 "fine album with George in spectacular form" | 2009-08-31 |
| - Reviewed By ma1963 |
This remastered recording of George Harrison's Cloud Nine is one of the best in my collection. George is in excellent form here and these numbers stayed in my mind ever since I first heard them. I am impressed with George's creativity; and he worked wonders on this album with some of his peers including Elton John, Eric Clapton and former Beatle band mate Ringo Starr. The quality of the sound on this CD is, as you would expect, nothing short of excellent and I like that they used that cover art.
The CD starts with Harrison performing the title track, "Cloud Nine." He sounds great and the music fits perfectly with his vocals. The percussion, electric guitar and drums all connect to make up a good deal of the musical arrangement and it all holds its own very well. "That's What It Takes" is another striking number; I like the way George plays with key modulations to make this quite strong. George delivers this without ever letting go of a superfluous note and that's pretty impressive. The drums, electric guitar and more make for some mighty fine music as George sings the lyrics; I love it!
"Fish on the Sand" speeds up the tempo a bit for a change of pace that lacks nothing--this music is all THAT good. "Just For Today" is a touching ballad that George Harrison delivers faultlessly; as some have noted it is songs like this that prove George could write a melancholy tune that is obviously on the same level or better than The Beatles' "Yesterday." "This Is Love" has a great flavor to it and it was always one of my very favorite songs on this album; and I really like "When We Was Fab." "When We Was Fab" has an excellent arrangement that makes it powerful and quite poignant. "When We Was Fab" is clearly one of the best tunes George Harrison ever turned out after he left The Beatles; and just one listen proves it. "Devil's Radio" has George outdoing even himself as he sings this to perfection--and beyond! "Devil's Radio" is yet another gem on this CD.
"Someplace Else" lets George sing a most passionate song; the melancholy ache that permeates this song makes it moving and in its own way very beautiful. The music that plays fits perfectly with George's vocals; but the others let George's singing remain squarely in the spotlight which is right where he'll always belong. The backup singing enhances the song--not that George Harrison ever really needed backup but they do sound pretty good anyway. "Wreck of the Hesperus" has a rockin' feel to it that I enjoy every time I hear this number; and "Breath Away From Heaven" uses the percussion, drums and more to great advantage as George sings wonderfully.
"Got My Mind Set on You" is an excellent number all around; this really made the airwaves sizzle when it was released back in the day! There's also "Shanghai Surprise" which was written for a movie with Sean Penn and Madonna that didn't play too long in movie theaters; and the CD ends very well with George Harrison performing "Zig Zag." "Zig Zag" has a great feel to it and it's rather catchy, too. "Zig Zag" is a terrific way to end this CD.
George Harrison lives on through his music; and this remastered CD is a must for his fans. It also makes a great starter CD if you're just getting into the artistry of George Harrison. He remains a giant amongst giants. |
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 "Comeback album of the year" | 2009-08-18 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1SD82ZAT3INZ2 |
| 1987 saw quite a few comebacks happen in rock and roll. The Grateful Dead released "In The Dark", Ace Frehley released "Frehley's Comet", and Elton John returned to MCA records and scored a top 10 hit with the live version of "Candle In The Wind". However, all these comebacks being good can not hold a candle to "Cloud Nine". I would say this is George's finest hour since "All Things Must Pass". It's a lot more lush sounding, but it can still rock. I remember the night I first heard "I Got My Mind Set On You". I was returning from some mall in Springfield where I just purchased Dokken's "Tooth and Nail". Anyway back to "Got My Mind" I found it to be a rather fun song, and decided after a month of hearing it let's just buy the album. Well as I said it's lush sounding, but can still rock The title track, "When We Was Fab", "Devil's Radio" are pure classics. There was also a good ballad, or love song whatever you want to call it called "Someplace Else", and probably the weakest point of the album was "Take My Breath Away From Heaven". However, still kudos to Jeff Lynne for crafting one of the few really good albums of the 1980's, and kudos to Eric Clapton for helping out on guitar. This would help George back into the limelight as he would team up with Lynne, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, and Tom Petty to become known as the Travelling Wilburys. |
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| "One of the best in Harrison's catalog." | 2009-06-19 |
| - Reviewed By User: AFXLXXPU6X4E1 |
| Great, great, great. But the bonus tracks are weak weak weak. EC, Elton, Gary Wright, Ringo, Jeff Lynne... what more do you want? Worth it for "Devil's Radio" alone! BUY THIS! |
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| "the best of george harrison" | 2009-02-24 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2Q8L9LVGGS49O |
| cloud nine is one of the best I have heard from george harrison's |
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| "My favorite GH album" | 2008-12-04 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2X9KN5XKE6OSM |
I have a confession to make: When Harrison passed away back in 2001, I didn't think too much of it because I wasn't introduced to George Harrison until a co-worker (die hard fan of the beatles) played some of his songs to me. Then about 2 years ago I bought one GH album because I thought he was good. Then I purchased 2 more because I thought he was great. Now I have about 6 GH albums including Cloud Nine, so right now George Harrison is one of my favorite singers. Not so much of the fact that he was a beatle, rather, his post-beatle music, leader of the traveling wilbury's and might I add a fine man. Granted it took me a while to get to know George and all of his hard work, but once I did I considered him as one of my favorite singers.
The songs on this album I rate as favorites of mine:
1. Got my mind set on you
2. devil's radio
3. zig-zag
4. this is love
Bottom line, I'm glad I have this album and I'm glad that I've gotten the opportunity to learn about George Harrison. Thanks George! |
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| "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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