I can't understand why this record failed. It's got a lot of character and life to it - most of his records in the 70s could have used the 'sunny spirit' on Gone Troppo. It features a haunting use of slide guitar on Circles - unlike his failed remake of Not Guilty a couple of years before, this song is superior in every way to the Beatle demo of Colliding Circles (probably the most morbidly gothic of all Beatles demos, it's like straight from a Hammer horror movie!).
My favourite song on the album is his cover of I Really Love You - he sounds so gleefully comfortable singing doo-wop, it makes me wonder why we didn't hear more from that side of him. I like the use of synths on the record, following on from Somewhere In England, it suits the happy mood. Throw in the slide guitar and you have a recipe for bliss! The only drawback of Gone Troppo is the lack of a 'What Is Life' or 'My Sweet Lord' - a monster smash hit single or two. Somewhere In England had the advantage of All Those Years Ago being a huge hit (#2 in the USA) and Teardrops being a minor hit. Wake Up My Love, while a good song, wasn't strong enough to break into the charts. I Really Love You could've been big with more exposure. Think of Got My Mind Set On You - George sounds great when he gets into the ole rock 'n' roll. The whole rock 'n' roll revival thing at the time - Bow Wow Wow doing I Want Candy, Shakin' Stevens doing This Ole House and Green Door, Dire Straits and Twisting By The Pool, Rockabilly Rebel by Matchbox, Rock This Town by the Stray Cats... huge marketing opportunity to market George with I Really Love You and the record company blew it. Never mind, 5 years later he came back in style!
