Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison

This article is about a George Harrison compilation album. For the George Harrison song, see Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll).
Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison
Greatest hits album by George Harrison
Released 16 June 2009
Recorded 1970–2001
Genre Rock
Length 77:26
Language English
Label Dark Horse/Parlophone/Apple
Producer Ray Cooper, Dave Edmunds, Dhani Harrison, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Phil Spector, Russ Titelman
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 George Harrison's music, 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

The album features songs originally released on the Beatles' EMI-affiliated Apple Records and Harrison's 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 album includes all of Harrison's songs that reached number 1 on America's Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, including "My Sweet Lord", "Isn't It a Pity", "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)" and "Got My Mind Set on You", as well as other international number 1 singles such as "What Is Life" and "All Those Years Ago".

The track list was selected by George's widow, Olivia Harrison, with some assistance from close friends and family.

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

Despite being marketed as Harrison's first career-spanning hits compilation, four of his ten studio albums were not represented at all: 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 were also absent from the track listing – songs such as "Bangla Desh", "Dark Horse", "You", "This Song" and "Crackerbox Palace".

Reception

Let It Roll debuted at number 4 in the UK (with first week sales of 28,045 copies), becoming Harrison's highest chart position as a solo artist in over 35 years (since 1973's Living in the Material World). In the US, the album debuted at number 24, and as of 5 July 2012 had sold over 164,000 copies.

In his review of the album, 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. 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. Others compared the inclusion of Beatles-related material to EMI/Capitol ill-conceived 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.

Track listing

All songs by George Harrison, except where noted.

No. TitleOriginal album Length
1. "Got My Mind Set on You" (Rudy Clark)Cloud Nine 3:52
2. "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)"  Living in the Material World 3:35
3. "Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)"  All Things Must Pass 3:48
4. "My Sweet Lord"  All Things Must Pass 4:40
5. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps [Live]"  The Concert for Bangladesh 4:46
6. "All Things Must Pass"  All Things Must Pass 3:46
7. "Any Road"  Brainwashed 3:52
8. "This Is Love" (Harrison, Jeff Lynne)Cloud Nine 3:47
9. "All Those Years Ago"  Somewhere in England 3:46
10. "Marwa Blues"  Brainwashed 3:41
11. "What Is Life"  All Things Must Pass 4:25
12. "Rising Sun"  Brainwashed 5:27
13. "When We Was Fab" (Harrison, Lynne)Cloud Nine 3:51
14. "Something [Live]"  The Concert for Bangladesh 3:10
15. "Blow Away"  George Harrison 3:59
16. "Cheer Down" (Harrison, Tom Petty)Lethal Weapon 2 soundtrack 4:06
17. "Here Comes the Sun [Live]"  The Concert for Bangladesh 2:54
18. "I Don't Want to Do It" (Bob Dylan)Porky's Revenge soundtrack 2:54
19. "Isn't It a Pity"  All Things Must Pass 7:07
iTunes Store bonus track
No. TitleOriginal album Length
20. "Isn't It a Pity [Demo Version]"  previously unreleased 2:58

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

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2009) Position
Belgian Ultratop Albums Chart[11] 98
Japanese Oricon Weekly Albums Chart[12] 40
Mexican Albums Chart[11] 41
Spanish Albums Chart[11] 68
Swiss Music Charts[11] 98
UK Albums Chart[13] 4
US Billboard 200[14] 24

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/Sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[15] Gold 100,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

  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. 1 2 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. 1 2 "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. 1 2 3 4 "George Harrison - Let It Roll". mexicancharts.com. Retrieved 18 July 2009.
  12. ↑ 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)" Check |url= value (help). oricon.co.jp. Oricon Style. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
  13. ↑ "George Harrison > Artists > Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  14. ↑ "((( Let It Roll > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))". Allmusic. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
  15. ↑ "British album certifications – George Harrison – Let It Roll". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 10 December 2013. Enter Let It Roll in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Gold in the field By Award. Click Search

External links

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