A$# 032 George Harrison | Cloud Nine

Imagine two geniuses coming together and putting out a superb album. When George Harrison hooked up with Jeff Lynne in 1987, the highly successful Cloud Nine was the result.

It was called George's comeback album, though as he reminded reporters at the time, he'd never really gone anywhere. But it had been five years since his last studio album. For Jeff, it was a great opportunity to move beyond the recently disbanded ELO, and a chance to work with one of his musical heroes.

George played guitars and keyboards. Jeff contributed guitars, keyboards and bass. In addition, there was an a-list of stars and session aces helping out. Rounding out the crew were Eric Clapton on guitar; Ringo, Jim Keltner and Ray Cooper on drums; Elton John and Gary Wright on piano; Jim Horn on sax; and Bobby Kok on cello.

Cloud Nine is such a great listening experience because it's got all the right ingredients - great songwriting, memorable hooks, superb production and playing. George, encouraged and supported by Jeff and the others, was definitely in the zone. (Mind you, I'm one of those who think he never was really out of the zone; eg see my earlier spotlight post on 1982's Gone Troppo.) Jeff adds his magic as co-producer - this guy knows how to do the knob twisting and arranging - to get a great sound that was great for the late 1980s, and for all time.

George's voice is perhaps a bit thinner since his Beatles days, but it shows a great maturity and versatility. He's able to bring great strength to the bluesy title song, rockers like Fish On The Sand, and angst to the soul-baring Just For Today. His guitar work shines too, on every song, but especially on faster numbers like This Is Love, Devil's Radio and Got My Mind Set On You, plus slower tracks such as Just For Today and Breath Away From Heaven.

Of course you know the big hits Got My Mind Set On You, a radical reworking of an old Rudy Clark song, and When We Was Fab, a psychedelic revisitation of Beatles themes, which George co-wrote with Jeff. There are lots of other wonderful songs too. The album gets off to a great start with Cloud 9, a blues-tinged number about happiness not always being so happy. That's What It Takes was co-written with Jeff and Gary Wright. It's a mid-tempo track that features some fine guitar playing. Fish On The Sand is a fun song about a man who's hopelessly in love and doesn't know what to do.

Just For Today is something special, because it's so plaintive. It feels like a man expressing a lot of pain. This is not a side of George we heard too often. As he said, "It's generally a reminder just for today to keep cool and don't try to deal with everything all at once and that kind of thing." Piano dominates here, but some low-keyed guitar really strengthens it.

George co-wrote This Is Love with Jeff, and it's one of those tracks where George's guitar playing soars. A great fast song. It was released as a single, and should have done as well as WWWF and GMMSOY.

Fab is a hoot, with its oblique references to the Beatles era, plus the cool cello and other psychedelic touches. (The extended version from the 12-inch single even has a backwards ending.)

Devil's Radio is a fast-paced rocker about the evils of gossip. Then things slow down for the lovely Someplace Else, which George reworked from the original version on the Shanghai Surprise movie soundtrack. (No album was released when that movie bombed.) Then it's another fast cut, Wreck Of The Hesperus, where George sings about being an ageing rocker in a silly world:

Brainless writers gossip nonsenses
To others heads as dense as they is
It's the same old malady
What they see is faulty

I'm not the wreck of the Hesperus
Feel more like Big Bill Broonzy
Getting old as my mother
But I tell you I got some company
(But it's al right)

Breath Away From Heaven is also a re-recording of a Shanghai Surprise song. It's Eastern flavoured, and has a cool pentatonic scale. He then closes the album with the high-energy GMMSOY. It was just the hit he needed in 1987.

The 2004 remaster adds two bonus tracks: Shanghai Surprise and Zig Zag.

C9 was the beginning of a fruitful collaboration between George and Jeff, as they went on to form the Traveling Wilburys, plus Jeff contributing to a couple more George tracks in the late 80s. In the 90s, when it was time to produce the "new" Beatles songs for the Anthology series, George, Paul and Ringo turned to Jeff to help them. Later on, George played guitar for a couple of songs on Zoom, the ELO revival album in 2001. Since George's death, Jeff and Dhani Harrison completed George's Brainwashed, and Jeff produced the audio for the Concert For George benefit CD/DVD.

C9 was the beginning of a fruitful collaboration, including the Traveling Wilburys albums, Jeff's solo Armchair Theatre album, the new Beatles songs for the Anthology series, and George's slide guitar contributions to the Zoom, the ELO revival album. It's continued since George's death, with Jeff and Dhani Harrison completing George's Brainwashed, and Jeff producing the audio for the Concert For George benefit CD/DVD.

It all started with the wonderful Cloud Nine. 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

plus bonus tracks on remastered CD:
12. Shanghai Surprise
13. Zig Zag