[.ca] Cloud Nine (W/2 Bonus Tracks)

His best work since All Things Must Pass:
Cloud Nine (1987.) George Harrison's ninth solo album. Following the release of his 1982 album, Gone Troppo, George Harrison took an extended vacation from recording albums for a while. During his leave of absence, he recorded a track for the Porky's Revenge soundtrack, which was nothing short of excellent - and a premonition of what was to come. In 1987, Harrison teamed up with Electric Light Orchestra (E.L.O.) frontman Jeff Lynne, for some help with his upcoming ninth studio album. And in 1987, Cloud Nine was released. This was Harrison's most popular release in nearly fifteen years! Does it live up to the hype, or is it just an overrated and subpar effort? Read on for my review. Is this album overrated? Yes it is. Does it deserve to be overrated? Yes it does. This is George Harrison's first true five-star album since 1970's All Things Must Pass. No, this album doesn't quite top that one, but it's a very close second best. On this album, Harrison serves up masterpiece after masterpiece. The big hits to be found on this album are Got My Mind Set On You and When We Was Fab. Got My Mind Set On You is a cover of a song written by Rudy Clark. Harrison's take on the song hit number one on the pop charts. The other fairly popular track featured on this album is When We Was Fab, Harrison's ode to his Beatle days. Because of Jeff Lynne's assistance on this album, many tracks on the album greatly resemble Electric Light Orchestra - and this is the closest thing on the album to one of their songs. But, the big hits aren't the only good songs on this album! In addition to Jeff Lynne, Harrison recruited an assortment of all-star musicians for these sessions. The album's title track even featured Eric Clapton on guitars! While My Guitar Gently Weeps from the classic Beatles self-titled "White" album demonstrated beautifully that the two could function well as a unit, and this track helps to further establish that claim. Even seventies pop star Gary Wright appears on a few tracks (Wright was best known for his seventies hits, Dream Weaver and Love Is Alive.) Wright has appeared on a number of Harrison's solo recordings, and why not? He does an excellent job contributing to Harrison's work. There are a number of masterpieces to be found on this album, and it really must be heard to be appreciated. The album has often been called the most "Beatles-sounding" of the former Beatle solo recordings, and that's a good thing. Recently, all of the George Harrison studio albums and the live album from the Dark Horse years have been remastered and rereleased, and in some cases even gotten bonus tracks. On Cloud Nine, as far as bonus tracks go, you get the underrated tunes Shanghai Surprise and Zig Zag. Unfortunately though, the record company wasted a huge opportunity here. There were a ton more songs that should have been bonus tracks on here, but weren't included. Among these are Handle With Care, a big hit from Harrison's Traveling Wilburys days, I Won't Back Down, a Tom Petty song that George helped out with, Cheer Down, the song that Harrison recorded for the Lethal Weapon 2 soundtrack, and the infamous studio rarities, Poor Little Girl and Cockamamie Business. The latter three songs are available on Best Of Dark Horse, but the record company DID NOT reissue that compilation! Putting those songs on the rereleased Cloud Nine would have been extremely smart, but no. Now fans are going to have to hunt down an out of print compilation, just for the sake of three songs. Cloud Nine is George Harrison's finest work in a very long time. All of his solo albums are excellent, but this one, along with All Things Must Pass, are in a league all their own. No fan of George Harrison, casual or die-hard, should be without Cloud Nine. This is a masterpiece just waiting to be added to your collection.

Excellent George Harrison:
On his 1987 release "Cloud Nine", often considered a comeback album for the ex-Beatle, George Harrison again thrust himself into the collective musical consciousness with a set of 11 well-crafted and slickly produced (thanks to fellow ex-Wilbury Jeff Lynne) songs. Often compared to "All Things Must Pass" in terms of quality, it lacks ATMP's sheer scope and vision, but is overall probably an easier recording to listen to and enjoy. Most people recall the radio hit "Got My Mind Set On You", but the album has so much more to offer. From the introductory guitar riffs of the title track to the music's finale, George's wit and humor permeate the album. Other standout tracks would have to include "Fish on the Sand", "Devil's Radio", "When We Was Fab", "That's What it Takes", and "Just For Today". "Cloud Nine" showed George in the studio making great music and having a blast doing it. It's hard to believe that this was the last studio album he actually released during his lifetime. (his final recording "Brainwashed", released about fifteen years later, was only made available posthumously). It's also a shame that this disc is out of print, as mourning Harrison fans should be able to own this wonderful piece of music. We can only hope that Dhani completes the remastering of his father's work and makes this available to his father's fans.

Cloud Nine is Harrison's Number One!:
CLOUD NINE was released in 1987,six years after SOMEWHERE IN ENGLAND. In '87 many "oldies" were being covered and on this album ex-Beatle George Harrison covered the 1961 Rudy Clark hit GOT MY MIND SET ON YOU. Later the music of the song would be recycled by "Weird Al" Yankovic for THIS SONG'S JUST(SIX WORDS LONG). The lyrics to the latter song were written by Yankovic. This album was produced by Harrison and his longtime friend Jeff Lynne of the Electric Light Orchestra. This album also is the intitial project for the pair. In addition to Lynne,guest artists include Elton John,Harrison's fellow ex-Beatle Ringo Starr and Gary Wright who wrote and recorded the hit song DREAM WEAVER in the seventies. WHEN WE WAS FAB was another hit from this album. I suppose it tells about Harrison's(and Starr's) Beatles era. It's just like ALL THOSE YEARS AGO from SOMEWHERE IN ENGLAND which was a tribute to fellow ex-Beatle John Lennon who was fatally shot in December 1980. All the other songs are cool. THIS IS LOVE was another hit from the album. After this album,Harrison and Lynne would team up with Bob Dylan,Tom Petty and Roy Orbison to form the Traveling Wilburys with their own aliases.

CLOUD NINE:
CLOUD NINE IS GEORGE HARRISON'S BEST ALBUM IN MY APIGON I THINK IT'S BETTER THEN ALL THIGS MUST PASS I LIKE THE SON WHEN WE WAS FAB THIS IS A GOOD ALBUM TO GET ERIC CLAPTON AND RINGO SARR AND JEFF LYNE WERE GOOD ON THE ALBUM TO THANK YOU GEOGE FOR THIS GREAT ALBUM