The Concert for Bangladesh (album)
Released 20 December 1971 (US)
10 January 1972 (UK)
Recorded 1 August 1971
Venue Madison Square Garden, New York
Genre
Rock Hindustani classical folk gospel
Length 99:32
Label Apple
Producer
George Harrison Phil Spector
The Concert for Bangladesh
The Concert For Bangla Desh.jpg
Live album by George Harrison & Friends
Released 20 December 1971 (US)
10 January 1972 (UK)
Recorded 1 August 1971
Venue Madison Square Garden, New York
Genre
Rock Hindustani classical folk gospel
Length 99:32
Label Apple
Producer
George Harrison Phil Spector
George Harrison chronology
All Things Must Pass
(1970) The Concert for Bangladesh
(1971) Living in the Material World
(1973)
Alternative cover
Cover for the 2005 remastered release
Cover for the 2005 remastered release
The Concert for Bangladesh – originally titled The Concert for Bangla Desh – is a live triple album by George Harrison and celebrity friends, released on Apple Records in December 1971 in America and January 1972 in Britain. The album followed the two concerts of the same name, held on 1 August 1971 at New York’s Madison Square Garden, featuring Harrison, Bob Dylan, Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Leon Russell and Eric Clapton. The shows were a pioneering charity event, in aid of the homeless Bengali refugees of the Bangladesh Liberation War, and set the model for future multi-artist rock benefits such as Live Aid (1985) and the Concert for New York City (2001).
Co-produced by Phil Spector and featuring the latter’s signature Wall of Sound in a live setting, the fundraiser album was delayed for three months due to protracted negotiations between Harrison and two record companies keen to protect their business interests, Capitol and Columbia/CBS. Besides the main performers, the musicians and singers on the recording include Badfinger, Jim Horn, Klaus Voormann, Alla Rakha, Jim Keltner, Jesse Ed Davis and Claudia Linnear. The box set’s original packaging included a 64-page book containing photos from the concerts; the album cover, designed by Tom Wilkes, consisted of an image of a malnourished child sitting beside an empty food bowl.
On release, The Concert for Bangladesh was a major critical and commercial success, topping albums charts around the world, and went on to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in March 1973. Together with the 1972 Apple concert film directed by Saul Swimmer, the album gained Indian classical music its largest Western audience up until that time. The album was reissued in 2005, in remastered form, featuring a new cover.
Among the many words of acclaim that have been written about The Concert for Bangladesh since its release, author Tom Moon describes it as an album to play “whenever your faith in the power of music begins to wane”. Sales of The Concert for Bangladesh continue to benefit the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF, which raised $1.2 million for children in the Horn of Africa, in a 2011 campaign marking the album’s 40th anniversary.
Track listing
Original release
Side one
No. Title Writer(s) Performer(s) Length
1. “George Harrison/Ravi Shankar Introduction” — George Harrison, Ravi Shankar 5:19
2. “Bangla Dhun” Shankar Shankar 16:40
Side two
No. Title Writer(s) Performer(s) Length
3. “Wah-Wah” Harrison Harrison 3:30
4. “My Sweet Lord” Harrison Harrison 4:36
5. “Awaiting on You All” Harrison Harrison 3:00
6. “That’s the Way God Planned It” Billy Preston Preston 4:20
Side three
No. Title Writer(s) Performer(s) Length
1. “It Don’t Come Easy” Richard Starkey Ringo Starr 3:01
2. “Beware of Darkness” Harrison Harrison, Leon Russell 3:36
3. “Band Introduction” — Harrison 2:39
4. “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” Harrison Harrison 4:53
Side four
5. “Medley: Jumpin’ Jack Flash/Youngblood” Mick Jagger, Keith Richards/Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Doc Pomus Russell, Don Preston 9:27
6. “Here Comes the Sun” Harrison Harrison 2:59
Side five
No. Title Writer(s) Performer(s) Length
1. “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” Bob Dylan Dylan 5:44
2. “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry” Dylan Dylan 3:07
3. “Blowin’ in the Wind” Dylan Dylan 4:07
4. “Mr. Tambourine Man” Dylan Dylan 4:45
5. “Just Like a Woman” Dylan Dylan 4:49
Side six
No. Title Writer(s) Performer(s) Length
6. “Something” Harrison Harrison 3:42
7. “Bangla Desh” Harrison Harrison 4:55
2005 remaster
Disc one
The first disc contains the ten tracks from side one to side three of the original release.
Disc two
The second disc contains the nine tracks from side four to side six of the original release, together with:
10. “Love Minus Zero/No Limit” Dylan Dylan 4:19
2011 40th anniversary reissue
A download-only version of the album per the 2005 remaster, with a second bonus track exclusive to iTunes:
No. Title Writer(s) Performer(s) Length
11. “Bangla Desh” (studio version) Harrison Harrison 4:00
Personnel
“The Artists”
George Harrison – vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, backing vocals
Ravi Shankar – sitar
Bob Dylan – vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica
Leon Russell – piano, vocals, bass, backing vocals
Ringo Starr – drums, vocals, tambourine
Billy Preston – Hammond organ, vocals
Eric Clapton – electric guitar
Ali Akbar Khan – sarod
Alla Rakha – tabla
Kamala Chakravarty – tambura
“The Band”
Jesse Ed Davis – electric guitar
Klaus Voormann – bass
Jim Keltner – drums
Pete Ham – acoustic guitar
Tom Evans – twelve-string acoustic guitar
Joey Molland – acoustic guitar
Mike Gibbins – tambourine, maracas
Don Preston – electric guitar, vocals (on “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”/”Young Blood” and “Bangla Desh” only)
Carl Radle – bass (on “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”/”Young Blood” only)
The Hollywood Horns
Jim Horn – saxophones, horn arrangements
Chuck Findley – trumpet
Jackie Kelso – saxophones
Allan Beutler – saxophones
Lou McCreary – trombone
Ollie Mitchell – trumpet
The Soul Choir
Claudia Linnear, Jo Green, Jeanie Greene, Marlin Greene, Dolores Hall, Don Nix, Don Preston – backing vocals, percussion.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia