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''Gone Troppo'' is the tenth studio album by English rock musician George Harrison, released on 5 November 1982 by
Dark Horse Records Dark Horse Records is a record label founded by former Beatle George Harrison in 1974. The label's formation coincided with the winding down of the Beatles' Apple Records and allowed Harrison to continue supporting other artists' projects whil ...
. It includes " Wake Up My Love", issued as a single, and " Dream Away", which was the theme song for the 1981
HandMade Films HandMade Films was a British film production and distribution company. Notable films from the studio include '' Monty Python's Life of Brian'', ''Time Bandits'', '' The Long Good Friday'' and ''Withnail and I''. History Foundation HandMade F ...
production ''
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''. Harrison produced the album with Ray Cooper and former Beatles engineer Phil McDonald. With Harrison uninterested in the contemporary music scene and unwilling to promote the release, ''Gone Troppo'' failed to chart in the United Kingdom, and it was his only post-Beatles studio album not to chart inside the top 20 in the United States. For the next five years, he largely took an extended hiatus from his music career, with only the occasional soundtrack recording surfacing.


Background

By the early 1980s, Harrison had been finding the current musical climate alienating. His 1981 album ''
Somewhere in England ''Somewhere in England'' is the ninth studio album by English musician George Harrison, released on 1 June 1981 by Dark Horse Records. The album was recorded as Harrison was becoming increasingly frustrated with the music industry. The album's ...
'' had sold fairly well, aided by the
John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
tribute hit, " All Those Years Ago", but in the United States it was Harrison's first album since the Beatles' break-up that failed to receive gold certification from the RIAA. With one album left on his current recording contract, Harrison recorded ''Gone Troppo'' in 1982 but refused to promote it or make
music videos A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...
for the two singles. The title is an Australian slang expression meaning "gone mad or crazy due to tropical heat" or just "gone mad".


Artwork

The album's artwork was credited to
"Legs" Larry Smith Larry Smith, often known as "Legs" Larry Smith (born 18 January 1944) is an English drummer of the comedy satirical jazz group the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. He was originally invited to join the group by Vivian Stanshall as a tuba player and ta ...
, formerly of the
Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (also known as The Bonzo Dog Band or The Bonzos) was created by a group of British art-school students in the 1960s. Combining elements of music hall, trad jazz and psychedelia with surreal humour and avant-garde a ...
.


Release

''Gone Troppo'' was issued on
Dark Horse Records Dark Horse Records is a record label founded by former Beatle George Harrison in 1974. The label's formation coincided with the winding down of the Beatles' Apple Records and allowed Harrison to continue supporting other artists' projects whil ...
in November 1982.
Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...
, which distributed Harrison's Dark Horse label, were at a loss as to how to market the album and matched the artist's indifference by failing to promote the release. The album peaked at number 108 in the United States and failed to chart at all in the United Kingdom. "Wake Up My Love" and " That's the Way It Goes" were included on Harrison's ''
Best of Dark Horse 1976–1989 ''Best of Dark Horse 1976–1989'' is a compilation album by English musician George Harrison, released in October 1989. His second compilation, after the Capitol/ EMI collection ''The Best of George Harrison'' (1976), it contains songs from Harr ...
'' album, and the title track also appeared on the compact disc version of that 1989 compilation. No tracks from ''Gone Troppo'' were included on the 2009 career-spanning collection '' Let It Roll''. "That's the Way It Goes" was covered by Joe Brown and other musicians at the
Concert for George The Concert for George was held at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 29 November 2002 as a memorial to George Harrison on the first anniversary of his death. The event was organised by Harrison's widow, Olivia, and his son, Dhani, and arrang ...
in November 2002. In 2004, ''Gone Troppo'' was remastered and reissued, both separately from and as part of the deluxe box set ''
The Dark Horse Years 1976–1992 ''The Dark Horse Years 1976–1992'' is a box set of albums by English rock musician George Harrison. It was released in 2004 and comprises most of the singer's output on his Dark Horse record label. The set contains Harrison's five studio albums ...
''. The reissue added a demo version of "Mystical One" as its sole bonus track.


Critical reception

Among contemporary reviews, '' Billboard'' said of ''Gone Troppo'': "Harrison's sunny lyricism shines brightest when least encumbered by self-consciousness, and here that equation yields a breezy, deceptively eclectic charmer." ''
People A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...
'' magazine's reviewer wrote: "Because of his forays into the mystical, Harrison's penchant for whimsy often gets overlooked. But here the zany side gets no short shrift." The reviewer admired "lovelies" such as " Wake Up My Love" and " Dream Away", and described ''Gone Troppo'' as a "vinyl postcard" offering "flashes of brilliance". Less impressed, Steve Pond of ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' said that, of late, Harrison had "made a much better movie financier than musician", and he found the album "So offhand and breezy as to be utterly insubstantial", with "Wake Up My Love" the only song of note. Writing for '' Musician'', Roy Trakin considered that, in the wake of Lennon's assassination two years before, Harrison's "tortured honesty … dooms this record's attempt to heal those psychic wounds with calm, offhanded music". Trakin admired some of the guitar playing on the album but concluded: "It's too bad the public won't forget George Harrison was a Beatle. His musical output will undoubtedly suffer by comparison until we do." Reviewing more recently for
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
, critic William Ruhlmann writes of ''Gone Troppo'': "Clearly, Harrison could no longer treat his musical career as a part-time stepchild to his interests in car racing and movie producing if he wanted to maintain it. As it turned out, he didn't; this was his last album for five years." Writing in the 2004 edition of ''
The Rolling Stone Album Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...
'', Mac Randall opined: "The dynamic, synth-driven 'Wake Up My Love' opens ''Gone Troppo'' and the spooky 'Circles' (yet another lost Beatles song) closes it, but there ain't much in between." John Harris of ''
Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * ' ...
'' likens ''Gone Troppo'' to Harrison's final album for
EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...
/
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, '' Extra Texture'' (1975), and dismisses it as "Another contract-finisher, this time with Warner Brothers, recorded super-quick, and issued with barely any promotion." ''Music Box'' editor John Metzger also holds it in low regard, writing: "''Gone Troppo'' was undoubtedly the worst of George Harrison's solo albums … A few tunes, such as That's the Way It Goes and Unknown Delight, might have worked better if given different arrangements, but as a whole, ''Gone Troppo'' was a largely forgettable and sometimes embarrassing affair that appealed only to complete-ists and fanatics." More impressed, Dave Thompson wrote in '' Goldmine'' magazine of its standing as the release that preceded Harrison's temporary retirement from music: "to accuse the album itself of hastening that demise is grossly unfair." While conceding that it was a far from essential Harrison album, Thompson considered it to be "no worse than much of
aul An aul (; ce, oil; russian: аул) is a type of fortified village or town found throughout the Caucasus mountains and Central Asia. The word itself is of Turkic origin and simply means ''village'' in many Turkic languages. Auyl ( kk, Ауы ...
McCartney's period output" and opined that "Dream Away" and "Circles" "stand alongside any number of Harrison's minor classics". Kit Aiken of ''
Uncut Uncut may refer to: * ''Uncut'' (film), a 1997 Canadian docudrama film by John Greyson about censorship * ''Uncut'' (magazine), a monthly British magazine with a focus on music, which began publishing in May 1997 * '' BET: Uncut'', a Black Enter ...
'' describes ''Gone Troppo'' as "a return to form of sorts" after ''Somewhere in England'' and a collection of "amiable, light-hearted music made by a bunch of mates with nothing to prove". In another favourable 2004 assessment, for ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'', Parke Puterbaugh wrote: "''Gone Troppo'' might just be Harrison's most underrated album … tcaptures Harrison at his most relaxed and playful on songs such as the title track."Parke Puterbaugh, "By George", ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'', 3 April 2004, p. 68.


Track listing

All songs written and composed by George Harrison, except where noted. Side one #" Wake Up My Love" – 3:34 #" That's the Way It Goes" – 3:34 #" I Really Love You" (Leroy Swearingen) – 2:54 #"Greece" – 3:58 #"Gone Troppo" – 4:25 Side two #
  • "Mystical One" – 3:42 #"Unknown Delight" – 4:16 #"Baby Don't Run Away" – 4:01 #" Dream Away" – 4:29 #"
    Circles A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is const ...
    " – 3:46 Bonus track ''Gone Troppo'' was remastered and reissued in 2004 with the bonus track: #
  • "Mystical One" (demo version) – 6:02


    Personnel

    * George Harrison – vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, synthesiser, bass, mandolin,
    marimba The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbre ...
    ,
    jal tarang The ''jal tarang'' (Hindi: जलतरंग) is a melodic percussion instrument that originates from the Indian subcontinent. It consists of a set of ceramic or metal bowls filled with water. The bowls are played by striking the edge with bea ...
    , backing vocals, production * Ray Cooper – percussion, marimba, glockenspiel, electric piano,
    sound effect A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. Traditi ...
    s, production * Mike Moran – keyboards, synthesiser, piano, synthesiser bass *
    Henry Spinetti Enrico Antonio Giorgio Spinetti (born 31 March 1951) is a Welsh session drummer whose playing has featured on many prominent rock and pop albums. Career Spinetti was born in Cwm, near Ebbw Vale, Monmouthshire, Wales. His first band, aged about ...
     – drums (1–6, 10) *
    Herbie Flowers Brian Keith "Herbie" Flowers (born 19 May 1938) is an English musician specialising in electric bass, double bass and tuba. He is noted as a member of Blue Mink, T. Rex and Sky. Flowers has contributed to recordings by Elton John (''Tumblewe ...
     – bass * Billy Preston – organ, piano, keyboards, synthesizer, backing vocals *
    Jim Keltner James Lee Keltner (born April 27, 1942) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. He was characterized by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes as "the leading session drummer in America". Howard Sounes. ''Dow ...
     –
    percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
    , drums * Joe Brown – mandolin, backing vocals (6) *
    Dave Mattacks David James Mattacks (born 13 March 1948) is an English rock and folk drummer. Best known for his work with Fairport Convention, Mattacks has also worked both as a session musician and as a performing artist. Apart from playing the drums, he ...
     – drums (9) *Alan Jones – bass (9) *
    Neil Larsen Neil Larsen (born August 7, 1948) is an American jazz keyboardist, musical arranger and composer. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio and grew up in Sarasota, Florida before relocating to New York and then, in 1977, Los Angeles. Early life Larsen was ...
     – piano (7) *
    Gary Brooker Gary Brooker (29 May 1945 – 19 February 2022) was an English singer and pianist, and the founder and lead singer of the rock band Procol Harum. Early life Born in Hackney Hospital, East London, on 29 May 1945, Brooker grew up in Hackney ...
     – synthesizer (7) *
    Willie Weeks Willie Weeks (born August 5, 1947) is an American bass guitarist. He has gained fame performing with famous musicians in a wide variety of genres. He has been one of the most in-demand session musicians throughout his career. Weeks has also ...
     – bass (7) *
    Jon Lord John Douglas Lord (9 June 194116 July 2012) was an English orchestral and rock composer, pianist, and Hammond organ player known for his pioneering work in fusing rock with classical or baroque forms, especially with the British rock band Deep ...
     – synthesizer (10) *Willie Greene – backing vocals, bass voice *
    Bobby King Bobby King (born July 28, 1944, in Lake Charles, Louisiana, United States) is an American gospel-style, R&B and soul singer. He formed a singing duo with Terry Evans in the early 1970s. Since 1973, King has sung on most Ry Cooder albums. He wa ...
     – backing vocals *
    Vicki Brown Vicki Brown (23 August 1940 – 16 June 1991) was an English pop, rock and contemporary classical singer. She was a member of both The Vernons Girls and The Breakaways and was the first wife of fellow singer and musician Joe Brown and mother o ...
     – backing vocals *Pico Pena – backing vocals *
    Syreeta Syreeta Wright (February 28, 1946 – July 6, 2004), who recorded professionally under the single name Syreeta, was an American singer-songwriter, best known for her music during the early 1970s through the early 1980s. Wright's career heights we ...
     – backing vocals *Sarah Ricor – backing vocals *Rodina Sloan – backing vocals * Phil McDonald – production * Legs Larry Smith – art direction, design


    Chart positions


    References


    External links

    * {{Authority control 1982 albums George Harrison albums Albums produced by George Harrison Dark Horse Records albums Albums recorded at FPSHOT