Tropical Campfires

Artist: Michael Nesmith
Label: Cooking Vinyl
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Original recording reissued
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 711297460421
EAN: 0711297460421
ASIN: B00004WZ6A

Release Date: 2001-06-19

Tropical Campfires

Related Categories:

Singer-Songwriters

| Pop | Styles | Music

Pop Rock

| Pop | Styles | Music

Folk Rock

| Rock | Styles | Music

General

| Rock | Styles | Music

Country Rock

| Rock | Styles | Music

Tracks:

Yellow Butterfly
Laugh Kills Lonesome
Moon Over The Rio Grande
One...
Juliana
Brazil
In The Still Of The Night
Rising In Love
Begin The Beguine
I Am Not That
...For The Island
Twighlight On The Trail

Similar Items:

And the Hits Just Keep on Comin'/Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash
Nevada Fighter/Tantamount to Treason
Magnetic South/Loose Salute
Silver Moon
16 Original Classics

Album Description

Along with Lindsay Buckingham's Out of the Cradle this album may be one of the finest and most underrated albums of the 1990s. Nesmith and his crack band run through 12 of the most delicious slices of Americana to be put on record in ages. The mood of the album is a cross between Bahamian, Tropical, Country, and other forms, all forging a unique synthesis of pop that might be very hard to match. Nesmith's songs and vocals are wholly original and personal, and tunes such as 'I Am Not That' and 'Laugh Kills Lonesome' bear the indefinable Nesmith stamp of humor with a compact and irresistible force. In addition to the excellent originals, Nesmith and his band cover two classic Cole Porter songs with excellent results. 12 tracks. 2001 reissue.

Album Details

One of the ex-Monkee's finest solo album from 1992. Currently out of print in the USA.

Customer Reviews:

Extraordinary Recording!!!!!.......2006-04-18

I first heard this recording over ten years ago and loved it then and still do. I just recieved my new copy from amazon.com a few days ago. I must say "Tropical Campfires" is still good after all these years. Personally, when it regards everything that I've heard of his, I think that this recording is his most solid recording.The Song "Juliana" is the best track on the recording, and I see it as the new "Joanne".I would suggest that any music lover with taste should buy this recording because:

1. The songs are well written.
2. Nesmith's band is godly.
3. Orville "Red" Rhodes plays the Steel guitar beautifully.
4. Nesmith sings well.
5. The song "Twilight On the Trail" should be a classic country standard like Willie Nelson's "Crazy".
6. The two part instrumental "One.....For the Island" is breath taking.

If you like Nez..........2005-05-19

I am a huge fan of Michael Nesmith's solo music and his music with The Monkees. If you enjoy his country-rock style then I strongly recommend that you check out the following:
1) March 16-20 by Uncle Tupelo
2) Papa Nez: A Loose Salute To The Work Of Michael Nesmith by Various Artists
3) Stranger's Almanac by Whiskeytown
4) Trace by Son Volt

I was stunned to learn it was Nesmith........2005-03-07

I am old enough to remember watching the Monkees on Saturday morning TV when they were still touring. I liked their music but wasn't a huge fan.

Flash forward 35 years. I am in an airport killing time in a bookstore when I hear "Begin the Beguine" playing overhead. I am entranced. I ask the manager what CD he is playing and he pulls out a cassette cover of "Tropical Campfires." I am stunned to find out it is Michael Nesmith. I tell him I think this is great stuff and he says that he plays it because people don't know it exists or how good it is. I leave the store and later buy the CD.

I define a 5 star purchase as one that you play over and over again. Then a few years pass and you play it again and it still inspires you and lights up your nerve endings the way it did the first time you heard it. That's what this CD does for me. To be honest, I have to agree with the other reviewer that Nesmith is not a great singer. In fact, the song that grabbed me, "Begin the Beguine," is probably the worst vocal on the whole CD. But there is a paradox here. This is precisely why I love it. Sometimes a popular song leaves you unmoved when the great vocalists sing it. You just don't "get it." Then along come somebody with a new arrangement or vocal interpretation and suddenly it comes alive for you. This is what happened to me with "Begin the Beguine." Nesmith obviously loves this material and sings and performs it with such passion and enthusiasm that it automatically induces joy in the listener. Just like I didn't "get" opera until I heard Andrea Bocelli, (and truth be told, technically he is a second rate tenor). He is no Pavarotti. Had he been trained from youth he might have been first rate. But no matter. It was the imperfections in his voice that made operatic arias real and accessible to me. Pavarotti never moved me, but Bocelli brought heaven to earth for me. After Bocelli I began to appreciate Pavarotti.

I could never identify with Frank Sinatra "beginning to beguine" because he sounded too perfect and loaded with money. But with Nesmith I can put myself into the picture and actually believe that I am in a tropical paradise. He could be any man singing that song. That's what makes it real for me.

My absolute favorite cut is "For the Island," a spiritual anthem if there ever was one. The words are very simple, but I recognize in hearing them that this is how I truly feel about the world and any hope for the future. Joy again.

"Twilight on the Trail" is my epitaph. It so eloquently sums up what I would offer to others as the whole meaning and purpose of my life. I know I sound cornball but these are the feelings the songs on this CD induce in me. If feeling good and having hope and keeping it simple are cornball then so be it. Maybe I'm just an old fart.

This album is quirky, original, a misfit...and absolutely brilliant. For me, it's like finding a real diamond in a showcase loaded with counterfeits.

On first hearing you will either love this CD or hate it. No in-between on this one. And if you decide you hate it after listening to the samples buy it anyway and put it away for...oh...35 years. Then listen again.

Papa Nez is back - and still a genius.......2004-09-15

This is without a doubt one of the most beautiful country albums of the 90s. Nez - after his romance with the Sythie-Pop of the 80s - got back home to his roots in the C&W area. In comparison with his golden work from the 70s, where he practically founded countryrock ("Nevada Fighter" just possibly being the best countryrock album of all times), the older Nez sounds relaxed and almost swinging, with clear tropical influences - as the title suggests.
Especially wonderful are "Moon Over The Rio Grande" and "Twilight On The Trail" for beautiful melodies and poetic lyrics, and "I Am Not That" for the neztypical sense of humour. "One..." and "...For The Island" are an absolute innovation: the same song in two parts, once as a fascinating instrumental, then as breathtaking choir. "In The Still Of The Night" is in my humble opinion the best version of a Cole Porter song there is, and it is a pleasant surprise to hear that it is possible to sing "Begin The Beguine" with a winking eye, and without any kind of corniness - everyone aquainted with the Iglesias-version knows what I mean ;)
Further on it should be noted that this the last regular album with the late pedal steel legend Red Rhodes.
A perfect album for friends of good, intelligent, and sophisticated music - and the best about it is that it's still perfectly light and easy-going, in the very best sense!

Without a doubt . . ........2003-03-20

Michael Nesmith continues to astound. It's been a long long time since he was the gangly stork hiding behind his green wool hat and twelve-string. Since the end of the Monkees he's been a country-rock founding father, the innovator (or one of the innovators) of MTV, a grammy winner for his video "Elephant Parts," and throughout has continued to be a consummate songwriter and musician.

His musical tastes and influences are as eccentric and eclectic as he is, moving from folk and pop music to country to experimental, back to rock and roll and now, with "....tropical campfires...." to a mix of sounds with a distinctly Latin flavor.

The album starts with a warm, meandering tune called "Yellow Butterfly"--Nez's vocals are soft and understated; his voice has aged here, but aged well, the youthful power having yielded to a more mature sound, one that sings and speaks with the ease of experience. "Laugh Kills Lonesome" is an upbeat tune that swings with the sound of John Hobbs's agile piano. Nez lends his silky voice to the Cole Porter works "In the Still of the Night" and "Begin the Beguine." The vocals on "Brazil" are amazing--for myself it represents the struggle not to slide to the floor; the man's voice is sexy, no doubt about that.

Music Album:

Music Album

Music Album

Music CD

Word of Mouth Revisited ~ Jaco Pastorius Big Band

Merry-Go-Round ~ Freddy Cole

Mariano

Real Time One ~ Evan Parker, Andrea Centazzo, Alvin Curran

Triple Play ~ Oscar Peterson

After You've Gone ~ Various Artists

Wild World Web ~ Anitas Livs

Brisa Brasileira ~ Various Artists

Reda Caire 1934-1962 ~ Reda Caire

Pauvres ~ Felix Wazekwa