Talk:All Things Must Pass (song)/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Viriditas (talk · contribs) 07:44, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

Lead

I present a few proposed changes for your review. Choose them or discard them at your leisure:

• It was originally released by Billy Preston, however, on his Apple album Encouraging Words, after The Beatles had rejected the song in 1969 for inclusion on what would become their Let It Be album.
  • "Billy Preston originally released the song on his Apple album Encouraging Words after The Beatles rejected it in 1969 for their then forthcoming Let It Be album.
• The song was influenced by the music of The Band − with whom Harrison had spent time in late 1968, following the completion of The Beatles' White Album − while its lyrics are thought to have been inspired by a poem in Timothy Leary's book Psychedelic Prayers after the Tao Te Ching.
  • "The music of The Band influenced the song, as Harrison spent time with the group in late 1968 following the completion of The Beatles' White Album. Timothy Leary's poem, "All Things Pass", a psychedelic adaptation of the Tao Te Ching, is thought to have inspired the song."

• Widely acknowledged as one of Harrison's finest compositions, its rejection by his former band has provoked much comment from biographers and music critics; "All Things Must Pass" has been described as "the wisest song never recorded by The Beatles" and on release was viewed as a statement on the band's break-up.
  • "Music critics classify the song as one of Harrison's finest compositions. The rejection of the song by Harrison's former band led critics to describe it as "the wisest song never recorded by The Beatles". Interpreted as a statement on the band's break-up upon its release, the subject matter deals with the transient nature of human existence. Writers frequently quoted the lyrics following Harrison's death in November 2001."

Background and composition

• its lyrics are thought to have been inspired by a poem in Timothy Leary's book Psychedelic Prayers after the Tao Te Ching.
  • Timothy Leary was loosely interpreting chapter/section 23 of the Tao Te Ching, so the song is actually based on Leary's interpretation of the Tao Te Ching in the context of taking psychedelics. There's three different versions of this chapter on Wikisource[1] but none of them come close to many of the published versions on Google Books which are more similar to Leary's.[2] So it is actually more accurate to say, as R.U. Sirius does, that the song "may have come from Leary's interpretation of the Tao Te Ching, which he titled Psychedelic Prayers [after the] Tao Te Ching", or something similar like that. However, I disagree with the the tentative wording of "may have come" or "thought to have been inspired" since the song is obviously taken from Leary's poem;[3] it's not in dispute, nor could it have been taken from anywhere else. I'm curious if there are more definitive sources on the matter. After all, Harrison is quoting Leary's poem; he isn't quoting anyone else. Viriditas (talk) 10:29, 19 October 2012 (UTC)
    • I just remembered, Harrison had previously quoted the Tao Te Ching in his 1968 song, "The Inner Light", at the instigation of Juan Mascaró in 1967,[4] so this appears to be the second song where he quotes or gets his ideas from the TTC. Viriditas (talk) 11:22, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

• Plans were made for a possible "fireside jam" album with Clapton, according to Helm, and an Apple Films "rock western" called Zachariah, but neither project ever eventuated.
  • As a reader, I did not expect to read the term "eventuated" here. Was that your attempt at paraphrasing, or did you mean to use that word? I think it is best not to surprise the reader. Why not say "occurred"? Viriditas (talk) 06:31, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

All Things Must Pass recording

• ...Harrison chose to record it himself for what would turn out to be the title song of his post-Beatle "masterpiece", All Things Must Pass.
  • When you quote another author in reference to a work as a "masterpiece", it is generally best practice to attribute the quote to the source. In other words, who says it is a masterpiece? Are you citing Nicholas Schaffner's opinion? It isn't clear. Viriditas (talk) 10:00, 29 October 2012 (UTC)

Checklist

GA review (see here for what the criteria are, and here for what they are not)

1. It is reasonably well written.

   a (prose): b (MoS for lead, layout, word choice, fiction, and lists):

   A few stylistic issues with the prose, but it is generally very good.

   A little too much preference for quoting over paraphrasing but nothing egregious

   Too much passive voice

   I'm not sure we can quote that much of the song without bordering on copyright violation. Song lyrics removed.

   Trivia question about "If You Belonged to Me" and "Any Road" in the broad checklist below.

2. It is factually accurate and verifiable.

   a (references): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR):

   References and citations to RS.

   References section looks good.

   Footnote 105 refers to "The Covers Project", a user-generated website. The primary source it cites is the album A Sideman's Journey by Klaus Voormann. While I appreciate the ref, best practice is to cite notable covers referenced in secondary sources so that editors don't determine the notability. Is the "The Covers Project" an acceptable source on Wikipedia? Should it be replaced with another source?

3. It is broad in its coverage.

   a (major aspects): b (focused):

   Broad coverage. Focused.

   How are the tunes "If You Belonged to Me" and "Any Road" relevant to the topic in the "Performances and later releases" section? One could argue that they aren't. It reads as trivia to non-fans. I don't object to its inclusion, but it doesn't seem relevant.

4. It follows the neutral point of view policy.

   Fair representation without bias:

   Neutral.

5. It is stable.

   No edit wars, etc.:

   Stable.

6. It is illustrated by images, where possible and appropriate.

   a (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):

   There are no images in this current version. I can think of numerous instances where images might be appropriate, but not necessary. I'll make some suggestions in the above section in the next day or so, but I'll leave the final say to the nominator.

   I looked for images, and couldn't find any.

7. Overall: I made spot checks to the prose and removed the lyrics which bordered on copyright issues as you were quoting most of the song. If you feel that you must add the lyrics back, please get a third opinion from the appropriate noticeboard and/or WikiProject first. Thanks. Viriditas (talk) 11:44, 29 October 2012 (UTC)

   Pass/Fail:

• Thanks. JG66 (talk) 14:07, 29 October 2012 (UTC)