Of all the ex-Beatles, John Lennon's solo career holds the distinction of probably being the only one that can be readily enjoyed by somebody who (for whatever insane reason) hates The Beatles. This isn't to put down the careers of the others (I have solo albums of both Paul and George and enjoy them greatly, but then I'm quite a Beatles fan), but rather to emphasize the fact that, unlike his colleagues, his approaches to music making in this context differed quite substantially from what he produced as a Beatle. Paul continued to produce the brilliant "lightweight" pop ditties that he had mastered, George went off into severe spirit-land, but John ...
Ok, lemmee explain. It's a strange paradox, but Lennon's solo career displays his in-grown musical genius possibly to an even greater degree than does his Beatles legacy because of the minimalistic and often even unlistenable aspects of his albums. It does not seem like the actual music is a very high priority for John at times, as it's usually superceded by something else (which I'll get to below) - AND YET, one comes across one BRILLIANT melody after another until the very end of his career. Sure, oftentimes one hits something horridly difficult to stand, but those are the times when it seems he's going deliberately out of his way to make it a difficult listen. The rest of the time, though, it's not as if he's really going out of his way to make things enjoyable for the listener - he just sits down, writes whatever melody comes naturally into his head, and that's that. No whiff of "commerciality" or "purposeful accessability" - just moments of apathy in which he can't help but let his inate genius take over.
But it's not the melodies that are the main draw of Lennon's career, as incredibly enjoyable as they often are. Nono, it's not that, but it's not even necessarily the lyrics themselves. Sometimes they're brilliant, sometimes simple, but as far as playing word-games, he's certainly a step below Bob Dylan. A better comparison might be to Ray Davies of the Kinks - not in topic matter, of course, but rather in effective straight-forward simplicity. But regardless, that's not what does it.
What draws people (at least, what draws me) to Lennon is that his whole career can basically be summed up in one word: introspection. John Lennon's solo career, at all times, shows a man tearing through his own psyche and sense of spiritual understanding, always trying to make sense of everything but never quite pulling it off. He would go through various ideologies, both political and spiritual, and always put his whole heart and soul into them, but then he'd probe deeper into himself and realize that that wasn't right for him at all. In this way, his life was very much a magnification of the personal struggles we all go through ourselves, only that much more intense because he allowed them to be.
As a corollary, like any good "feeling" artist, he always felt it necessary to bare his soul through his art. More so than almost anybody else, though, he made it so the "integrity of his soul" took precedence over all else. He was the ultimate "selfish" artist - not in a bad way, but rather in that he made music for his OWN sense of release and catharsis, and while others were certainly welcome for the ride if they pleased, he was not about to cave in his vision one iota. This didn't always produce the prettiest results (for instance, he often allowed Yoko Ono to have a significant impact on the final product, and even let her sing once in a while), but they were always the most heartfelt results possible.
The point with everything here, then, is to not go into Lennon's catalogue for the music per se. The melodies, again, are often perfect, but they are a bonus, not the main thrust. Likewise, Lennon isn't the most talented technical player the world ever saw, as his guitar playing is VERY raw and non-virtuostic, but that too isn't the point. Just sit back, let his piercing vocals stick needles in your soul, and you will laugh and cry and think like few other artists can make you do (and then hum the melodies for hours on end afterwards). It is for that reason, then, that I give his solo career an overall rating of four out of five - he's inconsistent as mad, but his best output is some of the most powerful material ever made. Simple as that.
What do you think of John Lennon?
RoguePoet6173.aol.com (12/11/02)
I think your thoughts on John Lennons solo career has pretty much hit the
hammer on the nail
Kelly Brown
Rob Eustace (rob.eustace.tesco.net) (10/21/03)
Great Lennon page John and I hear what you're saying but for me Lennon's
whole solo career is simply one big anti climax. The four releases prior
to "Plastic Ono Band" are nothing more than self indulgent crap, this guy
really believed he could put out anything (even if it was in the name of
art). I've always felt that part of the reason that "Plastic Ono
Band" is regarded so highly is that it was nothing less than a relief to
finally hear some digestible material from the great ex Beatle. Sadly
though for me there's absolutely nothing in the remainder of his solo
catalogue to live up to his legendary status, a few classic songs sure
but as a body of work it just isn't up to scratch. "Imagine" clearly has
it's moments but there's a whole lot of filler here to, "Sometime in New
York City" is laughable in places and is padded out with throwaway Ono
tracks. "Mind Games" is full of easy going ballads, the album as a whole
has the same kind of impact as Harrison's mid 70's output and is
generally rambling, uninspiring material. "Walls & Bridges" for me adds
nothing to his armoury and is followed by an average Rock and Roll covers
album. After five years out he returns with "Double Fantasy" which is OK
but surely nothing more, and once again we are forced to endure
those Yoko Ono tracks (the least he could have done was put his on one
side and her's the other). No one could ever question Lennon's
Beatle work, and his legendary status is obviously justified on the
strength of this alone but I'm afraid personally I feel his
solo reputation is built upon one critically acclaimed (and for me
overrated) album, and one 1971 anthem.
Jay Williams (res6u0mq.verizon.net) (1/19/04)
My thoughts are single and after reading your story I suggest you find
another job or hobby!
Tim Light (timlight99.hotmail.com) (8/13/11)
I'll limit my comments to what I think of his solo albums. The man himself was incredibly complex, disturbed, fascinating,
disgusting at times, a rebel and a radical. I never warmed to him as a person, but then I think that's what he wanted - to be
inaccessible.
I haven't heard his first two albums, so I can't comment, but the assessments I've heard seem to fit with the John Lennon we know -
needing an outlet for his anger and frustration, and not giving a damn for critical acclaim.
Plastic Ono Band was, at first, a massive disappointment. The problem was that I wanted the beatles to make more Beatles music.
Over time, though, I have grown to love this album. Mostly for the reasons given in your excellent review. Working Class Hero is
a particular favourite. It didn't need the "F" word, but it works well anyway. The best way to get effect from the "F" word is to
use it sparingly, so it has a slight shock effect. Not like many of today's bands, who use so much bad language that it becomes
boring.
Imagine was the first Lennon album that I liked from day 1. It was a lot gentler on the ear than POB, which I just wasn't ready
for at the time. This album had a collection of great songs, good melodies, and just the right amount of Angst. Remarkably, for
post-beatles Lennon, it's an album you can sing along to.
After that, I'm afraid, I regard his output as mediocre. The next three albums had many of the right ingredients, but they just
didn't add up to as much. I think it was the case that he exhausted a large part of his disturbed creativity on POB and Imagine,
and had nothing new to say.
Shaved Fish is the best of the compilations. It contains his early songs, which did not appear on any albums at the time,
including the superb Cold Turkey, which (along with Working Class Hero) the compilers of more recent John Lennon complations seem
to be to embarassed about. It's as if they want to reinvent Lennon as the author of a series of bedsit pop songs, with all the
darker stuff conveniently forgotten about.
His last albums, before his death, would have been OK without the Yoko Ono tracks. There were some nice tracks, and as a tribute
to Yoko from John it would have held water. But I've never cared for Yoko's music, and it seems absurd to have something so
different and unpalatable interspersed with the main act. A bit like mixing Bob Dylan with Mariah Carey.
Best song: God
John actually had a few solo releases before this album, but I've chosen not to subject my ears to them at this time. See, John was still a member of The Beatles at the time he was making stuff like Wedding Album and Two Virgins, and his actual "music" was being saved for the group. These solo albums are supposedly experimental bullshit of the highest calibre, and while I'm sure I need to hear them at some point in my life, I'll gladly pass at the present time.
Come 1970, though, things were different. The Beatles were no more, and the project and life to which John had devoted himself wholeheartedly (though not always very willingly) the last decade or so had suddenly gone the way of all things in the world. John suddenly found himself out of a job and with a whole bunch of issues to try and work out. And try to work them out he did, the only way he could - by putting together this album and acting as his own shrink. Of course, he doesn't actually resolve anything on this album, but the journey is what matters, and matter it does here.
Of course, when listening to this, one doesn't really get the feeling that the thoughts expressed on this album just came to John on the spur of the moment after he lost The Beatles. On the contrary, while the actual songs or lyrics may not have existed in a concrete form in his mind before this time, the sheer power and force with which emotions spew forth on this album suggest that his concerns here had been bouncing around his head for some time. Then again, that shouldn't really surprise anybody - John was always the most powerful emotional force in the band, bringing in a high level of angst even when the band was still singing "regular" love songs (No Reply is the best example). This is somebody who had obviously spent his whole musical career in deep thought, and the fact that he hadn't been able to fully express this within the context of The Beatles only meant that such thoughts and frustrations would be (as one commentator on George's site inferred) building up like a volcano. And this where the top blew off the mountain.
Indeed, the explosion of emotion on this album is really like nothing else in the music world. Say what you will about Blood on the Tracks or Empty Glass or, er, Us, but they're not going to top this as far as suffocating the listener with the power of emotions goes. The most mentioned aspect of this, of course, is the defiant musical minimalism that takes up these tracks. Except for Billy Preston playing piano on God and Phil Spector (the producer) playing piano on Love, the only musicians on the album are John, Ringo on drums, and Klaus Voorman on bass. Ringo actually puts on a GREAT peformance on this album - all of you Ringo-bashers who say that he was only good for keeping the beat should really take a listen on this album as he bangs the crap out of his small kit. But otherwise, the sound is very sparse, consisting only of occasional piano, some rough Berryesque hyper-distorted dirty rhythm guitar, and John's vocals. That's ok, though - nothing else is necessary, as the music and the emotions make up for whatever "underarrangement" there might be.
But back to the emotional power of the album.... wow. John Lennon was a pissed off, disillusioned dude. It's like he's going through his emotional sock drawer (worst. metaphor. ever.) and pulling out one memory and one set of issues after another, and it's scary to see how much of it is so resoundingly negative. There are exceptions, of course, with Love being the best example. What strikes me about the lyrics to this one, though, is that they are so extremely naive and innocent that this seems not to be John's current assessment of what love is, but rather his younger, instinctual, "first-love" reaction. Of course, this may just be me projecting myself into the album, but as one who began with such innocent ideas of what love is, only to discover the incredible bullshit that actually works its way into what should be a wonderful aspect of human existence, I strongly get the feeling that John received some devestating blow (or series of blows) at a young age in this regard that only opened himself to more resentment towards the rest of the world. Or something.
Indeed, I say this because the innocent positivity of this song is so unbelievably out-of-place among the rest of the material that there HAS to be some sort of meta-irony behind its existence on the album. I mean, even the other soft ballad of the album (Look at Me), a beautiful ode touching on trying to find meaning in others, still has a slight vibe of uneasiness to it. The most famous song of the album, Mother, kicks things off in a fittingly gloomy way as John laments the loss of his parents (though one gets the feeling that it isn't so much a loss through death that gets to him as an emotional detachment from them, which hurts him even more), and the "primal scream" that he displays at the end gives a good indication of where the rest of the album is going. Indeed, issue after issue is touched on, with only venting but no real solution offered (which may not be satisfactory for the psyche, but is how things really are after all). I Found Out is a great punkish anthem of slowly discovering that life, as explained to you by those who you thought were wiser than you, is complete and utter bullshit. And of course there's the infamous Working Class Hero, infamous for actually featuring John using the "F-word" for the first time. While its main acoustic melody may be ripped-off from Dylan's Masters of War, it is still one of the angriest anthems against the weakness and self-deception of the everyday human being, a piece made all the more unsettling by the low-key, quiet vocal delivery.
And the pain just keeps coming. Isolation is about, well, being and feeling alone - this is driven home all the more by the feeling in the song that John really is by himself, pounding out whatever slowly on his own. Remember has John going back to his youth and pondering the sense of idealism that surrounded him, with the implication that it was all a lie in the end. And of course there's Well Well Well, made infamous by John's full utilization of the primal scream (which is good, since the rest of the song is kinda dumb otherwise).
But none of this compares to the emotional devestation which is God. The melody is primitive, yes, but it has an inate beauty and power that only focuses the lyrical matter that much further. When John begins singing, "I don't believe in magic, I don't believe in I-ching, I don't believe in Bible ..." I feel myself shake and I want to cry. This is the ultimate anthem of spiritual disillusionment, the simple plea of a man who has lost the ability to have faith in the power of any earthly force to bring him to a "better" state of being. He isn't making some arrogant claim of not believing in the existence of any of these things - he just no longer sees any reason to have faith in the aura which surrounds all these forces. And yet, he has not given up ALL spirituality - of all the things he no longer believes in, the one that is noteworthy in its absence is God. He believes in the power of some supreme being, some higher power - he just doesn't believe that any of the other things he mentioned can bring him to them. And so he can turn only to that which he knows and trusts - himself and Yoko. It's not the final solution - it's just the best he can do at the moment.
And then, following this unsteady non-resolution, we close out the album with one final look in the past. My Mummy's Dead, set to an adaptation of the melody of Three Blind Mice and made to sound squeaky and old, concludes the album in a WHOLELY unsatisfactory manner for the psyche. He ends it with something that happened long ago! With no sense that he's come to terms with anything! Aaaaaaah! But really, to do otherwise would completely violate the spirit of the album. Like it or not, introspection usually only leads to more questions, not to answers, and this album captures that more than any other in my collection. And that alone makes it a necessity.
Mhrybka.aol.com (12/23/03)
Please.
In Re: POB:
Rolling Stone bragged this up in exchange for a sensational interview. It
is crap. Has any media ever played this excluding a tribute, even in its
prime? Lennon fans are sheep. Lennon told then to think this album was
great so it did. Rolling Stone then, dutifully, relayed the message. The
Lennon sycophants, who unwittingly and ironically admire his salesmanship
over his product (Oh! He's so deep because he tells us so and we know it
is true because socialism is so-o-o-o cool to our simple minds) felt
obligated to agree. This thinking is akin to his assassin's but a less
extreme example. The music on POB is nonexistent. The lyrics,
which allegedly make up for it, are, what a normal person would describe
as, appalling.
Mother you had me
Mother don't go
Hold On John
Love Is Real
Try calling this in to any radio station that anyone listens to. Ah...the
sheep bleat...but of course..."we (the idiots who pretend to appreciate
this) are so above the common people."
It would almost be funny. However, the sheep do not listen to this
caterwauling anymore than anyone does but feel obligated to say they do.
The objective and intuitive critic would remember that Lennon was all for
Walls and Bridges, as was Rolling Stone, at the time of its release. In
Lennon's warped way, he had to disavow it later because the myth of John
& Yoko had to preserver. An astute person may also observe that Rolling
Stone did a complete turnaround in its assessment of this album (Walls &
Bridges) later on because...let's be honest...it did not want to offend
John. Great journalism!
This is the precedent for the foolhardy celebrity culture we have
today. Do you, or anyone, recall an interviewer ever challenging Lennon
on his outspoken and naive babblings? No. That was not there job. Or was
it? You should not be able to have it both ways...to allow a person to go
unchallenged on things he knows nothing what he speaks of...yet treat it
like Holy Grail. And then to pretend you are not a "pop" magazine like
Rolling Stone but something much deeper.
Pedro Andino (pedroandino.msn.com) (09/25/05)
shut the fuck up, asshole! oooooo faggot just got the new 50 cent cd
on 12/03. eat cock faggot! maybe you are just 50 cent's bitch ya'
faggot! faggots like you will be shot! eat cock!
David Andino (davidandino83.msn.com) (12/02/07)
YOU TELL HIM, PEDRO! GOD THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE THERAPY NOT SARCASTIC
BULLSHIT! TO THE FAGGOT ABOVE PEDRO MAYBE YOU SHALL NOT REVIEW ROCK
AT ALL STICK YOUR FUCKING COCK TO SOMEWHERE ELSE BECAUSE I WILL CUT
YOUR DICK OFF AND FEED IT TO THE DOGS!!!! sorry about about that do
not erase me and do not test me you cannot arrest me and also this
album is a classic I have not heard of it yet but here are the
results. mother is a nasty screaming rocker of a song. well well well
is another nasty song that predates grunge. working class hero is an
explosive acoustic song with the fuck bomb. god is so cynical and the
most damning of all was I DON'T LIKE BEATLES!! wow you can feel the
pain anger and emotion in the quiet song love. love is real real is
love. plastic gets a 14. now this therapy session is calming not the
bullshit primal scream disaster
trfesok.aol.com (05/13/2009)
I find the comments of the first poster most interesting. I don't
really agree with him, but I'm not as -- um -- emotional about my
disagreements as Senor(es) Andino.
It is true that Jann Wenner was friends with Lennon and could be
really sycophantic towards his product (although I'd bet even he
couldn't defend STiNYC). So, this might have gotten a bit overrated
over the years.
On the other hand, nothing like it had yet appeared. It's not the
first singer songwriter album (for instance, James Taylor's first on
Apple had come out over a year earlier), but it's the first top have
such immense anger included as an emotional ingredient, along with
the usual sorrow, sadness and vulnerability. You mention that the
album was therapy for John, but it was also the product of therapy.
Specifically, a technique called Primal Therapy, which has now been
pretty much discredited in the psychological community. In the course
of treatment, the patient's emotions are stripped down to the bone.
Apparently, a lot of screaming is involved.
This is why the charge of simplistic lyrics isn't valid in this
case. "Minimalist" is very different from "simplistic. When one's
emotions are really raw, sometimes the only thing a person can do is
articulate feelings in the simplest terms. Which is why songs like
"Love" and "Hold On" work. The depth of the feelings come through,
unobscured. And when John elaborates, he's vicious -- "Working Class
Hero", "I Found Out" and "Well, Well, Well" are quite nasty. The
irony is that the melodies are still really catchy. "Remember" almost
sounds like a basic version of "Lady Madonna", musically. But no one
wanted to hear these messages. "The dream is over?" John wanted to
shatter everyone else's illusions as well as his own, apparently. The
only gripe I have with all of this is that all of the emotions that
tumble out in therapy do come through -- including self pity. John
makes himself into too much of a victim here, which can get annoying
. You sometimes feel like shaking him and saying "Snap out of it!"
Of course, it would take him a few years to do so. Even with that
flaw, the album still reflects John honestly at this point in his
life, and can really grow on you if you give it a chance.
The remastered version contains two singles that came after this
album and before the next one. They sound totally out of place,
because in contrast to the basic production on the album, Phil
Spector is turned loose again. "Power to the People" is hopelessly
dated (John actually uses "comrade" in the lyrics). He should have
added "I don't believe in radical leftist politics" to "God". But
the song works, anyway, because of the performance -- very rousing.
"Do the Oz" was written to support a British magazine that was busted
for obscenity charges. John exhorts the listener to express his
support by doing the Oz, a dance that sounds quite similar to the
Hokey Pokey. Very repetitive, but at least the riff that the song is
built around is very catchy.
"Ben" (bbgun_301.yahoo.com) (03/13/11)
I've heard many tines that this is Johns best solo album, and though I don't agree
with that statement I do agree this is a great album. I'm not a fan of this kind of
stripped down production, but since it's behind John I don't really mind.
The songs are GREAT, and of course it took me a while to realize that. I used to
think they were all long repetitive pieces of John rambling about how much his life
sucks, but now that's exactly why I like it. Nine out of ten; best song is "Well
Well Well."
Best song: Imagine
People don't treat Imagine with the same respect they treat Plastic Ono Band, for two related reasons - it's more musically complex and "sophisticated," which eliminates any "indie rock cred" it might have, and it contains Imagine, which automatically makes the album "commercial" and even a sell-out. Quite frankly, I consider both of these arguments utterly ridiculous, and only a slightly higher level of relative filler than on POB lowers the rating at all.
Indeed, the title track has been overplayed over the years and almost made into a cliche. People like to mock it for being "overly saccharine" and make cynical remarks about a millionaire saying things like "imagine no possessions." Well, this is a case where the "clever" people of the world are simply wrong - John liked to say that Imagine was just Working Class Hero with sugar added, and I absolutely agree with his assessment. With any other artist, cynical remarks of this nature could possibly be justified, but remember that John Lennon REALLY believed in what he was singing about, regardless of how flaky this might mean he'd have to be. That he was a millionaire did not affect the sincerity of his desire for people to stop tolerating all the bad things in the world or to live in peace or all the things he lists in the track. And besides, it's got one of the loveliest rolling piano melodies, er, imaginable, so what the hell do you want me to do but praise it?
There's a lot more to the album than just the title track, though. The album is softer in musical tone than POB, yes, but this does NOT imply that John has somehow resolved his issues since he released his 1970 masterpiece. Rather, one gets the feeling that he decided to take a more laid-back, reflective, contemplative approach to dealing with them. Hence, he brought in a lot of extra musicians to help arrange his vision, including George Harrison and future Yes-drummer Alan White, and he let producer Phil Spector have a greater impact on the final sound. He lets his emotions flow just as readily as before, but instead of just employing a direct expression of them, he allows irony and complexity to add a whole other dimension to the songs.
Irony makes its greatest appearance in the two songs following the title track, Crippled Inside and Jealous Guy. The former has one of the bounciest, happiest melodies imaginable, yet the lyrics are about having deep emotional pain that can't help but shine through no matter how hard you try to hide it. As for the latter, it's simply BEAUTIFUL, with some wonderful whistling near the end, yet it's about feeling insecure in being loved by people you care about.
Of course, don't think that all feelings of bitterness are covered in sugar on this album - that would make things monotonous after a while instead of entertaining. A couple of tracks have the direct punch of a typical POB song, albeit with slightly more complex arrangments. It's So Hard is a bit weaker than the material around it, but it's still dang wonderful, and the saxophone parts near the beginning only help things along. Of course, it doesn't come close to the terrific Gimme Some Truth, with REALLY pissed-off political lyrics and an angry-as-hell vocal to go with the simple (but genial) rising guitar riff. And don't forget that terrific guitar break from George in the middle!.
On the other side of things, there's a couple of love ballads to balance the emotion spectrum. I don't particularly care for How? - the main verse melody is ok, but the sappiness of the strings becomes too much after a while, and the "You know life" portion is REALLY too saccharine - but Oh My Love is pretty dang much flawless. The piano line is typically gorgeous, the bits of acoustic that pop up are equally pretty, and words simply can't adequately describe the beauty of the vocal melody. Funny, for such a pissed off guy, he manages to write really good, non-cliched songs about love ...
The other three songs don't really fit into categories with each other, but hey, diversity never hurts. The most oft-bashed number of the lot is I Don't Wanna be a Soldier, mainly because the dreaded Phil Spector gets to shine in all his magnificence on this track. The lyrics are great (and I think it's really interesting the way the "I don't wanna be" and "I don't want to" parts stop jiving with each other for large parts, until coming back to the title of the track), and while an entire album of this sort of production would lead to a headache, I can definitely tolerate it for five minutes. The drums are booming and laced with echo, laying down a non-trivial rhythmic pattern, there's spooky-as-hell guitar lines here and there, lots of saxophone when necessary .. ah, you just need to hear it for yourself.
Along the anger track, Lennon takes some time out to lash out at Paul McCartney, with wonderful results. The Beatles slams in the track are simply glorious from the standpoint of sarcastic power, from the psuedo-Pepper strings opening to line after line of stinging cynicism. I have my favorites, of course ("the only thing you done was yesterday" is my standout), and you'll probably have your favorite, but don't neglect the musical side of things either. The Harrison slide-guitar riff in the chorus is VERY intense in its simplicity, he gets in a nice solo in the middle, and the melody ... wow, I guess it goes without saying, but wow.
Closing things out, then, is the annoyingly catchy Oh Yoko! I say annoying, not because the melody is bad or anything, but because lyrics like "In the middle of a bath, in the middle of a bath I call your name, oh yoko, oh yoko, my love will turn you on" are NOT the kind you will want in your head on a regular basis. Still, that piano line is tons of fun, it's fun to hear John on harmonica near the end, and I can't deny the melody. So whatever.
And that's your album. Diversity, incredible melodies, well-done arrangments, emotional power ... it's all here. Don't believe the naysayers, believe me - Imagine is a TERRIFIC addition to the legacy of John Lennon. And given that the legacy was about to get a giant kick in the shin, this makes the album that much more important.
Adrian Denning (mdenster.yahoo.com) (7/15/02)
I actually prefer 'Imagine' slightly to the more
credible 'Plastic Ono Band'. Sure, the lyrics are
seemingly more lightweight, especially through 'Oh
Yoko!' but I really dig that song, it's very happy and
the 'throwaway' lyrics very charming. The richer
musical arrangements for this album was a response to
'Plastic Ono Band' of course, John making a concerted
effort to produce something a little more pleasing to
the masses. Commercial? Sure, this is a commercial
album in every way possible - but the songs themselves
are nearly always great.
bsitting.math.ucsb.edu (8/20/02)
Overall, this is quite an excellent album. The title track needs no
introduction, but "Jealous Guy" may be my favorite off this album, due to
Lennon's moving delivery of the lyrics. Also, the orchestration comes in at the
right moments, too. I also get a kick out of his "angrier" songs "How Do You
Sleep" (his bitter attack on Paul; also check out the "Ram" album cover
reinterpretation of John's, too), and "Gimme Some Truth"(take that you
politicians!). So I don't talk about every song, at least there's none of that
hollaring from Yoko!! 10 out of 10.
trfesok.aol.com (05/13/2009)
John's management advised him to go more commercial for this one, and
he definitely took their advice. Phil Spector got more to do here,
but it doesn't sound like his classic Wall of Sound. John's still
the creative force here. Of course, this stab at a commercial sound
tosses out the rawness of the last album and a lot of its anger. The
title track is John at his most hopeful, and I think he would have
been honest and non-hypocritical enough to know that he couldn't live
up to the ideals expressed in the lyrics. His vulnerability is quite
touching in "Jealous Guy", "How?" and especially the beautiful "Oh,
My Love", which may qualify as the best obscure Lennon song. The
jaunty tunes "Crippled Inside" and "Oh, Yoko" are quite
interesting. On the former, the bouncy melody couldn't contrast more
with the introspective lyrics. On the other hand, "Oh, Yoko" has the
silliest words on the whole album, but the record needed a bit of
lightheartedness on it.
The angrier tracks are a little bit more problematic. "How Do You
Sleep?" has suitably creepy music to go with its vicious lyrics,
although I suspect that Paul still had no trouble sleeping after
hearing it. Clearly, John was overreacting. Musically, it's
brilliant. "Gimme Some Truth" is quite a bit different than his anger
on the last album. There, his attack was focused on tracks like "I
Found Out." Here, it sounds like a rambling rant, but the track is
pretty catchy. The low point, for me, is "I Don't Want to be
Soldier". The lyrics are barely there, and the music is a tedious,
overlong jam. Like "Give Peace a Chance", it's a chorus in search of
verses, but at least that one was a striking phrase. Here; the song
is strictly filler.
Still, it's, like you say, a very strong release. Unlike the last
one, most of the songs could have been done by the Beatles (I guess
two or three of them came to life before the band broke up). The
less stark tone and diversity of the album make it the best starting
place for John after a greatest hits collection.
Best song: Woman Is The Nigger Of The World
This is the biggest mistake of John Lennon's life, and frankly I don't care how sincere he was in putting this album together. Around this time, he started to get seriously involved in political protest causes, and for him it was only natural that his music should reflect this new life obsession. Unfortunately, the album is painful to listen to for all sorts of reasons, not the least of which was his decision to let Yoko and her singing and songwriting get equal billing with him. Add in that the lyrics tend not to rise above standard protest fare, and that if you have familiarity with world (and New York) politics of the early 70's you can probably predict what they'll sing about before looking at the album, and you have a tedious experience indeed.
Still, as dire as things are overall, there are some good things to dig out of the album. The opening Woman is the Nigger of the World is simply a protest tour de force, with power and urgency exploding out of every Spectorized note. The lyrics are straightforward, yet the way he piles complaint upon complaint upon the listener while the layered music pounds you over the head is breathtaking indeed. Besides, I can most definitely see his point in more than a few instances - it particularly saddens me to see that the line "While telling her not to be smart we put her down for being so dumb" is true today as ever. In short, it's a Lennon classic, and helps the album considerably.
This is a good thing, since the album NEEDS all the help it can get. The Yoko-written tracks are basically a waste, with dumber lyrics than you can imagine over generic music that seems genial by comparison. But she manages to screw things up even on tracks where John sings lead - the way she sings "Sunday Bloody Sunday" in the song of the same name is one of the most headache-inducing things imaginable, which is a shame because the actual music of the track is at least decent. Likewise, when Yoko starts singing in The Luck of the Irish, it seems so out of place and just STUPID that I'm really left speechless.
Still, again, much of the actual Lennon-written music is quite decent. The aforementioned The Luck of the Irish has a very amusing "traditional" Irish swaying melody, and the related Sunday Bloody Sunday is an alright driving pop-rocker. New York City also stands out at least somewhat, if only because it's less of a protest song than a travelogue of meeting various people in protest causes, and without having to worry about making the protest message standout too much, he's free to actually give it an effortless and driving melody.
Of course, there's still another two Lennon songs, and they don't even necessarily hold up musically. John Sinclair could work, with a neat countryish vibe to it, but that chorus is just SO annoying that it spoils all good feelings I could muster up for it. Attica State, then, is just a waste of time, a very routine and standard protest against the NY prison system. Blah.
Now, if this were the entire album, I could still be nice and give the album at least a 6 - some of the music is ok, the opening track is great, and only the lyrics are a REALLY serious flaw. But this is not the case, because there's a second disc attached that drives up the price and DEFINITELY drives down the overall value. This is a collection of live performances, with the second half taken from Yoko and John's appearance at a Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention concert. The second half, aside from a good performance of the old blues standard Well (Baby Please Don't Go), with good singing and good non-traditional guitar solos from Frank, is beyond unlistenable. And please don't misunderstand me - I do not hate all avant-garde, but I've heard enough to get a feel for what is good avant-garde and what is just bullshit. Jamrag, Scumbag and AU are unquestionably the latter, and if I ever subject myself to them again I may go insane.
But not to the degree that I go nuts before them. On the plus side, the live side opens with a GOOD live version of the single Cold Turkey, with bursts of insane screaming from John and simply lots of energy. ON THE MINUS SIDE, there's sixteen minutes of Yoko-wailing over decent-but-non-directional music backing. SIXTEEN MINUTES, DO YOU UNDERSTAND THIS???!!! If you have any question about my attention span in general, thinking perhaps that I'm just an ignorant plebe who can't grasp more than three-minute pop songs, I would direct your attention here. I have no problem with length in and of itself, but this is beyond atrocious. Nothing, NOTHING on this earth can ever make me think about listening to that again. Oy, I can feel my head starting to throb again just thinking about it ...
So that's your crappy John Lennon album. Again, I don't condemn it completely - an album consisting of only the John-sung studio tracks, plus the live Cold Turkey and Well (Baby Please Don't Go) would probably get a 7 or even an 8. But the amount of purposefully unlistenable Yoko-drenched crap can't help but drag down the rating to a ridiculous degree. Sad.
Best song: Mind Games
An improvement, but not as much of one might have hoped. More than any album in Lennon's solo career, there's a really confused feel throughout, and it doesn't help things much. For one thing, the production is slightly bothersome to me - John has dumped Phil Spector and taken on such duties for himself, which might make you cheer but isn't for the better. The absence of Spector hasn't taken the sound back to the deliberate minimalism of POB - rather, many of the songs sound like they're going for some semblance of fulness in the sound, yet they don't pull it off due to John's lack of skill in this regard.
But that's not as significant a blow as a visible dip in John's songwriting abilities. He's still quite good for the most part, yet the number of major classics is alarmingly low for a "normal" Lennon album (I say normal to differentiate this from STINK or the Unfinished Music albums). Even the songs that jump out on subsequent listens, when compared to an average Imagine track, still would have a good deal of trouble making it onto my imaginary "best of John Lennon" album. What is worse, though, is that an alarming amount of material is not just average - it's genuinely fillerish, ranging from mediocre to outright bad. The closing Meat City is a particularly bad way to finish things off, an attempt to add a streak of hard-rock to the album that has only a generic, riffless rhythm track at its musical core. Add in that he surrounds it with poorly-executed wall-of-sound production, complete with ugly sound effects here and there, and you can kiss a higher rating goodbye.
The other main lowlights are the people's-rights anthems, both of which are dumber than anything on STINYC. At least there, he managed to focus on specific causes, and while the final effect was eye-rolling, I could see where somebody could be moved by them. Here, though, he tries to create more universalist anthems, only without strong melodies, clever lyrics and bombastic production to go with it. He does try - Bring on the Lucie (Freda Peeple) actually strikes me as John trying to ape Harrison's All Things Must Pass sound (in particular, I'm thinking of Awaiting on You All) - but since John didn't really know what he was doing as a producer, he simply fails. Put another way - play Only People and Instant Karma back-to-back to somebody who's never heard any solo Lennon, and see which one gives a more powerful, more favorable response.
The other eight tracks (no, I'm not counting Nutopian International Anthem), though, all at least have something going for them - that something is more significant and more moving in some tracks than in others, but they each have something to rescue them from filler-land. The classic, of course, is the title track, which is practically the textbook example of properly-done universalism. The melody sways back and forth, up and down, in a way that you'll remember it forever after one listen, and the plaintive guitar playing in unison with the strings is just utterly beautiful. Of course, prog-dork I am, my favorite line is "Yes is the answer, and you know that for sure," though he probably wasn't even thinking of them when writing this (though I do find it amusing that he mentions "doing the ritual" here, given that Tales came out a couple of months later, hehe).
Obviously, the rest of the album can't be so great in comparison, but it's alright. Tight As is a decent rocker with nice guitar parts and a catchy vocal melody, though I really can't put my finger on what slightly bugs me with the "if you can't stand the heat, you better get back in the shade" line. Of the up-tempo numbers, though, Intuition is better, a catchy little ditty that would be remembered as a minor classic had he bothered to write it as a Beatle. The bassline is simple yet genial, and the vocal melody playfully romps with the bits of electric piano that pops up so often. Yeah, I could see this on The Beatles easily ...
The other five tracks are more balladish, and they vary in quality. One Day (At a Time) is the weakest of the lot, with a mildly catchy but still kinda facile hook somewhat spoiled by a stupid falsetto, yet I wouldn't condemn it to hellfire like some would. Besides, whatever malice I may hold to the track may be partially because its predecessor, Aisumasen (I'm Sorry) is so dang pretty. For the most part, the track is just kind of an average ballad, but three parts of it are utterly gorgeous. One is the way he sings "All I had to do was call your name," one is the minimalistic singing of the "All that I know ..." section, and the other is a very nice, very touching guitar solo at the end. Hey, for a four-and-a-half minute track, that's really not that low an amount of good, well-executed ideas, don't you think?
The rest is the rest. Out the Blue is memorable mainly for how he sings "out the blue life's energyyyyyyyy," and the like, I Know (I Know) is memorable for how he sings "Today I love you more than yesterday," and You are Here ... come to think of it, You are Here really isn't memorable for anything. Point is, all three of these are pretty when they're on, yet they don't quite match the five-hooks-a-minute standard that John had created for himself in previous albums. Which, unfortunately, is the standard I hold John to in my mind. Overall, then, it's a relatively good album, yet not one I can highly recommend to beginning Lennon-listeners, if only because John could do so much better than "relatively good."
Pedro Andino (pedroandino.msn.com) (2/11/04)
do you know that one thing pisses me? is that this one song that REALLY
FUCKING PISSES ME OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WAS THAT FUCKING DO YOU YOU
RALIAZE SONG SUCKS FUCKING COCK! IT FUCKING RIPS THE HELL OUTTA LENNON'S
MIND GAMES AND THE ASSHOLE SAYS RS SUCKS GO SUCK A COCK YOU FAGGOT!
FAGGOT FAGGOT FAGGOT FAGGOT FAGGOT ! SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL DOES THAT
FUCKING RIPPED OFF THE TITLE CUT?! GODFUCKINGSHIT! COCKSUCKING FAGGOTS
LIKE YOU DO NOT FUCKING RIPOFF SONG GO SUCK 50 CENT COCK! FAGGOOOOOOOOT
COCKSUCKERS!
Pedro Andino (pedroandino.msn.com) (2/11/06)
sorry for my foul mouth, I liked this album!. sorry.
trfesok.aol.com (05/13/09)
I think the adjective to use here is "minor." That's not so bad.
After all, John and Yoko tried to make Major Statements with their
last album, and only ended up making fools of themselves.
The political songwriting still is the most irritating thing about
this album, but in a different way. While the specificity of
topics and narrow, left wing radicalism of the last album was totally
obnoxious, here, when John does get political or metaphysical, he's
so naive and vague that he comes off as trivial. "Nutopia"? Grow up!
"Freda People", despite being pretty good musically, is the most
obvious example. What people need to be freed? Who's doing the
freeing? What are you talking about, John? Only the title track
works in this regard. It's got a beautiful melody and production,
with a most interesting use of Mellotron. Even so, it's a retread of
"Imagine."
The album is mostly listenable. I seem to like "Meat City" more than
most people (pretty catchy, although I agree that it shouldn't have
been sequenced at the end), and "Tight A$" is a fun, retro return to
John's Carl Perkins/Elvis roots. "One Day at a Time", I agree, is
among the weaker songs. I first heard Elton John's version, and I
thought it was just him I didn't like, since Elton also sings it in
an irritating falsetto. However, Lennon's original also adds those
terrible backing vocals. Of the rest, I'd also give the nod to the
bouncy "Intuition" and the languid, almost bluesy "Aisumasen". The
latter has, aside from the title track, the best, fullest production
on the album, which, in this case, adds to the emotional impact of
the song. Still, I agree -- there's aren't too many moments on the
album that will really blow away the listener like the first two can.
The remaster has three demos added to it. "Freda People" has John
briefly jamming on the chorus with what sounds like a lap slide
guitar, like he played on "For You Blue." The whole song clearly
hadn't been written yet, though. "Meat City" just has John playing
the song alone on electric, and it's as fun as the final version. The
best of these is "Aisumasen", which was significantly changed when it
was done for the album. On a solo acoustic guitar, the song has a
simple, folky vulnerability, as touching as John's ballads on
Imagine. Very different, and just as good, as the finished track.
"Ben" (bbgun_301.yahoo.com) (03/13/11)
Yeah, go ahead and make fun of me, but I prefer this album to both "Plastic Ono
Band" and "Imagine" (and "Some Time in New York City" if you're curious). Johns
talking about his inner feelings again, but this time, he puts terrific sounding
melodies behind them. He also handles the production duties having not only dumped
Phil Spector but the Elephants Memory Band as well.
My favorite songs include every one, only "One Day at a Time" gets annoying (that
stupid falsetto killed it, and Elton Johns version is much better) and "Bring on the
Lucie" is slightly superior than everything else. It's also strange how you
overlooked two of the best ballads on the album "I Know" and "Out the Blue." "You
Are Here" is also great, and wouldn't sound out of place on George Harrison's album
"Living in the Material World." I'd recommend running through this album again.
Best song: #9 Dream
Looking around the net, it seems like virtually every critic (except my long-lost twin brother, George Starostin) dismisses this album as a relative throwaway, a patchy product made in an alcoholic haze. Screw critics! The album may not have the blinding consistency or immediate power of POB and Imagine, but it's a great album nonetheless.
What makes the album so powerful is that John's greatest artistic strengths, introspection and honest musical expression, are in full force here. The album sounds exactly like what it is - the product of somebody separated from and disillusioned with the love of his life (and her political agendas), hitting the bottle like nobody's business, finding himself without a certain future for the first time in ages, and just confused and hurt by where he is in life. One REALLY gets the sense of John just puttering around his LA apartment, bored and depressed out of his mind, saying "well, I guess I could make another album, that would be a good way to kill some time." Of course, it also doesn't hurt that in the course of his puttering, he took great care with the production details for the first time ever, which shouldn't be surprising that he really didn't have much else in his life to use as a time-spender. The production is WONDERFUL on this album, miles above that of Mind Games, and it only helps make for that much more of an interesting listen.
Now, mind you, filler exists here, though not to the extent of on Mind Games. What You Got is the worst of the lot, with an ok bassline spoiled by some nasty screaming vocals and a, er, sub-par vocal melody. None of the other tracks are really that bad, fortunately, but some of them do slightly spoil the picture (and give at least some credence to the complaints of excessive filler that many critics come up with). In particular, near the end we have a couple of instrumentals that, while not necessarily bad, don't really give much credence to John as an instrumental composer (though it should be noted that the closing Ya-Ya is purposeful goofing off, so whatever).
The rest is GOOD, though. Some tracks are less impressive than others, but that's only because they're surrounded by incredibly high quality. In the "relative filler" category, I'd probably put the bouncy Surprise Surprise (mainly because it's not quite as memorable and shattering as its bookends, except for the sly reference to Drive My Car at the end) and the ballad Old Dirt Road, the same kind of "ok, pretty ballad" that, say, Out of Blue was on the last album. But that's it. The opening Going Down on Love may seem overly rambling on first listen, yet it's intriguing enough to hold on to the listener long enough to reveal itself as merely complex. At the very least, the melodical idea is vastly different from anything he'd done before, and it works in a bizarre way.
The other six tracks, then, are just jaw-dropping. Whatever Gets You Through the Night is a hilariously bouncy veiled ode of pissitude (come on, you CANNOT take subtlely bitter lines like "Don't need a sword to cut through flowers" and "Don't need a watch to waste your time" as happy), one that (deservedly) managed to become a hit. Bless You is a gorgeous ballad of longing that ranks right up with Aisumasen, while Nobody Loves You (When You're Down and Out) finds John aching and longing for the happy days of his past. The latter is particularly painful, and exposes his depression for all its worth (among other things, he makes the point that he feels like people will only love him again when he's dead). Poor guy, yet it's songs like this that make me feel so close to him ...
I've saved the best for last. The three remaining tracks are possibly the greatest combined ode to depression and the need for escape that I have EVER come across in my travails through rock, and that says something. Scared implies just what the title suggests, showing a man who is sad and paranoid and depressed and worried worried worried about EVERYTHING. I can so very easily see John sitting against his wall, bent in fetal position, crying and moaning these lines, and I just want to bend down and tell him it's all going to be alright. Throw in the opening wolf-howl and the uneasy horn section, and you have a piece that kills me each time.
But not as much as the pissitude of Steel and Glass, which betrays more agony with each listen. The lyrics are particularly telling in their enigmatic nature - the song is obviously somewhat aimed at Yoko (he describes his nemesis by its "New York walk and New York talk"), yet there's more to it than that. With lines like "There you stand with your LA tan" and "Your mother left you when you were small, but you're gonna wish you wasn't born at all," I begin to think that he's directing this partially at himself. This makes sense to me, though - if ever there were two real soulmates, who really were each other's "better half," they were John and Yoko, and by ripping into the person with whom he had united his being and soul, he couldn't help but rip into himself as well. Add in the chorus, and ESPECIALLY the horns playing the choral riff from How do You Sleep?, and you have a creepy, psychopathic ode of pissitude the likes of which you may never come across again.
So how does one deal with this bone-crushing, depressing reality? Simple - with pleasant dreams. #9 Dream is one of the most gut-wrenchingly gorgeous songs that any Beatle could ever come up with, a piece with (literally) the "dreamiest" production imaginable and melodic climaxes that are only made that much more powerful by the overall sound. The lone guitar and strings combine in a way that defies description, and the melody sways and builds in a way that amazes me more with each listen. My goodness, the way he lets the "hear (hear hear hear)" part slowly echo out, flowing into the dreamy vocals that incorporate more dreamy whispers, and then into that chorus .... no, I simply cannot do it justice. I command ANYBODY who hasn't heard this song to do so ASAP after reading this review.
That said, it has that much more emotive power in the context of the album, and for that reason you REALLY need to add this to your collection. It may not be the way people wanted to see John approach retirement, but it's a very appropriate and deadly honest approach, and that's good enough for me.
Fidel Saúl Juárez Guzmán (fidelsjuarezg.hotmail.com) (5/14/03)
"Old dirt road" is my favorite Lennono song ever. Reason? Heard it first
on Menlove Avenue; a stripped production with heartbroken vocals (I find
the arrangements on Walls and Bridges kinda crappy -maybe that makes it
appear more "ok" than relevant and resonant to whatever John was going
through at the time. Is it my crazy imagination or the lyrics somehow
(that playful wordsman inside of John plunged in a big ol' glass of
Brandy Alexander) deal with the confussion and depression caused by a
heavy f-cking session of booze binge? The "clear... cool... water" is a
very, very sad mantra for guys who've been in that spot where nothing
makes good sense, except the need to make a full stop and find that
symbolic old dirt road (remember Dylan's "Dirt Road Blues") where hardly
there's any actual people walking in there. Gosh, I'm soooo deep.
(But, then again maybe the answer lies with that wacko Harry Nilsson
hanging out with Syd Barett or something.)
Seriously, more than a ballad this sounds more like R&B material to me
and I think I'm going to relisten it again and make my neighbours go
insane one more time...
"Barbara McCafferty, R.N." (MCCAFFB.ccf.org) (5/31/03)
Love the song #9 Dream- what the hell does the chorus mean ????
Beck (mccoytmb.localnet.com) (11/29/03)
Hey. You really want to know what "Whatever gets you throught he night"
means? You may think I'm nuts, but indulge me. I met John Lennon in
Central park in 1970. I was there on a parkbench playing my guitar for
quarters. I was somewhat homeless, coming from a house filled with
domestic violence. He sat down next to me, and believe it or not, I
didn't know who he was. We conversed for hours. He asked me what life was
like on the street, and I told him that the nights were the hardest.
Another difficulty was when another street person wanted from you all you
had. He asked me how I dealt with that. I told him I gave them what they
wanted. He said that wasn't right and asked me why I did it. I told him,
because you don't need a sword to cut through flowers. Another words,
it's better to be alive. All the lyrics relate to our conversation, but
this becomes more obvious when you look at the chorus. "hold me darlin,
common listen to me, I won't do you no harm" He told me that he could
help me with my music, but could see that I didn't trust him. He played
my guitar for me to prove he was a musician, and the story goes from
there. Just thought you might like to know what was really behind that
song. Take care, Margaret.
trfesok@aol.com (11/13/13)
And John continues to bounce back. I agree, this one rivals Imagine for overall quality. And I also have to agree that "#9 Dream"
(which actually went to #9 as a single!!) is the peak. A return to John's psychedelic sound, including backwards voices. Very cool!
At the other end of the spectrum is the vicious "Steel and Glass", probably the nastiest thing he wrote since "How do You Sleep?".
I find your interpretation interesting, but I think the "old friend of mine" that John is addressing is his notorious ex-manager
Allen Klein (who was a New Yorker and , I think -- had been abandoned by his dad), who, just as McCartney had predicted, screwed
John and the rest of the Beatles royally. The raw version on Menlove Ave. works, but the added strings, just as on "HdYS?", adds
an ominous edge indeed.
I also like that John seems to be influenced by funk on a number of tracks. like "What You Got", "Surprise, Surprise". And while
"Old Dirt Road" was written with his drinking bud Harry Nilsson, John sounds more like Nilsson on "Nobody Loves You", with the
weariness of the vocal and the sad orchestration of a lot of Nilsson's work (especially, most obviously, Pussy Cats, the album John
produced for Harry just before this one). "Old Dirt Road" sounds a lot more like Dylan to me, especially the basic track on MA.
"Bless You" and "Scared" both rehash POB to a certain extent (again, basic tracks for these are also included on MA), but they are
lovely and touching nonetheless. "Beef Jerky" is also fun, but a throwaway more like the stuff on the last album. The only tune I
never really cared for is, yes 'Whatever Gets..". I don't know.. I jut think the song has a lousy mix, and the sax solo is overly
busy and obnoxious. I wish he could have redone it..
Still, it does deserve the C you gave it, even maybe a D.
Best song: Stand By Me
An amusing album that answers one of those dorky alternate-history "what if" questions (what if late 50's rock'n'roll had somebody like Phil Spector as its main producer?). Well, the answer can be found on this album, a "toss-off" that grew out of a controversy surrounding Lennon's use of a Chuck Berry lyric in Come Together so long ago. Basically, John Lennon got together with Phil Spector and did an album of 50's rock covers that will offend the socks off any "traditional" rock fan but amuses me a good deal.
Indeed, slowing down, jazzifying and adding big-band arrangements to 50's rock songs may violate the "spirit" of rock'n'roll, but Phil and John do it effectively on this album. John's vocals are GREAT, with a sharpened edge unlike any he'd had before (probably due to all the booze), he throws in some nice guitar work when necessary, and he simply transforms old "standards" into something completely new. Of course, the main drawback of the album is that the "make stripped-down, fast songs into bombastic, slower ones" formula does get slightly old after a while, but it's hard to have too many complaints about many of the individual songs. I'm not a huge fan of all the covers on here (Ain't That a Shame, the medley Bring it On Home to Me/Send Me Some Lovin'), but I suspect that may be due to probably not liking the originals themselves.
And hey, let's concentrate on the major positives, which there definitely are. Ever heard the original You Can't Catch Me, or at least the Stones' cover on their Now! album? Well, forget those, this is completely different. Echoey drums, lots of horns in the slowed-down chorus, and those wonderful wonderful vocals make this a necessity for all lovers of Lennon and fans of Berry who can handle "adaptations" of this degree. And heck, the tracks that come before that are damn enjoyable too. Be-Bop-A-Lula gets the album started off very well, (not to mention establishing the precedent for later tracks), slowing down the original while John's vocals kinda bounce up and down over the bassline.
And don't forget the classic cover of Stand by Me, with the subtlely "gruff" (for lack of a better term) rhythm track augmented by my horns and yet another vocal delivery that can I only describe as classic. For some reason, I'd never heard this cover before I got the album (I'd heard the original in commercials), but if you think you know the song, getting this will expand your mind greatly.
Otherwise, though, this is a good album that I'm not about to try and describe track-by-track the rest of the way, simply because I really don't know enough about stuff like Peggy Sue or Bony Moronie to be able to make good analytic comparison. But really, this is not an album you listen to for intellectual stimulation - this is an album that you listen to because it's fun and inventive. Lightweight, and it gets monotonous near the end (a couple more Rip It Up/Ready Teddy numbers would have helped), but still dang enjoyable otherwise.
bsitting.math.ucsb.edu (8/20/02)
Interesting album this is: covers of old 50's songs with a horn section. And it
mostly works!! I do admit I do get weary after a while listening to
this. "Stand By Me" of course is the most memorable one here. "Be-Bop-A-Lula",
"Bony Moronie", and "Slippin' and Slidin'" are among my favorites off this
album. 8 out of 10.
Trfesok.aol.com (01/13/09)
Actually, Spector didn't do all of the songs here -- there were all
sorts of problems with him during the initlal sessions. For all
that, John does a decent job of emulating Phil. It does smack of a
contractual obligation more than an artistic one, but it is fun. I'm
not sure I like the prominence of horns in the arrangements, but they
don't really hurt the songs. Favorites: "Peggy Sue" (which sticks
pretty close the original) and the universal favorite, "Stand by Me",
with it's emotional, yearning vocals.
This is the right way do an oldies cover album. If only the Beach
Boys 15 Big Ones had been this good (sigh)...
"Ben" (bbgun_301.yahoo.com) (03/13/11)
Could be Johns most underrated album, but then again, I could see why people
wouldn't like it. But then AGAIN, John knows all of these songs like the back of his
own hand, so he obviously knows what he's doing. Phil Spector's production is much
better than on "Some Time in New York City."
I agree that his voice sounds fantastic on here. Not a weak spot anywhere. Also
worth checking out is the song "Move Over Ms. L" that was the b side to "Stand by
Me."
Best song: Instant Karma
A singles compilation, and a damned good one at that. The album tracks chosen to be singles, frankly, are just about the PERFECT introduction to solo Lennon. You have yer painful introspection (Mother), yer bombastic protest anthems (Woman is the Nigger of the World), yer softer-but-still-incisive numbers (Imagine), yer anthems of universal love (Mind Games), and yer "I'm depressed and bored" numbers (Whatever Gets You Through the Night, #9 Dream). Could it be better? I definitely don't think so.
As great a compilation as it is, though, I review this album not for the tracks we've already have, but rather for the non-album tracks that are crucial to obtaining a deeper understanding of Lennon the man and Lennon the artist. A couple of them actually date from Lennon's tenure in The Beatles (with one of them even having a McCartney writing credit, heh), but even here, the mark of "solo Lennon" as opposed to "Beatles Lennon" has already begun to take over. Give Peace a Chance is a piece that's as simple as can be, consisting of an occasional repetition of the chorus amidst Lennon literally "preaching" it to his followers. Again, not really fit for the Beatles, but an interesting historical curiousity nonetheless.
But then we get three songs that certainly must rate among the best Lennon tracks ever, and that says a lot. First of all, there's Cold Turkey, found elsewhere among the live tracks on STINYC. A great piece about trying to overcome addiction, it contains the first recorded instance of Lennon's "primal scream," as he simulates somebody going through SEVERE withdrawl pains for a couple of minutes in the middle. But even without that, the main riff is raw and gritty and powerful like nothing he had done previously, even if it's not as "melodically developed" as his Beatles work.
Even better, of course, is the universal-anthem-to-end-all-universal-anthems, the beyond-good Instant Karma. The Spector production is utterly ideal for this number, giving a bombastic feel both to John's echoed vocals in the verse melody and the group harmonies in the chorus, as well as the distant-sounding piano. And the melody and chorus, well, what can I say about the melody and chorus? Impeccable is what they are, and the way they combine with the "all shine on" and such lyrics makes it really seem like this is a song that has existed since the beginning of the creation of the universe. Just remember this, next time you listen to the stupider anthems on Mind Games or STINYC - there's only so much protest power one can expect from somebody who used his power to create something as amazing as Instant Karma.
Its followup, however, makes a valiant stab at matching Karma. If Instant Karma is the universalist anthem that came into existence with the big bang, than Power to the People is the protest anthem that came into being when Man became sentient. Spectorized to the hilt once again, the song illuminates just what the title says - a vital life force of strength bestowed upon the masses to effect change. Sure, it's relatively simple, but it's the kind of simplicity that seems to come from an inate familiarity with the piece before you even hear it, as if it's been part of your essence all your life. Or some metaphysical crap like that.
If there's any disappointment on the album, it's the closing Happy Xmas (War is Over), a STINYC-era Yoko-collaboration that follows the pattern of Luck of the Irish from that album. Ono's voice is just as annoying here as there, and the melody isn't strong enough to overcome that irritation. But that's just an unfortunate ending (well, sort of - it fades into a reprise of Give Peace a Chance) to an otherwise good compilation. It's supposedly out-of-print, but hey - I was able to grab it from a Best Buy long ago, so it can't be that hard to find. If you're looking for a good place to start with Lennon's "anger" days, this is where you should look.
bsitting.math.ucsb.edu (8/20/02)
Great way to go if you're not too familiar with all of Lennon's pre-Double
Fantasy albums. Just about all the "hits" are here! About a few of the songs:
I usually hear "Happy X-mas (War Is Over)" on the radio at least once every
Christmas. I must say it's overall alright (eliminate Yoko's voice, and I'll be
happy). Heck, even Neil Diamond did a cover of this on one of his X-mas albums
(my mother is a fan of his...). Anyway, back to the songs. "Cloud 9" has to be
one of my favorite "atmospheric" songs ever, while the anthems "Power to the
People" and "Give Peace a Chance" are quite entertaining. Complaints:
no "Mother" or "Woman is the Nigger of the World"? (Well, "Lennon Legend" takes
care of that, as well as having some "Double Fantasy" on it.) 9 out of 10.
Pedro Andino (pedroandino.msn.com) (1/08/04)
what scared me about one or 3 john lennon songs was cold turkey the way
he sings and moans! fuck that scared me as a boy!
Trfesok.aol.com (01/13/09)
Despite the annoying title (referring to a Japanese foodstuff), this
was a pretty good compilation at the time. With the exception of
"Woman is the Nigger of the World". Despite good work from Spector
on this one, the lyrics are just too much in your face for the song
to work. "Instant Karma" is indeed the peak track, worthy of the
Beatles. "Power to the People" is a bit cliched, but John doesn't
overdo it lyrcally like he did on STiNYC. This has since been
supplanted by more complete compilations that also cover his 1975 and
1980 albums, but I agree that this isn't too bad a place to start
with John if you can find it.
Best song: (Just Like) Starting Over (I GUESS...)
You know, in most cases, it's not that difficult for me to take my general opinion and assessment of an album and summarize it in numerical terms (as a supplement to the actual review, of course). There are exceptions, of course, like with boxsets or compilations or the like. Every so often, though, one comes across something like THIS, and I have no idea what to do. See, for this album, John let Yoko get equal billing on the album, and I simply don't know how to account for her material on this album. Do I just evaluate the quality of the Lennon tracks and treat the Ono tracks as irrelevant bonus tracks? Do I evaluate the Ono tracks on equal footing with the Lennon tracks, since there are just as many of them? Is there another option? See, I honestly don't know the answer, and as such I can almost fully admit that the rating above is virtually useless. I give the album a B overall because that's about what my gut tells me, but I'm not sure I've ever been this unsure about a rating.
Anyway, here's what happened. In the years since "The Lost Weekend," John had gotten back together with Yoko, had a child, and contented himself with being a loving father and husband. Indeed, John Lennon the revolutionary had become John Lennon the happily average private citizen, and in the process it seems like all the angst and pain that had occupied him in the past had oozed out of him. Eventually, though, I guess he wanted to share his newfound peace and joy with the rest of the world, so he put together this here album with his wife.
Now, you will have to be prepared for this sort of thing. On my first listen, I was SERIOUSLY underwhelmed by John's numbers (to say nothing of Yoko's), as they seemed overly sappy and "commercial" and lightweight and without any real edge to them. As often happens, though, it was a case of being let down by my expectations of the artist, and not by the actual product. I guess I had just gotten completely used to John the bitter cynic, and I wasn't going to be happy with John being content and laid back and just spiritually relaxed. But let me tell you - Happy John is just as artistically viable as Pissed-off John. The songs are fairly simple in their construction (though with some utterly GENIAL melodies), and they're very soft in feel and tone, but the fact is that these "simple" songs dig under your skin like nobody's business. Just as John's pain and anger went straight to your heart, so do his glee and overall happiness with life.
There is one exception to the happy vibe of his numbers, the aggressive (yet poppy) I'm Losing You. It's probably a WAB outtake, and sounds totally out of place, yet it has such passion and pissed-off vocals and furor in the atmosphere that I can easily forgive it. It's also interesting to note that the following number, the only good Yoko song of the album (I'm Moving On) is sort of a "partner" to the song (and I'm guessing that she wrote it during the same time period), as if both John and Yoko felt that the way to completely free themselves of their past animosity was to put it into the open for all to see.
The rest of Lennon's songs, then, are just wow. Well, ok, Dear Yoko is kinda stupid (but catchy as hell) lyrically, but I'm not about to complain about the rest. The big hit was the opening (Just Like) Starting Over, a song that drips beautiful happiness all over your head (aaaaargh, I'm running out of metaphors), from the pretty acoustic opening to the INCREDIBLE "main" melody. Gah, the "But when I see you darling, it's like we both are falling in love again" musical snippet is utterly PERFECT, with a fascinating combination of slight unpredictability with feeling like you've known the melody your whole life.
After Yoko's stupid Kiss Kiss Kiss (I NEVER EVER want to hear Yoko making orgasm noises again in my life), we get to the fascinating pop-rocker Cleanup Time, combining a discoish rhythm with a clever riff upon which John can do his singing thing. And hey, the lyrics aren't anything more profound than about sitting at home and feeling like everything's in its place, yet he still manages to work in some decent imagery. Musically, it also has a perfectly enjoyable brass section in the background, and even some nice guitar work from John, and it's really good enough that I can't completely understand any complaints about it.
The other three songs, then, are some of the most incredible pop-ballads you'll ever hear in your life. Beautiful Boy is my favorite of these, a piano-driven lullaby for his son Sean that manages to have a Caribbean-sounding arrangement. The lyrics are some of the most touching you'll ever encounter, reflecting all the emotions and tenderness that a loving father could possibly feel for his young boy, from plain love to protectivness to awe at what he might become someday. Of course, I must point out that I first heard the song in the movie Mr. Holland's Opus, but that's just a reflection of me being a dork, hehe. In any case, the song is followed by the lovely Watching the Wheels, which lyrically functions as the "conceptual centerpiece" of the album. Simply put, John is happy to sit back and enjoy life, even when other people want him to be the John of old. Musically, it's kinda thin (though I love the way he goes into falsetto when singing "No longer riding the merry-go-ro-OUND"), but this is one case where the lyrics and delivery are more than enough to give the track classic status.
Finally, there's Woman, with a very simple chord-progression that still manages to grab the listener with John's soft vocal delivery. It's very hard to explain why the song is so moving - it SHOULD be stupid, and on first listen it sure seemed it to me. And yet, when John sings simple lines like "And woman hold me close to your heart, however distant don't keep us apart," it's near impossible for me to not feel a smile creep across my face and an urge to cry (well, I don't usually cry, but I can feel my nerve centers triggered in the way that's consistent with what I know crying is like).
And that, my friends, is a perfectly enjoyable Lennon solo album. Yes, all the tracks are bordered by mediocre Yoko material (again, except for the cool I'm Moving On), but in the CD age, that shouldn't be a deterrent to keep you from buying the album. Plus, on the reissue, there's a perfectly lovely John song (and unfortunately, another Yoko song) in demoish form called Help Me to Help Myself. It's based around a simple piano line (a la Imagine), but he still manages to drive the song into me with that indescribable Lennon charm. What a great guy. Pity he had to be shot as soon as he'd become happy and mellow.
bsitting.math.ucsb.edu (8/20/02)
One sentence summary: All the Lennon material is superb, and forget all that
Yoko stuff!! I relly don't know what else there is to say here. All of Lennon's
songs have something going for them (steel drums, quasi New Wave rhythms,...).
If anything, my family would play "Beautiful Boy" for my brother a lot,
especially when we were much younger (any guess what his name is?). At any
rate, "Just Like Starting Over" does sound like a solid pick for best song. Too
bad this is Lennon's last fully conceived album. (BTW, Tony Levin played bass
on this album.) 9 out of 10, despite Yoko...
trfesok.aol.com (05/13/2009)
The saying goes that "Love is Blind", but I would also say that "Love
is Deaf". I'll put forth three examples:
1. The director of our church choir, despite having a doctorate in
music, insists on having his wife sing solos and conduct the choir,
even though she can barely carry a tune and can't stay on beat at
all.
2. Linda McCartney in Wings. When you get around to reviewing Paul's
albums, you'll get to explore that in exquisite detail.
3. John's continuing attempts to foist Yoko upon the world.
The thing is, when the album came out, I really did try to give
Yoko's songs a chance, because the album concept is appealing. At
least she stopped her Kabuki caterwauling and tried to write some
conventional pop songs (her next album, Season of Glass, also
contains some OK stuff, as far as songwriting is concerned). However,
this woman just can't sing. Her voice is extremely thin and her range
is virtually nonexistent. Maybe someone else could have sung them and
made them listenable, but what would have been the point?
Which just leaves us with John's songs. Yes, they are a bit too slick
in 70's kind of way, but I agree, they are just as honest as POB.
John finally found what he was looking for when he set out on that
album, and the listener can feel very happy for him. "Dear Yoko" is a
total retread of "Oh Yoko", but the rest of the songs all have
something going for them. "Starting Over" keeps the retro 50's thing
that John liked so much going on. "Watching the Wheels" reminds me a
lot of "Mind Games" musically, but with much more personal lyric. In
the past, John would have reacted angrily to those who said he should
have kept on recording. Instead, he offers a gentle explanation. "I'm
Losing You"/"I'm Moving On", I think, would have fit in better as the
first two tracks on the album. Chronologically, John and Yoko were on
the verge of splitting, and then "Starting Over"/"Kiss, Kiss, Kiss,
as the next two, would represent them getting back together.
Otherwise, they do seem out of place. John described "Woman" as a
sort of grown up "Girl", but it really represents John's growing up
into a mature relationship with a woman, as opposed to the youthful
sort of misogyny represented in the Beatles song.
As a relatively new dad (my son is 2 now), "Beautiful Boy" is my new
favorite from the album. I actually laughed out loud at the line
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans"
(that's a brilliant piece of truth there!), but I also had to sigh at
"I can hardly wait to see you to come of age". I do wish that John
had never decided to put this album out and had stayed inside making
bread with Sean instead. He probably would have lived to see that
actually happen. The monster wasn't on the run, after all..
Best song: I'm Stepping Out
More of a 7.5 than an 8, but whatever. This is to John Lennon as First Rays of the New Rising Sun is to Jimi Hendrix - the "great lost album" or something like that. The tracks found on here were actually recorded during the DF sessions, but were intended for a future album and thus left unfinished by John's untimely death. The songs aren't in demo stages in anything like that (except for one), but it's obvious when listening that these would NOT have been the final takes used on the finished product, and as such this gives a feel somewhat like the Beatles Anthologies, but at a slightly less raw level.
Unfortunately, the album was going to be in the same format as DF, with each Lennon track followed by a Yoko track, so this leaves an entire six Yoko compositions to wade through. They're no better than on DF, and the only thing that stands out listening to them is that Yoko actually finished her own songs, as opposed to John's half-finished numbers. No matter - all the polish in the world couldn't save something like the clumsiness of Let Me Count the Ways or You're the One.
The Lennon songs, then, merely come across as potentially great gems that needed some more care and love to get out the "roughness" that exists here. Better production, some more melodic development in places, whatever, and these songs would be mostly incredible. My Little Flower Princess would probably still be a little weaker than the others (the Dear Yoko of this bunch), but the other five would be just fine. I'm Stepping Out has an amusing spoken-word intro that might have (though maybe not) been expunged in a final product, but both the verse melody and the chorus are just fine by Lennon standards (even if there's a bit of a noticable seam between the two). I Don't Wanna Face It is an amusing piece about getting away from the hustle and bustle of life, featuring a brilliant and accurate summation of Lennon's seeming attitude of human rights' causes ("You wanna save humanity, but it's people that you just can't stand") over a cute little melody.
Elsewhere, Nobody Told Me is a catchy anthem of disillusionment, Borrowed Time has a neat little Police-style echo effect in the guitar sound to go with a decent melody, and the demo-quality recording of Grow Old with Me shows at least some promise. I wish I could say more about them, but it's hard - with such an unpolished and raw feel, even good songs start to blend with each other. No matter - the album as a whole is pretty dang decent.
If you're wondering why I end up giving the album a seven rather than a six, this is due to the bonus tracks. The acoustic demo of Stepping Out is interesting, the John-sung version of Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him is oddly hilarious, the demo of I'm Moving On is nice ... But the creepiest part, the main reason to get the CD-reissue, is excerpts from an interview with John and Yoko from the SAME DAY John died. It is so friggin' surreal to hear John looking back on his life and talking about going out on tour again and about how he just puts down the ideas running through his head. The way it finishes is especially sad, with John saying that he will be making music until he's dead and buried, which "hopefully won't be for a long long time." Sigh.
Michael Bleicher (mbleicher1.yahoo.com) (6/27/04)
I agree with you more or less here John's songs are
obviously "unfinished" (spoken words, ad-libs that are
amusing but probably wouldn't have made it onto the
finished product, a few slightly clumsy melodies,
etc), but at the same time, I actually enjoy the
off-the-cuff roughness of his songs on this album. You
see, on this record, I can really hear John enjoying
himself and his music, and feel the (relative) ease
and comfort he seemed to be feeling when cutting these
tracks. Also, the rougher arrangements and playing
serve as a nice contrast to the sometimes overproduced
Double Fantasy tracks. As everyone says, the thing to
do is burn Lennon's 7 DF songs and 6 M&H songs onto
one disc to skip Yoko; that's certainly my preferred
way to enjoy this music. I'd give that album a 14
(come on, "Dear Yoko" and "Flower Princess" are weak,
and "Cleanup Time" never really struck me as being any
great shakes of a song, just something I get stuck in
my head). Oh, and by the way, if you pick up
"Wonsaponatime" (selections from the Lennon
Anthology), you get a wonderful version of "Grow Old
With Me" that has John's demo cleaned up and
overdubbed with strings by one George Martin, so it
sounds closer to what John probably intended. I prefer
that to the rough version of Milk and Honey.
*John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band - 1970 EMI*
E
(Great)
Father you had me
Daddy go home
John Hold On
Real Is Love
Imagine - 1971 EMI
D
(Great / Very Good)
Sometime In New York City - 1972 EMI
5
(Mediocre / Bad)
Mind Games - 1973 EMI
8
(Good / Mediocre)
Walls And Bridges - 1974 EMI
C
(Very Good / Great)
Rock'N'Roll - 1975 EMI
A
(Very Good / Good)
Shaved Fish - 1975 EMI
D
(Great / Very Good)
Double Fantasy - 1980 Capitol
B
(Very Good)
Milk And Honey - 1984 Capitol
8
(Good / Mediocre)