 "Ultra-kill" | 2008-08-24 |
| - Reviewed By ashleypomeroy |
Cloud Nine is a likeable album that's also slightly melancholic. The music is professionally-constructed adult pop that would sound great on a long car journey, and I have no doubt that George Harrison was thrilled with it, and that the album was exactly what he wanted. It's much poppier and less pretentious than Harrison's earlier work, and slightly less interesting because of it. There's absolutely nothing about Krishna consciousness, and he doesn't try to sing about the human condition, or the problems that face the world; the album is a collection of vague love songs, with the exception of "When We Was Fab", which is a parody of The Rutles.
Way back in the 1970s Harrison was often criticised for sticking to a formula. His songs tended to have gloomy minor-key mid-tempo arrangements with slide guitar. The slide guitar is still present in Cloud Nine, but the songs are generally upbeat and often cheerful, which would have been unthinkable circa 1973. His voice has matured well and it is a shame he didn't record it more often. As any fule kno, this was George's first record for ages, and his last record until he died; he hid in a tree and sniped the 1980s. Headshot.
None of the songs are bad. "That's What it Takes" sticks out, because it sounds like The Thompson Twins or Cutting Crew, but on that level it works well. Compared to something from All Things Must Past it is cheesy, but All Things Must Past was seventeen years old in 1987. Most of the people buying Cloud Nine would have no memory of it. "Got My Mind Set on You" is one of those guilty pleasures that works best in short bursts. I'll put it this way; if you were listening to the album in your car, you'd nod your head to "Got My Mind", and sing along, but you'd make sure that it was not playing when you pulled in to the driveway. You'd skip to "Fish on the Sand" or the title track, both of which are fab. In fact the title track is a grower, and has the best guitar playing of all.
The production has dated, but well. It's definitely late-80s, but not cheesy late-80s, with the exception of some synth stabs on "This is Love". The drums reverberate in the Phil Collins style, and the arrangements are ultraprofessional and a bit fussy, but likeable. It's interesting to compare the album with Paul McCartney's Press to Play, which came out the year before. Conceptually, the two albums are similar; they are both big-budget late-80s pop records that were produced on huge automated digital mixing desks in top studios. Whereas Press to Play is offensively excessive, excessively offensive, tasteless, hollow, and smug, Cloud Nine is generally low-key, catchy, toe-tapping, tasteful, a bit shallow, but pleasant.
It's also interesting to compare Cloud Nine with David Bowie's Never Let Me Down, which came out the same year, but I am too tired for that.
In summary, Cloud Nine will never be on anybody's "ten best rock albums of all time" list, indeed it will probably never be on anybody's "ten best rock albums of 1987" list - it falls between too many stools - but I like it, and that's what counts. |
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 "Music that shares what's in our hearts" | 2008-04-28 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2GHCZWQMAR1A7 |
From the first note to the last, this is an exceptional recording. The compositions, lyrics, rhythm section and soloists all shine throughout. George Harrison's voice has rarely sounded better. And he's as clean a bottleneck guitar player as anyone I've heard. The sound quality of the recording couldn't be improved upon.
These performances come from the hearts of musicians famous for their ability to wear their hearts on their sleeves. Essential listening for all pop music fans. |
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| "OH! the pleasant memories!" | 2008-04-26 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2KHXHU73GA6NG |
| When I was a baby , my mother brought home an album that would begin my love for music, the album was "All things must pass" , little did either one of us know was it would be mine at the young age of six , it was an album that never left me and I still listen to it now and even during my teen years in th eighties when it wasn't cool by my peers to listen to such a relic at that time. So lets go back to 1987 the year of the release of "Cloud Nine". I was 17 and it was to be my senior year of high school onward to 1988 , this was a Xmas present from a friend , and not only was this great , this album too stuck with me . these songs bring back so many memories this would be the soundtrack to my final year of high school , as well as a farewell to those things at that time that "MUST PASS AWAY". George truly shined on this album and it was a shame he was never again to repeat such an effort. Now I am preparing for my 20 year high school reunion, where I will truly be a "Fish out of sand", with memories of a girl I will have my mind set on, and if "just for one night" my old friends and I regroup like "We were Fab", then like the music of this album I will truly be on "CLOUD NINE". |
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| "GH fan" | 2008-03-30 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2L654ATGUCC5A |
| After being a movie producer for a few years George finally got back to what he does best. Great Harrison release for fans or even a great 80s CD. |
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| "THE BALLAD OF SIR FRANKIE CRISP, JR. (LET ME ROLL IT, TOO)" | 2007-12-30 |
| - Reviewed By jdstrickland |
Cloud Nine is a great release from George Harrison, who, in 1987, was seeking to re-establish himself as an artist. With essentially a newfound focus to propel his solo career at the top as he did seventeen years prior with All Things Must Pass, Harrison enlisted the services of Jeff Lynne of ELO fame as the co-producer for this project. Alongside Harrison's guitar were to be the key instrumental contributions of Eric Clapton, Elton John, Ringo Starr, Gary Wright, and Jim Keltner, among others.
The songs are timeless, and the instrumentations are very nicely arranged. In this collection, the tracks are representative of the various phases Harrison was artistically going through since his early Beatle days. Fish on the Sand, Cloud Nine, and the number one hit, Got My Mind Set on You, an obscure early 60s Rudy Clark song that Harrison actually wanted to record as a Beatle, comprise material reminiscent of those pre-Sergeant Pepper days. When We Was Fab and Breath Away from Heaven are interesting tracks, blending together the sitar sound that was often Harrison's trademark since late 1966 with traces of the ELO-type production that was of none other than Jeff Lynne.
For those who were hoping for a bit of the All Things Must Pass sound from Cloud Nine, That's What It Takes, the second track, has a mid-tempo, bluesy sound with excellent Clapton guitar added and thus parallels the All Things Must Pass tunes I'd Have You Anytime and Beware of Darkness. Just for Today, lyrically and musically, is a poignant song that has a ring of both resolve and finality to it in the style of the All Things Must Pass title track.
In retrospect, I say that, roughly twenty years after its chart success, Cloud Nine was a return to basics release with a contemporary sound that would provide a touch of retrospection, which I think brought to life the strengths of this masterpiece without having it stuck in any particular decade. In this twenty-first century, it sounds just as fresh and new as it ever did.
A sad note: Cloud Nine would end up being the very last solo work that George Harrison would issue during his lifetime. But what a way to summarize the career of so talented a performer who, in 2003, would be ranked #21 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.
Looking at the catalogue of his works,one can definitely agree that George Harrison was a one-of-a-kind performer who was anything but a one-trick pony.
Once again, thanks for the memories, George.
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| "a great George Harrison CD" | 2007-12-26 |
| - Reviewed By lawandade1970 |
| This is a really good George Harrison CD. I especially liked When we was Fab which is about his time in the Beatles.He was a good songwriter and so the songs are good. |
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| "Great Comeback For George Harrison" | 2007-12-09 |
| - Reviewed By rockerusa2002 |
| CLOUD NINE was a great comeback album for George Harrison in 1987, and it was a true return to form, his best since LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD. Unlike most of the pop coming out in the late-80s, CLOUD NINE is real music played on real instruments by real people, with the best songs easily being the hardest-rocking one, "Devil's Radio", and the pop-rocker "This Is Love", both of which got a lot of FM airplay. This CD belongs in every Beatle fan's collection. |
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| "Cloud Nine review" | 2007-11-21 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2NFEOHPV2WNKK |
| I got the CD in very good time and it was a new CD like they said |
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| "Polished to perfection" | 2007-08-12 |
| - Reviewed By markofcain |
I was a bit thrown for a loop the first time I heard this album, since at the time I had only heard two of George's other solo albums (ATMP and 'Dark Horse'), and was therefore wondering what had happened to the types of spiritual songs I expected from him. It wasn't that I was expecting all of his albums to be pretty much the same, but just hadn't been expecting something in such a different vein. But after getting over that initial surprise, I came to see just what a fine perfectly-polished flawless album this is. There isn't a single bad song or throwaway on here; indeed, every single song is so good that they all could have been singles. Quite possibly it's his most commercial album, what with all of the pop and rock songs instead of more mellow serious fare, and no wonder that it got almost near-universal rave reviews at its release and is still considered one of his finest now twenty years later. And though a lot of the songs do have that signature Eighties sound, it doesn't sound dated at all today. There's enough of the sound of the era to distinguish it in a normal way without screaming "Made in 1987!" either. And as a child of the Eighties, I'm not complaining.
All of the songs are pulsing with energy, professionalism, perfection, polish, sparkling wit. Along with songs bursting with tongue-in-cheek humor and gentle self-deprication such as "When We Was Fab" and "Wreck of the Hesperus" are rockers like the title track and "Fish on the Sand," softer songs like "Someplace Else" and "Breath Away from Heaven" (the latter of which really brings to life the feeling of really being back in ancient China), and social commentary songs like "Devil's Radio." The album came out shortly before I turned eight years old, and I well remember that "Got My Mind Set on You" became annoyingly overplayed on both the radio and MTV. But that shouldn't be a reason to avoid revisiting this album or getting acquainted with it for the first time. Some things with so much hype really do live up to the hype and do age well, after all of the critical hub-bub and endless radio play have died down. Just because an album was hugely popular doesn't mean it's not really worthwhile. |
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| "EX BEATLES with a heart and mind of his own" | 2007-05-13 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1SEXRBU43S842 |
| One of the most romantic and playable record I've ever listened to: I had already the 33round in vynil and I wanted to have also the more durable CD. |
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