George Harrison’s ‘Material World’ Returns With Expanded Reissue

George Harrison's gold-selling international Top 5 smash Living in the Material World will be expanded with a suite of expanded 50th-anniversary reissue packages.

The limited-edition super deluxe edition spans 2CDs, 2LPs and a Blu-ray with a new Dolby Atmos mix. Included are 12 previously unreleased recordings, a 60-page booklet and artwork from the Harrison archive. An included seven-inch single also features a previously unheard recording of "Sunshine Life for Me (Sail Away Raymund)" with Ringo Starr and members of the Band.

“I hope you revisit Living in the Material World or discover it for the first time, and as you listen, share George's wish for himself and mankind: 'Give me Love, give me peace on Earth,'" Harrison's widow Olivia said in an official statement. She co-produced the reissue project with their son Dhani.

READ MORE: George Harrison's Best Beatles Moments

A track listing of the set's rarities is below. Among them is Take 18 of the Billboard chart-topping single "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth), which you can also stream below.

Watch a Trailer for George Harrison's 'Material World' Reissue

When Will George Harrison's 'Material World' Reissue Arrive?

There will be tandem 2CD and 2LP deluxe editions featuring a new mix of the album by Paul Hicks and session outtakes. Single-disc versions include color vinyl exclusives. They're all set for release on Nov. 15. Presales are already underway.

Harrison was backed on Living in the Material World by a group of friendly virtuosos, including drummer Jim Keltner, keyboardists Gary Wright and Nicky Hopkins, bassist Klaus Voormann and saxophonist Jim Horn. Other album highlights include the deep cut "Don't Let Me Wait Too Long," which finds Keltner in a drum duet with Starr. "Try Some, Buy Some" features guest turns by Leon Russell, Jim Gordon from Derek and the Dominos and Pete Ham of Badfinger.

George Harrison, 'Living in the Material World' Bonus Cuts
"Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth) (Take 18; Acoustic Version)
"Sue Me, Sue You Blues (Take 5)"
"The Light That Has Lighted the World (Take 13)"
"Don't Let Me Wait Too Long (Take 49; Acoustic Version)"
"Who Can See It (Take 93)"
"Living in the Material World (Take 31)"
"The Lord Loves the One (That Loves the Lord) (Take 3)"
"Be Here Now (Take 8)"
"Try Some Buy Some (Alternative Version)"
"The Day the World Gets 'Round (Take 22; Acoustic Version)"
"That Is All (Take 24)"
"Miss O'Dell (2024 Mix)"
"Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond)"

'All Things Must Pass' (1970): "Beware of Darkness"

"Beware of Darkness" originally opened side three of a post-Fab creative outburst, and sits among a raft of worthy best-song choices. Plenty will argue for alternates like "My Sweet Lord," "What Is Life" or "Isn't It a Pity." But this track captures both the mood and the moment in a more reserved, and thus more Harrison-esque manner. It's a showcase for his fellow musicians, as these sessions evolved into loose amalgams overseen by the mercurial producer Phil Spector. (That's how both Bobby Whitlock and Alan White, who'd later anchor Derek and the Dominos and Yes, respectively, ended up appearing at several key moments – including this emotional deep cut.) Yet, Harrison remains the center point, as he matches a lyrical meditation on overcoming life's harder moments (refusing to give into "the pain that often lingers") with an arrangement that might draw this album's clearest line back to the Beatles.

'Living in the Material World' (1973): "Give Me Love"

The highlight of a similarly impressive – though sometimes a touch too similar – album, which had a winking original working title of 'The Magic Is Here Again.' After the Beatles split, Harrison made a quick case for himself as a songwriter and performing artist in his own right. He started by reaching No. 1 in both the U.S. and U.K. with "My Sweet Lord," organized a Bangladesh benefit concert then stormed back up the 'Billboard' charts with "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)." Perhaps that's no surprise, since it remains one of his least preachy bits of sacred music. Unfortunately, Harrison's career was becoming bogged down by too many too-pious tunes, but this low-key moment – notably recorded without Phil Spector – deftly balanced things.

'Dark Horse' (1974): "So Sad"

Though part of a generally more uplifting effort, "So Sad" was actually an outtake from 'Living in the Material World,' and it's got the same elegiac tone. Considering that Harrison's wife Pattie Boyd had just run off with his best friend Eric Clapton, you'd think they'd all sound like this. In fact, 'Dark Horse' and its subsequent tour arrived amid a period of broad conflict and uncertainty. Apple Records was also crumbling. Meanwhile, Harrison was dealing with the pressures of starting his own label, also called Dark Horse, and mounting the first U.S. tour by any solo member of the Beatles. A bout of laryngitis and Harrison's determination to expose American audiences to Ravi Shankar as a co-headliner only made matters worse for some critics. In the end, people unfairly overlooked 'Dark Horse.'

'Extra Texture (Read All About It)' (1975): "You"

By this point, Harrison had returned to drink and drugs, and 'Extra Texture' couldn't have strayed further from his religious moorings — or from the free-spirited uplift that made his initial post-Beatles projects such pleasant surprises. The thunderous "You" was one of only two songs – along with the jokey "His Name Is Legs (Ladies and Gentlemen)" – that break this dispiriting mold, and both were, in fact, updated older projects. "You," which became a Top 20 U.S. hit, was actually a relic from a scrapped Ronnie Spector solo album for Apple, dating to 1971. Harrison simply dubbed his own vocal over hers, and then released it. That this warmed-up old leftover is the best thing on 'Extra Texture' says a lot.

'Thirty-Three and a Third' (1976): "Crackerbox Palace"

The album's title – a take off on the RPMs for old vinyl and George’s age on the proposed release date – held great whimsical promise. Only the record wasn't released until his 33 2/3 birthday, in a preview of looming label issues. Too bad, since 'Thirty-Three and a Third' was a much better album, highlighted by this incredibly fun Top 20 hit. (Elsewhere, "This Song" playfully jabbed back at the "My Sweet Lord" lawsuit.) "Crackerbox Palace" was about the estate of friend Lord Buckley, a British comedian — giving an expectedly different spin (for George, anyway) on the line: "Know that the Lord is well." Feeling his oats, Harrison even quotes Madeline Kahn's Lili Von Shtupp, a character in Mel Brooks' 1974 comedy 'Blazing Saddles,' during the instrumental break.

'George Harrison' (1979): "Your Love Is Forever"

Harrison began puttering around the grounds during time away from the music business. "I like gardens; I like the pleasure they give you," he once told 'Rolling Stone.' "It's like a meditation in a way." That sense of contentment permeates what became an adult-contemporary-ish, but still quite charming album. "Blow Away" was a soul-lifting track about clearing skies and opening hearts that's aged as well as any '70s-era solo Beatles single. (Maybe better.) But "Your Love Is Forever" was the heart and soul of this project. Harrison employs an era-appropriate cycle of seasonal metaphors to craft one of his most truly enduring ballads, then completes things with some of his loveliest slide work.

'Somewhere in England' (1981): "All Those Years Ago"

This album's sessions were so troubled and drawn out that it eventually drove Harrison from Warner Bros. (Finally released on June 5, 1981, the project saw its first sessions back in October 1979.) His label ultimately ordered Harrison to drop four of the original songs, saying they were (get this) too downbeat. Harrison's replacements, thankfully, included the No. 2 hit "All Those Years Ago," a requiem for the late John Lennon. His awful murder sparked a remarkable reunion that included Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, Beatles producer George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick, even Denny Laine and Linda McCartney from Wings. The results were so incandescent that they almost (but not quite) make up for the dreck found elsewhere on 'Somewhere in England.'

'Gone Troppo' (1983): "Unknown Delight"

Harrison had found a new center within his marriage and the birth of a child, something that shines through on a surprisingly cheery, though consistently inward set of songs. 'Gone Troppo' was ultimately defined by the use of then-hip synths, but it actually plumbed some notable emotional depths as Harrison spoke to a desire to be part of smaller things after the big things have let you down. (In this way, it could be favorably compared with the pastoral joys of John Lennon's earlier 'Double Fantasy.') That's particularly true of "Unknown Delight," this lovingly crafted song for Harrison's son Dhani. It remains a small-scale triumph on what turned out to be one of George's most uptempo, if instantly dated, releases.

'Cloud Nine' (1987): "When We Was Fab"

Returning to action with Jeff Lynne could have – heck, maybe should have – turned into an empty genre exercise. Instead, 'Cloud Nine' played to every one of George Harrison's strengths. The chart-topping cover of "Got My Mind Set on You" reanimated his early influences. "That's What It Takes" sounded like the completely realized mid-'70s hit he never quite managed. Harrison even came to terms with the Beatles on "When We Was Fab," a tune that – even then – had this sense of bittersweet reverie. Ringo Starr kicks things off, then keeps time on an ageless track that eventually reveals itself as both tribute and send-up.

'Brainwashed' (2002): "Rising Sun"

This started as a fine little acoustic number. But like all of Harrison's best tracks, it required a larger sound to balance his tendency to be both downbeat and uplifting. That's why Harrison was attracted, in his first solo incarnation, to Phil Spector — a producer who couldn't fathom a record without a few thousand violins playing along. And it's why Jeff Lynne, playing posthumous svengali, wasn't going to let this one be. Using Harrison's initial and insistent guitar-strum beat as a platform, Lynne's production explores both the ghost of regret and the atmospheric vistas that define Harrison's solo successes. Meanwhile, George never flinches from what we know — and what, more particularly, he knows — to be true: He's a goner.

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