Cloud 9
Released: 1987
Rating: 8/10
Track listing: 1. Cloud 9/ 2. That’s What It Takes/ 3. Fish On The Sand/ 4. Just For Today/ 5. This Is Love/ 6. When We Was Fab/ 7. Devil’s Radio/ 8. Someplace Else/ 9. Wreck of The Hesperus/ 10. Breath Away From Heaven/ 11. Got My Mind Set On You
After a five year long break George Harrison teamed up with Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra. The previous albums had been disappointing, even for the most hardcore Harrison-fans that gotten used to inconsistent releases over the years. Lynne clearly helps Harrison keeping focus on catchy, strong melodies and the lyrics mainly are moving around the classic pop-subjects, rather than the heavy religious themes that had infiltrated nearly all of George’s albums throughout his post-Beatles career. Here, the approach is far less pretentious and the atmosphere surrounding the songs gains significantly from that.
Given that Lynne is one of the greatest Beatle-fans out there and that George probably had gotten some distance to the painful break-up and maybe even looking back with pride on the most hectic years, Cloud 9 is filled with references to the Fab Four. “This Is Love” recycles the chromatic riff from “Hello Goodbye”, “When We Was Fab” ends with a some sitar notes, reminding of the Revolver-era. Also “When Was Fab” features some nostalgic lyrics that clearly is aimed at the 60’s when George was a part of the most fab group of fab. All these little things that can be found here and there never sounds like the creators lacked imagination and not being able to come up with new ideas, but rather is humorous and skillfully pulled off.
As usual George called up his friend Eric Clapton whom plays on most of the tracks here and overall makes a very good job, great job even. He keeps the solos fairly melodic and to the point, similar to the Bluesbreakers-album he did with Mayall in 1966. Especially his playing on “Devil’s Radio”, “Wreck of The Hesperus” and the guitar dueling with Harrison (slide guitar) on the title track always makes me smile, knowing that even if not as flashy and loud as with Cream, Clapton still is the most tasteful guitarist there ever was. Other people showing up, helping George out is Elton John, good ol’ Ringo, Gary Wright, studio ace drummer Jim Keltner and the great percussionist Ray Cooper. A decent line-up and unlike many other times, these star-names actually manage to make good music (see Dylan’s Under The Red Sky for a less impressive result).
It is hard to find any particular bad things about Cloud 9. Yes, Lynne is still using that drum sound he is universally despised for and some of the synthesizers sounds dated. But it never sounds too dated or disturbing. The songs are strong enough to survive that, and since Lynne co-wrote some of them, his presence can’t have been all bad news. Cloud 9 is a product of it’s time, but full of dignity rather than sounding old and uninteresting. It was Harrison’s best selling albums since the 70’s, mainly thanks to the annoyingly catchy single “Got My Mind Set On You”, and a pleasant listen as well. Arguably the best Beatle-related album released in the 1980’s.
Live In Japan
Released: 1992
Rating: 8/10
Track listing: 1. I Want To Tell You/ 2. Old Brown Shoe/ 3. Taxman/ 4. Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)/ 5. If I Needed Someone/ 6. Something/ 7. What Is Life/ 8. Dark Horse/ 9. Piggies/ 10. Got My Mind Set On You/ 11. Cloud 9/ 12. Here Comes The Sun/ 13. My Sweet Lord/ 14. All Those Years Ago/ 15. Cheer Down/ 16. Devil’s Radio/ 17. Isn’t It A Pity/ 18. While My Guitar Gently Weeps/ 19. Roll Over Beethoven/
After the commercial and artistic comeback with Cloud 9, Eric Clapton persuaded George to do a tour. Not having been on the road for nearly 20 years, a tour that ended up being catastrophic because of throat problems, Harrison was understandably a bit nervous and actually called the thing off several times. However, with Clapton and the members of his standard backing band at the time, George managed to get comfortable enough to pull off a couple of weeks in Japan. Despite whatever issues there might be with a live album featuring mostly Beatles-songs, don’t be afraid to have a listen. Sure, it is hard to do those songs justice outside of the studio, but this particular record has a few advantages compared to the live releases of the other three Beatles-members. The most important probably being Eric Clapton. You might despise his own recordings, but here, when placed as just a backing musician, he delivers extremely tasteful solos with an adorable tone. Each and every song has a short lick, or a full solo, that makes it worthwhile. Also, he acts like a safety blanket for George, whom is able to relax a little. After all, Harrison always was considered the quiet one, or the shy one, if you like.
Another thing speaking in favor of this document is the set list. Yes, McCartney’s endless string of live albums features great songs and exceptional songwriting, but how many times can one listen to various versions of “All My Loving” without being at least slightly bored? George presents an alternative. These are hardly obscure songs, but not the most well-known or most overplayed in the Beatle-catalogue either. Cleverly mixing loved classics (“Something”, “Here Comes The Sun”), slightly forgotten material (“Old Brown Shoe”, “Piggies”) along with the very best songs from his inconsistent solo-career (“What Is Life”, “Isn’t It A Pity”), Harrison creates a more than solid selection.
Besides the extraordinary songwriting, it is a delight to hear George and Clapton trading guitar lines in “Cloud 9” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, the two highlights of the album. Harrison may not be as flashy or technically perfect as Clapton, but he manages to keep up, and in “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” he is darn close to actually surpass his old friend. Moments like that surely is enough to forgive synthesizered brass and female backing singers. Not that those were that annoying or disturbing to begin with, but I think you know what I mean.
Brainwashed
Released: 2002
Rating: 8/10
Track listing: 1. Any Road/ 2. P2 Vatican Blues (Last Saturday)/ 3. Pisces Fish/ 4. Looking For My Life/ 5. Rising Sun/ 6. Marwa Blues/ 7. Stuck Inside A Cloud/ 8. Run So Far/ 9. Never Get Over You/ 10. Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea/ 11. Rocking Chair In Hawaii/ 12. Brainwashed
Brainwashed was Georges last album. Well, at least the last he was working on and intended to release, you never know with greedy record companies and starving families, right? After all, dying is the best promotion an artist can get. Anyway, when Brainwashed was released most people said it was an emotional affair that reflected Harrisons thoughts about death really well and the final result was very affecting, considering he passed away during the working process. The truth is that Brainwashed isn’t any different than his previous albums. It deals with the same subjects and has the sarcastic remarks and social observations George always had written about. The melodies are built the same way as always, the difference is that Harrison adjust the lyrics to the melody and not the other way around. Something he often did in the past that ruined most of his albums. You know what? It really works here. It’s far from being as lame and preachy as Living In The Material World and instead it offers a warm feeling, gentle slide guitar, thoughtful lyrics and one of his best vocal performances.
I’m not going to tell you about every song here, but it’s fun to see him do “Run So Far”, which he originally gave away to Clapton who recorded it on Journeyman in 1989. Georges own version is much warmer and surpasses Claptons version. My favorite song here is the personal and confessing “Stuck Inside A Cloud”. With lines such as “just talking to myself, crying as we part. Knowing as you leave me I also lose my heart” and “never been so crazy, but I’ve never felt so sure. I wish I had the answer to give, don’t even have to cure” you realize that this is about George’s cancer, perhaps more than any other song here. Most of the other tracks have a lightweight feeling to them, musically speaking, while the lyrics handle serious subjects. If you liked Cloud 9 and “Free As A Bird” this is definitely worth your attention.
Concert For George
Released: 2003
Rating: 7/10
Track listing: 1. Serve Shaam/ 2. Your Eyes (Sitar Solo)/ 3. The Inner Light/ 4. Arpan/ 5. I Want To Tell You/ 6. If I Needed Someone/ 7. Old Brown Shoe/ 8. Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)/ 9. Beware of Darkness/ 10. Here Comes The Sun/ 11. That’s The Way It Goes/ 12. Taxman/ 13. I Need You/ 14. Handle With Care/ 15. Isn’t It A Pity/ 16. Photograph/ 17. Honey Don’t/ 18. For You Blue/ 19. Something/ 20. All Things Must Pass/ 21. While My Guitar Gently Weeps/ 22. My Sweet Lord/ 23. Wah-Wah/ 24. I’ll See You In My Dreams
When one year on the day had passed since George Harrison passed away, his closest friends held a concert for him. Usually tribute concerts or charity events similar to this one tend to be somewhat unsatisfying. Mostly because the artists are not giving all they got in their performances, just playing for fun or sometimes not even that. Maybe that’s why it’s no surprise that these recordings actually reveals some emotions in the performances and especially when Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney shares the stage for a couple of numbers. Well, Clapton is playing through the whole concert, but mostly standing in the background, rarely stepping into the spotlight only once in a while. Joining McCartney at the microphone doing “Something”, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and taking a quick step back letting Paul have “All Things Must Pass” and “For You Blue” for himself, it’s no secret that it is Clapton that pulls most of this show together. Not that ex-member of Wings should be thought of any less, his own performance is very solid and the emotions seems genuine and his vocals on “Something” and especially “All Things Must Pass” sounds heartfelt and people saying that McCartney never could deliver emotions or feelings should have a listen.
Other than that Procol Harum member Gary Brooker does a convincing and exciting version of the somewhat lost gem “Old Brown Shoe”, a highlight in the Beatles-catalog that never earned any greater attention due to its ill-fated position as a B-side (get The Beatles – Past Masters II now!). Other than “Old Brown Shoe” and one or two more tracks the band focus on Harrison’s cream of the cream material from the Beatle-days, as well as his first true solo album and arguably his only masterpiece, All Things Must Pass. That’s probably the way it should be, too. Despite some quite good moments (mainly Cloud 9 and Brainwashed), George never really cared enough about the music and superficial life as a rock star and most of time he spent in his garden with his flowers, philosophy about religion and producing films (Monty Python’s Life of Brian among others).
Even though Jeff Lynne’s “I Want To Tell You”, Clapton’s “If I Needed Someone” or Billy Preston’s “My Sweet Lord” never really gives any great shakes or surpasses the original recordings, they are enjoyable and nice to listen to. Basically, it is only Tom Petty’s three songs that could be questionable. To be frank, “Taxman” sounds awful and “Handle With Care” (a Traveling Wilburys-song) is far from impressing, only the Help!-song “I Need You” manages to survive Petty’s treatment, and that is thanks to the songs beautiful melody, rather than Petty’s performance. Also Joe Brown’s “Here Comes The Sun” sounds a bit forced, but other than this, this tribute is quite solid, even if things doesn’t get heated up until the end when Clapton’s soaring guitar tears apart “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and McCartney’s lazy, jazzy ukulele rendition of “Something” culminating in a version more true to the Abbey Road-version. In fact, this is where the greatest tribute takes place. For people that followed George’s and Clapton’s careers knows that whenever they played “Something” together, George struggled with copying the solo from the studio-version and Clapton would then improvise a little and basically running over George (at least on a technical-level). Here, Clapton doesn’t do that. He plays the original solo, just the way George did it. That remains the strongest impression and probably the finest tribute of the whole night.
Hardly essential, but fun for fans of the artists on the stage and it reminds us of what an excellent songwriter George could be in his best moments.
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