Bobby Whitlock on All Things Must Pass.


If you have any interest in George Harrison’s All Thinks Must Pass album---especially in it’s upcoming 50th Anniversary incarnation---you have GOT to watch Bobby Whitlock’s new YouTube video about the recording of the album! Bobby is the organist/pianist/harmony singer (and player of other assorted instruments) on the album, as well as the same (along with songwriter) in Derek & The Dominos.

Bobby was very recently contacted by George’s estate regarding his recollections of the recording of ATMP, as his memory of that event far surpasses that of any other still-living participant, including Ringo and Eric Clapton. His recounting of the recording of the album is FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC! An utter joy to watch and hear. He and his wife/musical partner Coco Carmel recorded the video in their Texas home, and you may watch it on YouTube.

The video is very easy to find: Once on YouTube, do a search for "Bobby Whitlock", and click on his name. The first video in the queue is entitled "All Things Must Pass 50th/Just The Facts". I CANNOT wait for the newly-mixed version of the recordings (without Phil Spector’s gratuitous, grossly-excessive echo and reverb), to be offered in many different forms.
128x128bdp24
@rwwaer, It's good to know I haven't been alone in feeling as I have since the original releases of ATMP. And to learn that George himself had misgivings and eventually regrets about Spector's production of the album.

Bobby Whitlock enthusiastically endorses the new mixes, stripped of Spector's unnecessary and inappropriate post-recording production work. To me, it's like colorizing a beautiful black & white film. Why? Because it's the only style of production Spector understood. My question is: Why did George hire Spector in the first place? He had already ruined the Let It Be album.

I'm happy that we will finally hear the music in a better presentation (Dhani likens the work done on the album to that of restoring an old painting), and sad that George didn't live to see it made available.
Something must have happened between the mixes Bobby & Coco were sent and the pressing of the vinyl, because the negative  reaction they posted today was pretty visceral. 
I understood Whitlock to say the original was exactly what Harrison and Spector wanted at the time. GH best Lp's were with the big sound with PS and later with Jeff Lynn.
I returned home this afternoon from a nice week on the Oregon coast. As I downed a few glasses of whiskey on the rocks I caught up with a bunch of my fave YouTube video posters, including Bobby Whitlock and CoCo Carmel (she tapes and asks questions from behind the camera, he responds on screen). Their latest video is dedicated to the Uber boxset version of ATMP that Universal sent him, and man, he wasn't afraid to call it as he heard it. The video is entitled "All Things Must Be A Joke", a hint of what is to come:

CoCo starts the video by saying she and Bobby just listened to the LP's on "our great stereo system" (they've never described or shown it in any video), and then asks him "What did you think?" His response is:

"Mortified. That's the worst sounding sh*t I ever heard in my life. I can hardly believe it.....it's f*cking awful. You can't hear anything on it. It's all muddy bass, and muddy drums, there is no clarity to it whatsoever."

Well, that's quite a bit different from how he described the sound of the streamed version he received a few weeks ago, which was generally complimentary and positive. Bobby says he played his original 1970 LP's just to make sure of what he was hearing, and describes the original thusly: "It's clear, you could hear the band, you could hear his voice. It's crisp and alive." He then says "I can't even hardly describe how terrible this (the new remix) is." Yow.

Bobby and CoCo then talk about the sound of the streamed remixes sounding quite good, so the obvious question is did Paul Hicks create one mix for the LP's, and one for digital? Another question is obviously what are the digital and analogue players Bobby and CoCo listened through?

As for now I believe I'll hold off on getting ANY version of the 50th Anniversary ATMP.