"Cloud Nine" by George Harrison – ****

First released: 1987

George Harrison’s comeback album, although he really didn’t go anywhere. He just took five years off and even that wasn’t five unproductive years. He released a single in 1985 called "I Don’t Want to Do It" and appeared onstage with Ringo and Carl Perkins, and in 1986 produced, wrote songs for and performed in Madonna and Sean Penn’s "Shanghai Surprise".

This is a fine album, containing most of the songs that were intended for a "Shanghai Surprise" soundtrack album, provided that film didn’t flop, which it did. The album was released on CD concurrently with the vinyl, cassette and strangely, one of the last 8-track tape versions. The 2004 re-release added "Shanghai Surprise" (previously unreleased to disc) and "Zig Zag" (previously a single b-side). Strangely, "Lay His Head" (also a b-side) was not included.