Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever (album review) ... A fever that makes you feel good!

Style: acoustic, folk rock, Americana
Label: MCA
Year: 1989
Home: California

Members: Tom Petty ~ vocals/guitars/keyboards/tambourine/hand claps
Mike Campbell ~ lead guitar/mandolin/slide guitar/dobro/keyboards
Jeff Lynne ~ bass/electric guitar/keyboards/b. vocals/hand claps
Phil Jones ~ drums

Additional: Jim Keltner ~ drums/percussion
Kelsey Campbell ~ b. vocals
Alan Weidel ~ hand claps

Guests: George Harrison ~ acoustic guitar/b. vocals
Roy Orbison, Del Shannon, Howie Epstein ~ b. vocals
Benmont Tench ~ piano


This might be one of the best albums to sing along with. TP isn’t the greatest singer, he drolls his notes & his voice is almost whiny, but his songs are simple & memorable. Actually, they are so memorable that its easy to walk away remembering each song, making this probably the best album with TP's name on it. The music is primarily acoustic guitars a la Americana not pub rock, where TP started his career, making him almost an unsung hero of pop Americana. If this was the only album you knew & it wasn't for the rest of his catalog, such as the must hear later career bluesy Mojo, he very well could be named an Americana artist right up there with Mellencamp & Springsteen. Full Moon Fever is technically the first of three solo albums away from TP & The Heartbreakers, but with his bandmates all present as guests, except for drummer Stan Lynch, the difference between the outings is a small one on that level. Actually, for many of us TP's career starts here & this is the sound we know him for, that is, this is the template not the career bump it actually was. If there's any difference between this & what folks knew TP for previously it can all be laid at the feet of the producer Jeff Lynne, famously of Electric Light Orchestra, who moves TP away from the raw rock he'd made a name for himself with via Damn The Torpedoes . Though, following Full Moon Fever the Heartbreakers would return with the hit "Learning To Fly" also produced by Lynne & the division between the two would crumble into obscurity almost making a mockery of what it means to go solo. As I said, this is the template & the starting point. Actually, it's so much a mockery & starting point that outside of TP fans few probably know this is a solo album. This very much sounds like another album he'd be involved with a group called the Traveling Wilburys that featured TP, Lynne, George Harrison, Bob Dylan & Roy Orbison. The two albums would actually be written over-lapping, one influencing the other even down to TP's new bandmates guesting here. This album was interrupted for the creation of the Wilburys while some songs that did not make those sessions would appear on later TP albums such as the hit "Mary Jane's Last Dance." The big hit from this album is the addictive "Free Fallin'", which is both a good example of the style of music here but also what makes this album so lyrically great - its mysterious. What does the song really mean behind its playful feeling? It discusses a lover yet also "vampires" & "bad boys" like it’s skimming alongside a topic that's dark but trying to stay safe. Actually the whole album sounds nice when it probably isn’t (for example, "Won’t Back Down"). It bears repeated listening to discover this mystery ... the fact that this album is a pleasure to listen to helps a lot.

George Harrison ~ Brainwashed (album review) ... My sweet lord one last time!

Style: psychedelic, folk rock, pop rock, spiritual
Label: Dark Horse
Year: 2002
Home: England

Members: George Harrison ~ vocal/lead guitar/dobro/ukulele/keyboards/bass/percussion
Jeff Lynne ~ bass/guitar/keyboards/percussion/b. vocals
Dhani Harrison ~ guitar/keyboards/b. vocals
Jim Keltner ~ drums

Guests: Jon Lord, Jools Holland, Mike Moran, Marc Mann ~ keyboards
Ray Cooper ~ drums/percussion
Mark Flannagan ~ acoustic lead guitar
Joe Brown ~ guitar
Herbie Flowers ~ bass/tuba
Bikram Ghosh ~ tabla
Sam Brown ~ b. vocals
Jane Lister ~ harp
Isabela Borzymowska ~ voice

Opening with a Traveling Wilburys-esque riff sets the stage for Harrison's final album, completed after his death by son Dhani & fellow Wilbury Jeff Lynne also of Electric Light Orchestra following detailed instructions left by Harrison, which is in many ways a culmination of all the music that came before it over Harrison's scattered solo career by a man undoubtedly knowing the end is near & just relaxing with the music for the first time in decades. Whether it was Harrison or Dhani/Lynne that chose the name of the album it's an odd banner for a man who is anything but brainwashed as the lyrics belay someone who knows exactly how he feels & is even happy with not always having discovered all the answers he sought. Though, on the other hand, it could elude to the fan criticisms against the dominance of Hinduism in his music that led to his temporary retirement from performing in the 1970's. At times Brainwashed is a folksy acoustic affair where storytelling takes priority over commercial pop, a sound always somewhat present in Harrison's music & brought to a climax with the Wilburys, while there's also the blues a la All Things Must Pass & also present in expected bucket loads is the Hare Krishna socially responsible ideology that always kept his music just on the wrong side of being mainstream acceptable. But, Krishna philosophy is not thrown out missionary style as Harrison first did with "My Sweet Lord" but through more personal & contemplative lyrics such as "if you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there" from the highlight "Any Road" & there's even reference to the bigger religious picture though a unexpected discussion of the Vatican in "P2 Vatican Blues (Last Saturday Night)". Harrison was never one for flash, though he had his moments, instead aiming for layered laid back compositions that sounded more simple than they really were, with his unhurried guitar solos never taking away from the greater mood. That's probably the reason that while idolized he's never been immortalized as a guitar god. He's a musician first, showman second & this album shows it. If Brainwashed is not his most laid-back album it comes pretty close. It might also be one of his most personal in many ways. The relaxed feeling is mostly due to the prominence of acoustic guitars, but Harrison does let out one of his solos every so often that strongly harken back to the brief little solos he once played with the Beatles that might not even be called guitar solos compared to the distorted pyrotechnics that would later come out of the rock genre. Though, there is one instrumental featuring Harrison's thin guitar lines (i.e. "Marwa Blues"), that is more of an intermission than a glowing instrumental. If Harrison knew he was dying there's no songs of regret here. There are many dealing with closure & looking at his spirituality & examining it on his own life in terms of what it was & were it went (i.e. "Looking For My life"), but never does it fall into maudlin introspection or moodiness. Fans of Harrison would be amiss to not enjoy life with him one more time ... don't let yourself be brainwashed into ignoring this last hello/goodbye. 

George Harrison ~ Cloud Nine (album review) ... Krishna's musical incarnation!

Style: rock
Label: Dark Horse
Year: 1987
Home: England

Musicians: George Harrison ~ vocals/guitars/keyboards/sitar
Jim Keltner ~ drums
Jeff Lynne ~ guitars/bass/b. vocals/keyboards

Guests: Eric Clapton ~ guitar
Elton John, Gary Wright ~ piano
Ringo Starr ~ drums

Additional: Ray Cooper ~ percussion/drums
Jim Horn ~ sax
Bobby Kok ~ cello
Vicki Brown ~ b. vocals

 

  When I was a boy I had the 45 single (remember those?) of "Got My Mind Set On You". I used to listen to it over & over while mom would be getting ready to take me to school. Coming home I'd go back to my little plastic record player. It was a couple years later that I really began listening to the Beatles, but by then it was too late as I was bound to be a life-long George Harrison fan. The Beatles? Yeah, they're okay, too. It wasn't until a few years ago that I realized that "Got My Mind..." isn't so much a traditional love song but a love song to God ... or I should say that it comes across that way in George's hands as it's not his composition. I always admired George's spiritual inklings, which I share but not because of his direct influence & his almost simplistic guitar solos & songs ... though I'll confess that his solo career is probably the most up & down of all the Beatles with as many oddities as hits. If you include the instrumental soundtrack Wonderwall oddities is an understatement. Cloud Nine, his comeback after five years not recording, is a polished George reining in many of his musical experiments to create almost folksy simple sounding songs, very much like what he'd do with the Travelling Wilburys later, that go for catchy arrangements over fancy musical foreplay with Indian instruments. Also, this album shows that one can write religious songs & still craft a hit ... ie. "Got My Mind Set On You". This album also features the hits "Cloud 9" & "When We Was Fab". One of the strongest traits of George's musical career & the thing that often sticks in my ear, were his simple guitar solos that were cluttered with notes. This album brings back that dynamic in soft arrangements that allow both his guitar & voice to shine. When you've listened to as much Eric Clapton as I have you recognize his sound immediately & he's also no stranger to playing with George, having been the first non-Beatle to play on a Beatles album ("While My Guitar Gently Weeps") & his guitar comes through ("That's What It Takes"). The other guests on the album, Elton John & Ringo Starr, are not so easily recognizable. Sadly, this would be George's last studio album before the incomplete Brainwashed outside of his work with the Wilburys. It's a highlight of his career no doubt & sad that he didn't follow it up, but it was a reminder of how creative he was. Match this album with All Things Must Pass & you've got George's albums & I'll even risk saying that these two far outweigh much of what his fellow Beatles have done with their ongoing plethora of recordings. George was not about holding hands or sing-alongs with catchy "Hey Jude" outros. His songs are introspective musical meditations with his dedication to his religious beliefs unrivaled by few other musicians outside of Cat Stevens. It's hard to not like him. Put this album on with a loved one when you're curled up on the couch & it's raining out & let me know if you agree.