The latest Fab Fourum podcast evaluates George Harrison's 1982 album "Gone Troppo." The Fab Fourum co-hosts discuss the history of the album, what led up to its release and its chart history. Does the album sound too laid back? Was it worthy of George Harrison? All that is discussed and more by co-hosts Mitch Axelod, Tony Traguardo, Rob Leonard and Ken Michaels.
The podcast is now available at the Fab Fourum website at www.fabfourum.com, http://www.podarama.com/fab_fourum and through iTunes.
Coming up: A discussion of the "Let It Be" album.
Comments
I love George's work-- Beatles and solo. But, GONE TROPPO was a disaster. It's almost unlistenable.
Hi mattal1958,
It's Mitch from Fab Fourum. I have to respectfully disagree with you. There are MANY solo projects I dread. Driving Rain. Extra Texture, Ringo the 4th and Sometime in NYC come to mind, but I think you may want to give the CD another chance. If not, at least give our show a listen and hear what reasons we give for giving it another spin maybe you'll want to give it a chance. Wake Up My Love is very dated with the 80's synthesizers but the rest is pretty darn listenable, in my humble opinion.
Have a great day.
Mitch, give Driving Rain another chance. It had some rockin songs on it. Lonely Road (MTV even played it late at night when they used to play videos), Spinning on an Axis, About You, Back in the Sunshine, Riding Into Jaipur and Rinse the Raindrops. Rinse is ten plus minutes long but I never skip it.
There was some good pop songs on it, too. Yeah, there were some (Oh my god, hurry) skippers but the good difinitely outweighed the bad.
Any album that can boast That's The Way It Goes, Mystical One, Unknown Delight (his song for Dhani), Dream Away and Circles is pretty damn fine, in my opinion. It's always in my top 5 solo George albums and deserves to find a larger audience.
That's the Way it Goes hits the ringer for me. What a great song!
I don't mean to sound like a tool, but with only 11 studio albums to choose from, almost 50% of George's releases would be in someone's Top 5, yeah?
Always thought "Wake Up My Love" was a highlight of George's career, being so atypical...yet bringing together so many aspects of George's musical toolbox. The lyrics are the height of Hari's blurring the line between spiritual and sexual until it erases it completely. (His vocal truly is that of the "poor horny boy.") Can't forget his great slide work or his loopy bass playing either.
PS Shouldn't fail to mention the lovely "Baby Don't Run Away"!
Always thought "Wake Up My Love" was a highlight of George's career, being so atypical...yet bringing together so many aspects of George's musical toolbox. The lyrics are the height of Hari's blurring the line between spiritual and sexual until it erases it completely. (His vocal truly is that of the "poor horny boy.") Can't forget his great slide work or his loopy bass playing either.
PS Shouldn't fail to mention the lovely "Baby Don't Run Away"!
Troppo may very well be my favorite George album. What I hated about the eighties was the fake drums and all the echo. A good example was Clapton's music from the time, It's In the Way That You Use It, that era. The synths didn't bother me. Wake Up My Love was alright. The songs Kevin pointed out were the best, truly great songs. I love George's voice on Unknown Delight. Makes you wonder what he might sound like now.
Dream Away is a masterpiece, In Out, Hot Cold, Up Down, Young Old, What alot to do, sharing a dream with you. And it's at the end of Time Bandits.
Greece, "Hole in my Sock-raties", "They'll get to know one day, You will find peace". Gone Troppo,"Brown skin and very a-peeling".
I loved that album. Still do.
I adore "That's The Way It Goes" & "Dream Away", like "Mystical One" and after that, well...it's what makes up, along with "Somewhere In England", one of the two weakest George Harrison solo releases- some alright songs & nothing outright terrible, but not much to get excited about...
My choice for weakest Macca's - "Pipes Of Peace", followed by "Press To Play" & "McCartney II".
Lennon's weakest- "Sometime In New York City"
Ringo's worst- "Sentimental Journey", "Ringo The IV" & "Bad Boy"...
I gotta admit, this is one of my all-time fave George albums. And it's not one of those cases where I like it because no one else likes it. I remember buying it after it came out and immediately being attracted to its upbeat groove. It's like the 1980s version of 33 1/3. When 33 1/3 came out it was a switch upward from George's heavy, sometimes preachy 70s stuff. Same with Gone Troppo. Somewhere in England was a bit heavy-handed and not that strong of an album. In a similar vein, I absolutely LOVE Paul's Press to Play. It was, and still is, a strong album and was one of those instances where I felt Paul stepped out of the comfort zone and let the producer truly collaborate with him. Maybe that's why Paul kind of brushes it off. His ego and/or pride won't let him hear it objectively. Maybe he doesn't hear enough of himself in the album. In any event, it's a strong album that deserves a second look.
I do adore the commenters on these types of stories - so thank you, all you commentin' folks and to Steve for giving us the chance to chat about our boys' artistic expressions.
'Troppo' was an accurate depiction of where George was at the time, so on that score, I'd give it a 10 out of 10 for honesty. But, like the Lennon/McCartney boot "A Toot And a Snore", which I understand George was doing a bit of at the time, it's not violently unpleasant to listen to but nor does it sound particularly inspired. Sounds like a fellow who had grown tired of the music industry and found trips to Hawaii, gardening and the aforementioned toots and snores a bit more interesting. The mix, as I recall, is muddy and the arrangements are painfully predictable from Track 2 onwards (not counting 'Wake Up My Love', which took Laura Branigan's "Gloria" riff and made it sound tired).
m
I think that sometimes early in his (George's) solo career he was subject of alot of criticism, I think it was wavering and struggling with his own personal demons and this was his creative outlet (I Really Love You) is a perfect example of not taking himself so serious, while compelled to stay true to his mission (God messenger).
Don't you feel a little envious that you couldn't have had a creative outlet such as his.
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