Plant have also been touring.

Extra:  For a career-spanning article on Alison Krauss, and exclusive concert photos, here’s the link:  https://ontherecords.net/2020/02/alison-krauss/

All Things Must Pass…but apparently not this great album.  It’s been 51 years since George Harrison’s best post-Beatles album was released, and now it sounds better than ever!

George Harrison said he was tempted to remix the album to lose some of the reverb and “wall of sound” production techniques used by Phil Spector.  George’s son Dhani and mixer/engineer Paul Hicks have made that happen. The 50th Anniversary remix of All Things Must Pass lets us hear George Harrison’s vocals much better than previously, yet the the songs retain the feel of the original arrangements.  Paul Hicks was able to do the same thing for John Lennon’s best songs with last year’s collection Gimme Some Truth.

Despite all the extra demos and outtakes, the most important recordings are the ones on the original album that we’ve known for over 50 years.  The improvement in those recordings is impressive.  From the first track, the Harrison/Dylan song “I’d Have You Anytime”, the depth and clarity of the voices and instruments are so much better.  “My Sweet Lord” let’s you hear George’s voice and the background chorus like never before.

The new remix of “Isn’t It A Pity” is especially revealing.  Now we can hear the individual instruments, and how brilliantly they were used to build up the song as it progresses.  We’re fully hearing the song for the first time.  By the way, like many of these songs, “Isn’t It A Pity” was written during The Beatles’ time together, but wasn’t seriously worked on by the band.  It may be better that George was able to keep these songs for his personal vision.

Following “Isn’t It A Pity” are three more of the album’s best songs… “What Is Life”, “If Not For You”, and “Behind That Locked Door”.  They all sound great, especially the last one.  The remix sounds like George and the band are in the room with you.  A surprise for me was “Let It Down”.  The remix sounds so much better that it elevates my opinion of the song.  “Run Of The Mill” (which every common sense person knows should have been titled “It’s You That Decides”) is perfection.  On the outtakes CD, there’s an alternate version with dual guitars that are a bit reminiscent of the style used by The Allman Brothers Band.

The third side of the original album started with one of the album’s very best tracks, “Beware Of Darkness”, and that side’s lineup is strong all the way through to the excellent title track “All Things Must Pass”.  The point is, if you liked the songs before, you’re going to enjoy them even more with the greatly improved mixes.  Dhani Harrison and Paul Hicks deserve high praise for their years of work on this project.  Their goal was to improve the sound of these recordings so they will be enjoyed for another 50 years and beyond.  Mission accomplished.

There are a bunch of different CD and vinyl versions available.  This is my three CD version.  It includes the remixes of the original three record set, plus a full CD of outtakes and alternate versions.  You can click and zoom the photo to see the songs on each CD sleeve.  The set also has a nice colorful 20-page booklet, and a folded poster with the lyrics on the back.  There’s a five CD version that has two discs of demos, which I listened to on streaming.  A complete list of the songs and the descriptions of the various CD & Vinyl versions (with prices) are available in an earlier article on this site.

(A quote from George Harrison at the front of the booklet)

The outtakes disc starts with a short verse that shows George’s sense of humor about how long it takes to get a song right.  He sings… “Isn’t it so shitty, isn’t it a shame.  How we do so many takes, and we’re doing it again.”  The outtakes are interesting, but like nearly every box set, you’ll hear why the versions ultimately chosen are better.  There’s a new track on the disc that’s an enjoyable eight-and-a-half-minute blues jam, “Almost 12-Bar Honky Tonk”.  George recruited top musicians for this album, and they played great together.

The two demo CD’s are divided into Day 1 and Day 2.  It’s striking how many songs George Harrison had available to record just six months after The Beatles broke up.  He had obviously been writing the songs for years, and now he could bring them to life for the public.  Even though the produced versions are better than the demos, you may enjoy hearing how the songs began.

(My 30th & 50th Anniversary CD box sets)

Additional test:  After loading the CD’s into my computer at the highest quality possible, I made a playlist of the songs from the 2001 remaster.  Then immediately followed each song with the same song from the 2021 remix…in order to get a good comparison.  The audio was played on a high-quality stereo system.  The simplest explanation of the result is that the 2001 remaster sounded like it was playing on smaller speakers than the 2021 remix.  Even though the volume levels were the same, the new remix definitely lets you hear the bass and drums more like the instruments really sound (full & clear).  Besides the clarity of all the instruments, the biggest improvement is that the remix sounds more like George is right there with you.

There are always some people who are going to prefer the version they’ve known for 50 years, and that’s okay.  But I can only imagine the screams that would have happened if this new remix had been the original version, and Apple later released that thinner sounding version with vocals more buried, and an over abundance of reverb.

I bought the original 3-record set on sale for $6.50 the week it came out in 1970.  The album was extremely popular.  It went to #1 for seven weeks, and by some counts is the biggest selling solo album by any of The Beatles.  Paul McCartney’s Band On The Run actually sold more copies, but a 3-record set counts as three sales.

It’s obvious George Harrison would have loved the new mix of All Things Must Pass, and would have been proud of his son for making his wish come true.  There’s no other solo album by an ex-Beatle that contains so many great songs.  The new remix deserves as many stars as reviewers are allowed to give.

Update:  All Things Must Pass won Best Box Set at the 2022 Grammy Awards.  That makes Dhani the first Beatles’ son or daughter to win a Grammy.  His mom, Olivia, also won as a co-producer.  She joins Linda McCartney and Yoko Ono who won Grammys with their husbands.

Extra:  Wanted to share this photo from the booklet.