George Harrison's 'All Things Must Pass' still inspires 45 years later

What kind of contrarian would single out 1970 as his favorite year for Beatles music? That was, after all, the year the Beatles disbanded and broke the hearts of millions of music fans around the world. That’s Chris Carter, host of the long-running “Breakfast with the Beatles” radio show heard Sunday mornings in Los Angeles on KLOS-FM (95.5). “We got something like 14 Beatles records that year: not only the ‘Hey Jude’ and ‘Let It Be’ [Beatles] albums, but solo albums from Paul, George, John and two from Ringo, plus John’s ‘Instant Karma’ single, ‘My Sweet Lord’ from George, etc. So it really is my favorite year.

It certainly was a year of dramatic transition for all four Beatles — and Beatle fans — as the group that brought so many innovations to pop music during its relatively brief eight-year recording career called it quits, and each member of the quartet moved forward with solo endeavors. The biggest surprise of all, however, may have been Harrison’s emergence from the long shadow under which he’d been working for so long being in the same band with Lennon and McCartney.