George Harrison’s ‘Living in the Material World’ Gets Stunning 50th Anniv. Set
by Best Classic Bands Staff
A 50th Anniversary Edition of George Harrison’s Living in the Material World album has been released in a variety of formats, including a Super Deluxe Edition Box Set, on Nov. 15, 2024, via Dark Horse Records/BMG. Harrison’s second solo album of original music, Living in the Material World followed the Beatles’ 1970 dissolution. Just five weeks after its May 1973 release, both the LP and its single, “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth),” held the top spots simultaneously on the U.S. albums and singles charts. The various editions are available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here. See the full track listing and listen to many alternate takes below.
Among the original album’s highlights are the outstanding title track as well as the joyous “Don’t Let Me Wait Too Long,” which was initially planned to be the second single but cancelled at the last minute. The latter is an estimable fan favorite from the album. Its progress can be traced with an alternate take featuring Ringo Starr playing drums alongside Jim Keltner.
“Try Some, Buy Some” is a song written by Harrison that was first recorded by Ronnie Spector in 1971. In the new collection’s notes, he’s quoted as saying that “[It] was written on the organ and as I don’t know the instrument well enough, I got into all these complications. With keyboards you can do changes which you can’t really do well, or at all, on the guitar; you can move the bassline down and keep changing your right hand forward, changing the different notes, and this tune was based on these weird chords that I got.”
According to the Sept. 19, 2024, release announcement, “The album’s success further solidified a winning streak that began with All Things Must Pass, the triple LP topped the U.S. charts in early 1971. Later that same year, George organized two groundbreaking benefit rock concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York, aiming to raise both awareness and funds for the starving refugees of Bangla Desh. The Concert for Bangladesh live album, another triple LP, became a commercial triumph and global bestseller, ultimately earning the Grammy for Album of the Year.”
Overseen by Dhani and Olivia Harrison, George’s son and widow, Living in the Material World has now been completely remixed from the original tapes by engineer Paul Hicks. The new mix, says the press release, “elevates the album with a sonic upgrade, delivering a sound that’s brighter, richer, and more dynamic than ever before.”
The first taste of the new collection came in the form of an acoustic version of “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth) (Take 18).”
SUPER DELUXE EDITION
Limited to 5,000 units globally, the Super Deluxe Edition boxed set features the album on 2-LP (180g) and 2-CD, which includes the newly remixed original album and a bonus disc containing 12 previously unreleased early renditions of every song on the main album. Additionally, the set includes a Blu-ray of all album tracks and previously unreleased tracks in Dolby Atmos, and an exclusive 7-inch single of the never-before-heard recording of “Sunshine Life for Me (Sail Away Raymond),” featuring Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson and Rick Danko from The Band, alongside Ringo Starr.
Housed in a rigid slipcase, the stunning boxed set contains a handsome, 60-page hardcover book curated by Olivia Harrison and Rachel Cooper, with unseen imagery and memorabilia from the era, handwritten lyrics, studio notes and tape box images. Also included is a 12-page Recording Notes booklet, drawing from original Living in the Material World production notes, photographs and reel-to-reel session tapes housed in the George Harrison Archive. For the first time, the Harrison archive team offers an in-depth, chronological account of the album’s creation, revealing insights that have never been shared with the public before.
Alongside the Super Deluxe format, the album will also be available on 2-LP and 2-CD Deluxe Editions, both of which pair new mixes of the original album with session outtakes. The 2-LP Deluxe Edition will be presented in a gatefold sleeve with a 12-page booklet, while the 2-CD Deluxe Edition comes in a clamshell box with two printed wallets, a 20-page booklet and a poster. The main album will also be offered individually as a 1-CD, 1-LP, and limited edition 1-LP colored vinyl exclusives available from the official George Harrison online store (purple vinyl), Amazon (clear vinyl) and Barnes & Noble (orange vinyl). All formats are available for pre-order now.
[Scroll down to hear GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer Paul Hicks’ 2024 mix of the original album rendition of “Be Here Now” with a new video directed by Mathew Newton & Leah Marie Newton, which features art from Ram Dass’ iconic book of the same name with the blessing of his foundation.]
From the announcement: “The creation of the album began with a purposeful period at Apple Studios at the end of 1972, where, nearly four years before, the Beatles had done the conclusive work on the project eventually known as Let It Be. You can sense the prevailing atmosphere of these sessions in the music, manifested in flowing, sensitive musicianship, a lovely attention to detail and the album’s overarching set of themes. George not only sang but contributed almost all the guitar parts. He was backed by a tight-knit group of virtuosos, including drummer Jim Keltner, keyboard players Nicky Hopkins and Gary Wright, bassist Klaus Voormann and saxophone/flute player Jim Horn.”
As John Harris’ splendid essay in the booklet notes, “The talents and track records of these musicians
were little short of incredible. The fact that they shared George’s musical tastes was part of
what made the sessions so productive: so too, it seemed, was their openness to the kind of messages the record would impart.”
Listen to an alternate take and the 2024 mix of the title track, again with both Starr and Keltner on drums
The 50th anniversary announcement continues: “To really understand Living in the Material World, you have to go back to George’s experience of 1971, a watershed 12 months full of events that would be explored in his songwriting. By that summer, he was deep into his response to the mounting humanitarian tragedy in Bangla Desh. After repeated shuttling between Los Angeles and New York and endless phone calls and meetings, he presented two concerts at New York’s Madison Square Garden. They combined performances by Ravi Shankar and three supporting musicians with sets led by George that also featured Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Leon Russell and Bob Dylan, among others.”
“It was a very emotional period for me,” Harrison later said, “because a lot of people had helped with its success, which made me very optimistic about certain things. At the same time, I felt slightly enraged because, let’s face it, the whole problem of how to solve [the Bangla Desh crisis] lies within the power of governments and world leaders, yet they choose to squander it on weapons and other objects that destroy mankind.”
“His feelings would inevitably surface in his songs. In late 1971, while he was back in New York, he recorded several demos at the Plaza Hotel. They included an initial version of ‘Who Can See It,’ and the earliest known recording of ‘Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth),’ complete with a very telling plea: ‘Help me cope with this heavy load.’”
“When recording sessions finally got started, these compositions were joined by an array of other new tracks. ‘Don’t Let Me Wait Too Long,’ powered by a drum duet between Keltner and Starr, was one of the most straightforwardly joyous pieces of pop music George had ever recorded. ‘The Light Has Lighted the World’ and ‘The Day the World Gets Round,’ by contrast, were deeply emotional and insightful songs that went to the core of the album’s most profound ideas.”
This announcement ad for the album appeared in the June 2, 1973, issue of Record World
The remixing of the original LP, says the press release, “gives new definition to these already accomplished and intimate recordings, while the extra material further highlights what a creatively fertile period this was for George. Thanks in part to the music’s newfound clarity, Living in the Material World resonates more than ever in 2024. Amid the noise of social media, the sense of someone yearning for enlightenment in a world of confusion rings loud and true. So does the undercurrent of the songs about the machinations and distractions of governments and politics. Moreover, in an era when meditation, yoga and so-called mindfulness have probably never been more popular, the fundamental points the songs raise align with the daily search for what is worthwhile. We all face the challenges of the material world throughout our lives, and in its own questioning, restless way, this album holds out the prospect of finding a way through them.”
“‘The things most people are struggling for are fame or fortune or wealth or position—always, that’s their main ambition and desire in life, to be rich or famous or to have a good reputation, and really none of that is important because in the end, death will take it all away,’” Harrison later explained. But he was also keen to correct a common misapprehension: ‘I do not exclude myself, and I write a lot of things in order to make myself remember.’”
“Listening to the album in its new incarnations, all of these qualities are undeniable,” the announcement concludes. “It begins with a prayer and ends with a simple statement of the power of love. Its songs amount to a consummate self-portrait of an artist as a young man who was wise beyond his years, making sense of his life and the wider world. There’s not much music that sounds this yearning, intimate and spiritual, though we could boil those qualities down to something much simpler: true to its creator’s intentions, this is an album full of heart, and soul.”
Related: Our Album Rewind of Living in the Material World
ABOUT THE MATERIAL WORLD FOUNDATION
Following the Concert for Bangladesh, Harrison created the Material World Foundation in 1973 to sponsor diverse forms of artistic expression and to encourage the exploration of alternative life views and philosophies as well as supporting established charitable organizations with consideration to those with special needs. Harrison donated all publishing royalties from Living in the Material World, in perpetuity to the Foundation. The Material World Foundation continues to transform lives across the world today.
For more information go to www.materialworldfoundation.com
SUPER DELUXE TRACK LISTING
LP1/CD Disc 1
Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth) (2024 Mix)
Sue Me, Sue You Blues (2024 Mix)
The Light That Has Lighted the World (2024 Mix)
Don’t Let Me Wait Too Long (2024 Mix)
Who Can See It (2024 Mix)
Living in the Material World (2024 Mix)
The Lord Loves the One (That Loves the Lord) (2024 Mix)
Be Here Now (2024 Mix)
Try Some Buy Some (2024 Mix)
The Day the World Gets ‘Round (2024 Mix)
That Is All (2024 Mix)
LP2/CD Disc 2
Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth) (Take 18; Acoustic Version)
Sue Me, Sue You Blues (Take 5)
The Light That Has Lighted the World (Take 13)
Don’t Let Me Wait Too Long (Take 49; Acoustic Version)
Who Can See It (Take 93)
Living in the Material World (Take 31)
The Lord Loves the One (That Loves the Lord) (Take 3)
Be Here Now (Take 8)
Try Some Buy Some (Alternative Version)
The Day the World Gets ‘Round (Take 22; Acoustic Version)
That Is All (Take 24)
Miss O’Dell (2024 Mix)
Sunshine Life for Me (Sail Away Raymond) *CD Only
7″ Single
Sunshine Life for Me (Sail Away Raymond)
Sunshine Life for Me (Sail Away Raymond) [Instrumental]
Blu-ray
Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth) (2024 Mix)
Sue Me, Sue You Blues (2024 Mix)
The Light That Has Lighted the World (2024 Mix)
Don’t Let Me Wait Too Long (2024 Mix)
Who Can See It (2024 Mix)
Living in the Material World (2024 Mix)
The Lord Loves the One (That Loves the Lord) (2024 Mix)
Be Here Now (2024 Mix)
Try Some Buy Some (2024 Mix)
The Day the World Gets ‘Round (2024 Mix)
That Is All (2024 Mix)
Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth) (Take 18; Acoustic Version)
Sue Me, Sue You Blues (Take 5)
The Light That Has Lighted the World (Take 13)
Don’t Let Me Wait Too Long (Take 49; Acoustic Version)
Who Can See It (Take 93)
Living in the Material World (Take 31)
The Lord Loves the One (That Loves the Lord) (Take 3)
Be Here Now (Take 8)
Try Some Buy Some (Alternative Version)
The Day the World Gets ‘Round (Take 22; Acoustic Version)
That Is All (Take 24)
Miss O’Dell (2024 Mix)
Sunshine Life for Me (Sail Away Raymond)
3 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationI loved living in the material world so down to earth just George being George the man and his music even all those years ago this album is the world the way George Harrison sees it thank you for realeasing this great love…
Bought the single AND the album that summer, when I was every bit of 14 years old. Side 1 got worn out, while side 2…well, it didn’t get played nearly as much, as most of the songs were slower tempo. Title track is one of George’s best, and though I liked “Sue Me, Sue You Blues” as a kid, I didn’t know what the song was about until several years later, and it’s also become a favorite. By the way, still think “Don’t Let Me Wait Too Long” should’ve been the follow up single to “Give Me Love”, and pretty sure it would’ve gone top 10. But there WAS no follow up single!
So i had to buy the vinyl LP, CD and 7″ Single to get Blu-Ray, which is the only version i want? We’re really living in the material world!