Hear George Harrison’s Unreleased “Cosmic Empire” From All Things Must Pass Sessions
After the Beatles formally announced their breakup in 1970, George Harrison became the first of the ex-Beatles to release a solo album and the first to land a massive hit. In November of 1970, Harrison came out with the massive triple LP All Things Must Pass, which had Phil Spector production and tons of contributions from famous friends like Eric Clapton and Ringo Starr. (It also had the lawsuit-inducing #1 hit “My Sweet Lord.”) All Things Must Pass stands as a shaggy classic, and as sprawling as it is, it doesn’t include all the songs that Harrison was writing at the time. More than 50 years later, one of those songs has just gotten its first-ever official release.
Later this summer, Capitol will release a 50th-anniversary edition of All Things Must Pass. It’ll include all 30 demos that Harrison recorded for the album, including some for songs that never came out. One of those is the solo-acoustic track “Cosmic Empire.” That song has been widely bootlegged for years, including on the widely circulated collection Beware of ABKCO!, but it’s never seen official release until now. Capitol has just dropped an animated lyric video for “Cosmic Empire.” It’s in the marketplace.
“Cosmic Empire” is a quick two-minute sketch of a song, but it still stands as a gleaming example of Harrison’s cosmic craftsmanship. He plays the hell out of his guitar, and he sings the hell out of the track, going from a throat-shredding howl to an impressive falsetto. Check it out below.
All Things Must Pass: 50th Anniversary Edition is out 8/6 on Capitol/UMe.