Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison

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This article is about the George Harrison compilation album. For the song by Harrison, see Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll).

Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison
Greatest hits album by
George Harrison
Released16 June 2009
Recorded1970–2001
GenreRock
Length77:26
LanguageEnglish
Label
Producer
George Harrison chronology
The Dark
Horse Years
1976–1992
(2004) 		Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison
(2009) 		Collaborations (with Ravi Shankar)
(2010)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
BBC(favourable)[2]
Contactmusic9/10[3]
PopMatters[4]
Record Collector[5]
Rolling Stone[6]
Spin[7]
Uncut[8][9]

Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison[10] is the third compilation of songs recorded by English singer-songwriter George Harrison, and the first to span his entire solo career after the Beatles era. The collection was announced on 14 April 2009, the same day that Harrison received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and was released 16 June 2009, on both CD and in digital format.[10]

Track selection[edit]

Let It Roll contains Harrison songs originally released on the Beatles' EMI-affiliated Apple Records and his Dark Horse label. All the tracks are presented in digitally remastered form, and the collection includes a 28-page booklet featuring previously unseen and rare photos together with an essay by music historian Warren Zanes. The track list was selected by George's widow, Olivia Harrison, with some assistance from close friends and family.

The album includes all of Harrison's songs that reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart – "My Sweet Lord", "Isn't It a Pity", "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)" and "Got My Mind Set on You",[11] – as well as other international number 1 singles such as "What Is Life" and "All Those Years Ago". Live solo recordings of three Beatles songs ("While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun"), from the Grammy-winning album The Concert for Bangladesh, are also included.

iTunes exclusively offers the digital album with a previously unreleased bonus track, Harrison's demo version of "Isn't It a Pity".[11]

Despite being marketed as Harrison's first career-spanning hits compilation, six of his twelve studio albums were not represented at all: Wonderwall Music (1968), Electronic Sound (1969), Dark Horse (1974), Extra Texture (Read All About It) (1975), Thirty Three & 1/3 (1976) and Gone Troppo (1982). In addition, several of his hit singles are absent from the track listing – songs such as "Bangla Desh", "Deep Blue", "Dark Horse", "Ding Dong, Ding Dong", "You", "This Song" and "Crackerbox Palace", all of which had charted in the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. No songs from Harrison's output with the Traveling Wilburys appear on the compilation.

Critical reception[edit]

In his review of Let It Roll, for Spin magazine, Andrew Hultkrans wrote that Harrison "arguably had a stronger, more consistent solo career than any of his [Beatles] bandmates", and added: "This hits collection avoids chronology, honouring the old and new alike as part of the same stylistic continuum."[7]

Reception to the inclusion of live versions of Beatles-era compositions "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun" was mixed.[citation needed] Some reviewers welcomed the songs as essential parts of Harrison's career, since the tracks came from his landmark Concert for Bangladesh shows in 1971; yet the same commentators suggested that the quality paled in comparison to the original studio recordings.[citation needed] Others compared the inclusion of Beatles-related material to EMI/Capitol 1976 compilation The Best of George Harrison, on which more than half of the tracks were songs recorded by the Beatles, thus downplaying the importance of Harrison's solo career. Some other critics wondered why Beatles songs were included, when songs from Harrison's supergroup the Traveling Wilburys (such as "Handle with Care") were overlooked.[citation needed]

Commercial performance[edit]

The album debuted at number 4 in the United Kingdom, with first week sales of 28,045 copies, becoming Harrison's highest-charting album there since 1973's Living in the Material World.[11] In the United States, the album debuted at number 24 on the Billboard 200 chart, and as of 5 July 2012 had sold over 164,000 copies. In 2012, it charted at number 9 on Billboard's Top Pop Catalog Albums.[12]

Track listing[edit]

All songs by George Harrison, except where noted.

No.TitleWriter(s)Original albumLength
1."Got My Mind Set On You"Rudy ClarkCloud Nine3:52
2."Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)" Living in the Material World3:35
3."Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)" All Things Must Pass3:48
4."My Sweet Lord" All Things Must Pass4:40
5."While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (live) The Concert for Bangladesh4:46
6."All Things Must Pass" All Things Must Pass3:46
7."Any Road" Brainwashed3:52
8."This Is Love"George Harrison, Jeff LynneCloud Nine3:47
9."All Those Years Ago" Somewhere in England3:46
10."Marwa Blues" Brainwashed3:41
11."What Is Life" All Things Must Pass4:25
12."Rising Sun" Brainwashed5:27
13."When We Was Fab"George Harrison, Jeff LynneCloud Nine3:51
14."Something" (live) The Concert for Bangladesh3:10
15."Blow Away" George Harrison3:59
16."Cheer Down"George Harrison, Tom PettyLethal Weapon 2 soundtrack4:06
17."Here Comes the Sun" (live) The Concert for Bangladesh2:54
18."I Don't Want to Do It"Bob DylanPorky's Revenge soundtrack2:54
19."Isn't It a Pity" All Things Must Pass7:07
iTunes Store bonus track
No.TitleOriginal albumLength
20."Isn't It a Pity" (demo version)previously unreleased2:58

Album remastered by Giles Martin, individual producer credits are as follows:

Charts[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "George Harrison Let It Roll: The Best of George Harrison". AllMusic. Retrieved 22 June 2009.
  2. ^ Easlea, Daryl (10 June 2009). "Review of George Harrison - Let It Roll: Songs of George Harrison". BBC. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
  3. ^ Moore, Mark (22 June 2009). "George Harrison – Let It Roll Album Review". Contactmusic.com. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  4. ^ Blackie, Andrew (19 June 2009). "Review: Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison". PopMatters. Retrieved 7 November 2009.
  5. ^ Staunton, Terry (August 2009). "George Harrison – Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison". Record Collector. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  6. ^ "George Harrison: Album Guide". rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on 9 April 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  7. ^ a b Hultkrans, Andrew (July 2009). "George Harrison Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison". Spin. p. 92.
  8. ^ Quantick, David. "George Harrison – Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison". Uncut. Archived from the original on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
  9. ^ "News: Uncut's Top 10 Most Popular Pages This Week". Uncut. 19 June 2009. Archived from the original on 22 October 2014. Retrieved 22 October 2014. "Solid, surprising refresher course in the Dark Horse gets a five-star Uncut review."
  10. ^ a b "Capitol/EMI Announces Global Release of George Harrison's First Ever Career-Spanning Solo Hits Collection, 'Let It Roll: Songs By George Harrison,' on June 16". EMI/Capitol. PR Newswire. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
  11. ^ a b c Womack, Kenneth (2014). The Beatles Encyclopedia: Everything Fab Four. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. p. 548. ISBN 978-0-313-39171-2.
  12. ^ "George Harrison: Awards". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 3 December 2012. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  13. ^ a b c d "George Harrison - Let It Roll". mexicancharts.com. Archived from the original on 23 February 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2009.
  14. ^ ジョージ・ハリスン-リリース-ORICON STYLE-ミュージック "(Highest position and charting weeks of Let It Roll by George Harrison)". oricon.co.jp. Oricon Style. Retrieved 5 May 2011. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  15. ^ "George Harrison > Artists > Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  16. ^ "( Let It Roll > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )". Allmusic. Retrieved 9 September 2009.[dead link]
  17. ^ "British album certifications – George Harrison – Let It Roll". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 10 December 2013.

External links[edit]

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