George Harrison — All Things Must Pass album art

George Harrison commissioned Tom Wilkes to design a hinged box in which to house the three discs of his first solo album to be published after the Beatles’ break-up, All Things Must Pass (1970), rather than have them packaged in a triple gatefold cover. The packaging caused some confusion among retailers, who, at that time, associated boxed albums with opera or classical works.

The stark black-and-white cover photo was taken on the main lawn at Friar Park by Barry Feinstein. Commentators interpret the photograph — showing Harrison towering over four garden gnomes — as representing his removal from the Beatles’ collective identity. The gnomes had recently been delivered to Friar Park and placed on the lawn; seeing the four figures there, and mindful of the message in the album’s title, Feinstein immediately drew parallels with Harrison’s former band. Author and music journalist Mikal Gilmore has written that Lennon’s initial negativity regarding All Things Must Pass was possibly because he was “irritated” by this cover photo; Harrison biographer Elliot Huntley attributes this reaction to envy on Lennon’s part during a time when “everything [Harrison] touched turned to gold.”

Some of Feinstein’ photographs from that session appeared instead on the picture sleeves for the singles My Sweet Lord / Isn’t It A Pity and What Is Life / Apple Scruffs. Both the 33⅓ album and the 45rpm singles feature the Abbott Old Style typeface.

(Adaptation from Wikipedia)