 "The First Benefit Concert Out There......." | 2006-07-08 |
| - Reviewed By User: A14Z1ESWSS00OV |
| Go figure, the last Beatle to be reconized, would be the first to have a number 1, and also to be the first to have a benefit album for the cause of humanity. I'd like to say this because he was hardly ever expose, even though he had good songs within the group since 1963. This album has lots of pluses, like let me see, Bod Dylan, Eric Clapton, Leon Russell, Billy Preston, oh and lets not forget Billy Preston, the 5th Beatle (who lost his life here in Scottsdale), good composer right there. All the good stuff from 'All Things Must Pass', plus one fom Ringo Starr with 'It Don't Come Easy'. You even got Badfinger helping with backup vocals. This is all you need to find a jewell like this. You even got Ravi Shankar playing the sitar, awesome. This is a keeper, indeed. |
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| "THE essential benefit concert soundtrack that every person should own" | 2005-08-23 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2J9LFKOIU0DL7 |
Benefit concerts are common place now, but this was the first. Held on 1st August 1971 in Madison Square Garden and captured using over 40 different microphones, these tracks still sparkle and this collection made a difference in the lives of many starving people.
Nearly thirty years later, the music is still fresh and hopeful. George Harrison (some of you may recall him as a member of the Beatles) gathered a few musicians for a magical night. Ringo Starr (identified in the liner notes by his birth name-Richard Starkey) from the Beatles joins Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Leon Russell, Ravi Shankar, and Bob Dylan, among others.
The CD opens with almost twenty minutes of fantastic Indian music. Ravi Shankar plays a 'dhun' on sitar (just the name sounds like the popping of a drumhead) accompanied by sarod, tabla, and tamboura. Leon Russell's medley, "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Youngblood" is worth the price of this CD alone. I've listened to a lot of different recordings of this medley, but this is the best. It is alive and crisp. If that's not enough for you, keep listening and you'll hear Bob Dylan perform five great tracks. My wife and I saw him tour with Paul Simon in the summer of 1999, and marveled at his sets. But these tracks were recorded when he was at the peak of his career, and are clearly keepers. Have you ever heard "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall?" How about "Blowin' in the Wind" or "Mr. Tambourine Man?" I'm sure you have, and they were current when these performances took place.
George leads various musicians (including the Apple band Badfinger) in a lot of familiar Beatle numbers, like "It Don't Come Easy," "Something," and "Here Comes the Sun." "Beware of Darkness" is a great track, recorded with almost everyone on stage. It is chilling!.
I still remember the LIFE magazine coverage of this event, and you can hear the audience in happy amazement at this once-in-a-lifetime moment. They bought tickets, not knowing who would be there (hoping, I suppose, for a reunion of the Fab Four.) Read the article.
Buy the brand new -at last!- DVD on 25th October and the new CD remastered edition. This is by far the best benefit concert.
Remember George Harrison 1943-2001
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| "Good News!!! and be prepare." | 2005-08-02 |
| - Reviewed By lee_ming |
I just read from The Rolling Stones magazine that The Concert For Bangladesh will be release on DVD as a two discs set on October 25th YEAH!!!! disc one is the legendary concert, disc two is docomentary plus new interviews with Ringo and Eric Clapton!!!
A remaster cd will also go on sale and containning an unreleased Bob Dylan's "Love Minus Zero/No Limit"
Good luck for me that I almost bought a vhs version of this concert few mounths ago.
I also hope for a DVD release of Live In Japan or even the 1974 American Tour. |
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 "Thanks to George and the Gang." | 2005-06-15 |
| - Reviewed By asakanda |
| I like to express my deepest appreciation and respect to the late George Harrison and the rest of the performers for coming together for such a noble cause. Bangladesh was facing the war of liberation and ten million refugees were languishing in India (not to mention the more than a million killed by the Pakistani army in the then East Pakistan ... now Bangladesh). The Concert for Bangladesh raised money and awareness about the conflict and was a massive morale booster for the emerging nation of Bangladesh. |
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| "THE CONCERT FOR BANGLA DESH (APPLE RECORDS/1971)" | 2005-05-13 |
| - Reviewed By prospero722000 |
| An amazing document and a truly compassionate gesture from ex-Beatle George Harrison who organized and donated all the proceedings from this hastily produced concert extravaganza to help the poor, starving refugees from Bangla Desh. Joining him on stage are a host of musicians and friends including fellow ex-Beatle Ringo Starr, session men extrodinaire Billy Preston and Leon Russell, legendary bassist Klaus Voormann, power pop group Badfinger, and (most impressive of all) two of rock's most enigmatic icons: Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan. Master sitarist Ravi Shankar opens the proceedings with the bejewelling and intoxicating "Bangla Dhun". After which Harrison (who seems a little nervous at first) kicks into a ragged version of "Wah Wah" then settles into the lovely "My Sweet Lord" and a nicely jived-up "Awaiting On You All" which provides a nice segue-way into Preston's soul/gospel showcase "That's The Way God Planned It". From there on out the album just blasts off, climaxing with an electrifying performance by Bob Dylan who hadn't been seen on stage in over a year. Side six closes with "Something" and an impassioned coda of George's "Bangla Desh" single. But the most unforgettable moment comes courtesy of Harrison and Badfinger guitarist Pete Ham as they deliver a haunting, all accoustic rendition of "Here Comes The Sun". It's a transcendent piece of pure Heaven. "BANGLA DESH" remains a grand delight, and a heck of a concert. HIGHEST POP ALBUM CHART POSITION: Number 1. |
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| "Harrison, Dylan, others play live" | 2005-02-09 |
| - Reviewed By jimk543 |
| Sound quality is ok, not the best but this is a live cd. Overall recommended for any rock/classic rock fan. Dylan sounds in his prime and Harrison's confidence up front shows with each song. The Dylan set is worth the purchase alone but overall nice effort for a worthy cause. |
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| "Harrison and Dylan headline this historic benefit concert" | 2004-07-16 |
| - Reviewed By darkgenius |
| In 1971, tens of thousands of refugees were fleeing into India from Bangla Desh, as the government in West Pakistan was attempting to assert its complete dominion over the eastern half of the nation. Pakistan had been created in 1947, following the withdrawal of the British from the Indian subcontinent, into two distinct land areas separated by over one thousand miles of Indian territory. The acclaimed Ravi Shankar, as a Bengali, was naturally concerned with the humanitarian crisis and hoped to arrange some sort of benefit for the cause. After seeking help and advice from his friend George Harrison, the whole project started coming together, eventually raising many times the amount of money Shankar had initially dreamed of. Under the leadership of Harrison, the Concert for Bangla Desh was planned and staged over the course of only some five or six weeks. Not only did the concert benefit a worthy cause, it gave us all an incredible concert performance to enjoy featuring some of the biggest stars of the day. The show starts with an introduction by Harrison and a performance by Ravi Shankar and crew. Bangla Dhun is an incredibly long track that displays all of the mystical beauty and, to many listeners, wholly unknown sound of the sitar and other Asian instruments. The crowd showed a lot of appreciation for the performance, despite the fact that most of them came to see and hear Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Bob Dylan. Such an appearance by the reclusive Dylan was certainly an event in 1971, and he gave by far the strongest performance of the evening, singing five of his classic recordings: A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall; It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry; Blowin' in the Wind; Mr. Tambourine Man; and Just Like a Woman. George Harrison, naturally, performed a good number of his own songs - including Beatles tracks alongside songs from his relatively young solo career. Harrison's delivery of Wah-Wah and My Sweet Lord are just terrific. Awaiting On You All, Beware of Darkness, and Something are also fine performances. His voice seemed to let him down a bit as the concert wore on, though, and this took a little something (but not much) away from his renditions of the immortal tracks Here Comes the Sun and While My Guitar Gently Weeps. There were other noteworthy contributions on this night. Ringo Starr stepped out from behind the drums to sing It Don't Come Easy - apparently, remembering the words to the song is one of those things that "don't come easy." He does give an energetic performance, though. Billy Preston emerged to deliver one of the concert's best songs: That's the Way God Planned It, doing his career a lot of good through this one 1971 performance. Leon Russell excited the crowd with a forceful rendition of the Stones' Jumpin' Jack Flash and the song Youngblood. The group Badfinger added their talents to the mix, as did guitarist extraordinaire Eric Clapton. One of the most memorable moments of the night must surely have come when both Clapton and Harrison teamed up on the classic While My Guitar Gently Weeps. I actually think the sound quality is pretty good on this CD, especially taking in mind the fact that this concert took place on August 1, 1971. The concert was a great success, raising almost two hundred fifty thousand dollars for the cause, and fans of George Harrison and Bob Dylan will definitely want to add this two-disc album to their CD collections if possible. |
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| "A classic concert" | 2004-04-22 |
| - Reviewed By i1iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii |
| In 1971, following the break up of the Beatles, George Harrison organized the Concert For Bangladesh - one of the most famous live rock and roll performances of all time. Uniting several other popular musicians of the day, he and them put on a show that has remained wildly popular for years. Read on for my review of Concert For Bangladesh. PROS:
-The most obvious pro about this album is the all-star cast that was brought together for it. In addition to just George Harrison, we have his former Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr, former Beatles guest pianist Billy Preston, Badfinger, and even Bob Dylan! Hell, even Ravi Shankar, the sitar legend who greatly inspired George in his latter Beatles years, is present! Where else are you going to find all of these musicians playing together?
-The musicians present here play all of their big hits, as well as a number of underrated masterpieces. How can you not love that?
-George unveils a new song of his on this recording - the appropriately-entitled Bangladesh. CONS:
-Sound quality. This is a rather old concert, so needless to say, the sound quality isn't up to that of a modern concert on compact disc.
-Some of the versions of these songs are flat-out pathetic! Ringo's It Don't Come Easy is one of my favorite songs of all time, but here he just BUTCHERS it! HOW COULD HE FORGET THE LYRICS TO HIS MOST FAMOUS SOLO SONG OF ALL TIME!?
-It's two disc, so it costs more than most single-disc live albums. Also, stores tend to mark up the prices of George Harrison and other Beatle-related compact discs, so don't expect to be able to get this for very cheap. OVERALL:
Overall, George Harrison succeeded in organizing a rather excellent show. All these years later, it remains popular. If you're a fan of classic rock, or any of the artists who appear on this recording, you'll be doing yourself a real favor picking this up. |
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| "Messer?s Dylan, Harrsion & Russell Bring Down the House" | 2003-10-02 |
| - Reviewed By insanestephanie |
| This record came out ten years before I was born. I think I was something like two years old when I remember hearing it for the first time, that long version of "Hard Rain," Mr. D crooning those lyrics, halfway between a soul singer and a raging protester. Oh, yeah! When ever I got mad at someone when I was a kid, I'd shout at `em, "It's a hard rains's a-gonna get ya, oh yeah!" That said, you shouldn't only consider buying this record cuz of my early memories. You shouldn't only consider it if you're a rabid Bob Dylan fan, like me, because Messer's Harrison and Russell turn out outstanding performances as well. The back backup is pretty good too, Eric and Ringo. This is a CD you absolutely must own. 5 stars. Reviewed by Stephanie Sane |
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| "Great Historical Concert" | 2003-01-28 |
| - Reviewed By jbembe |
| George Harrison and Ravi Sankur got folks together to perform a benefit concert to relieve starvation in Bangladesh, after Harrison's classic "All Things Must Pass." My Dad had this album ever since I can remember (since it came out before I was born, I guess its been around longer than me.) He yoused to play "It Don't Come Easy" and "Jumpin' Jack Flash" so these songs bring back special memories. Unfortunately he never played the Dylan or Harrison material which I enjoy quite alot. All is not lost, since I now have my own copy. All in all this is a great album, and since members of Clapton's Derek and the Dominos were involved here, there are many good reasons to get your copy. |
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![George Harrison, George Harrison - All Things Must Pass [DIGI-PAK EDITION]](product_images/1366000/1366184_thumb.jpg)
