An offshoot of the Martin Scorsese "Living In the Material World" HBO Harrison bio and co-produced by his widow Olivia Harrison, Early Takes vol 1 is a great example of what a bootleg should be.
1. the songs are outtakes from the Phil Spector over weaned All Things Must Pass.
2. They include one unheard song
3. they include two first rate cover songs
4. And while the demos themselves might not be precisely works in progress, they are different tempos, speeds. Nearly there but not quite. Some of them sound like songs Harrison worked on, put on a tape recorder, then played for the band. Others sound like songs Phil would add production goddle-de-goop to.
5. In other words, it is like a cross between Naked and the Lennon Anthology.
6. And much more important than Carole King's recent Demo album.
The two covers are from Dylan and the Everly Brothers, the absolute standards as far as a very clean clear version are "Run Of The Mill" and "My Sweet Lord"., the Naked redux is "All Things Must Pass" and the new song, "Woman Don't You Cry" , isn't up to much.
But when you listen to it as a ten song set, it is like looking at a picture you know very well, taken from a different angle. I am a big fan of the original album and this is much better than McCartney's reworking of Let It Be, Naked. Naked was tripped up by McCartney's ego: there was too much material to choose from, too much self serving. It should have been a 10 CD set or not bothered with. Early Takes is small but smart, in its lack of largeness is a humility more in keeping with Harrison's pre-occupation.
No, it won't replace All Things Must Pass, but it will survive as more than a simple addendum
Grade: A-