Cloud Nine (George Harrison album)

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Cloud Nine
Studio album by George Harrison
Released November 2, 1987 (1987-11-02)
Recorded 5 January - late March 1987 at Friar Park, England
Genre Rock
Length 41:25 (LP)
49:24 (CD)
Label Dark Horse/Warner Bros.
Producer Jeff Lynne and
George Harrison
Professional reviews
George Harrison chronology
Gone Troppo
(1982)		 Cloud Nine
(1987)		 Brainwashed
(2002)
Singles from Cloud Nine
  1. "Got My Mind Set on You"
    Released: October 1987
  2. "When We Was Fab"
    Released: January 25 1988
  3. "This Is Love"
    Released: June 13 1988

Cloud Nine is the successful 1987 comeback album by George Harrison, recorded and released after a five year hiatus from his recording career. As home to the smash hit "Got My Mind Set on You", Cloud Nine re-established Harrison as a critically-acclaimed and commercially-significant recording artist. It was to be George Harrison's final solo studio album released during his lifetime.

Contents

[edit] History

Following the release of the relatively unsuccessful Gone Troppo in 1982, and Harrison's increasing frustrations with a changing musical climate, he decided to halt his recording career for other interests, such as film production with his own company, Handmade Films. The odd soundtrack or charity song would surface during this period, but otherwise it was a musically silent period for Harrison.

By late 1986 — after a substantial break — Harrison felt the desire to make music again. Wanting to sound contemporary but true to his roots, he asked former Electric Light Orchestra leader and fellow musician Jeff Lynne to co-produce the album with him. After having composed a round of new songs, Harrison entered his home studio, Friar Park, in Henley-on-Thames on 5 January 1987 to begin recording his first new commercial album in five years.

Joining Harrison and Lynne in the studio were old friends such as Jim Keltner and Ringo Starr on drums, Eric Clapton on guitar, and on piano both Gary Wright and Elton John. It was clear that a substantial break was what Harrison really needed — he felt refreshed and reinvigorated.[citation needed] For the first time in years he actually wanted to make an album. His enthusiasm to be musically productive again would have an impact on the quality of the music produced for Cloud Nine.[citation needed]

Part of Harrison's strategy for his comeback was making himself seen.[citation needed] He appeared with Starr at the Prince's Trust Concert that June performing "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and was actively involved in promoting the upcoming album. In October, Harrison's cover of Rudy Clark's obscure early 1960s song "Got My Mind Set on You", (which Harrison had wanted to record with the Beatles in the early days) accompanied by a humorous video, was released and stunned everyone[citation needed] by reaching #1 in the US and #2 in the UK — heights Harrison had not achieved in almost fifteen years. A few short weeks later, Cloud Nine was released with very high anticipation and was promptly lauded by critics worldwide as Harrison's best album since All Things Must Pass in 1970,[citation needed] sending it to #10 in the UK and #8 and platinum status in the US. The success of the album put Harrison again into the mainstream,[citation needed] and he became (in the wake of the failure of Paul McCartney's latest album Press to Play) the most discussed Ex-Beatle at least for two years.[citation needed] (However, it should be noticed that, the same week that Cloud Nine debuted at the bottom of the UK Top 10, McCartney's compilation All the Best! peaked at #2, with Paul enjoying good sales and renewed reputation, at least in Britain.)

His Beatles tribute "When We Was Fab" also proved a successful follow-up single, reaching the Top 30 in both the UK and US. Its follow-up, "This Is Love", was a minor hit in the UK.

While the success of Cloud Nine was not enough to spur Harrison into a tour (the ill-fated 1974 Dark Horse jaunt in North America was still fresh in his mind[citation needed]), he certainly did embrace his good fortune and it inspired him to continue — but with a difference. In the spring of 1988, along with Lynne, he would call up friends Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Roy Orbison and begin recording a project ultimately released as the Traveling Wilburys.

In 2004, Cloud Nine was remastered and reissued both separately and as part of the deluxe box set The Dark Horse Years 1976-1992 on Dark Horse Records with new distribution by EMI, adding two bonus tracks from the Shanghai Surprise film: "Shanghai Surprise" and "Zig Zag" (also released as "When We Was Fab"'s B-Side).

[edit] Track listing

All songs by George Harrison, except where noted.

  1. "Cloud 9" – 3:15
  2. "That's What It Takes" (George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Gary Wright) – 3:59
  3. "Fish on the Sand" – 3:22
  4. "Just for Today" – 4:06
  5. "This Is Love" (George Harrison, Jeff Lynne) – 3:48
  6. "When We Was Fab" – (George Harrison, Jeff Lynne) - 3:57
  7. "Devil's Radio" – 3:52
    • Masters of Reality recorded their version of the song for "Songs from the Material World: a Tribute to George Harrison" album
  8. "Someplace Else" – 3:51
  9. "Wreck of the Hesperus" – 3:31
  10. "Breath Away from Heaven" – 3:36
  11. "Got My Mind Set on You" (Rudy Clark) – 3:52

Cloud Nine was remastered and reissued in 2004 with two bonus tracks from the soundtrack for the Handmade film Shanghai Surprise:

  1. "Shanghai Surprise" – 5:09
    • features vocals by Vicki Brown.
  2. "Zig Zag" – 2:45
    • previously released on a single in 1988 as the B-Side to "When We Was Fab".

[edit] Personnel

The following personnel was credited in the liner notes.[1]

[edit] Charts

[edit] Albums

Country Charts (1987)
Peak position Weeks
Sweden 5 9 [2]
United States 8 31
Norway 8 12
United Kingdom 10 23
Switzerland 23 7
Austria 26 6
Japan 27 21
Country Charts (2004 Reissue)
Peak position Weeks
Japan 190 2

[edit] Singles

Year Single US UK GE AT SE NO CH FR JP
1987 "Got My Mind Set on You" 1 2 7 8 10 10 11 19 64
1988 "When We Was Fab" 23 25 40 - - - - -
1988 "This is Love" - 55 - - - - - -

[edit] References

  1. ^ (2004) Album notes for Cloud Nine by George Harrison, p. 3, 7 [CD booklet]. Dark Horse Records. Cloud Nine at MusicBrainz.
  2. ^ swedishcharts.com - George Harrison - Cloud Nine
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