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28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This puts me on Cloud 9, June 19, 2005
With the afterglow of my personal discovery of the Beatles in full swing, the release of what would turn out to be George Harrison's penultimate solo album, Cloud Nine, well, put me there. After getting greatest hits albums by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, this was perfect. George had a lot of quality help on this album, including former bandmate Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Gary Wright, Elton John, and on the producer's helm, Jeff Lynne.
Most of the material is laid back pop, with George's gentle and understated voice an additional balm. "That's What It Takes" is one such song, on how in order to enjoy the shining world, one has to take all those chances.
However, the great heartfelt ballads are what make Cloud Nine. The tearful piano ballad "Just For Today" is great for those who are very down and need "to get through this day only" and other things somehow: "If just for one night/I could feel not sad and lonely/Not be my own life's problem/Just for one night." It shows that it wasn't just Paul McCartney who could make a universal ballad like "Yesterday." Equally as sad and touching is "Someplace Else" of needing that certain someone during a time of crisis: "And for a while you could comfort me/And hold me for some time/I need you now to be beside me/While all my world is so untidy/Loneliness/Empty faces/Wish i could leave them all in someplace else." Clapton helps out on this song.
The quick "Fish On The Sand" features Jeff Lynne's signature production, that backbeat rhythm synths and guitar also to be present on the Traveling Wilburys' "Handle With Care" and Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down" and "Learning To Fly." A similar sound is present on the third single, "This Is Love."
Okay, what is "white and black like industrial waste/Pollution of the highest degree"? If you answered the "Devil's Radio," give yourself a hand. George gives a much-needed punch at the gossip magazines, radio, and TV, but oh, with such a fun sound. "It's all across our lives/Like a weed it's spread/'till nothing else has space to grow," sings George of this menace. Clapton lends his bluesy guitar here and also on the brass and piano boogie of "Wreck of the Hesperus." This is how George feels great about himself at present, with some witty repartee: "I'm not a power of attorney/But I can rock as good as Gibraltar/Ain't no more no spring chicken/Been plucked but I'm still kicking."
Naturally, the silly video for the fun and upbeat "Got My Mind Set On You," the song which reached #1 and was George's third chart-topper, after "My Sweet Lord" and "Give Me Love-(Give Me Peace On Earth)" started things off. A song written by Rudy Clark in the 50's, it was first recorded by James Ray in 1962. A brisk rhythm guitar is accompanied by some brass and later sax, which in the video was played by a squirrel!
The next single was George's remembrance of the Beatles. "When We Was Fab" features sounds that harken back to the Beatles' Sgt Peppers and Magical Mystery Tour, including cello, sitar. Even the video had Elton John in a walrus costume a la MMT. Reaching #23, this was George's last Top 40 hit.
As for the bonus tracks, they were songs for the Madonna/Sean Penn bomb Shanghai Surprise. Vicky Brown assists him on vocals on the title track, which has a Chinese aura. "Zig Zag" has a more 30's nightclub jazz feel to it, complete with Armstrong-style trumpet. Harrison himself appeared as a nightclub singer in this turkey, which he co-executive produced!
I was on Cloud Nine when I first heard this, and sent back there once more upon its remastered reissue, and I hope that's where George is now.
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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cloud Nine (1987), February 23, 2005
CLOUD NINE
I walked through 1987 with a great sense of satisfaction around me. The Dark Horse that no one betted on, won the race. He was the first out of the gate (`My Sweet Lord' being the first No.1 hit by a solo Beatle), and he was also the one that finished first in the race (`Got My Mind Set On You' is the last solo Beatle song to reach No.1). Along the way, others overtook him, media jockeys tried to run him off the course, former producers and band-mates derided his work and importance, but he still finished, and won. And this kind of circular event plays throughout Harrison's entire career. The first song to be recorded by The Beatles was Harrison and McCartney's `In Spite of All The Danger'. In this case, no one is willing to say truly how much was Harrison, and how much was McCartney. But these were the days of The Beatles when Harrison was on equal footing with Lennon and McCartney, he was a member of the band, not a sidekick or employee. Or hindrance in some minds. If `In Spite...' was not enough, `Cry For A Shadow' by Harrison and Lennon is the next Beatles original composition to be recorded. There's a trend beginning. And at the end of their RECORDING career, the last song to ever be recorded while all four members were alive, was Harrison's (with help from McCartney) `I Me Mine'. Had Harrison not met Paul McCartney, and knowing how life has many twists and turns, you would never have had The Beatles to begin with. I am suggesting something here. Whether you pick up on it or not, isn't really what I can control. I'm just suggesting that `The Quiet One' was a lot louder in other ways than can be perceived on the surface. There are many circles that run throughout the living of life, and it is quite possible Harrison's circle was quite powerful, and a bit more encompassing than some would like to believe. It doesn't take anyone remarkably observant to note that Harrison is riding the only dark horse in the Penny Lane promo. Nor to notice that as his partners signed away their copyright ownership, he was busy forming his own publishing company. There's quite a bit about Harrison a lot of people underestimate him on, and I think in the end, he's going to surprise a lot of people that look at a puddle, and think because its comprised of water, it's the same as the ocean.
Back to my satisfaction in 1987. Harrison released the triumphant Cloud Nine to a public that had written him off. Not that he cared much, because he walked away very quietly and with little fanfare. He had a garden to tend to, and a son to raise, a wife to devote his time to, a film company that was helping save the British Film industry, and a lawsuit over a nice song with nothing Bright about it, while The Jam played a song that sounded a little too much like a song called `Taxman'. He was still extremely busy without putting out full albums. He also played with Carl Perkins and Ringo Starr, appeared in a movie with Ringo and Eric Clapton, went and tried salvaging what was left of Madonna's and Sean Penn's fiasco ridden Shanghai Surprise, contributed a song to the Porky's soundtrack, performed at The Prince's Trust, received a citation and a cheque of £11,000,000 from UNICEF for his work for Bangladesh, and that money was all the royalties that were accrued when the entire benefit was held up in court. His battles with EMI and the British/American governments over Bangladesh were enough to give him a Knighthood, let alone a citation from those whom he was trying to help. He was a very busy, if not always seen, George Harrison.
When Cloud Nine came out, I was one of those happiest for George's success. We always knew he had it in him; it just took a matter of patience waiting for all the other spectators of the race to notice he had emerged victorious. He's not the richest former Beatle. He's not the martyred former Beatle. But he was the former Beatle that won an altogether different race. One that said all those who walked away from the grounds cursing because they had not bet on the wildcard of being the first and last to do something time and time again in relation to the other `horses', even though they seemed like they were in no way able to lose. They realised, or have yet to realise, the race was not about winning on the sure bet, or The Winnings. The track is a circle, it begins where it ends. And looking at Harrison's history, he seems to always be right there at the beginning, and right there at the end. It barely, if ever, changes. `My Sweet Lord' and `Got My Mind Set On You'. `In Spite of All The Danger' and `I Me Mine'. The first charity single in pop history. The first large scale benefit concert in pop history. The last former Beatle album to be released on the Apple label proper. The first proper solo album while in The Beatles. The first to address social/political commentary in the Beatles catalogue. The first of his peers to fully incorporate Indian instrumentation into Western pop music, by not emulating the Sitar with a Stratocaster, but actually playing the Sitar, and learning it for 2 years with Ravi Shankar. The only Beatle who was able to read and write music, even if it was Indian notation. The first triple album in pop/rock history. One of the first, and few people in 1960's Britain who publicly welcomed the Asian community, and went out of his way to promote their culture, their beliefs and their musicians. One of the first British musicians to own a Moog synthesiser, and one of the first, if not the first, musicians to release an album entirely composed on Moog synthesiser that was not an interpretation of classical music.
The list truly goes on and on, as to why those that were betting should have known to bet on the dark horse.
Cloud Nine is the most Beatle sounding of any of Harrison's recordings. But this should be no surprise, since so much of the Sonics, the sounds of The Beatles lay so much in his fingers. From the Rickenbacker, to Sitar, to the Synthesiser, to meticulously arranged backwards guitar solos, from Spanish guitar to psychedelic organ, George Harrison was quite simply the man who gave The Beatles `Sound'. One would like to think this is with the George Martin's, or the Geoff Emerick's. But neither of these people told Harrison to get a Rickenbacker. Or play a Sitar. They helped him recreate Fog in music when writing `Blue Jay Way', but did not write what required such an artistic use of effects. Martin only emulated what Harrison's Indian notation told his Indian friends to play. Martin could not communicate to an Indian musician, please play Sa ri ga ma pa dha ni. Harrison could. Martin's orchestration is based more on Harrison's instruction, than Martin's own writing skills, because he was naïve in dealing with Indian music, and Indian musicians. Some might suggest ignorant. Western music is comprised of 12 octaves. Indian music is comprised of 22 octaves. You do not know how large the Piano that would have to be built to play Indian music on a Western instrument would need to be. In Indian music, 12 keys are not enough to make an octave.
Cloud Nine is a joy to listen to, particularly for George's guitar work, the production, Jeff Lynne's collaborations and contributions, and the songs themselves. Each one is a great addition to the Harrison catalogue of great work. The remaster makes an omission or two for no apparent reason, and I have yet to figure out why `Hottest Gong In Town' was not included in the additional tracks. Or 3 songs that were recorded after Cloud 9's release. And one is an absolute must have. All 3 appeared on the Best of Dark Horse collection in 1989, and these songs need to be released again. They are POOR LITTLE GIRL, COCKAMAMIE BUSINESS, and CHEER DOWN (written with Tom Petty). And it's `Cheer Down' of these 3 that ranks among the very best songs Harrison ever wrote, but what is even more magical, is his slide guitar work for this song. I'm a huge fan of the other two songs as well, particularly Cockamamie Business, but Cheer Down is a song that sits amongst Harrison's best work very comfortably. Why they are not included here, along with the glaring omission of `Hottest Gong In Town' is beyond me. And why not, if it couldn't be put on Somewhere In England, include `Lay His Head' on this set, which was the B-side of `Got My Mind Set On You'. Why not the alternate mixes of `Got My Mind Set On You' and `When We Was Fab'? There are a lot of missed opportunities on what is regarded as one of Harrison's biggest successes. But then again, EMI haven't really known what to do with George Harrison. I say this in respect to Olivia, who may have had more to do with this, or not at all. My complaint is not with her, because these albums are out there in the stores because of her, which is where they always belonged.
CLOUD NINE is simply a must have.
Bet on the Dark Horse, you'll get what you invested returned to you, and a lot extra.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is love, March 5, 2005
After the sales failure that his 1982 album Gone Troppo was, George Harrison decided to retire 'to be a gardener'. When he came back five years later, he returned with a winner, and a big contender as the best album of his carrer: Cloud Nine (1987), co-produced by Jeff Lynne, features some of his best work, in lyrical terms, adorned by exquisite instrumental ornaments and great production skills.
This is an album in which George Harrison uses positively his Beatles/rock'n'roll background and takes advantage of the innovation on sounds and songwriting that he had been experiencing in the previous years. In lyrical terms, his words are honest as always, talking almost all the time in the first person, singing about that complete love that he defined as "both divine and human", and thus writing precious love songs that can also be thought of as prayers ("That's What It Takes", "This Is Love"), and vice-versa ("Fish On The Sand", "Just For Today"). In other tunes he uses the perfectly acid sense of humour to make criticisms about the modern society, or the lifestyles that he condemned ("Wreck Of The Hesperus", "Devil's Radio"). And in some other tracks he just wants to have fun ("Got My Mind Set On You") or to laugh at himself ("Wreck Of The Hesperus"). Sound-wise, this is a typically 80's album, with a big amount of synthesisers and synchronized drums (played live nonetheless, by Ringo Starr and Jim Keltner). The key is that the instruments are perfectly distributed into each track to make them sound tight and solid. Here, the synthesisers are used as an extra ingredient and not as the main part of the songs, and each track is carefully thought as a radio-friendly track. And it works perfectly: this album had at least three very succesful singles, and made George return to the top 10 albums list after a eight years.
The sincere and simple work of the sincere and special man that George Harrison was is evident throughout the complete album. "Cloud Nine", the album opener, featuring a breath-taking guitar duel between Harrison and friend Eric Clapton, sets the mood with a bluesy pattern, as a very special invitation to the lover ("take my smile and my heart / they were yours from the start"). You can see here the maturity of George, a man who had already lived a lot, and now appreciated the estability and happiness that his family life had brought to him. In "That's What It Takes" (tune co-written with Jeff Lynne and Gary Wright) we have a perfect sample of what great pop music is supposed to sound like, joined in by a gorgeous lyric about the search for spirituality. "Fish On The Sand" and "Wreck Of The Hesperus" both feature interesting rock arrangements, but discuss very different themes: whilst the first one is one of the spiritual/material love duality ballads, the second one is one of the most ironic tunes George ever wrote, laughing at himself and the issues regarding growing old. "Just For Today" features a message to everyone ("don't try to deal with everything all at once", as George said in an interview), and it's one of those emotional tunes, perfectly crafted and produced to make you feel comfortable and moved at the same time. "This Is Love" (co-written with Lynne) is another perfect example of a great pop song, again speaking about the solemnity of earthly love when it's compared to heavenly love, and featuring a mesmerizing slide guitar solo that has to be the best that George ever did, in his calm stlye of course.
Other highlights include the perfect Beatles parody "When We Was Fab" (another Lynne/Harrison collaboration which was a worldwide hit), which uses all the machinery needed to reproduce a Beatles song from the psychedelic years (including elements from songs like "I Am The Walrus", "Magical Mystery Tour" and "Within You Without You" and many meta-references which are just too fun to point out); the very serious (but also tongue-in-cheek) tone of protest against gossiping that "Devil's Radio" is ("gossip is devil's radio -- don't be a broadcaster); the moving ballad "Someplace Else", which was written specifically for the much maligned Shangai Surprise movie featuring Madonna and Sean Penn and has a nice arrangement; and the highly underrated "Breath Away From Heaven", to me, the best song on the album, an overwhelming oriental imagery with bright lyrics ("like an opallescent moon all alone in the sky of a foreign land") and precious musical arrangements.
And to put just a happy ending to all of this you get the latest HUGE solo-Beatle hit, "Got My Mind Set On You", the last #1 single for George Harrison, a cover of an old Rudy Clark tune that had a fantastic vocal/instrumental arrangement, which made it such an unexpected success song all over the globe.
Contributers include producer Jeff Lynne on bass, guitars, keyboards and background vocals; Ringo Starr and Jim Keltner on drums; Eric Clapton on guitar (notably on the title track and "Devil's Radio"); and Elton John and Gary Wright on piano among others. And although the album already had a great, clear sound, this 2004 remaster also helped to make it a little bit better, adding two bonus tracks from the Shangai Surprise movie (the title track, sung by George with Vicki Brown, mother of Sam Brown who sang "Horse To The Water" in the Concert For George tribute in 2003; and the nonsensical crazy instrumental Lynne/Harrison instrumental "Zig Zag" which was used as the B-side to "When We Was Fab"), albeit excluding other tracks from the very same soundtrack (like "Hottest Gong In Town" and alternate versions of "Breath Away From Heaven" and "Someplace Else") and from other contemporary sources ("Cheer Down", "Cockamamie Business" and "Poor Little Girl" from the already out-of-print compilation Best Of Dark Horse 1976-1989; "Lay His Head" from the B-side to "Got My Mind Set On You"). The inclusion of these songs in some other form would be fantastic to music fans and especially for collectors.
But this album is already complete with the primitive soundtrack, which allows the work to be completely developed and delivered to the listener. It's actually a pleasure to one's ears to hear this music, with George in the maturity of his vocals and slide guitar talent skills, and a production of superlative quality. Undoubtedly the best album of the 80's, and of course, a must have.
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