Let it Roll: The Best of George Harrison (2009)


 

  1. Got My Mind Set On You
  2. Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)
  3. Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let it Roll)
  4. My Sweet Lord
  5. While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Live)
  6. All Things Must Pass
  7. Any Road
  8. This is Love
  9. All Those Years Ago
  10.Marwa Blues
  11.What is Life
  12.Rising Sun
  13.When We Was Fab
  14.Something (Live)
  15.Blow Away
  16.Cheer Down
  17.Here Comes the Sun (Live)
  18.I Don't Want to Do It
  19.Isn't it a Pity

 

In life, George Harrison’s solo catalogue was divided neatly—if inconveniently—by record label affiliations. This contractual bifurcation gave rise to two separate compilations (The Best of George Harrison and Best of Dark Horse 1976–1989), each limited to their respective licensing rights and each, in its own way, incomplete. Let It Roll, released in 2009, arrives eight years after Harrison’s passing and finally corrects that fragmentation, offering a unified overview of his solo output under one banner.

It is, broadly speaking, the first compilation to do the job properly.

The track selection leans heavily on All Things Must Pass and Cloud Nine, which is entirely sensible—those two records represent Harrison at his most commercially and creatively vital. My Sweet Lord, What Is Life, Give Me Love, and Got My Mind Set on You are all accounted for, and still stand as some of the most finely constructed pop songs in the post-Beatles canon. Their inclusion is inevitable and essential.

Other choices are more curious. Several of Harrison’s mid-period singles—modest hits though they were—are conspicuously absent. In their place are live recordings of Beatles-era material, taken from Live in Japan. These are competent performances, but one wonders why they’re here at all. Their inclusion skews the narrative back toward nostalgia, just when the compilation seemed to be framing Harrison on his own terms. It is a minor miscalculation, but one that slightly dulls the impact.

Then there’s I Don’t Want to Do It, a Tom Petty-style Dylan obscurity originally recorded for the Porky’s Revenge soundtrack. It’s not a bad track, merely a baffling one to highlight in a career-spanning anthology. As ever with posthumous compilations, one suspects its inclusion says more about the compilers than the artist.

Still, Let It Roll succeeds in its primary aim. It presents Harrison as he was: spiritual, sardonic, tuneful, and deeply human. The sequencing is intelligent, the remastering tasteful, and the overall feel is one of clarity. It reminds listeners that Harrison’s catalogue, though uneven, contained a depth of melody and meaning that often eluded louder voices from the same era.

There are omissions, certainly. But what remains is a dignified tribute—neither inflated nor undercooked—that finally places the full arc of Harrison’s solo career in one accessible, elegant volume. A fitting summation. Long overdue.

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