FEATURE:
Vinyl Corner
George Harrison - Cloud Nine
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THERE are a couple of big…
PHOTO CREDIT: Dave Hogan/Getty Images
George Harrison anniversaries in November. The former Beatles legend sadly died in 2001. His posthumous album, Brainwashed, was released on 18th November, 2002. It will be sad celebrating its twentieth anniversary knowing that its creator is no longer with us. One of his best and most acclaimed solo studio albums, Cloud Nine, is thirty-five on 2nd November. I wanted to mark thirty-five years of a very important album. This was Harrison’s first solo album since the wonderful Gone Troppo of 1982. In fact, on 5th November, that turns forty. A lot of Harrison anniversary to mark! Cloud Nine was a triumphant and acclaimed return. You can read more here, but I wanted to suggest people get Cloud Nine on vinyl. I love the album so much. As this was 1987, there were quite a few cheesy album covers doing the round. Far removed from his 1960s cool, Cloud Nine finds Harrison grinning with sunglasses on! It is quite a humorous cover, and it is good to see Harrison smiling. Maybe not his coolest cover, Harrison was busy around the time of the album release. As a member of Traveling Wilburys, that supergroup (George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan and Tom Petty) released their debut in 1988. He worked on Belinda Carlisle’s Leave a Light On in 1989 and provided slide guitar. His end of the 1980s was quite busy and successful! With terrific singles like When We Was Fab, Got My Mind Set on You and This Is Love, it is no wonder Cloud Nine has endured. It has dated pretty well, and there is more than enough quality throughout to ensure that it survives and resonates decades from now.
Produced with his Wilburys bandmate Jeff Lynne Cloud Nine is beautifully crafted, infectious, and packed with terrific songs! This was, significantly, the final studio album Harrison released in his lifetime. One might be shocked by that, as Harrison died fourteen years after Cloud Nine came out. Having been a member of The Beatles since the early-1960s (or before even), the man was entitled to step away and concentrate on other things! Frustrated with the changing musical climate, Harrison suspended his recording career in the early-1980s. Instead of being an artist, Harrison went into film production with his own company, Handmade Films. Come late-1986, Harrison felt the desire to make music again. He asked Jeff Lynne to co-produce a new album with him. After writing a new songs, Harrison entered his home studio Friar Park in Henley-on-Thames on 5th January, 1987 to begin recording his first new commercial album in five years. Before coming to a couple of reviews for Cloud Nine, there is an interesting feature that gives us some background about one of George Harrison’s greatest and most successful studio albums. A top ten smash in the U.S. and U.K., it still sound extraordinary to this day:
“There were five years between the release of George Harrison’s 1982 album, Gone Troppo, and Cloud Nine, his album that was released on November 2, 1987. Cloud Nine was co-produced with ELO’s Jeff Lynne – who also co-wrote three of the tracks – and is a serious return to form, including as it does, “Got My Mind Set On You” that became George’s third No. 1 single in the US; it reached No. 2 in the UK.
I feel sure many of you think George wrote “Got My Mind Set On You”; it is a song that George completely makes his own, whereas in fact it was originally released by James Ray. His original recording of the Rudy Clark composition came out on the Dynamic Sound label in 1962. The song became George’s first No. 1 for 15 years, but stalled at No. 2 in the UK, spending 4 weeks kept from No.1 by T’Pau’s “China In Your Hand.”
Recruiting some famous friends
George’s version of “Got My Mind Set On You” was the closing track on Cloud Nine, his eleventh solo album that was released a week after the single. George had begun recording the album in January 1987 and, along with Jeff Lynne, it features many of the former Beatle’s friends, most of whom had played on some of George’s earlier albums.
There’s Eric Clapton on the title track, as well as “That’s What It Takes,” “Devil’s Radio” and “Wreck of the Hesperus.” Elton John plays piano on the latter two tracks, as well as “Cloud Nine.” Gary Wright, who had been in Spooky Tooth, and had a very successful solo career in America, plays piano on “Just For Today” and “When We Was Fab,” as well as co-writing, “That’s What It Takes” with George and Jeff Lynne. Drummers include Ringo Starr and another of Harrison’s long-time friends, Jim Keltner, along with Ray Cooper helping out on percussion.
The other big hit single from the album was “When We Was Fab,” a song title that when said with a Liverpudlian accent can only be referring to one thing; for that matter said with any accent it can only ever be referring to The Beatles.
When he was fab
It’s a perfect evocation of those heady days of Beatlemania when those loveable Mop-Tops, the Fab Four, ruled the world and we all thought they would go on forever. George co-wrote the song with Jeff Lynne, shortly before the two of them formed The Traveling Wilburys with Tom Petty, Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison.
According to George, “…until I finalized the lyric on it, it was always called ‘Aussie Fab’. That was its working title. I hadn’t figured out what the song was going to say … what the lyrics would be about, but I knew it was definitely a Fab song. It was based on the Fabs, and as it was done up in Australia there, up in Queensland, then that’s what we called it. As we developed the lyrics, it became ‘When We Was Fab’. It’s a difficult one to do live because of all the little overdubs and all the cellos and the weird noises and the backing voices.”
Not for one minute should anyone think Cloud Nine is an album of just two hits and a bunch of filler; the quality of the songs is great throughout. Standouts include, “Someplace Else,” which could easily have come from All Things Must Pass; the same of which could be said of “Just For Today” a beautiful song that is made even more so by an exquisite, trademark, Harrison slide guitar solo.
Jeff Lynne’s ace producing
Credit is due to Jeff Lynne for his production skills. Lynne had been, so obviously, inspired by the Beatles during his time with Electric Light Orchestra – just as Take That were inspired by ELO on their “comeback” album, Beautiful World. It’s part of what makes music so affecting; how generations of musicians pass on to the next, things that will continue to make us feel better about the world in which we live.
Cloud Nine made the top 10 in America, Britain, Australia, Canada, Norway, and Sweden. The cover of the album features the first American-made guitar that George owned, a 1957 Gretsch 6128 “Duo Jet” that he bought in Liverpool in 1961; Harrison called it his “old black Gretsch”. He had given it to his long-time friend, Klaus Voormann who kept it for 20 years, having left it in Los Angeles where it had been modified; Harrison asked for its return, had it restored, and used it for the cover shoot for both the album and single (photographed by Gered Mankowitz).
On the reissued album are some bonus tracks, including “Zig Zag,” the B-side of “When We Was Fab” which was written by George and Jeff Lynne for the film Shanghai Surprise. Also included is the title track from the film that features Vicki Brown on vocals, with George. Vicki, formerly, Haseman was originally one of The Vernons Girls, a Liverpool group that had been friends of the Beatles; she later married English singer and guitarist, Joe Brown – another dear (and local) friend of George’s. Vicki tragically passed away in 1990 from breast cancer.
If you’ve not revisited Cloud Nine in a while you’ll feel like you’ve got reacquainted with an old friend, and the same could be true if you’ve not really listened to it very much at all. It’s an album that no one but George could have made. Thoughtful, musical, humorous, and fab”.
Rolling Stone had their say on Cloud Nine in 1987. It is interesting charting The Beatles members’ solo albums. The 1980s was a decade that started with the death of John Lennon. Paul McCartney had some success, as did Ringo Starr. I think the 1980s was most interesting in terms of George Harrison’s work. Despite gaps between albums, Cloud Nine and the debut Traveling Wilburys albums proved his consistency and sheer quality:
“If Cloud Nine were simply a decent record, it would still mark a major comeback for George Harrison, whose latter-day solo efforts have for the most part presented little more than a tired blend of spiritual, romantic and musical banalities. But the good news is that Cloud Nine — Harrison’s first album since 1982’s Gone Troppo — is considerably more than merely decent; it is in fact an expertly crafted, endlessly infectious record that constitutes Harrison’s best album since 1970’s inspired All Things Must Pass.
Some of the credit for Cloud Nine‘s success must go to Harrison’s coproducer, Jeff Lynne. If somewhere along the line the Beatle George forgot how to shape a pop record, Lynne — who’s led the Electric Light Orchestra on its own heavily Fab Four-inspired magical mystery tour — obviously has not. The opening track, “Cloud Nine,” is a surprisingly hard-edged midtempo rocker that features some tastily restrained riffing from Harrison and Eric Clapton. Right from that strong beginning, Cloud Nine powerfully reaffirms Harrison’s considerable charm as a singer, songwriter and guitarist. (He and Lynne are helped along by some simpatico instrumental backing from such notables as Clapton, Ringo Starr, Elton John and Gary Wright.)
Throughout Cloud Nine, Harrison and Lynne add layers of inspired production touches that make undeniable aural confections even out of some of the album’s lovely but slight songs (“Fish on the Sand,” “This Is Love,” “Just for Today,” “Got My Mind Set on You,” “Someplace Else”). When the team brings its sonic smarts to bear on more substantial numbers (“Cloud Nine,” “When We Was Fab,” “That’s What It Takes,” “Wreck of the Hesperus”), the results make for sublime pop.
Cloud Nine is an especially heartwarming return to form because it suggests Harrison has come to terms with his own Beatledom. “When We Was Fab,” the eerie Sgt. Pepper-sound-alike track that ends the first side of the album, is Harrison’s droll sendup of and tribute to his days as a Beatle. And on the album sleeve, George saves the last of his special thanks for John, Paul and Ringo. And that’s only appropriate, because Cloud Nine is a totally fab record that lives up to the legacy of all those years ago”.
I am going to end with another positive review for Cloud Nine. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find anything but admiration for Harrison’s Cloud Nine. With Elton John, Jeff Lynne, Eric Clapton and his former Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr on the album, Cloud Nine sounds remarkable. It possibly made George Harrison the most popular Beatles of the 1980s by 1987. This interesting review from September goes deep with one of Harrison’s most important albums:
“But wherever he found that inspiration, he found it in spades, turning in his strongest set of songs by far since the untouchable ATMP. Part of it is I think he’d recovered a sense of fun in writing and recording – his cover of “I Got My Mind Set On You” was a blast, and what it lacked in substance it more than made up for in exuding good time poppy rock. It was just a fun little song, and the music buying public loved it. When was the last time Paul McCartney had been that fun? “Spies Like Us” had been too stupid to be much fun.
With “When We was Fab” George pulled off the rare trick of taking a look back at The Beatles career without being overly nostalgic, cheesy, or exploitative. Unlike “Here Comes the Moon” or “This Guitar Can’t Keep From Weeping” when he tried a little too hard to connect with his Beatle past, “When We Was Fab” is bouncy, breezy, and boasts a totally infectious little piano bit. And it’s a gimlet eyed look at the past, George doesn’t make his Fab past out to be any more perfect than it was, even referencing his pot bust – “when the fuzz gonna come and take you away”. A time “back when income tax was all we had” – which is a bit of an exaggeration, but he was always pretty aggrieved at his 95% tax rate, which was the inspiration for “Taxman”. George looks back with love and fondness on his Beatle days, without romanticizing or mythologizing them. The production on the song is outstanding – cellos swoop, Ringo pounds away like he has since days of yore, and sitar takes the song out at the end. I’ve always loved this song.
“Someplace Else” is another album highlight, warm, melodic, and poignant. Plenty of tasty George Harrison guitar licks in this plaintive meditation about “Loneliness, empty spaces, wish I could leave ‘em all in someplace else”. Fantastic melody on that “And for a while you could comfort me and hold me for some time…” section – truly a marvelous song.
“Just for Today” is similarly reflective, if considerably quieter, almost hymn-like. It’s a prayer in the form of a song, and in its way more personal and humble than even anything on ATMP. Contrast it with “My Sweet Lord” or “Hear Me Lord” – it’s refreshing to hear George pleading to his Maker for relief from his problems rather than just singing his Maker’s praises like some kiss-butt devotee. George admits that he’s “his own life’s problem”, and wishes he could get away from that “just for today”, that “just for one night” he could “feel not sad and lonely”. Haunting, moving, and resonant, this shows what a songwriter George could be when stopped preaching at us and just expressed in song the loneliness and longing all humans feel.
Good old George hasn’t forgotten how to rock though – “The Wreck of the Hesperus” is built on a killer groove, snazzy horns reminiscent of “Savoy Truffle”, and exceptional Eric Clapton guitar licks. George may be “getting old as Methuselah”, but he can “still rock as good as Gibraltar” – but that’s OK, he’s “got some company” in all the other aging classic rock stars. His “it’s all right” refrain and general acceptance of aging as time marches inexorably on no doubt resonated at the time with the Boomers who’d grown up with him.
And it resonates with me too, now that I find myself in my 50s. It’s a great attitude to have really – yes, I’m older, I’m “no spring chicken”, “been plucked but I’m still kicking”. It’s a great song that becomes all the more applicable to all of us as the years roll inevitably on. That’s one of the great secrets of Cloud Nine – in its acceptance of advancing age and abandonment of pandering to the younger listeners that drive Top 40 radio, George managed to make an album that stands the test of time because it isn’t afraid to age along with us. It acknowledges the aging we are all experiencing and soothes us all that “it’s alright”. And damn it, from where I sit, you bet it is.
“Devil’s Radio” is another great rocker – although I’ve already told you in my review for Live in Japan about how disappointed I was that the backing vocals say “gossip” rather than “go sin”, which is a way cooler thing for the devil’s radio to be broadcasting, if you ask me. I listened to the song for more than 20 years before I realized they weren’t saying “go sin”, and I’ve actually haven’t liked the song as much ever since. But it’s still a fun romp of a rocker, and it’s good to hear George cutting loose with some good old fashioned rock and roll. Eric Clapton plays some more hot guitar on this one, Elton John is in there somewhere tickling the ivories, faithful Ringo keeps time faithfully like he does on the rest of the album – all around it’s a great time”.
A comeback album that nobody predicted or could have seen in terms of its quality and impact – following the poor-reviewed Gone Troppo -, people were hoping this wouldn’t be George Harrison’s final solo album. Sadly it was (the last in his lifetime). He would work with other artists but, as he was determined to make new music following a five-year break, it seemed like his enthusiasm for solo work waned after 1987. Looking back, Cloud Nine had a couple of weaker numbers, but it is a stunning album that features some of Harrison’s best and most impressive work. Whether writing solo or co-writing with Jeff Lynne, the album sounds awesome! On 2nd November, Cloud Nine is thirty-five. With his eleventh studio album, George Harrison found himself…
IN music heaven!