"... Tropical Campfire's ..." is an album by Michael Nesmith

Michael Nesmith

Robert Michael Nesmith is an American musician, songwriter, actor, producer, novelist, businessman, and philanthropist, best known as a member of the musical group The Monkees and star of the TV series of the same name...

, released in 1992 after Nesmith's 13-year hiatus from making studio albums. "... Tropical Campfire's ..." is the 9th and final time Red Rhodes

Red Rhodes

Rhodes played pedal steel on many country rock, pop and rock albums with The Monkees, James Taylor, Seals and Crofts, The Byrds, The Carpenters and many other groups. He is most often remembered for his work with former Monkee Michael Nesmith on Nesmith's first solo albums in the early 1970s...

 would play on a Michael Nesmith studio album (Rhodes died in 1995).

Allmusic writes "Along with Lindsey Buckingham

Lindsey Buckingham

Lindsey Adams Buckingham is an American guitarist, singer, composer and producer, most notable for being the guitarist and male lead singer of the musical group Fleetwood Mac. Aside from his tenure with Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham has also released six solo albums and a live album...

's Out of the Cradle

Out of the Cradle

Out of the Cradle, released in 1992, is the third solo album by American singer/songwriter Lindsey Buckingham. It was Buckingham's first album after his much-publicised departure from Fleetwood Mac in 1987...

, this album may be one of the finest and most underrated albums of the 1990s."

All versions of this album were released encoded in the Dolby Digital Pro-Logic surround sound

Surround sound

Surround sound encompasses a range of techniques such as for enriching the sound reproduction quality of an audio source with audio channels reproduced via additional, discrete speakers. Surround sound is characterized by a listener location or sweet spot where the audio effects work best, and...

 format. It can be decoded into surround sound using any Pro-Logic multichannel

Multichannel

Multichannel may refer to:*Multichannel audio, i.e.**Stereophonic sound, namely two channel audio**Surround sound, more than two channels though still technically stereo**Ambisonics, a studio or live way of recording with many channels...

 receiver.

The unique (and seemingly, at first, incorrect) spelling of the album's title comes from an excerpt printed inside the CD booklet: "... Now she must navigate by the southwestern tropical campfire's mambo raga songs, their sounds rising from the desert floor ..." The original 1992 CD on Pacific Arts reads "campfire's" but the 2001 and 2008 reissues have the apostrophe missing from the cover artwork.

Track listing

All songs written by Michael Nesmith except where otherwise noted.

1. "Yellow Butterfly" – 5:22
2. "Laugh Kills Lonesome" – 4:12
3. "Moon Over the Rio Grande" – 5:58
4. "One... " – 5:19
5. "Juliana" – 6:09
6. "Brazil" (Bob Russell
   Bob Russell (songwriter)
   Sidney Keith "Bob" Russell, was an American songwriter born in Passaic, New Jersey.In 1968, Russell along with songwriting partner Quincy Jones was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Original Song category...
   
   , Ary Barroso, Russell Sidney) – 5:35
7. "In the Still of the Night" (Cole Porter
   Cole Porter
   Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
   
   ) – 3:09
8. "Rising in Love" – 4:42
9. "Begin the Beguine
   Begin the Beguine
   "Begin the Beguine" is a song written by Cole Porter . Porter composed the song at the piano in the bar of the Ritz Hotel in Paris. In October 1935, it was introduced by June Knight in the Broadway musical Jubilee produced at the Imperial Theatre in New York City.-Music:The beguine music and dance...
   
   " (Cole Porter
   Cole Porter
   Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
   
   ) – 5:18
10. "I Am Not That" – 2:45
11. "...for the Island" – 5:18
12. "Twilight on the Trail" – 4:28

Personnel

• Michael Nesmith – guitar, vocals, liner notes
• Joe Chemay – bass, background vocals
• John Jorgenson
  John Jorgenson
  John Jorgenson is a US musician. Although best known for his guitar work with bands such as the Desert Rose Band and The Hellecasters, Jorgenson is also proficient in the mandolin, mandocello, Dobro, pedal steel, piano, upright bass, clarinet, bassoon and saxophone...
  
   – guitar, mandolin, background vocals
• John Hobbs – keyboards, background vocals
• Red Rhodes
  Red Rhodes
  Rhodes played pedal steel on many country rock, pop and rock albums with The Monkees, James Taylor, Seals and Crofts, The Byrds, The Carpenters and many other groups. He is most often remembered for his work with former Monkee Michael Nesmith on Nesmith's first solo albums in the early 1970s...
  
   – guitar, pedal steel guitar
• Luis Conte
  Luis Conte
  Luis Conte is a Cuban percussionist.-Early years:As a child in Cuba, Conte began his musical odyssey playing the guitar. However, he soon switched to percussion, and that has remained his mode since....
  
   – percussion
• Robbie Sneddon - percussion/harp

Production notes

• Michael Nesmith – producer
• Mike McDonald – engineer
• Peter Rynston – mastering
• Jeff Adamoff – art direction
• Henry Diltz
  Henry Diltz
  Henry Stanford Diltz is a folk musician and photographer, who has been active since the 1960s....
  
  – photography
• Val Jennings – project coordinator
• Jeff Lancaster – design
• Stan Watts – illustrations