Let It Roll - Songs Of George Harrison

A great long playing compilation including some rare live performances.I received my CD yesterday and was able to listen to it beginning to end during a lengthy dawn commute. This CD is an excellent quality release. A George Harrison release or re-release has been long overdue and this fits the bill nicely. Unlike the half dozen recycled "Best Of" John Lennon CDs currently on the market, I rate this Harrison release as reasonably original. At least there is no blatant attempt to market a slapped together rehash CD.In summary: Nice selection of tracks, great quality, booklet included, and you cannot beat the price. The only missed opportunity was for an additional one or two CDs to complete the "anthology."LET IT ROLL contains 19 tracks all of which have been remastered. The selection of music is curious as is is sprinkled with tracks from ALL THINGS MUST PASS, LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD, GEORGE HARRISON, SOMEWHERE IN ENGLAND, CLOUD NINE, and BRAINWASHED. Inexplicably the CD ignores music from DARK HORSE, EXTRA TEXTURE, and GONE TROPPO albums. The CD also boasts live performances of While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Something, and Here Comes the Sun.I was originally hopeful that an updated version of THE BEST OF DARK HORSE 1976 - 1989 would have been released as a companion to the original BEST OF GEORGE HARRISON CD. My old cassette version, though surviving a 1991 military deployment to Southwest Asia, has long since gone missing. One of the greatest attributes of BEST OF DARK HORSE was that it contained 'Cheer Down,' which was the only album where that song could be found -- excepting the subsequent live album. Never fear, LET IT ROLL includes 'Cheer Down.'Three tracks from Harrison's final album BRAINWASHED also appear on this CD. BRAINWASHED was a very good album that was unfortunately stopped in its digital tracks by George's untimely passing. As such it is very appropriate for some of these great numbers to appear again.As with most compilation albums/CDs there will always be people who are somewhat disappointed that their favorites did not make the final cut. Believe me, I feel the same way. It is likely that no two George Harrison fans will ever agree on what tracks should comprise a "Best Of" or anthology release. So be it. LET IT ROLL is a great start. Hopefully there will be other releases that will eventually comprise an anthology release.

Even though I know that George Harrison made an important and luminous contribution to the Beatles body of work, I was never as big a fan of his solo work as I was of John Lennon's and Paul McCartney's. Through the years I bought some of George's individual albums, on vinyl or cassette. Recently I thought it would be good to have a collection of his work on CD, and this is the one I found. I notice that several reviewers are dissatisfied with this set for various reasons, and I decided to put my opinion on record too. Bear in mind that since I was not a huge fan of George's solo work, it would follow that I would be easier to please than a serious fan would be.Several reviewers complained about selections that were or were not included. Some mentioned that the 3 Beatle songs that are taken from the "Concert For Bangladesh Soundtrack" are very inferior to the originals. I agree with that, but since I have the entire Beatles set on CD, that was not a problem for me. The concert versions of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Something" are not bad in my opinion. I don't like the live version of "Here Comes The Sun". It is just too stripped down and dull; I miss that "Abbey Road" gloss. So, why include them at all? Simply because that concert featured George and it is part of his work as a solo artist, so why not? Several reviewers specified individual solo numbers that are not included. The only one that I recognized as a serious omission is "Crackerbox Palace". I remember it as being a pretty big hit and I do wonder why it was left out. Some reviewers complained that the sound is of poor quality. I noticed some tracks that sound a bit "muffled" to me, causing me to turn up the volume even though that really didn't get rid of the problem. And all of them are from the 70's: "Give Me Love", "Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp", "My Sweet Lord", "What Is Life" and "Blow Away". The others sound reasonably good and clear. I would like to mention that this collection sounds better overall than Ringo Starr's "Photograph", another solo Beatle collection that I bought recently.There are 2 tracks that I was not very familiar with, and I am happy to have them now. "This Is Love", co-written with Jeff Lynne, is a strong mid-tempo track with a great guitar hook. "Rising Sun", also mid-tempo, incorporates some nice chord changes. As for my favorites, I would have to include "My Sweet Lord", one of the hymns of my generation. I also love its companion piece, "Isn't It A Pity", one of the most majestic and gorgeous tracks George ever recorded. These 2 songs reflect clearly the spirituality that pervades his work. He communicates an idea of oneness, that there is something out there bigger than our petty earthly concerns. On the lighter side, I like "Cheer Down". Co-written with Tom Petty, it is a superb pop track, brilliantly produced. And of course, "When We Was Fab" recalls those heady days "back then long time ago when grass was green", but with a twist: "The microscopes that magnified the tears/Studied warts and all/Still life flowed on and on." I guess it wasn't always fun to be a Beatle.To sum up, I rate the sound as good enough, and the track list covers my need for a George Harrison collection. I am thoroughly enjoying it. Out of 19 tracks, there are only 3 that I skip over, so to me that makes it a success.

I give this CD 5 stars because when you compare it to the previously weak "Best of" George Harrison albums, this is a markedly better. I agree with many of the previous reviewers that there are several songs that could have been added. Although this collection features 19 songs, I imagine it was hard to accommodate Harrison's extensive catalogue. In addition, rarely are the "Best of CDs" the ultimate collection, primarily due to marketing future CDs. But this is a very good representation of Harrison's music with some nuggets, the excellent live performance of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and the wonderful demo of "I Don't Want to Do It" that I have never heard of before in spite of my own extensive collection. I particularly like this collection because it displays some of Harrison's unique work like "The Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp" while showing off some of his best vocals as displayed on "This is Love". I too would have added a few more such as "Apple Scruffs" from "All Things Must Pass" and "Dream Away" featuring a fantastic Harrison duet from the grossly underappreciated "Gone Troppo" album. With the limits that music stores have in stock these days, it is great to have a very good representation of Harrison's songs back on the shelves. I think it will wet the appetites of a younger generation less familiar with Harrison, continuing his legacy beyond being a Beatle. That said; I would love to see a new collection of 'just' Harrison's Beatle solos including those written by Lennon and McCartney.The CD also includes an excellent booklet with numerous pictures of George through the course of his solo career with detailed descriptions of George and his music. Makes this modestly priced CD a bargain."Live In Japan" is a deeper collection that is also reccommended.

This latest collection of George Harrison's spectacular musical history contains the most popular hits of his career. To be noted, there are some hits that are excluded, but are available on other Harrisons Collections such as, Best of and Best of Dark Horse. The best part of this disc is the fantastic remastering done by Giles Martin at EMI's Abbey Road Studio; the birthplace of the Beatles. Expert Warren Zanes has extensive liner notes that reveal the heart and soul of George Harrison and some insights into his person and music. Zanes notes that George Harrison has twice been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame both as a solo artist and as a Beatles member. Also included are the amazing mentions of Harrison's eleven (11) Grammy awards from the Beatles, his solo work and The Traveling Wilbury's.This collection spans George Harrison's entire solo recording career, including the #1 singles "My Sweet Lord," "Isn't It A Pity," "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)," and "Got My Mind Set On You." The collection also includes three live recordings of Harrison-penned Beatles songs, including, "Something," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," and "Here Comes The Sun." from Concert for Bangladesh the 1971 all-concert benefit at Madison Square Garden. Five of the songs are from Harrisons groundbreaking triple album, All Things Must Pass [BOXED EDITION].For the true fan, there are dozens and dozens of album cut gems from other albums in Harrison's tremendous career.

This collection of Harrison tunes represents a good sampling from various points in his long musical career. However, it may not contain the particular favorites from every Harrison fan, so one would want to hold on to other recordings one may have. It is by no means exhaustive, but nevertheless, it is a very good (and good sounding) collection. It contains songs that I've heard many times in my life, and also some that are utterly new to me. The only thing is that the album starts with "Got My Mind Set on You," which I would have placed in a position more accurately reflecting its chronology, but this is a minor quibble. The main thing is, if you like George Harrison, you will probably like this album also.

Superb album. Supreme songwriters and musician.

Highly recommend this for those interested in George. His talents were underestimated. He is very rejected and this brigs out his best

Very good selection of tracks. Nice cover and pictures.

Nil

Belle compilation de George, sortie en 2009 19 titres, j'y trouve mon compte n'ayant pas tout les albums de HARRISON , tel que des tites comme Any Road/ Marwa Blues tiré de l'album Braiwashed', à noter que ce dernier titre instrumental est excellent, avec sa slide si reconnaissante, un maitre en la matière, on y trouve aussi des titres tiré de l'album Cloud nine ', While my guitar gently weeps, Something et Here come the sun proviennent du concert BANGLADESH en live donc.Bien sur des classiques comme What if Life/ My Sweet lord/ isn't it a Pity tiré de All Things Must Pass ou Give me Love de l'album ' Living in the material world ou encore All those Year du 'Somewhere in England + quelques singles , peut-être inédits en albums ? Bref une belle compile !!

19 Tracks sehr guter Klang, super

I am a big George Harrison fan. His ability to fuse Indian sounds and spirituality is amazing. My favourites... My Sweet Lord, Let it Roll . A must have album.

Un’ottima compilation con l’essenziale di George Harrison, il “tranquillo” dei fab four.