Somewhere Over China

Jimmy Buffett | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Mca
• ASIN: B000002PCV
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #67,012 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Just for you, Trina, May 4, 2003

By 

David A. Bede (Singapore) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Somewhere Over China (Audio CD)

What is it about this album that makes so many parrotheads say "Well, I'm sure I'd like it if I gave it more of a chance, but..."? Perhaps it's the lack of a concert staple, although several of these songs could fit that bill just fine. Maybe it's because it's heavier than usual on ballads, but then some of those ballads are among his best. Whatever the reason may be, it's worth more of a chance than most fans I know have given it.

Somewhere Over China is obscure enough that if you're reading this, you're probably already quite a Buffett fan. Which means you understand his true appeal as most of the critics never will. It isn't about the commercialization of Key West or expensive cheeseburgers or dressing up like a Heinz 57 bottle to drink Corona until you...well, you know. Oh, the left-of-center goofiness is still here, notably in an off-the-wall cover of "On a Slow Boat to China" which Buffett appropriately dedicated to Spike Jones in the liner notes of the original LP, but it exists alongside some of the most introspective songs he's ever offered us.

The opener, "Where's the Party," is surely the most misleading title of his career, but its tale of loneliness from an extrovert's point of view is nothing if not thought-provoking. On the lighter side, "It's Midnight and I'm Not Famous Yet" features the late Steve Goodman as co-writer and a lead character named Lester Polyester...need I say more? Goofier still is "Lip Service," perhaps Buffett's all-time greatest double-entendre. (Is it about a co-dependent relationship or oral sex? You make the call!) But the mood is more serious for the most part. "Steamer" is arguably the most sensuous number he's ever recorded, while "I Heard I Was In Town" is tops in the subgenre of lonely-life-of-a-superstar songs (something he'd tried his hand at several times before, but never as convincingly as here).

Yes, I know, you already have half of those songs if you own the box set. So why buy this CD as well? The title track, which as far as I know has never been released on any other album, is the best Buffett you've never heard. It's a tale of an average guy who gets the unlikely chance to throw caution to the wind and travel to the far side of the world, discovering the pros and cons of that lifestyle along the way, much as our hero has spent much of the past three decades doing. What's the moral of the story? Maybe we're better off staying with the dull but familiar; but then again, maybe there's real joy in the loneliness of wanderlust. Buffett doesn't really give us an answer, and perhaps he hadn't made up his own mind when he wrote the song. That uncertainty makes for a lesson unto itself. Either way, if you're still hoping for that opportunity to go off one of these days in search of the Great Lost Saltshaker, you need this song in your collection!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A horribly underrated album, April 23, 2001

By 

Todd Peterman (Greenland, NH United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Somewhere Over China (Audio CD)

Oh, the album that doesn't spawn any greatest hits tracks...it tends to get skewed or dismissed... Also, the album that has nuance usually gets passed over by the surface dwellers. This album was the first album that I have ever bought by Jimmy Buffett lo those many years ago. And I have been cherishing it more with every listen.

The lyrics on this album are some of the most ingenious lyrics composed and the few songs that are of non-Buffett origin are classics. The music is the culprit for the dismissals of this album since it's such nice music that unless one stops and listens, one can get carried away with merely the nice musical breeze.

"I Heard I Was In Town", "Somewhere Over China", "Where's The Party?" are tops on my Buffett lists along with the real classics of '70s Buffett. "If I Could Get It On Paper", as one reviewer accurately observed is dead-on if you are a writer.

This is sort of a Magic Eye album... if you don't see the picture at first, keep looking and suddenly the genius will pop out.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you're a romantic........, July 16, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Southern california) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Somewhere Over China (Audio CD)

"Steamer" alone is a reason to buy this album. (not that the rest of it is bad) Buy it, put in on, open the windows on a cool evening, close your eyes and feel the breeze. I'm sure a lost love will come to mind.