live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film *'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD) Music *Live (band), American alternative rock band * List of albums ...

triple album A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording i ...

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

Apple Records Apple Records is a record label founded by the Beatles in 1968 as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists including Mar ...

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known export of North Ind ...

Ali Akbar Khan Ali Akbar Khan (14 April 192218 June 2009) was a Indian Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod. Trained as a classical musician and instrumentalist by his father, Allauddin Khan, he ...

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

Billy Preston William Everett Preston (September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was an American keyboardist, singer and songwriter whose work encompassed R&B, rock, soul, funk, and gospel. Preston was a top session keyboardist in the 1960s, during which he ba ...

Leon Russell Leon Russell (born Claude Russell Bridges; April 2, 1942 – November 13, 2016) was an American musician and songwriter who was involved with numerous bestselling records during his 60-year career that spanned multiple genres, including rock and ...

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Benga ...

Live Aid Live Aid was a multi-venue benefit concert held on Saturday 13 July 1985, as well as a music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 fami ...

the Concert for New York City The Concert for New York City was a benefit concert, featuring many famous musicians, that took place on October 20, 2001 at Madison Square Garden in New York City in response to the September 11 attacks. Aside from performing for charity, the co ...

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (born Harvey Philip Spector; December 26, 1939January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by ...

Wall of Sound The Wall of Sound (also called the Spector Sound) is a music production formula developed by American record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios, in the 1960s, with assistance from engineer Larry Levine and the conglomerate of session m ...

Badfinger Badfinger were a Welsh rock band formed in Swansea, who were active from the 1960s to the 1980s. Their best-known lineup consisted of Pete Ham (vocals, guitar), Mike Gibbins (drums), Tom Evans (bass), and Joey Molland (guitar). They are recog ...

Jim Horn James Ronald Horn (born November 20, 1940) is an American saxophonist, woodwind player, and session musician. Biography Horn was born in Los Angeles, and after replacing saxophonist Steve Douglas in 1959, he toured with member Duane Eddy for f ...

Klaus Voormann Klaus Otto Wilhelm Voormann (born 29 April 1938) is a German artist, musician, and record producer. Voormann was the bassist for Manfred Mann from 1966 to 1969, and performed as a session musician on a host of recordings, including "You're So V ...

Alla Rakha Ustad Alla Rakha Qureshi (29 April 1919 – 3 February 2000), popularly known as Alla Rakha, was an Indian tabla player who specialized in Hindustani classical music. He was a frequent accompanist of sitar player Pandit Ravi Shankar and was ...

Jim Keltner James Lee Keltner (born April 27, 1942) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. He was characterized by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes as "the leading session drummer in America".Howard Sounes. ''Down ...

Jesse Ed Davis Jesse Edwin Davis III (September 21, 1944 – June 22, 1988) was a Native American guitarist. He was well regarded as a session artist and solo performer, was a member of Taj Mahal's backing band and played with musicians such as Eric Clapton, J ...

Claudia Lennear Claudia Lennear (born Claudia Joy Offley; 1946) is an American soul singer and educator. Lennear began her performing with the Superbs before becoming an Ikette in the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. She was also a background vocalist for various acts ...

Tom Wilkes Thomas Edward Wilkes (July 30, 1939 – June 28, 2009) was an American art director, designer, photographer, illustrator, writer and producer-director. Life Wilkes was born in Long Beach, California and raised in southern California. Wilkes atte ...

Capitol A capitol, named after the Capitoline Hill in Rome, is usually a legislative building where a legislature meets and makes laws for its respective political entity. Specific capitols include: * United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. * Numerous ...

Grammy Award for Album of the Year The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regar ...

Saul Swimmer Saul Swimmer (April 25, 1936 – March 3, 2007)Saul Swimmer
at the

Indian classical music Indian classical music is the classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as '' Hindustani'' and the South Indian expression known as '' Carnatic''. These traditions were not ...

its largest Western audience up until that time. It was reissued in 2005, four years after Harrison's death, with revised artwork. As of 2011, sales of the album continue to benefit the George Harrison Fund for

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

, which raised $1.2 million for children in the

Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...

, in a campaign marking the album's 40th anniversary.

Concerts

While in Los Angeles in June 1971, and after being made aware of the gravity of the situation in what was then known as

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...

by friend and musician

Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known export of North Ind ...

,Lavezzoli, p. 187.

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

set about organising two fundraising concerts at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

, New York, to aid the war-ravaged and disaster-stricken country.Clayson, p. 308. In the middle of these hurried preparations, he composed the song " Bangla Desh" in order to call further attention to the

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

is' cause, and rush-released it as a

charity single A charity record or charity single is a song released by musicians with most or all proceeds raised going to a dedicated foundation or charity. George Harrison's " Bangla Desh" single in 1971 is commonly acknowledged as the first ever purpose-mad ...

four days before the shows.Leng, pp. 112, 114. Riding high with the recent success of his ''

All Things Must Pass ''All Things Must Pass'' is the third studio album by English rock musician George Harrison. Released as a triple album in November 1970, it was Harrison's first solo work after the break-up of the Beatles in April that year. It includes the h ...

'' triple album,Neal Alpert
"George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh"

Gadfly Online ''Gadfly Magazine'' was a periodical that was created in February 1997 and launched as a full-size print publication in January 1998. The publisher is the Rutherford Institute. The magazine is based in Charlottesville, Virginia. At the Utne Reade ...

, 3 December 2001 (archived fro
the original
on 3 March 2012; retrieved 3 March 2016). Harrison then headlined the all-star

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

benefit concerts, backed by a 24-piece band of musicians and singers, on Sunday, 1 August 1971. The shows marked the first time that Harrison and

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

had performed on stage together since

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

quit touring in 1966; since then, they, like

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

, had been mostly unavailable to concert audiences.Schaffner, pp. 146–47.Interview with Jann Wenner, in ''The Concert for Bangladesh Revisited''. In Dylan's case, it was his first appearance at a major US concert in five years, although his participation had been uncertain until he walked on for his segment midway through the afternoon show. The concerts were highly successful in raising international awareness of the plight of the refugeesTillery, p. 99. – thought to number up to 10 million – and a

cheque A cheque, or check (American English; see spelling differences) is a document that orders a bank (or credit union) to pay a specific amount of money from a person's account to the person in whose name the cheque has been issued. The pers ...

for over US$243,000 was soon sent to UNICEF for relief. The media lavished praise on Harrison as an ambassador for rock altruism;Inglis, p. 36. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' magazine hailed the event as proof that "the

Utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...

n spirit of the Sixties was still flickering". With concert recording having been carried out at Madison Square Garden by

Gary Kellgren Gary Kellgren (April 7, 1939 – July 20, 1977) was an American audio engineer and co-founder of The Record Plant recording studios, along with businessman Chris Stone. Career Engineering Kellgren was a successful and well respected audio en ...

,Badman, p. 45. using the

Record Plant The Record Plant is a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and currently operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it has produced highly influential albums, including Blon ...

's 16-track mobile unit, Harrison intended to raise significantly more money via a live album of the event, to be issued on the Beatles'

Apple Records Apple Records is a record label founded by the Beatles in 1968 as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists including Mar ...

label, followed by

Apple Films Apple Corps Limited (informally known as Apple) is a multi-armed multimedia corporation founded in London in January 1968 by the members of the Beatles to replace their earlier company (Beatles Ltd.) and to form a conglomerate. Its name (pro ...

' concert documentary, also to be titled ''

The Concert for Bangladesh The Concert for Bangladesh (or Bangla Desh, as the country's name was originally spelt)Harry, p. 135. was a pair of benefit concerts organised by former Beatles guitarist George Harrison and Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar. The shows were he ...

''.Rodriguez, p. 51.

Album preparation

During his and Shankar's press conference in New York on 27 July,Badman, p. 43. Harrison had stated that a live album might be ready for release within ten days of the shows. Although this estimate would turn out to be highly optimistic,Madinger & Easter, p. 436. the following year, in an effort to foil concert bootleggers,

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

succeeded in delivering a

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

just eight days after his own, much-publicised Madison Square Garden shows.Guralnick, pp. 469–70. Harrison and co-producer

Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (born Harvey Philip Spector; December 26, 1939January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by ...

began working on the Bangladesh recordings on 2 August, and work continued there at the Record Plant for around a week.Spizer, p. 241. Spector later talked of them spending "six months" mixing what amounted to a total of four hours of music;Olivia Harrison, p. 286. in fact, the process took just over a month, as Harrison told talk-show host

Dick Cavett Richard Alva Cavett (; born November 19, 1936) is an American television personality and former talk show host. He appeared regularly on nationally broadcast television in the United States for five decades, from the 1960s through the 2000s. In ...

that November. In their book ''Eight Arms to Hold You'', Chip Madinger and Mark Easter question the extent of Spector's involvement, citing Harrison's subsequent lauding of Kellgren's role in "capturing the performances" on 1 August, as well as the fact that Spector was "in and out of hospital" during this time, similar to his erratic attendance at the ''All Things Must Pass'' sessions in 1970.

Concert recordings

Speaking in 2011, Spector identified two issues that prolonged the live album's preparation, both of them reflective of the haste with which the concerts came together: "It was chaos

etting up at Madison Square Garden Etting (; ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Ettinge'') is a commune in the Moselle department of the Grand Est administrative region in north-eastern France. The village belongs to the Pays de Bitche. See also * Communes of the Moselle department ...

– we had three hours to mic the band, then the audience came in, and we didn't know how to mic the audience." Rather than a standard band, this was a full

Wall of Sound The Wall of Sound (also called the Spector Sound) is a music production formula developed by American record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios, in the 1960s, with assistance from engineer Larry Levine and the conglomerate of session m ...

orchestra,The Editors of ''Rolling Stone'', p. 122. as Spector re-created his Wall of Sound approach in concert.Inglis, p. 35. The large ensemble consisted of two drummers (Ringo Starr and

Jim Keltner James Lee Keltner (born April 27, 1942) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. He was characterized by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes as "the leading session drummer in America".Howard Sounes. ''Down ...

), two keyboard players (

Billy Preston William Everett Preston (September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was an American keyboardist, singer and songwriter whose work encompassed R&B, rock, soul, funk, and gospel. Preston was a top session keyboardist in the 1960s, during which he ba ...

and

Leon Russell Leon Russell (born Claude Russell Bridges; April 2, 1942 – November 13, 2016) was an American musician and songwriter who was involved with numerous bestselling records during his 60-year career that spanned multiple genres, including rock and ...

), six horn players (led by

Jim Horn James Ronald Horn (born November 20, 1940) is an American saxophonist, woodwind player, and session musician. Biography Horn was born in Los Angeles, and after replacing saxophonist Steve Douglas in 1959, he toured with member Duane Eddy for f ...

), three electric guitarists (Harrison,

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

and

Jesse Ed Davis Jesse Edwin Davis III (September 21, 1944 – June 22, 1988) was a Native American guitarist. He was well regarded as a session artist and solo performer, was a member of Taj Mahal's backing band and played with musicians such as Eric Clapton, J ...

), a trio of acoustic guitars to be "felt but not heard"Schaffner, p. 147. (

Badfinger Badfinger were a Welsh rock band formed in Swansea, who were active from the 1960s to the 1980s. Their best-known lineup consisted of Pete Ham (vocals, guitar), Mike Gibbins (drums), Tom Evans (bass), and Joey Molland (guitar). They are recog ...

's

Pete Ham Peter William Ham (27 April 1947 – 24 April 1975) was a Welsh singer, songwriter and guitarist best known as a lead vocalist of and composer for the 1970s rock band Badfinger, whose hit songs include " No Matter What", " Day After Day" and " ...

, Tom Evans and

Joey Molland Joseph Charles Molland (born 21 June 1947, Edge Hill, Liverpool) is an English songwriter and rock guitarist whose recording career spans five decades. He is best known as a member of Badfinger, the most successful of the acts he performed wi ...

), the seven members of

Don Nix Don Nix (born September 27, 1941, Memphis, Tennessee, United States) is an American songwriter, composer, arranger, musician, and author. Although cited as being "one of the more obscure figures in Southern soul and rock", he is a key figure in ...

's "Soul Choir", together with bassist

Klaus Voormann Klaus Otto Wilhelm Voormann (born 29 April 1938) is a German artist, musician, and record producer. Voormann was the bassist for Manfred Mann from 1966 to 1969, and performed as a session musician on a host of recordings, including "You're So V ...

and a dedicated percussion player,

Mike Gibbins Michael George Gibbins (12 March 1949 – 4 October 2005) was a Welsh musician, most notable for being the drummer of Badfinger. Early life Mike Gibbins was born on 12 March 1949 in Swansea, Wales. He began playing drums at age 14, and joine ...

of Badfinger.Castleman & Podrazik, pp. 195–96.Clayson, pp. 309–11.Leng, p. 117. In his review of the ''Concert for Bangladesh'' film, John Pidgeon described the scene as "a roadie's nightmare of instruments, mikes, amps and speakers".John Pidgeon, "George Harrison et al.: ''The Concert for Bangla Desh''", ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'', 15 July 1972, p. 24; available a
Rock's Backpages
(subscription required). Before the Western portion of the concerts, there were the traditionally hard-to-record Indian string instrumentsMacDonald, p. 147. of Ravi Shankar and

Ali Akbar Khan Ali Akbar Khan (14 April 192218 June 2009) was a Indian Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod. Trained as a classical musician and instrumentalist by his father, Allauddin Khan, he ...

to amplify, together with

Alla Rakha Ustad Alla Rakha Qureshi (29 April 1919 – 3 February 2000), popularly known as Alla Rakha, was an Indian tabla player who specialized in Hindustani classical music. He was a frequent accompanist of sitar player Pandit Ravi Shankar and was ...

's

tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

and the drone-enhancing tambura, played by Kamala Chakravarty – each offering natural musical tones so easily lost in the "cavernous Garden".Schaffner, p. 146. An additional challenge for Kellgren had been the need to capture the dynamics of a well-paced show designed around professionally presented hit songs, rather than a loose superstar

jam Jam is a type of fruit preserve. Jam or Jammed may also refer to: Other common meanings * A firearm malfunction * Block signals ** Radio jamming ** Radar jamming and deception ** Mobile phone jammer ** Echolocation jamming Arts and entertai ...

.Clayson, p. 310.

Post-production

With ongoing friendships a priority,Badman, p. 79. Harrison had promised the main participants that, should things turn out badly on 1 August, they could be excluded from any album or film release.George Harrison, pp. 60–61. According to Madinger and Easter, he took early mixes of the concert tapes to Dylan for the latter's approval. Of all the featured performers, only Leon Russell chose to intervene, necessitating a reworking of his "

Jumpin' Jack Flash "Jumpin' Jack Flash" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released as a non-album single in 1968. Called "supernatural Delta blues by way of Swinging London" by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, the song was perceived by some as ...

/ Youngblood" medley, which he apparently remixed himself.Clayson, p. 314. Post-production on the Madison Square Garden recordings was minimal, the known examples being Harrison's

double-tracked Double tracking or doubling is an audio recording technique in which a performer sings or plays along with their own prerecorded performance, usually to produce a stronger or bigger sound than can be obtained with a single voice or instrument. ...

lead vocal on the

bridges A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whic ...

of "

While My Guitar Gently Weeps "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 double album '' The Beatles'' (also known as "the White Album"). It was written by George Harrison, the band's lead guitarist. Harrison wrote "While ...

", and a composite edit of his opening song, " Wah-Wah", which was assembled from both the shows. In addition, it is possible that Shankar and Khan's "Bangla Dhun" was severely edited down: Harrison later described their set as having lasted 45 minutes, yet the running time on the album is under 17 minutes and in the film just 15 minutes. The final mix down of the recordings, for album and film use, was carried out in Los Angeles in September, by

A&M Studios The Jim Henson Company Lot, formerly A&M Studios, is a studio property located just south of the southeast corner of North La Brea Avenue and Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Originally established by film star Charlie Chaplin, the property serve ...

engineers Norman Kinney and Steve Mitchell.Interview with Norman Kinney and Steve Mitchell, in ''The Concert for Bangladesh Revisited''. In their joint interview for the 2005 '' Concert for Bangladesh Revisited'' documentary, Kinney and Mitchell confirm that music from both the afternoon (matinee) and

evening Evening is the period of a day that starts at the end of the afternoon and overlaps with the beginning of night. The exact times when evening begins and ends depend on location, time of year, and culture, but it is generally regarded as beginn ...

performances was used for the concert film and live album; they also state that Spector repeatedly instructed them to increase the volume of the audience in the mixes, in a search for more "feel of the room" in the result. The second show was preferred when it came to selecting the best concert audio.Badman, p. 44. The exceptions are as follows: "Wah-Wah", which starts off with the evening version but cuts to the matinee at 2:53; Harrison's band introduction and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", both sourced from the first show; and Russell's medley, which is also from the matinee on the album, but in the concert film, the audio cuts to the evening show during "Youngblood".Spizer, p. 243. Harrison's geniality as a host was well represented on the recordings.Leng, pp. 120–21. As with Shankar's pre-"Bangla Dhun" address, Harrison's band introductions, complete with Russell and Voormann breaking into " Yellow Submarine" when Starr's name is mentioned, and his other on-stage dialogue – particularly the concert-sealing "Like to bring on a friend of us all ... Mr Bob Dylan" – would become as integral to the legacy of the event as the music itself.Clayson, p. 312.The Editors of ''Rolling Stone'', pp. 43, 122.

Record company obstruction

On 23 August, press reports appeared citing "legal problems" as the reason behind the delaying of the much-anticipated live albumBadman, p. 46. – problems that would turn out to be a disagreement between

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

-owned

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

(Apple's US distributor) and

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

(Dylan's label) over who had a rightful claim to release the album.Carr & Tyler, p. 99.Interview with Bhaskar Menon, in ''The Concert for Bangladesh Revisited''. Columbia/CBS were eventually mollified with the granting of tape distribution rights in North America, and record and tape distribution in the rest of the world.Spizer, p. 242.Woffinden, p. 52. Another stumbling block was Capitol's insistence that they receive monetary compensation, thought to be around $400,000,Tillery, p. 100. for what the company perceived to be vast production and distribution costs for the boxed three-record set.The Editors of ''Rolling Stone'', p. 43. It was a position from which EMI chairman

Bhaskar Menon Bhaskar Menon (29 May 1934 – 4 March 2021) was a music industry executive of Indian origin. He hailed from Palakkad, Kerala, India. He initially worked with The Gramophone Company of India Ltd. (HMV) Dum Dum, Calcutta, India as the chairma ...

refused to budge, while Harrison was equally adamant that, since all the artists were providing their services for free and Apple was supplying the album packaging at no charge, the record company "must give up something" also. With the sound mix being completed in LA, Harrison spent most of September 1971 in New York working on the problematic film footage of the concert,Clayson, p. 315. before heading to London. There he attended the re-opening of Apple Studio on 30 September and produced new signing

Lon & Derrek Van Eaton Lon & Derrek Van Eaton were an American vocal and multi-instrumentalist duo from Trenton, New Jersey, consisting of brothers Lon and Derrek Van Eaton. They are best known for their association with the Beatles through the brothers' brief stint on A ...

's debut single,"Fresh From Apple: Lon & Derrek Van Eaton"
,

Apple Records Apple Records is a record label founded by the Beatles in 1968 as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists including Mar ...

(retrieved 20 May 2012). as well as enduring a fruitless meeting with the British

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or in p ...

's financial secretary – the latter activity in an attempt to have the government waive its standard purchase tax, and so keep the album affordable to record-buyers.Badman, p. 50. Harrison returned to New York on 5 October and announced that the Bangladesh live album would be issued during the following month. At this time, with concert bootlegs now on the market, posters were placed in record shops bearing the slogan: "Save a starving child. Don't buy a bootleg!" In the fourth week of November – well into the lucrative Christmas sales period and close to four months after the concerts – Harrison voiced his frustration at the stalemate with Capitol on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

's late-night chat show, ''

The Dick Cavett Show ''The Dick Cavett Show'' was the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks, including: * ABC daytime, (March 4, 1968–January 24, 1969) originally titled ''This Morning'' * ABC prime time, Tuesdays, We ...

''. Harrison was on the program to promote the ''

Raga A ''raga'' or ''raag'' (; also ''raaga'' or ''ragam''; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a musical mode, melodic mode. The ''rāga'' is a unique and central feature of the classical Indian music tradit ...

'' documentary with Shankar, but after making a surprise guest performance with

Gary Wright Gary Malcolm Wright (born April 26, 1943) is an American musician and composer best known for his 1976 hit songs " Dream Weaver" and " Love Is Alive", and for his role in helping establish the synthesizer as a leading instrument in rock and po ...

's new band Wonderwheel, he launched into a complaint about his US record company's interference and threatened to take the whole album package to Columbia.Badman, pp. 54–55. With the outburst attracting unfavourable attention in the press, where Capitol were viewed as "profiteering on the backs of famine victims",Leng, p. 121. the company eventually backed down and agreed to release the album on Harrison's terms.Badman, p. 58. Of all the labels involved, only Columbia would make any money from ''The Concert for Bangladesh'' – 25 cents on every copy sold. Although none of these royalties went to the artist, Dylan and his record company were already benefiting from the exposure provided by the Bangladesh concerts, through the timely release of ''

Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II ''Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II'', also known as ''More Bob Dylan Greatest Hits'', is the second compilation album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on November 17, 1971 by Columbia Records. With Dylan not expected to releas ...

''.Woffinden, p. 51. Of the other featured artists at the Concert for Bangladesh, the careers of both Preston (

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

) and Russell (

Shelter Shelter is a small building giving temporary protection from bad weather or danger. Shelter may also refer to: Places * Port Shelter, Hong Kong * Shelter Bay (disambiguation), various locations * Shelter Cove (disambiguation), various locatio ...

) likewise prospered as a result of their participation, but their record companies imposed no such conditions on Apple and Capitol. In January 1972, ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

''s Richard Williams remarked in his ''Concert for Bangladesh'' album review: "Between them, Capitol and CBS have proved that, when it comes to awareness and enlightenment, the business is still several years behind the musicians."Richard Williams, "''The Concert for Bangla Desh'' (album review)", ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'', 1 January 1972; available a
Rock's Backpages
(''subscription required''; retrieved 15 July 2012). Once the album had been granted a release date, Apple's financial terms ensured that as much money as possible would be raised from each copy sold, but that it would be difficult for retailers to profit financially. Some retailers responded with "shameless price gouging" on the three-record set, apparently at Capitol's recommendation. Following the protracted negotiations surrounding the live album's distribution, Harrison's disaffection with EMI/Capitol was a key factor behind his signing with A&M Records in January 1976.Clayson, p. 345.

Artwork

The album's packaging was designed by Camouflage Productions partners

Tom Wilkes Thomas Edward Wilkes (July 30, 1939 – June 28, 2009) was an American art director, designer, photographer, illustrator, writer and producer-director. Life Wilkes was born in Long Beach, California and raised in southern California. Wilkes atte ...

and

Barry Feinstein Barry Feinstein (February 4, 1931 – October 20, 2011) was an American photographer and filmmaker, known for his photographs of 1950s Hollywood, the 1960s music scene, and his close personal and professional relationships with celebrities like ...

,Spizer, p. 245. the same team responsible for ''All Things Must Pass'', rock music's first boxed triple album. Along with Alan Pariser, both Wilkes and Feinstein had taken stills photographs at Madison Square Garden, at the

soundcheck A sound check is the preparation that takes place before a concert, speech, or similar performance to adjust the sound on the venue's sound reinforcement or public address system. The performer and the audio engineers run through a small port ...

on 31 July and during the concerts the next day, the results filling the 64-page full-colour booklet accompanying the original album. Also used as the ''Concert for Bangladesh'' film poster, the album-cover photograph – the "haunting" image of a malnourished young child sitting naked behind a wide, empty food bowl, author

Bruce Spizer David "Bruce" Spizer (born July 2, 1955) is a tax attorney in New Orleans, Louisiana, who is also recognized as an expert on the Beatles. He has published thirteen books, and is frequently quoted as an authority on the history of the band an ...

writes – was a still taken from

news agency A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and All-news radio, radio and News broadcasting, television Broadcasting, broadcasters. A news agency may ...

film footage and

airbrushed An airbrush is a small, air-operated tool that atomizes and sprays various media, most often paint but also ink and dye, and foundation. Spray painting developed from the airbrush and is considered to employ a type of airbrush. History ...

extensively by Wilkes. Having created the provocative, headline-filled picture sleeve for Harrison's "Bangla Desh" single earlier in the year, Wilkes was keen to capture "real human compassion" in this cover and poster image.Interview with Tom Wilkes, in ''The Concert for Bangladesh Revisited''. The booklet's back-cover picture showed an open guitar case filled with food and medical supplies, below a copy of the cheque for the Madison Square Garden box-office takings. Wilkes intended this image to convey a sense of hope, signifying the completion of the task that the participants had set out to achieve for the refugees from East Pakistan. The record's liner note essay accused the Pakistani Army of undertaking "a deliberate reign of terror" that represented "undoubtedly the greatest atrocity since Hitler's extermination of the Jews". The three LPs and booklet were housed inside a deep orange-coloured box. According to Jon Taplin, who served as production manager at the Madison Square concerts, Capitol executives were concerned that the cover image was too "depressing" and uncommercial. Harrison was resolute, however, and so Wilkes's design was used.Interview with Jon Taplin, in ''The Concert for Bangladesh Revisited''.

Release

''The Concert for Bangladesh'' was released in the United States on 20 December 1971, and in Britain on 10 January 1972,Madinger & Easter, p. 634. with the same Apple Records catalogue number (STCX 3385) in both territories.Castleman & Podrazik, p. 108. The retail price for the lavishly packaged triple album was set at $12.98 in America and an extraordinarily high £5.50 in the UK, due to the purchase tax surcharge there.Clayson, p. 316. The prices drew some criticism, from Harrison for one, even if it was accepted that the proceeds were going to those in desperate need – or, as ''Beatles Forever'' author

Nicholas Schaffner Nicholas Schaffner (January 28, 1953 – August 28, 1991) was an American non-fiction author, journalist, and singer-songwriter. Biography Schaffner was born in Manhattan to John V. Schaffner (1913–1983), a literary agent whose clients includ ...

wrote in 1977, to "a nation still viewed as the worst pocket of misery on earth".Schaffner, p. 150. Similarly, the relief project's funds controversy and tax problems, which came to light shortly after the release of the live album, were a source of frustration to Harrison, but commentators have noted that these problems took nothing away from the "resounding success" of Harrison and Shankar's Bangladesh relief project. Despite the cost, the album was an immediate commercial success.Spizer, p. 239. In America, it spent six weeks at number 2 on the ''Billboard'' Top LPs chart. On the other US charts, compiled by ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' and ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of the three main music industry trade magazines in the United States, along with '' Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 under the name ''Music Vendor'', but in 1964 it was changed to ''Record Wo ...

'', the live album peaked at number 2 and number 1, respectively. It was certified

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

on 4 January 1972 for sales of over 500,000 units. In the UK, ''The Concert for Bangladesh'' became Harrison's second number 1 album, after ''All Things Must Pass'' in early 1971."All the Number 1 Albums"

Official Charts Company The Official Charts (legal name: The Official UK Charts Company Limited) is a British inter-professional organization that compiles various "official" record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France. In the United Kingdom, its charts inc ...

, 15 January 2021 (archived version retrieved 27 January 2021). In ''Melody Maker''s readers poll for 1972, it was ranked second in the "World" album category. The album was similarly successful on charts around the world. In Pakistan, the government banned the record. The government also advised its embassies and other foreign diplomatic offices that the album contained "hostile propaganda against Pakistan" and that they should pressure their local contacts to stop the music being played on the radio.Raghavan, p. 145. In March 1973, ''The Concert for Bangladesh'' won the

Grammy Award for Album of the Year The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regar ...

."Past Winners Search"
, grammy.com (retrieved 14 March 2013). In Harrison's absence, Ringo Starr attended the awards ceremony in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

and carried off a tray of Grammys, one for each of the featured performers. Author Peter Lavezzoli writes that, with the success of the live album and

Saul Swimmer Saul Swimmer (April 25, 1936 – March 3, 2007)Saul Swimmer
at the

Indian classical music Indian classical music is the classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as '' Hindustani'' and the South Indian expression known as '' Carnatic''. These traditions were not ...

reached its largest Western audience to date through the Concert for Bangladesh.

Critical reception

Contemporary reviews

''Cash Box''s reviewer described ''The Concert for Bangladesh'' as "the most eagerly awaited album of 1971" and "every bit as breathtaking as we hoped". The reviewer deemed the sound "flawless" and the booklet "stunning", and concluded: "listen to the records and hear music history." Don Heckman of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' similarly commented that the album lived up to expectation, and that Harrison's statements on ''The Dick Cavett Show'' had seemingly had the desired effect. For Heckman, the live album confirmed the concerts' standing as a distillation of pop music's growth and maturity throughout the 1960s, thereby offering "a decade's music in microcosm". In addition to praising the structure and pacing of the live records, he admired Harrison for continuing his post-Beatles "optimism-with‐energy attitude", which Heckman recognised as an effective counter to the Nixon-inspired apathy permeating rock music at the time. Having attended the concerts in August, Ed Kelleher of ''

Circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclist ...

'' magazine wrote that the live album not only conveyed the "magic ... the sheer joy" of the event, but the music "practically jumps right out into your life". He singled out songs by Dylan, Russell and Harrison, along with Shankar's performance, but admitted to the futility of naming "individual highlights" since the album was "one consistent high".Ed Kelleher, "Record Reviews: ''The Concert for Bangla Desh''", ''

Circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclist ...

'', March 1972, pp. 16–17. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' continued its near-deification of the concerts as a defining moment in the evolution of rock 'n' roll.Greene, p. 193.

Jon Landau Jon Landau (born May 14, 1947) is an American music critic, manager, and record producer. He has worked with Bruce Springsteen in all three capacities. He is the head of the nominating committee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and recei ...

wrote of Harrison: "the spirit he creates through his own demeanor is inspirational. From the personal point of view, Concert for Bangla Desh was George's moment. He put it together; and he pulled it off ..."Spizer, p. 246. Landau lauded the pacing and professionalism of the entire show, and recognised the highpoint as the album-closing "Bangla Desh", the lyrics of which were no longer "an expression of intent but of an accomplished mission".Jon Landau
"George Harrison, ''Concert for Bangladesh''"
''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'', 3 February 1972 (archived version retrieved 20 February 2021). In ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

''s inaugural

Pazz & Jop Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper ''The Village Voice'' and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year abse ...

poll, critics voted ''The Concert for Bangladesh'' the eighth best album of 1971. Among UK reviewers,

Geoffrey Cannon Geoffrey Cannon (born 1940) is an English author, journalist and former magazine editor, and scholar. From 1968 to 1972, he was the music critic for ''The Guardian'', a role that made him the first dedicated rock critic at a British daily newsp ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' wrote: "What

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...

was ''said'' to be, the Madison Square Garden Bangladesh concert ''was''. It's on record. The concert will stand as the greatest act of magnanimity rock music has yet achieved." In ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'', Richard Williams began his review by saying, "If you buy only one LP in 1972, make it this one." He likened Shankar and Khan's interplay on "Bangla Dhun" to "

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...

trading licks with

Johnny Hodges Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges (July 25, 1907 – May 11, 1970) was an American alto saxophonist, best known for solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years. Hodges was also featured on soprano ...

", and found Harrison's opening trio of ''All Things Must Pass'' tracks " believably ... in some ways even better" than the originals, and Preston's " That's the Way God Planned It" "feverishly exciting". Williams named Dylan's "

Just Like a Woman "Just Like a Woman" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan first released on his seventh studio album, ''Blonde on Blonde'' on June 20, 1966. It was written by Dylan and produced by Bob Johnston. A shorter edit was released as a sin ...

" as "the masterpiece". In a causerie-style piece for ''New Statesman'', Michael Nyman wrote that the music failed to support the claim that the concerts had educated listeners on the plight of the Bangladeshi refugees. He admired many of the performances but detected an "aloofness" in Shankar's sincerity and bemoaned that Dylan's outdated repertoire surpassed some of the more recent pop selections by Harrison and Preston, and that the lavish LP booklet "must have cost money which could have been channelled elsewhere".Michael Nyman, "Causerie", ''New Statesman'', 10 March 1972, p. 324. The ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

''s Roy Carr and Tony Tyler deemed the concerts "probably the greatest indoor rock 'n' roll event ever held", adding that Dylan's five-song set "easily justified" the album's price tag. As at the time of the concerts,O'Dell, p. 201.The Editors of ''Rolling Stone'', pp. 122–23.Don Heckman
"The Event Wound Up as a Love Feast"
, ''The Village Voice, Village Voice'', 5 August 1971 (retrieved 14 May 2012). much was made by music journalists of the change in Dylan's singing voice, as well as his choice of songs, which harked back to the so-called Bob Dylan#Protest and Another Side, protest period of 1962–64 and the creative zenith that culminated in his 1966 album ''Blonde on Blonde''. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" was another track that received significant attention, thanks to the guitar "duelling" between Harrison and Clapton.Clayson, p. 313.

Retrospective assessments and legacy

In the description of author Ian Inglis, ''The Concert for Bangladesh'' "established the artistic legitimacy of the charity album". While the technical imperfections of the concert recordings were overlooked in 1972 – or even applauded for their adding to the "honesty" of the moment, in the case of Starr forgetting the lyrics to "It Don't Come Easy" – reviewers of the first CD-format album remarked on the relatively poor sound quality. In his review for AllMusic in 2001, Bruce Eder commented on the "less-than-perfect sound" while still viewing the album as a "unique live document showcasing Harrison near his best".Bogdanov, Woodstra & Erlewine, p. 181. Paul Du Noyer of ''Blender (magazine), Blender'' wrote that some of the performances are unpolished yet "the occasion still crackles with drama", and he named "Wah-Wah", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Mr. Tambourine Man" as the standout songs. Another point of contention, though mainly among Harrison's biographers, concerns Leon Russell. Alan Clayson bristles at the omnipresence of the Oklahoman singer and musician; he describes Russell as "the epitome of the self-satisfied sexism of the Delaney and Bonnie super-sidemen" and rues that his turn in the spotlight so blatantly became "The Leon Russell Show". Leng similarly bemoans Russell's "consciously extreme hollerin'", and finds his delivery pales beside the "unaffected naïveté" of Preston and particularly the "knife-edge emotions" of Harrison and Shankar, which only Dylan can match. By contrast, Paul Evans, writing in the 1992 ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide, Rolling Stone Album Guide'', gave the record three stars and preferred the Dylan set over Harrison's songs. Among reviews of the 2005 reissue, ''Mojo (magazine), Mojo'' described the remastered sound as "sumptuous" while AllMusic's Richard Ginell wrote: "Hands down, this epochal concert ... was the crowning event of George Harrison's public life, a gesture of great goodwill that captured the moment in history and, not incidentally, produced some rousing music as a permanent legacy."Richard S. Ginell
"George Harrison ''The Concert for Bangladesh (Bonus Track)''"
, AllMusic (retrieved 9 April 2015) Writing in ''Rolling Stone'' that year, Anthony DeCurtis said: "The Concert for Bangladesh is rightly enshrined in rock history as the model for Band Aid (band), Band Aid,

Live Aid Live Aid was a multi-venue benefit concert held on Saturday 13 July 1985, as well as a music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 fami ...

, Live 8 and every other superstar benefit concert of the last three decades ... In emphasizing the concert's idealism, however, it's easy to overlook what a musical gem this two-disc set is." Dan Ouellette of ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' considered that "The star-studded package holds up well as a live greatest-hits collection", before concluding: "But the revelation is the exhilarating concert lift-off, the improv-laced eastern Indian classical tune 'Bangla Dhun,' featuring sitar master Ravi Shankar."Dan Ouellette
"George Harrison and Friends ''The Concert for Bangladesh''"
''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'', 29 October 2005, p. 70 (retrieved 10 April 2015). ''Record Collector''s Joe Shooman began his review by saying, "Still great, so buy it – again", adding that "the saddest part is that the cash is still badly needed [in Bangladesh]." In his entry for the album in the book ''1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die'', Tom Moon recognises the concerts as "the first large-scale example of rock activism", saying that Harrison and his fellow performers provided the blueprint for celebrities to employ their fame for charitable causes. Moon advises listeners to "Pull this out whenever your faith in the power of music begins to wane", and suggests Preston's "That's the Way God Planned It" as a primer track.Moon, p. 807. ''Pitchfork (website), Pitchfork''s Quinn Moreland deems the Bangladesh relief project "a musical triumph and a momentous collaborative effort". He writes that while subsequent benefit concerts might encourage a suspicion that celebrity musicians merely "play philanthropist for a day", the Concert for Bangladesh was the realisation of Harrison's commitment to the Indian subcontinent, beyond the cultural appropriation suggested by his initial alliance with Shankar in the mid-1960s. Nigel Williamson of ''Uncut (magazine), Uncut'' compliments Harrison and Spector for retaining the imperfections of the live recordings and thereby conveying the spirit of the all-star concerts. He views Dylan's set as "spellbinding" and a final reprise of the singer's "mythic voice-of-a-generation image", and concludes of the album: "seldom before or since has rock music sounded so honest, so caring – and so capable of making us smile and cry at the same time." ''The Concert for Bangladesh'' also features in Sean Egan's 2006 book ''100 Albums That Changed Music'' and in ''The Mojo Collection, The Mojo Collection: The Greatest Albums of All Time''."Various Artists ''The Concert for Bangladesh''"
, Acclaimed Music (retrieved 27 January 2021). It was ranked number 1 in Spanish ''Rolling Stone''s list of "The 30 Greatest Live Albums of All Time", published in 2013.

Reissues

''The Concert for Bangladesh'' was first issued on CD on 30 July 1991 in America and 19 August in Britain. It was presented as a two-disc set, with significant editing of the breaks between songs. The downsizing to CD dimensions meant that much of the effectiveness of the booklet photography was lost; in addition, the contents were trimmed down to 36 pages.Madinger & Easter, p. 438. Having stated his disappointment in a 1988 interview that the album had been allowed to go out of print, Harrison recorded a promotional interview on the 20th anniversary of the concerts, to accompany the CD release. Harrison was working on a reissue of the album and film before his death in November 2001. Although the project was due for release the following year,Mark Wallgren, "Awaiting on You All – George Harrison reissue update", ''Goldmine (magazine), Goldmine'', 25 January 2002, p. 58. the new editions were not issued until 25 October 2005.Billboard staff
"'Concert for Bangladesh' Finally Coming to DVD"
, ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'', 22 September 2005 (retrieve 29 January 2021). The remastered releases appeared with a photo of Harrison on the cover, although the special-edition DVD retained the original image. The reissue was the 1972 concert film's first international release on DVD. It was accompanied by the ''Concert for Bangladesh Revisited with George Harrison and Friends'' making-of documentary, which was directed by Claire Ferguson"The Concert for Bangladesh (1972)"
, American Film Institute, AFI Catalog (retrieved 30 January 2021). and co-produced by Olivia Harrison. The revised packaging was credited to Wherefore Art? As a bonus track, the album included "Love Minus Zero/No Limit", which Dylan had performed during the afternoon show at Madison Square Garden. Sales of the ''Concert for Bangladesh'' album and DVD continue to benefit the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF."The George Harrison Fund for UNICEF asks 'Help us save some lives': Concert for Bangladesh 40th Anniversary"
,

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

, 13 October 2011 (retrieved 30 October 2013). In 2011, as one of the fund's projects to mark the 40th anniversary of the concerts and the live album's release, and in conjunction with UNICEF's "Month of Giving" campaign, the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF raised over $1.2 million in emergency relief for children in 2011 East Africa drought, famine- and drought-stricken areas of the

Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...

.

Track listing

Original release

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:

2011 40th anniversary reissue

A Music download, download-only version of the album per the 2005 remaster, with a second bonus track exclusive to iTunes:"Concert For Bangladesh on iTunes"
, concertforbangladesh.com, 26 July 2011 (retrieved 3 March 2016).Joe Marchese
"Harrison and Shankar's 'Concert For Bangladesh' Goes Digital"
, The Second Disc, 26 July 2011 (retrieved 3 March 2016).

Personnel

"The Artists" *

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

– vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, backing vocals *

Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known export of North Ind ...

– sitar *

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

– vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica *

Leon Russell Leon Russell (born Claude Russell Bridges; April 2, 1942 – November 13, 2016) was an American musician and songwriter who was involved with numerous bestselling records during his 60-year career that spanned multiple genres, including rock and ...

– piano, vocals, bass, backing vocals *

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

– drums, vocals, tambourine *

Billy Preston William Everett Preston (September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was an American keyboardist, singer and songwriter whose work encompassed R&B, rock, soul, funk, and gospel. Preston was a top session keyboardist in the 1960s, during which he ba ...

– Hammond organ, vocals *

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

– electric guitar *

Ali Akbar Khan Ali Akbar Khan (14 April 192218 June 2009) was a Indian Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod. Trained as a classical musician and instrumentalist by his father, Allauddin Khan, he ...

– sarod *

Alla Rakha Ustad Alla Rakha Qureshi (29 April 1919 – 3 February 2000), popularly known as Alla Rakha, was an Indian tabla player who specialized in Hindustani classical music. He was a frequent accompanist of sitar player Pandit Ravi Shankar and was ...

–

tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

* Kamala Chakravarty – tanpura (instrument), tambura "The Band" *

Jesse Ed Davis Jesse Edwin Davis III (September 21, 1944 – June 22, 1988) was a Native American guitarist. He was well regarded as a session artist and solo performer, was a member of Taj Mahal's backing band and played with musicians such as Eric Clapton, J ...

– electric guitar *

Klaus Voormann Klaus Otto Wilhelm Voormann (born 29 April 1938) is a German artist, musician, and record producer. Voormann was the bassist for Manfred Mann from 1966 to 1969, and performed as a session musician on a host of recordings, including "You're So V ...

– bass *

Jim Keltner James Lee Keltner (born April 27, 1942) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. He was characterized by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes as "the leading session drummer in America".Howard Sounes. ''Down ...

– drums *

Pete Ham Peter William Ham (27 April 1947 – 24 April 1975) was a Welsh singer, songwriter and guitarist best known as a lead vocalist of and composer for the 1970s rock band Badfinger, whose hit songs include " No Matter What", " Day After Day" and " ...

– acoustic guitar * Tom Evans – twelve-string acoustic guitar *

Joey Molland Joseph Charles Molland (born 21 June 1947, Edge Hill, Liverpool) is an English songwriter and rock guitarist whose recording career spans five decades. He is best known as a member of Badfinger, the most successful of the acts he performed wi ...

– acoustic guitar *

Mike Gibbins Michael George Gibbins (12 March 1949 – 4 October 2005) was a Welsh musician, most notable for being the drummer of Badfinger. Early life Mike Gibbins was born on 12 March 1949 in Swansea, Wales. He began playing drums at age 14, and joine ...

– tambourine, maracas * Don Preston (guitarist), 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 James Ronald Horn (born November 20, 1940) is an American saxophonist, woodwind player, and session musician. Biography Horn was born in Los Angeles, and after replacing saxophonist Steve Douglas in 1959, he toured with member Duane Eddy for f ...

– saxophones, horn arrangements * Chuck Findley – trumpet * Jackie Kelso – saxophones * Allan Beutler – saxophones * Lou McCreary – trombone * Ollie Mitchell – trumpet The Soul Choir *

Claudia Lennear Claudia Lennear (born Claudia Joy Offley; 1946) is an American soul singer and educator. Lennear began her performing with the Superbs before becoming an Ikette in the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. She was also a background vocalist for various acts ...

, Joe Greene (American singer), Joe Greene, Jeanie Greene, Marlin Greene, Dolores Hall,

Don Nix Don Nix (born September 27, 1941, Memphis, Tennessee, United States) is an American songwriter, composer, arranger, musician, and author. Although cited as being "one of the more obscure figures in Southern soul and rock", he is a key figure in ...

, Don Preston – backing vocals, percussion

Accolades

, - , style="width:35px; text-align:center;", 15th Grammy Awards, 1973, , ''The Concert for Bangladesh'' , ,

Grammy Award for Album of the Year The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regar ...

, , , -

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Original release 2005 reissue

Year-end charts

Certifications

Notes

References

Sources

* Keith Badman, ''The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After the Break-Up 1970–2001'', Omnibus Press (London, 2001; ). * Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra & Stephen Thomas Erlewine (eds), ''All Music Guide: The Definitive Guide to Popular Music'' (4th edn), Backbeat Books (San Francisco, CA, 2001; ). * Roy Carr & Tony Tyler, ''The Beatles: An Illustrated Record'', Trewin Copplestone Publishing (London, 1978; ). * Harry Castleman & Walter J. Podrazik, ''All Together Now: The First Complete Beatles Discography 1961–1975'', Ballantine Books (New York, NY, 1976; ). * Alan Clayson, ''George Harrison'', Sanctuary (London, 2003; ). * ''The Concert for Bangladesh (film)#2005 DVD release, The Concert for Bangladesh Revisited with George Harrison and Friends'' DVD, Apple Corps, 2005 (directed by Claire Ferguson; produced by Olivia Harrison, Jonathan Clyde & Jo Human). * The Editors of ''Rolling Stone'', ''Harrison'', Rolling Stone Press/Simon & Schuster (New York, NY, 2002; ). * Gary Graff & Daniel Durchholz (eds), ''MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide'', Visible Ink Press (Farmington Hills, MI, 1999; ). * Joshua M. Greene, ''Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison'', John Wiley & Sons (Hoboken, NJ, 2006; ). * Paul Guralnick, ''Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley'', Abacus (London, 2002; ). * John Harris, "A Quiet Storm", ''Mojo (magazine), Mojo'', July 2001. * George Harrison, ''I Me Mine'', Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA, 2002; ). * Olivia Harrison, ''George Harrison: Living in the Material World'', Abrams (New York, NY, 2011; ). * Bill Harry, ''The George Harrison Encyclopedia'', Virgin Books (London, 2003; ). * Clinton Heylin, ''Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades (20th Anniversary Edition)'', Faber and Faber (London, 2011; ). * Ian Inglis, ''The Words and Music of George Harrison'', Praeger (Santa Barbara, CA, 2010; ). * Colin Larkin, ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' (5th edn), Omnibus Press (London, 2011; ). * Peter Lavezzoli, ''The Dawn of Indian Music in the West'', Continuum (New York, NY, 2006; ). * Simon Leng, ''While My Guitar Gently Weeps: The Music of George Harrison'', Hal Leonard (Milwaukee, WI, 2006; ). * Ian MacDonald, ''Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties'', Pimlico (London, 1998; ). * Chip Madinger & Mark Easter, ''Eight Arms to Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium'', 44.1 Productions (Chesterfield, MO, 2000; ). * Tom Moon, ''1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die'', Workman Publishing (New York, NY, 2008; ). * Chris O'Dell with Katherine Ketcham, ''Miss O'Dell: My Hard Days and Long Nights with The Beatles, The Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and the Women They Loved'', Touchstone (New York, NY, 2009; ). * Srinath Raghavan,
1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh
'', Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA, 2013; ). * Robert Rodriguez, ''Fab Four FAQ 2.0: The Beatles' Solo Years, 1970–1980'', Backbeat Books (Milwaukee, WI, 2010; ). * Patricia Romanowski & Holly George-Warren (eds), ''The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll'', Fireside/Rolling Stone Press (New York, NY, 1995; ). * Nicholas Schaffner, ''The Beatles Forever'', McGraw-Hill (New York, NY, 1978; ). * Howard Sounes, ''Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan'', Doubleday (London, 2001; ). * Bruce Spizer, ''The Beatles Solo on Apple Records'', 498 Productions (New Orleans, LA, 2005; ). * Gary Tillery, ''Working Class Mystic: A Spiritual Biography of George Harrison'', Quest Books (Wheaton, IL, 2011; ). * Bob Woffinden, ''The Beatles Apart'', Proteus (London, 1981; ).

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Concert For Bangladesh, The 1971 live albums George Harrison albums Apple Records live albums Albums produced by George Harrison Albums produced by Phil Spector Albums recorded at Madison Square Garden Grammy Award for Album of the Year Badfinger Charity albums 2005 live albums 2005 video albums Rhino Records live albums Live video albums Live rock albums Rock video albums ja:バングラデシュ・コンサート