Though it's only been 40 years, there's a lot of confusion about who played what instrument on what track of George Harrison's epic triple album ALL THINGS MUST PASS. The album lists 5 drummers/percussionists for instance... and it's quite the all-star cast: Ringo Starr, Ginger Baker, Phil Collins, Jim Gordon and Alan White. Alan says he played on the title track, the hit "My Sweet Lord, "Isn't It a Pity" and "Wah Wah" (among others) but he understands the confusion,
ALAN: About twenty people turned up every day, and we decided who was going to play what, and which song and what you do and if you weren't needed, you weren't needed.
George would play the songs and we'd all get into it. And then we'd all organize it a bit more and a bit more until we finally had a take.
From a drummer's point of view Harrison's #1 hit ( and the first #1 hit by any ex-Beatle), "My Sweet Lord", doesn't offer much to talk about. It's a pretty basic beat but you don't hear the drums until 1:45 into the song.
ALAN: The drums actually come in earlier than that and on the record they faded them in very slowly. It actually worked but it was all (producer)Phil Spector's idea at that time.
Next: Siberian Khatru by Yes
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