General Rating: 4

Introduction

ALBUM REVIEWS:

• Wedding Album
• Live Peace In Toronto 1969
• John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
• Imagine
• Sometime In New York City
• Live In New York City
• Mind Games
• Walls And Bridges
• Rock'n'Roll
• Double Fantasy
• Milk And Honey
• Menlove Ave.
• Wonsaponatime

HIT PACKAGES:

• John Lennon Collection

VIDEOS:

• Sweet Toronto
• The John Lennon Video Collection

John Lennon may or may not have been the best of the Beatles, but he certainly was the most unpredictable. His political and social views changed approximately twice as fast as his haircut (and you know how fast that one was changing), and his music is probably the most inconsistent you ever could imagine. Experimental unlistenable albums are interspersed with brilliant introspective chef-d'auevres which, in their turn, are interspersed with primitive political statements, and so on. Picking up a John Lennon album on a CD store rack is the exact equivalent of playing blind man's buff - and making the wrong choice can seriously deteriorate your feelings towards the man, while making the right choice might convert you for life even if you never liked the Beatles in the first place.
What am I hinting at, exactly? Simply the fact that you have to tread among his releases with a lot of care; and always bear in mind that John never cared even a tiny bit about 'commercial' sound. Some of his records sound quite conventional - in fact, it's hard to imagine anything less inoffensive and more suitable for the general public taste than 'Imagine' or 'Woman' - and some sound unlistenable. This actually means that the standard approach of 'commercial/elitist' is unapplicable to John as it is applicable to, say, McCartney; this parameter simply isn't relevant to his creativity. That's why I cringe when people complain about Double Fantasy being a bit too slick and 'commercial': commercial my ass, it just came out this way - I suppose the last thing that was on John's mind when he was laying down the tracks was how many copies this would sell.
He simply didn't care about it. He never cared a lot about people, for that matter. No matter what he wrote about all the people living life in peace and women being the niggers of the world and all that stuff, he really felt little love for individual people. When he wanted to let somebody down, though, nobody could beat him at it (just listen to Sometime In New York City for some brilliant obscenities). So there's a bit of hypocrisy about John, whenever you look: one minute he's all over you telling how he loves you and how you're his brother and sister and power to the people, and the other minute he tells you you're 'still a fucking peasant as far as I can see'. He's terribly inconsistent in his views, ideas and musical output, but hell, maybe that's why I love him all the more. For me, John is the ultimate 'painfully thinking artist' who's always open to all kinds of ideologies but who ultimately rejects all of them because they're too narrow and limited for his open and creative conscience. He was a Maoist, a pacifist, a revolutionary, a nihilist, a traditionalist, a family man, a feminist, a Maharishi addict, a bit of this and a bit of that, but he probably never really knew who he was. He was killed in 1980, just as he finally thought he'd finally overcome his troubles and settled down as a self-contained married man/patron of the family; ironic, perhaps, but something tells me that, were he left alive, he wouldn't be content with that 'final image' for the rest of his life. Then again, who can tell...
One thing, though, is obvious: whatever John was doing, he was always completely sincere and honest about it. His solo output rarely matches the quality of the Beatles' best work, simply because John never had a good flare at creative, inventive, experimental, original arrangements: he rarely cared about polishing his work, and many of his albums sound like a bunch of demos hastily patched together. As a Beatle, he always had Paul to rely upon, and together they would bring his wonderful ideas to a high shine; as a solo artist, he just had himself, Yoko Ono and Phil Spector. I do respect Phil, and his production on many of John's songs is quite worthy, but... well, who's gonna compare it with George Martin's, anyway. But John always gets away with the atmosphere and mood of his songs: he sings directly to you, in front of you, aiming at your heart, and whether he's saying something soothing or something nasty, it always hits hard and hits right. Add to this the impeccability of John's melodies - and they mostly are impeccable - and you'll easily understand why I only rate him as an artist one point lower than the Beatles themselves.
But oh worthy reader, be thou prepared for the fact that on every album there could be some nasty trap waiting for you. A crazy feedback experiment? Got 'em. Bucketloads of Yoko Ono wailings? Got 'em too. Pointless hatred at nothing in particular? There you go. On the positive side, though, sift through the crazy experimental dreck and you'll still come up with at least fourty or fifty songs littered with all kind of praises, stars and Union Jacks. Nope, forget that line about the Union Jack. What could a Union Jack be possibly doing in a Lennon song? Anyway, a great percent of Lennon's stuff successfully holds up to his Beatle legacy, even if almost none of it would do as a Beatles song. Put it this way: the bad stuff is really bad, being bad intentionally, and the good stuff is really good, 'cause a mind as gifted as the one of Mr John Lennon couldn't have possibly come up with a bad song were it not on intention.
One more piece of advice: if you're not a hardcore fan, stick away from the innumerable cash-ins that Yoko Ono is releasing from time to time in order to improve her financial conditions. If you're obstinate, pick up Milk And Honey which is the most coherent of the lot and think for yourself whether you need the other ones. As for me, my personal completist duty forces me to go ahead and buy the recently issued 4-CD behemoth Anthology, but being hard up I just can't afford the imported original. Anyway, it won't be worth the money: the abbreviated version Wonsaponatime shows us it's just another cash-in. But as for the original masters - just follow me!

What do YOU think about John Lennon? Mail your ideas

Your worthy comments:

<[email protected]> (22.03.2000)

First of all, in the song 'working class hero" the line is..."you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see" so therefore that point you were trying to make doesnt really make sense. (That was an 'intentional misquotation', but it really takes nothing out of my point - G.S.) And if you dont know what I am talking about, please go read what you said about lennon, I know I didnt imagin it. But, anyhow, I think John's solo stuff is great, not that you dont, but I do believe if he wanted to make his songs polished works like Paul, and well, the beatles, I do believe he could have very easily. But you are right about one thing, I dont believe he cared enough to do that, Really, he didnt have to. He had nothing to prove in my book, and I have a very large book.

<[email protected]> (27.03.2000)

John was by far my favorite Beatle. He was so quick-witted, funny, and when it came to song writing I think he surpasses all the other Beatles' talent put together. I really like his solo work, because it's just John, you don't have to wonder if Paul had meddled with it or not and it's great stuff. And through Imagine you learn so much about this man. It's like the emotion poured through songs like "Julia" carefully molded into a whole album. I love it.

<[email protected]> (15.05.2000)

I definitely agree with the idea that you never know what you're gonna get if you go out and randomly purchase a John Lennon CD without knowing what it sounds like. If you're looking for uncompromising integrity, then you'd probably want to go with Plastic Ono Band. If that album seems a little too harrowing, then there's the album that Lennon himself referred to as the 'sugarcoated' version, Imagine, which is both tuneful and brilliant. After that, you may want to pick up Walls And Bridges, which is both commercial and surprisingly consistent considering that Lennon's heart wasn't really into making music during that period. In fact, the album before that, Mind Games, is also commercial-sounding, but suffers from a lack of inspiration, and is almost never brought up in discussions about great Lennon music. There's also Rock And Roll for those who enjoy 50s music played by 70s session musicians (with perhaps the world's greatest rock vocalist). The rest of John Lennon's albums are also Yoko Ono albums. The first three (Two Virgins, Life With The Lions and Wedding Album) are all avant-garde albums, and therefore won't appeal to 99% of the population (although I'll admit to enjoying some of this stuff when I'm in the mood). There's also Live Peace In Toronto 1969, which is sloppy but kind of fun. Most people will, of course, reject side two because it features Yoko. Some Time In New York City, with its accompanying Live Jam, suffers not only because Yoko decided to try her hand at straightforward songs (rather than the dissonant abstractions that she was actually good at), but because even John turns in a less-than-brilliant output. Then there's Double Fantasy, which was made at a point when John was at his most utterly commercial, and Yoko was finally capable of coming up with cool songs. (Or is it just the arrangements that are so cool?) Oh, and let's not forget Milk And Honey, which is really not bad at all - just unfinished.
All other Lennon releases are either compilations (Shaved Fish, The John Lennon Collection, Imagine: John Lennon, Legend), or collections of previously unavailable recordings (Menlove Ave., Live In New York City, Wonsuponatime, The John Lennon Anthology), which are interesting mainly to those who have the regular stuff already. John Lennon certainly wasn't the only musician to ever put his innermost turmoil into his songs, but it's safe to say that he's by far the most famous musician to ever do this - and that takes quite a lot of balls on his part. While I don't agree that Lennon was never commercially-minded, I do think that it's rare to see such a popular songwriter coming up with such uncommercial songs as 'Mother.' Lennon also offers us a pretty unconventional overall philosophy of life, which is also unusual for somebody so popular.
Speaking in strictly musical terms, Lennon easily falls within the greatest lead vocalists of all time. And while his playing is essentially nontechnical, Plastic Ono Band reveals him to be intense and dynamic both on guitar and on piano - and, frankly, that's what really counts when it comes to grabbing the listener's attention and putting over the song.

Kathleen Keplar <[email protected]> (16.07.2000)

This one's for everyone who ever dreamed of getting a chance to be worthy. What is the definition of the word 'idol'? Or of 'fan'. Where's the boundaries between entertainer and artist, artist and human, human and God? What makes a person's life worthy of the time they were given to roam around this chunk of rock and do whatever they will manage to do? Heavy questions...what have they got to do with a one time  Chuck Berry wannabe from Liverpool U.K.?
Lennon is one of the true enigmas of our time. He's the best of us...and the worst. A man of clear vision and integrity one moment, and sheer lunacy and hypocrisy the next. Getting murdered on his doorstep isn't hard to believe. He didn't even have to move here to the states to meet such a fate...fate had his number all along. The 'when' and 'where' of it was just a minor detail. The world isn't a safe place for true enigmas. They scare the hell out of people, makes them do stupid things. Things even more stupid than the usual stupid things they do. John's gone, but that's okay, our world didn't deserve someone like him anyway.
No one should jump into John's music unawares. The only way to fully appreciate, or understand his music, is to get to know him a little first. John was deep into pure R&R. He lived and breathed it. His rhythm sound and style was, at first, pure Chuck Berry. He even swiped licks and lyrics from Berry outright. Berry was more flattered than anything and settled for an apology and some royalties. I despise Chuck Berry...I live less than an hours drive from his home in Wentzeville Mo. He's an ass...But John thought he was God there for awhile. And John absorbed the very best from him and his R&R founding partner Johnny Johnson. {He's the Johnny of 'Johnny B. Goode' fame.} John himself unwittingly triggered the signature sound of the sixties guitar bands. He bought a Rickenbacker six string just before the Beatles came to the states. The Ric is an American made axe but was virtually unknown here at the time. All those R&R wannabes saw and heard that black 325 on Ed Sullivan and the Rickenbacker craze was on. The Ric has a very unique sound, I know this first hand because I play a 360 myself,  it was the sound of the mid sixties, the trademark of Rock and Pop music of that era. John did it.
The harshness of much of his later work can be traced to that viscous  R&R streak in him. The Beatles came in the second wave of the R&R movement. Eddie Cockren was dead, as was Buddy Holly. Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry had serious social and legal problems and dropped from sight. Elvis had been drafted into the Army. Rockabilly had split into several different directions at once...the old guard, the founding fathers of R&R were gone or out of the picture. The guys in the suits moved in and rock went corporate for the first {and not the last} time. R&R was cleaned up, controlled by the big guys with cigars, and made very safe and profitable. The Beatles were part of this scene at first. Brian Epstien brought them in, cleaned them up and made them presentable to these tasteless vultures in three piece suits. Lennon went along with it, there was no other option back then...he had to be seething like a volcano. Once the Beatles became so powerful in the industry he was able to vent. Once the Beatles went defunct, he was able to blow. And blow he did! John's loudest, and roughest material owes its sound to the purest R&R...an artist turned loose to hurl his emotions at the world with no apologies or  censure. In 1956 Elvis was considered one of the nastiest most destructive forces ever unleashed on the world...by the early 1970s John Lennon took that crown.
The comparison ends there. John didn't just do his thing, then go Vegas the way Elvis did. And he didn't milk his glory days for every cheap assed penny the way Berry does to this day. He had clout. He had power over  his generation. He then did the deed that lifted him to the status where he reigns now. He used that power in an attempt to save the world. Call it politics, call it ego, call it nuts, call it a joke...but that's what he did. For better or worse. John Lennon openly tried to save the world. He showed his ass. He showed his genitalia. He screamed his lungs out. He got everybody to stare at him...and all he said to them when they looked was 'Peace'.  'Imagine' that.
Musically the one thing that really amazes me is how at one moment he could compose a song like 'Working Class Hero', then turn right around and write the enchanting 'Love'. 'Whatever Get You Through the Night'  then 'Cold Turkey'. {Not in that order.} He insisted that 'Imagine' was just 'Working Class Hero' with sugar sprinkled on it. That's a telling remark when you really look at it. John's music never sat still, John kept evolving. With Double Fantasy he said he'd come full circle finally...days later he was gone. Now that's fitting.  When we hear McCartney on the radio, most of us just say "Oh it's just him again..." We notice George when he's on there. And Ringo makes everybody smile when he pops up. You gotta love Ringo, ask anybody. But on that rare occasion when Lennon actually gets some air time, we listen. We may cringe, we might smile, or we might tap on the steering wheel, we might sing along to 'Give Peace A Chance'.  The point is, if you're alive, you'll react. John's showing his ass again and when he gets your attention you'll  hear his voice as clear as if he were sitting there next to you. "Peace."
Thank you John...you were worthy. For better or worse, you were worthy.

m.miller1 <[email protected]> (07.12.2000)

Lets get one thing straight. Lennon is not mccartney as Mccartney is not lennon, as neither are lennon-mccartney.
In my mind there's no use in arguing over who's better. I believe that Paul Mccartney was a vastly superior musician, singer, and song craftsman than lennon, but I believe lennon was on the whole a much better lyricist, and on the whole a more interesting public figure. Their talents complemented each other perfectly, and even in their solo careers neither one really excelled above the other.
Plastic ono band was without a doubt his creative peak, and such a dead end, it all seems a bit irrelevant after that. His sound matured, but you couldnt help feel that music was just a bit of an after thought for him post the imagine album.
I dont want to shout johns praises as a solo artist nor find fault with him, as though I could do both very easily from a critical perspective, as his music has brough me so much enjoyment.
Im glad that in death people have realised the importance and legendary status of this man and his work.

Year Of Release: 1969

This is not music.
Best song: I TOLD you this is not music!

Buyer Beware - This Is Highly Experimental (I suppose such a sticker should come on every one of such records as at least a sign that somebody really cares about the audience). I haven't yet checked the official Lennon site ('Bagism') to see if there are any freaks who are able to write positive reviews of this one, but it really doesn't matter. Before this one, he'd released two more experimental albums entitled Two Virgins (1968; you may know it because of the well-known album cover featuring John and Yoko as Adam and Eve) and Life With The Lions. Maybe they were more entertaining than this one. At least they seem to have had more tracks. You tell me. This one, however, presents us with two 'chef-d'auevres'.
The first one of these is 'John And Yoko' - quite an unimaginative title for a track that runs over twenty minutes and consists exclusively of John saying 'Yoko' and Yoko saying 'John' over their amplified heartbeats, although I'd bet my life that from time to time the process is interrupted by John biting on an apple or something and hungrily gobbling it down. Probably to moisten his tired throat. Credit should be given, though, that they really find every possible way to pronounce these names, ranging from soft, tender and slow to fast and energetic to all-out a-screamin', and it's kinda fun to hear about five or six minutes of this process once and forget about it afterwards. Some kind of avantgarde this is.
The other track is consistently more 'entertaining', at least as some kind of historic document. Being entitled 'Amsterdam', it contains a recording of their daily activities while staying at that city plus some interviews about peace, peace and... peace again (it also opens with Yoko singing some 'rehearsals' for her solo number 'Let's Hope For Peace', which in this occasion mostly consists of chanting 'Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeace' for what seems like ages. Is it a coincidence they discuss Hitler in the interview?) If that was the procedure that the lady performed every morning before breakfast, I really pity the waiters at the hotel. Then the interviews start - actually, the most interesting part of the album, but I won't be babbling about that for long because I really don't want to dedicate any space to discussing Lennon's constantly changing and always immature political views. And then, after the interviews are over, we just get recordings of the happy lovers chatting, kissing, eating, playing guitar, whatever - you can make a CD like this for your own family in no time. Just for fun, some of the played tune excerpts can be recognized as Beatle songs ('Good Night'!), but that's only a few moments.
General conclusion: nobody except phonologists (side A) and psychologists (side B) really needs that stuff. Just imagine poor diehard fans ignorantly (even worse, intentionally) shelling out their hard-earned bucks for this garbage! (I got it extra cheap, so please raise no questions). One could at least expect some relieving bonus tracks, but no way: the three bonus tracks I have are all obscure Yoko B-sides, so there's really no need to worry. 'Who Has Seen The Wind?' (B-side to John's absolute classic 'Instant Karma') is based on a childish nursery rhyme, and Yoko's sugary Japanese vocals make me instantaneously sick. 'Listen The Snow Is Falling', the B-side to 'Happy Xmas', is at least listenable, but very cheesy at best; it really makes me wonder how Yoko could so easily combine a love for the latest trends in over-the-top avantgarde compositions and cheesy generic pop sludge. (The contrast would later emerge in all its puzzling nature on the Double Fantasy album, with cabaret crap like 'I'm Your Angel' sitting next to New Wave experiments like 'Give Me Something', although I'm really running a little ahead). As for the version of what might be Yoko's most famous song, 'Don't Worry Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking For Her Hand In The Snow)', it's not much more than a rough, uninspiring demo, and doesn't go anywhere in particular. Not that it went anywhere in particular in the finished version, as well. In any case, the bonus tracks aren't long enough or significant enough to guarantee a 'musical' status for this CD, so I'm gladly leaving it without a rating.
PS ('On The Variations Of Human Nature'): I've just checked the Bagism site, and yes indeed there are lots of freaks there who have good feelings about this album. Whew. The big problem, I guess, is that the world is overpopulated, so for every crazy idea you're guaranteed to find at least a small bunch of voices who'll be ready to spill your blood defending this record to death. In any case, this is a matter for the psychologist, not for me; I'm glad that at least nobody says it's actually music (although the argument 'it's a different kind of art, you just gotta open your eyes and ears, man' sounds like prime bullshit to me just as well). Of course, there's always a possibility that it's me who is a stupid idiot, not counting the factor of relativity and lack of objective criteria for judging art; so it'll probably be wiser to hold off for a while.
It would be interesting, though, to see 'Amsterdam' on video, if such a thing existed; the short clips on the John Lennon Collection video and short bits of interviews in various documentaries about the man are rather entertaining.

John and Yoko were assheads! What do you think of that?

Your worthy comments:

Simon Hearn <[email protected]> (08.09.99)

I'm sure lennon, being the genius that he was, must have regretted this debacle for the rest of his life. It is a poor, poor album and gives ammunition to all those Yoko haters (no bad thing!). Luckily he would find true genius again with the "primal scream" album - plastic ono band in 1970.

Josh Fitzgerald <[email protected]> (14.03.2000)

Interesting. Not in a good way either. The first time I heard this album, I was acually laughing pretty hard. It was so corny and stupid that it made me laugh. It was pathetic. However, I now have new feelings for this album, because I am one of the unlucky few who have had the dishonor of hearing Life With The Lions. Compared with that album, Wedding Album is a dang masterpiece. There is almost humanly impossible to listen to the entire 26 minute Yoko wailing/John feedback epic "Cambridge 1969." You want to kill yourself by the 2 minute mark. Listening to Wedding Album after this one makes me acually ENJOY it. Maybe I'm a freak, but just buy Life With The Lions, and see for yourself. Ick.

M. Hancock <[email protected]> (18.04.2000)

Them saying "John" and "Yoko" isn't over their heartbeats, but over that of their unborn child who died due to miscarriage. They recorded this in Yoko's hospital room. The end of this song also means the fetus heart quit beating. Suffice to say, I never listened to it again. Or this album, but for different reasons.

<[email protected]> (19.05.2000)

Okay, just to set the record straight: contrary to what M. Hancock wrote, the recording of the baby's heartbeat while in the hospital room is on Life With The Lions, not on this album - so I would assume that it really is John and Yoko's heartbeats we hear on the track 'John And Yoko.'
Even though I'm not adverse to avant-garde or to Yoko Ono, I must say that both of the tracks on this album are pretty poor examples. About the best thing I can say for 'John And Yoko' is that once in a while, John really belts it out. 'Amsterdam' is little more than what you'd hear on a typical interview album, except for a couple of pretty weak musical moments. We get to hear the predecessor to 'John John (Let's Hope For Peace),' which was done live on the Toronto album. This is one of those things where Yoko sings the title of the song in verrrrry lonnnng sylllllabbbblllesss. It doesn't work here. More interesting is an off-the-cuff tune using the arpeggiated chords that were later used for 'Because.' Oh, and there's also a very off-the-cuff rendition of 'Good Night,' which I think is the only recording of John singing that (I may be wrong, though). The bonus tracks on the CD are Yoko's because this album is included in the series of Yoko Ono reissues. What we get is 'Who Has Seen The Wind?' (the b-side of 'Instant Karma,' this is one of those early Yoko attempts at doing a real song, with results that are fair at best - and that's stretching it), 'Listen The Snow Is Falling' (the b-side of 'Happy Xmas' and later the b-side of Yoko's 'Mind Train' in the UK, this is also fair at best in the songwriting department, with a nice electric guitar part - Yoko clearly doesn't have the right voice for singing ballads) and an acoustic demo of 'Don't Worry Kyoko' (which sounds drastically different from the rock version that appears on the b-side of 'Cold Turkey' - it's really just kind of sloppy and undynamic). The craziest thing about this album, though, is that with all of its uncommercial audio contents, it was packaged in a box with several souvenir artifacts of John and Yoko's wedding. This made it quite expensive for a single album.

Year Of Release: 1969
Record rating = 4
Overall rating = 8

This is music, but only about a half of it. Don't you really bother.
Best song: COLD TURKEY

Nice album cover, isn't it? Anyway, the story goes like this: John was invited to Toronto to take part in one of those slick 'rock revival' festivals that seem to be so popular nowadays. Back then, though, it was still the Sixties, so the 'revival' was that of Fifties' rock, with seasoned veterans like Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and Jerry Lee Lewis all participating. John was supposed to be the headliner, but the problem is that he didn't really have a normal band. As if he cared - he just grabbed a bunch of friends, consisting of Eric Clapton (guitar), Klaus Voormann (bass) and future Yes member Alan White (drums), rehearsed them on board the plane over the Atlantic, quickly addicted them to Yoko and stole the show.
Well, I don't actually know if he stole the show, because the concert is not that entertaining. The first side is surprisingly listenable: first, quite naturally, since the whole event was a Fifties' revival show, they pay tribute to the old giants by covering Beatles stuff that the Beatles used to cover themselves, then they do 'Yer Blues' and top it off with John's then-current pride, the singles 'Cold Turkey' and 'Give Peace A Chance'. Considering the fact that the band was practically unrehearsed, it's nothing short of amazing that they manage to pull off most of the numbers without any serious embarrassments - and from time to time they even sound really really good. 'Cold Turkey', for instance, is reinterpreted as a classy boogie number, and 'Give Peace A Chance' is, for the first and last time in its existence, actually treated as a real song - Eric is clever enough to base the number around a solid, blues-rocky riff and throws in a couple of really tasty lines now and then, so you can even dance to it if you wish! These two songs are the obvious highlights of the record, and surpass every other live version of 'em, available or not (well, the version of 'Cold Turkey' on Sometime In New York City is cool, too, but much too long and a bit more predictable, if you know what I mean).
The three rock'n'roll standards are also done decently, though. We all know that John was always a rocker at heart, and even if these renditions of 'Blue Suede Shoes', 'Money' and 'Dizzy Miss Lizzie' are done somewhat 'academically' and clumsily (for instance, the slow tempo of 'Shoes' really brings me down - it's as if they were afraid to go forward any faster), there's a certain fire within that keeps you from sleeping; and 'Money' has never sounded grittier - with an overload of grumbly distortion and a thump-thump-mastodontic pace. Plus, Eric really shines on 'Yer Blues' (he actually got to play that one with Lennon before, in the Stones' 'Rock'n'Roll Circus', so he might have been on more familiar ground here), chunking out an immaculate solo. What else would you want?
Well, I would personally want to get rid of the entire second part of the album. I mean, I have little against Yoko's 'Don't Worry Kyoko': it's short and it even (horror) rocks, again, mostly because Clapton salvages the song by his savage riffing; I can close my eyes on Yoko wailings because by the time that track comes round, I'm already kinda used to them. Just disregard the fact that the main riff is stolen directly from the Kinks' 'Mr Churchill Says' (anyway, Eric just didn't have much time to think of something original, now did he?), and everything will be all right.
BUT... the record ends in 'John John (Let's Hope For Peace)' that's every bit as shitty and dispensable as their previous experimental albums, and doesn't actually expand much on the ear-destructive 'rehearsals' of the track on Wedding Album. Come to think of it, 'ends in' is not a proper way to describe the song, since it's much too long to be an 'ending'. Er, come to think of it, 'song' is not a proper way to describe the dingus, since it's much too shitty to be a 'song'. Why, come to think of it, 'proper' is not the right term to be applied to this piece of hogwash ever! It's a ten-or-longer-minute Yoko raving that actually gets carried on from Wedding Album, but here she exercises her screaming over a mess of guitar and bass feedback and occasional drum fart noises. Not to mention that the 'piece' ends in one or two minutes of direct feedback emanating from Clapton's guitar which he left on the stage already after deserting it and probably just forgot to unplug (you can't convince me that a guy as nice as Eric meant to impale our ears on purpose!) Maybe they just needed to make the record a couple minutes longer. The funny thing is, people, and lots of 'em, actually were standing there and patiently waiting for the cacophony to end instead of, I dunno, hitting the stage with some rotten tomatoes.
So, once again, John Lennon sets the casual fan before a serious dilemma - this time around, there is some stuff worth worrying about, but the problem is whether... well, I think you see it for yourselves. Really, what am I saying? This stuff is for completists!
P.S. The video is somewhat more effective, with a shortened version of 'John John'. Still not really essential, but what the hell, buy it first, then proceed on to the CD if you're that desperate. See a more detailed review in the video section.

John, John, what if somebody mails some ideas?

Your worthy comments:

<[email protected]> (19.05.2000)

If this album comes across as being a little less than great, than I think the lack of rehearsal is the main culprit. And yet, they really perform pretty well. My favorite moment is the ultra-dirge version of 'Money.' The version of 'Cold Turkey' here is interesting in that it amounts to basically a working version of the song, since this concert was given a couple of weeks before the single was recorded. John hadn't yet crystallized the arrangement. His voice seems a little unfocused as well. For that matter, the b-side, 'Don't Worry Kyoko,' is also very unfocused here. Even the official version is somewhat one-dimensional, but the band doesn't have any power on this one. I think I should mention, too, that the single was released in the same month (Oct.) as the Kinks' 'Mr. Churchill Says,' so it's very unlikely that the connection between them is anything more than coincidence. Heck, it wouldn't be hard to fill up a record store with the songs that used that old three-chord riff, anyway. The whole album is generally helped along by some slick licks from Clapton, and the rest of the band plays fairly well for not knowing what they're doing. As far as Yoko goes, I must say that I enjoy at least certain stretches of 'John, John (Let's Hope For Peace)' - particularly the parts where she's really making far-out noises with her voice. And the feedback (which I'm convinced is totally intentional) fits in with this concept well. The best Yoko music, however, is on her first two solo albums - not the ones she did with John (funny - the same is true of John's music, too - isn't it?).

Year Of Release: 1970
Record rating = 10
Overall rating = 14

The best in underproduced rock. Comes straight from the heart and gets straight to the point.
Best song: MOTHER

Experimentation's over - after all, one more album like that Wedding one and John's reputation would be forever ruined. Instead, John is on the songwriting trail again, and being extremely sick and pissed off at everybody and everyone in the wake of the Beatles crumpling into dust, he blazes off this mighty bunch of angry, ferocious, and utterly simplistic tunes. And by 'simplistic' I don't mean 'stupid' or 'banal', I just mean 'underarranged'. You rarely get more than two or three instruments on one song - most often it's just John messing with his acoustic/electric guitar or piano. However, it isn't the equal to McCartney's debut, i.e. John didn't play everything himself: Klaus Voormann is present on base and Ringo on drums, which makes some of the tracks rock as hard as possible (in fact, sometimes Ringo bashes around just as wildly as, say, John Bonham, a thing unheard of in his Beatle days).
Probably the finest thing about this album, which is indeed always mentioned by just about any reviewer, is that it's incredibly sincere. You can just see good ol' John ripping up his chest, picking out some of his selected emotions and dressing them up in words and notes. Indeed, he'd never been that sincere in his Beatle days - maybe this time he really felt himself free of the group's dictate. So that's exactly what he says in 'God' - one of the greatest human rights declarations set to music, no doubt. It has little melody - just a simple (but nevertheless impressive) piano pattern, but the way he sings all these lyrics really brings tears to one's eyes: 'I don't believe in Beatles/I just believe in me/Yoko and me/And that's reality'. The people were sure disappointed, but now, in retrospect, it seems like the only right move John could have made at the moment - you know? Distance himself from the Beatles, start everything from scrap, get some creative freedom... why not?
Most of the other tracks are very much autobiographical, with John serving as his own shrink. And their 'un-arrangements' are indeed something special. 'Mother', for example, which begins with an ominous toll of the bell, is built entirely on Ringo's steady heavy drum beat - with John just putting a couple of neat piano touches now and then. But it's great - every note bites deep down in your heart! And it has that famous Primal Scream at the end ('Mama don't TUUUUUUUURRN! DAAAADDY COME HOME!') I don't know whether you'll like it or not, but it's at least special; rarely has any songwriter achieved so much with so little.
Angry punky ditties also include 'Well Well Well' with some of the funniest lyrics on the whole album as well as some more Primal Screaming which tears your ears to shreads (I remember being really horrified when I first heard John virtually destroying his throat - apparently, Janov really taught the guy something); then there's 'Remember' with the famous Guy Hawkes coda (it starts out as some kind of nostalgic throwback to the past, then goes out with a mighty BOOM as John suddenly transforms the lyrics into 'remember remember the Fifth of November'); the acoustic-only-but-sounding-punkier-than-all-the-punks-put-together 'Working Class Hero', John's bitter, but justified condemnation of the middle class in general; and 'I Found Out' with a particularly nasty vocal tone and booming drums that threaten to beat the very life out of you. Can you imagine it's Ringo on the drums? God how cool he sounds! If there's anything in the world to showcase his talents as a drummer as well as the general importance of drumming on a rock record, it's these few tracks on Lennon's debut.
The lyrics, of course, are often what matters the most - John had never even attempted to write such paranoid, stingy social critique when he was a Beatle. 'Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV/And you think you're so clever and classless and free/But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see' is quite representative of the record. The fact that it went high up in the charts either means that the world was still hot on the Beatles or that people simply preferred to close their eyes and ears on lines like those ones.
Of course, there's some gentler stuff, too: his naive and utterly charming psalm about love ('Love') is on here, for instance - once again, a rudimentary piano melody, but an utterly beautiful one. It seems that he's only holding one finger on the piano - and yet, it's simply impossible to resist the song's charm; Lennon's genius at work. The pretty anthem 'Hold On' is also quite optimistic, and it's kinda weird to see it rooted in between the desperate screams of 'Mother' and the poisonous 'fuck-you' of 'I Found Out'. Not to mention that it's even stranger to see the groovy, hold-on-to-your-life-and-don't-worry-much atmosphere of 'Hold On' be present on the same record with the utterly painful and depressing 'Isolation' ('We're afarid of everyone/Afraid of the sun/Isolation')! Even if John has always been unpredictable, the strangeness of these juxtapositions can only be compared to the utter incompatibility of the jolly 'Starting Over' and the depressing 'I'm Losing You' on Double Fantasy. Anyway, the only tracks I haven't yet mentioned are the deeply introspective love ballad 'Look At Me' which reminds one of 'Dear Prudence' (mainly because of the guitar melody) and the short album closer 'My Mummy's Dead' which is a re-worked version of 'Three Blind Mice' with some more lyrics about John's mother ('My mummy's dead/I can't get it through my head...'). Positioned at the very tail end of the record and produced as a retro-sounding, radio-squeaky snippet, it's like an obscure question mark that leaves you wondering and asking for a more self-assured conclusion. But you don't get any self-assured conclusion - the record poses quite a few questions, but it hardly answers any of them.
One can only wonder whether he kept these songs in his sleeve for more than ten years or made them on the spot? Sure they wouldn't let him put such personal stuff on a Beatles record - but had it been prepared beforehand? Or was he just so very happy when the band had broken up? Or maybe I should just shut up, because if I start posing these Lennon questions, I can run out of web space...
And another thing: this 'underarranged' album was produced by 'wall-of-sound' Phil Spector! Life's full of wonders...

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Your worthy comments:

<[email protected]> (22.05.99)

One correction to your review, in "Mother", Lennon doesn't scream "Momma don't turn", he says "Momma don't go." Just to let you know. Probably the best Beatle solo album. While some of the songs are semi-bland, the songs are really personal and probably John's most deepest album.
My rating-9 1/2

Scott & Wendy <[email protected]> (26.07.99)

Another correction:
The coda explosion on 'Remember', after Lennon sings 'Remember - the fifth of November' would be referenced by Guy Fawkes and not Hawkes.
Lennon is again going back to his boyhood and remembering Guy Fawkes Day, which is the British equivalent of the North American Halloween for it's celebration observance.
John must have had some very mischievous fun each November 5th when he was young.....
One of the landmark albums of all time, mainly because of Lennon's brilliant unrestrained vocals and the superlative production. Listen to 'Mother' and then listen to 'Nothing Compares 2 U' by Sinead O'Connor.
Obvious homage, wouldn't you say?
[Special author note: well, well, ain't I the dirty little misspelling bastard! Both of these things I know as well as anybody, but I obviously wrote the review under stress or something. Maybe I was drunk. Hmm, I don't remember being drunk while writing reviews. Anyway, thanks for all the corrections - history should be taught with precision, shouldn't it?]

Joshua Fiero <[email protected]> (08.01.2000)

Hmm. Great review, but I'm not sure I'd call "God's" thoroughly poisonous lyrics one of the great human rights statements. I don't think anyone who would have the nerve to say that the only real things are himself and his wife cares a whole bunch about other people (saying they doesn't exist just doesn't give one an impression of great compassion). In fact, I think the libretto for most of Ono Band is self-obsessed garbage. Still a great album, but man . . . as silly as McCartney always is, I generally like the bastard. Lennon, however, strikes me as a total dick, especially on this one. The stuff he did that has genuinely touching lyrics is, for the most part, on Double Fantasy, in my opinion. Not that it matters one way or another, though.

Cara Bradbury <[email protected]> (27.03.2000)

Definatly John's best solo album. 'Mother' IS the best song on here with great ,moving lyrics such as ' I wanted you/you didn't want me' . 'Well , Well , Well ' is also a great song although it's quite repetitive , it makes no difference. This one has good guitar bits . Have you noticed the initials of the title ? I reckon John had the whole concept of the ' world wide web ' up his sleeve for ages..... not !
' Look at me ' is a fab song to chill out to with John's soothing voice....great ! If you don't have this album IT'S A NECESSITY !

John McFerrin <[email protected]> (19.04.2000)

Oh my goodness. This album is absolutely beautiful. Like Prindle, I don't like 'Hold On', but the rest ... The way he sings those "I don't believe in ..." lines in 'God', the entirety of 'Love', the screams of 'Mother', the low-key but pissed off lines of 'Working Class Hero' ... all of these make me cry. I would personally choose 'God' as the best track of the lot, but really, any of them will do.
14.

<[email protected]> (19.05.2000)

I would definitely rate this as John Lennon's best album, although I think Imagine runs a close second. And if we count Beatles albums, then I would put it neck to neck with The White Album. Every song on this is brimming over with emotional self-revelation. Klaus Voorman and Ringo Starr were the perfect choices for bass and drums on this album. Everything is stripped down and bone-bare. There's nothing left to listen to but the songs themselves - and even then, the melodies and lyrics are as basic as can be. If you ever want to show people that sophistication doesn't mean a hill of beans when it comes to good music, play this album to them. Favorite songs (impossible to say, but how about): 'Isolation,' 'God,' 'Mother,' 'Hold On (John),' 'I Found Out.' Heck, they're all good. And 'Working Class Hero' sure brings the world into focus - there's not a word in that song that I don't agree with.
Incidentally, I'm pretty sure the only song on the album that hadn't been written recently at the time was 'Look At Me.' The guitar arpeggio is no coincidence, since it was written in India in the spring of 1968, when songs like 'Julia' and 'Dear Prudence' were penned. And just to keep things straight, I would like to refer to Joshua Fiero's comments about 'God.' If you read the book 'Lennon Remembers,' you'll find that Lennon wanted to deflate the Beatles' image, since it didn't represent who they were as actual people. By saying that he didn't believe in Beatles, he wasn't saying that he didn't think they existed as human beings. He was saying he didn't want to play along with the public's misconceptions about them. As for the various other people and things he didn't believe in, these also have had a lot of fictitious baggage attached to them, so I'm personally glad that somebody came out and said he doesn't believe in these things. It's one of the reasons I'm a John Lennon fan.

Ryan Mulligan <[email protected]> (02.07.2000)

A great album., and the best of his solo career by far. "God" is about as emotional a song as I've ever heard. My personal pick for best song would be "Working Class Hero". Maybe the best solo album by a beatle with only All Things Must Pass contending. "Mother" is good. "Love" is good. "Well Well Well" is good, but maybe they should've shaved a minute off it. "All the rest are good too, cept maybe "My Mummy's Dead", but that shouldn't really count. A solid effort, too bad he couldn't make more stuff like this. Good guitar playing by John too.

Paul Walker <[email protected]> (03.10.2000)

Hey, Scott and Wendy! The Fifth of November is NOTHING TO DO WITH Halloween. Halloween (All Hallows Eve) is celebrated on the last day of October in much the same way as Americans - trick or treat, silly games, scary stories etc. but the Fifth of November celebrates the brutal death of Guy Fawkes. He was executed for treason as a leader of Catholic plot to kill James I. Most of the history behind it is forgotten. Christ, I'M a Catholic and I still burn the ol' Guy Fawkes. Usually there are fireworks and bonfires, and a barbecue or something - but it's nothing to do with Halloween. OK?

m.miller1 <[email protected]> (07.12.2000)

I wish I could find fault with this album but i cant. I dont find it the most enjoyable album to listen to, but then again its not meant to be.
It acheives its purpose perfectly, and is probably the most emotionally raw record by any artist ever. I dont think you can analyse the songs themselves, because they are pretty basic, three chords max right, but as a concept it is truly outstanding.
I found it a bit self pittying, in that in 'Mother' he speaks of his desertion by his parents, yet at the same time he was doing exactly the same to his own son. That however was what made lennon the brilliant,  tortured artist that we all love.
I like how in the sleeve notes Yoko is attributed to wind effects.

Year Of Release: 1971
Record rating = 9
Overall rating = 13

A fantastic sequel of personal revelations, rich, rewarding and sincere. But soft.
Best song: IMAGINE

The second equally important Lennon album is usually considered inferior to Plastic Ono Band, and I'll have to guess why. So, my first guess is as follows: while the latter is still spoken of as an 'underproduced' wonder ('how can such a great effect be achieved with such minimum arrangements?'), the former is unquestionably much more complex in the musical sense. So what? Damn the arrangements, the songs on here are totally and unashamedly great! Well, with one annoying exception: the closing 'Oh Yoko' is the first in a series of darned Yokosongs. I just can't stand all these lyrics, like 'in the middle of the night I call your name... in the middle of a cloud I call your name... in the middle of a shave I call your name...' Me, I wouldn't call Yoko's name even if I were in the middle of a scaffold, but that's just me. I've always said it that if George Harrison sings about God as if He were a female, then John sings about his... err... 'female' as if she were God. Throw this song in a dumpster! Or, better still, think of another set of lyrics for it, cuz the melody sure sounds great. It's upbeat, punchy, minimalistic, whatever, and almost invites you to sing along, but I can't - I blush up to my ears if I ever try to sing along with 'Oh Yoko, my love will turn you on'.
Apart from that, you get your average classic in the title track. I've been thinking of some cunning ways to find a fault in this song so that I wouldn't have to mention it as the best song on the album and would look very smart, but all I could think about was saying that it's saccharine and openly commercial. And if I'd say so, I'd end up looking like a complete dork instead of looking smart. So I can't help it. Sorry, folks. This is the best song on the album, no matter what else you're gonna say about it. Anyway, if 'Love' was a great song, why not 'Imagine'? This is where Lennon finally manages to come up with his own 'Yesterday': funny it took him six years to outsmart McCartney for the most "overall-respectable" song of his career.
One thing's for sure, though: there's much more to this album than just 'Imagine'. There's a couple more gentle sincere sad ballads in 'Jealous Guy' (if it's John excusing himself before Yoko, then it's the first in a series of 'apologetics' songs culminating in 'Aisumasen'; however, this one's a much better song, if only because of the wonderful whistling) and the sentimental 'Oh My Love' whose piano melody isn't any less genial than the one used on 'Imagine'. It just so happened that it's a love song and not a universalist anthem. So what? Does it matter for a true music fan? Nope.
The sentimental side also strikes through on 'How', an unusually gentle philosophical song along the lines of 'Look At Me', that is, once again John is trying to 'take a decision' on which way to turn and is left wondering without an answer. Yet there is no pain - 'Look At Me' was clearly a song reflecting a tormented and depressed mind, while 'How' reflects a far more gentle and loving conscience that's almost ready to make peace with any situation, however grim or uncertain it might turn out to be. An interesting change of mood for John at the time.
A couple of retro numbers (the great guitar/piano shuffle of 'Crippled Inside', the hard rockin' guitar/mighty brass swing of 'It's So Hard') cook nicely, too. Some of 'em people like to despise 'It's So Hard', for reasons unknown. C'mon people! What can be cuter than the lyrics 'You gotta live, you gotta love, you gotta do something, you gotta shove. But it's so hard, it's really hard, sometimes I feel like going down.' I like that stuff! Moreover, I even like the overlong, Phil Spector-trumped 'I Don't Wanna Be A Soldier'. This is the only track which features a 'wall-of-sound' on the whole album (I'm beginning to think that it was really easy not to have Phil messing around with your music. You only had to come up to him and say: 'Phil! Just don't you mess around with my music'. And he wouldn't), but it's OK: John clearly wanted to have a really menacing song to himself, and it works: the echoey boomy drums, the threatening guitars that go in and out again, the waves of brass in the solo breaks, and John's scary lyrics also rushing like waves, all of this produces a really unique effect. I don't mind the repetitive lyrics, I don't mind the simplistic melody: I mind the atmosphere, the paranoid drums, the intense, strained punch of John's voice, the climactic brass breaks, it all thrills me to the extreme, and I fully identify with the song, much as everybody else hates it.
Angry foaming-at-the-mouth classics also include: 'Give Me Some Truth' with some of John's most politicized lyrics up-to-date and a frantic George Harrison lead break; and 'How Do You Sleep' with some of John's most anti-McCartneycized lyrics up-to-date... and a frantic George Harrison lead break. The lyrics hit Paul straight in the eye, so that he even had to hasten up with releasing his witty answer 'Dear Friend' on Wild Life. I don't know how exactly Paul slept before hearing that song, but it sure could disturb his sleep after its release! Good ol' John! That kind of treatment towards an old friend! Aaaarggh. The melody, though, is extremely hooky. Just listen to that riff that he plays during the refrain, you'll get my drift.
Overall, Imagine showed that Lennon was on a terribly high roll at the time, one by one spewing forth terrific melodies of prime Beatle quality (yes, you heard - that's prime Beatle quality on here, even if few of the songs would have been deemed suitable for a true Beatles album), and only something extremely exclusive and unnatural could get him off his feet. That "unnatural" factor, unfortunately, happened to be John's full-fledged involvement in politics and reinterpreting music as a social tool rather than an artistic element on his next album.

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Your worthy comments:

Simon Hearn <[email protected]> (08.09.99)

Yeah, a great album this - but why do people harp on about 'IMAGINE' - 'JEALOUS GUY' is more revealing and is as just a stunning song, period. With this album and its predecessor, Lennon made sure the world knew him as the best post-beatles solo artist. Upon listening to this Macca must have been gutted!

<[email protected]> (30.01.2000)

classic album. good

Steve Knowlton <[email protected]> (02.02.2000)

The song "Imagine" strikes me as Lennon's attempt to create a universal anthem -- an attempt that fails in the first line of the lyrics. Many, perhaps most, of the people who share Lennon's sentiments of brotherhood, peace, etc. do so because of their firm belief in a loving God.
What a bonehead!

Glenn Wiener <[email protected]> (01.03.2000)

John's best solo recording hands down. Only the somewaht redundant 'I Don't Want To Be A Soldier' is even a slight misfire and that one has an interesting echo effect on it. Everything else is just Grade A quality. and 'Imagine' is very beautiful for such a simple chord progression.

<[email protected]> (20.05.2000)

For me, this album, as great as it is, doesn't quite match up to Plastic Ono Band simply because there's at least one song on it that does nothing for me, which is 'How?' The melody is just typical ballad-writing - no better than some of the dreary stuff McCartney has come up with over the years. I think the best ballads on the album are 'Jealous Guy' and 'Oh My Love.' My favorite songs, however, would have to be 'How Do You Sleep?' and 'Give Me Some Truth,' both of which reveal Lennon at his angriest. I'm also very partial to 'Crippled Inside' and (I hope you're sitting down, George) 'Oh, Yoko.' In fact, 'Oh, Yoko' is such an innocent and lovable tune, that it would fit in quite nicely on a Kinks album (that is if Ray Davies was in love with Yoko). I must say that both George Harrison and Nicky Hopkins play really well all over this album. John went with a larger ensemble and a sweeter production style than on the last album, but it works quite well.
Now, about the comments made by Steve Knowles. Perhaps you should check out the rest of the song. For instance, if you put that first line in the context of the entire first verse, you may find that Lennon is pointing out that people use heaven in the afterlife as an excuse to let suffering go on in the here and now. Not once does Lennon (who believed in God) say that there isn't a God. Heck, he doesn't even say there isn't a God in the song 'God.' He categorically leaves God off of the list of things he doesn't believe in. And as far people who believe in brotherhood and peace because of their firm belief in God go, I would say that brotherhood and peace are good enough reasons in themselves to believe in brotherhood and peace.

m.miller1 <[email protected]> (07.12.2000)

A great album, as lennon himself put it, like plastic ono band but sugar coated. There are some duffers, 'I dont want to be a slodier', 'Its so hard' ( it bloody well is listening to it), and 'How do you sleep' (not that its a bad song, its just that i believe John  is very much indebted to McCartneys talents as a songwriter).
However 'Jealous Guy', 'Oh Yoko', 'How', 'Gimme Some Truth' and 'Crippled Inside' are among the very best of his songs, and who can argue with material like 'Imagine' ( was it elvis costello who sang "was it a millionaire who said imagine no possessions" ? Hmm, as Macca said "too many people preaching fantasies"  I do love the imagine album though, and I think it demonstrates perfectly lennon's need to be adored, but to stand up as his own man also.

Year Of Release: 1972
Record rating = 6
Overall rating = 10

A nasty political statement with a lot of Yoko Ono. You have to wade through A LOT of dreck...
Best song: WOMAN IS THE NIGGER OF THE WORLD

Now this is really not the place to start with John. We all fall into childhood sometimes, and he, too, seemed to decide that he had enough of making good music and fell into the world of political battles and demonstrations. (I heard he even wore Mao Zedong badges at one period, but that's another story). Anyway, this album is nothing but a bunch of rather lame political protest songs with straightforward dumb lyrics. Even worse, about half of the songs are sung by Yoko - a crazy experiment which would unfortunately be repeated eight years later. And even more worse - and I know that's grammatically incorrect, but I can't say it any other way - even more worse, this is a double album, with the second one constituting the infamous 'Live Jam', parts of it being the same kind of friggin' 'experimental' live jams that are so abundant on John's early albums. In other words, keep your head down folks. Namely, there's a century-long version of Yoko's 'Don't Worry Kyoko' that's energetic but doesn't go anywhere in particular and even some collaborations with Zappa (God save Oz!) 'Scumbag' is the most atrocious of the lot, with John and Frank singing this obviously mystical word for about six minutes and asking their audiences to participate. If you happen to get this album on vinyl, just burn the second part of it on the spot. And don't even think about buying the double CD for a 'nice price'. I have a bootleg copy with most of the crap edited out, but I've heard the complete version, and looking at my bootleg copy makes me all the more happy. For the record: if you did buy the double CD, at least you might be consoled by the fact that the second disc has a passable, although overlong live version of 'Cold Turkey', as well as an old blues number with John in top form ('Well (Baby Please Don't Go)'). Even though the Lennon Anthology has a far superior studio version. On second thought, out of all the versions of 'Cold Turkey' I'm familiar with, this might just be the gloomiest and wildest, with Lennon throwing a series of virtual fits on stage that hasn't ever been surpassed. And the instrumental backing from the Elephants Memory Band is gritty and crashing. Okay, do not burn this album, but don't think too high of it, either. It's truly an unpleasant "nostalgic" return to the crazyass days of 1969.
Now, about the studio disc. Here is where the explanation of my relatively high rating (and yes, a rating of six is exceptionally high for such a record - any other reviewer would probably cut it in half) comes in. The funny thing is, after repeated listens the songs do grow on you, and if you bring yourself to not noticing any of the lyrics - a pretty hard job, as everything is being articulated pretty distinctively - some, if not most, of the studio recordings turn out to have pretty well constructed melodies and an overload of sincere and brimming energy.
First of all, there's the great feminist anthem 'Woman Is The Nigger Of The World' with Phil Spector finally stepping in on his own: zillions of rhythm tracks, booming drums, huge brass sections, and Lennon's soaring vocals atop of all that - the regular stuff. It is undoubtedly John's peak as the greatest anthem-writer of rock - the tune's driving power smashes you against the wall, and John's soulful and furious vocals are clearly heartfelt: yes, dumb as it may seem, but he really believed all the things he sang about, even more, at times he's almost able to convince me that 'woman is the slave of the slaves', much as I'm sceptical towards the feminist movement (don't get me wrong - I'm all for equality of sexes, but let's not get carried away, ladies and gentlemen). Hell, the lyrics might have been even more generic, who cares - I tip my heat to the song that screams POWER POWER POWER with its every note. Pure musical ecstasy.
None of the other tracks amount to such unscalable heights, but that's no big surprise. Instead, they're just good. There's the fast, rocking, upbeat and catchy 'New York City'; unfortunately, it ain't a Big Apple anthem, rather 'The Ballad Of John And Yoko Part 2'. Oh, never mind, it has lots of drive. There's the pretty country tune 'John Sinclair', dedicated to, well, John Sinclair and human rights protection in general (unfortunately, spoilt by the rather annoying refrain 'you gotta gotta gotta gotta gotta... gotta_n... gotta let him go').
Two of the songs are dedicated to Ireland's struggle for independence. The very fact that John had suddenly become aware of his Irish roots on the spur of the moment stinks of hypocrisy or, at least, of dumbness, and, as usual, Mr Lennon tends to exaggerate ('as the bastards commit genocide' is a way too harsh line in any case - why didn't he sing about Cambodia instead?), but 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' is still impressive, because it's a harsh Lennon protest song and that genre certainly couldn't fail. But I'm definitely not a fan of 'The Luck Of The Irish', and the middle part sung by Yoko makes me sick: what the hell did she know about Ireland to sing of the country's goods and wonders? Pretty stinky.
That leaves us with Yokosungs (ha! there's a good difference: 'Yokosongs' are songs about Yoko and 'Yokosungs' should be songs sung by Yoko. Ain't I clever?) Anyway, these I won't be discussing at all. Horrible generic crap marred by (if crap can be marred, of course) Yoko's horrible vocals. I feel somewhat ashamed to admit that most of them are quite catchy - it took me years to throw the pedestrian melodies of 'Sisters Oh Sisters' and 'We're All Water' out of my head. It irritates me even more that the unbelieeeevably dumbhead feminist anthem 'Sisters Oh Sisters' begins with Yoko saying something like 'hey there male chauvinist pig engineer'. I wonder what did she mean? Maybe he dared making a remark about her singing talents? Sigh. The only thought that the record ends with a seven-minute Yokoscreamfest ('We're All Water') makes me shiver and think about all the sickness this woman has brought into my personal life. And no I don't blame her for breaking up The Beatles; I only blame her for daring to sing on the same record with John. She'd had a solo recording career by that time (starting with Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band that came out in 1970 as a 'twin' to John's record); why they had to join forces for this one, not to mention repeating the experience later on, is way beyond me.
Anyway, despite the major and multiple flaws of the album, I still feel no problem about giving it a six because when we filter out the weeds, we are still left with a bunch of solid melodies, and melodies are always your backbone, whether you're indulging in progressive sci-fi fantasies or blurting out acoustic songs of anti-Vietnam protests. Also, 'Woman Is The Nigger Of The World' still sounds fresh and mighty to these ears, and any album with this song deserves a high score.

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Your worthy comments:

Dan Watkins <[email protected]> (13.07.99)

I've never heard this album (just "Scumbag" and "Jamrag"), but I thought I'd add some historical poop about the Lennon/Zappa jam. Frank Zappa invited John and Yoko to join in on his show. At the end of the show, Frank and John came to the agreement that they would both release their own verions of the jam on their own albums. When Lennon's album was released, John and Yoko took credit for the song "Jamrag". This upset Frank because the song was actually a song he had written titled "King Kong". To add to the trouble, the performance was poorly mixed. It is rumored that two members of Frank's band, Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman (a.k.a. Flo and Eddie of the Turtles) were making fun of Yoko, which made John and Yoko decide to mix out Flo and Eddie's vocal comments in "Scumbag" along with Don Preston's keyboard (you think it's a bit boring and repetitive, eh?). Zappa didn't release his version of the show until 1992 on Playground Psychotics. The performance consists of five tracks: "Well" 4:43, "Say Please" 0:57, "Aaawk" 2:59, "Scumbag" 5:53, and "A Small Eternity With Yoko Ono" 6:06. I highly recommend Zappa's version over Lennon's. If you come across it in a used CD store or something, you might want to check it out. I wouldn't buy it if I were you unless you're a Zappa fan.

<[email protected]> (20.05.2000)

In general, this album is a weak one for both John and Yoko. If we just isolate the studio half, we find Yoko coming up with her first sizable batch of actual songs. Before this, she had mostly done the abstract stuff, and only occasionally came up with a song when there was a b-side needed for John's a-sides. To be quite blunt, she wrote really lousy songs at this point. One need only fast-forward to Double Fantasy to hear the difference. John's material on this album is not bad at all. However, he seems to have picked up Yoko's tendency to fit 8-syllable lines of lyrics into melody lines with only six or seven notes. My favorite on the studio half is 'Sunday Bloody Sunday,' which actually seems to benefit from Yoko's warbling background vocal. I'm also partial to 'Woman Is The Nigger Of The World' and 'New York City.' And I'll agree that 'John Sinclair' would've been a pretty cool song if only there wasn't all those 'gottas' in it. In one case, 'The Luck Of The Irish,' we have a pretty decent ballad from John that's pretty much ruined by Yoko's amateurish middle section.
Then there's Live Jam (not Apple Jam - that's on All Things Must Pass). Personally, I prefer this to the studio half of the album. The Plastic Ono Supergroup section on side three is suitably monstrous for both 'Cold Turkey' and 'Don't Worry Kyoko.' In fact, 'Don't Worry Kyoko' rates as my favorite track, at least once the long improvisation really gets under way. The performers are totally playing their asses off, and Yoko is excelling at what, at the time, was what she knew how to do best. The Frank Zappa side (four) is somewhat less satisfying, but certainly not by any fault of the Mothers. 'Well' would hold up a lot better if Yoko wasn't choosing this tune as a vehicle for her usual routine. Incidentally, the version on Zappa's Playground Psychotics is substantially longer. 'Jamrag' appears as two separate tracks on the Zappa album - 'Say Please' and 'Aaawk.' In this case, the Mothers are playing some pretty cool stuff, and don't need the supplemental contribution from Yoko. In the case of 'Scumbag' (which is far more interesting on the Zappa album, since nothing's been mixed out), it's actually Lennon who mars an otherwise decent performance this time, by bringing the whole 'Scumbag' idea into it in the first place. The only track that I like all the way through is 'Au' (which appears on the Zappa album as 'A Small Eternity With Yoko Ono'), simply because everybody seems to be on the same page.
In general, Lennon was going through an artistic lull here, but things would eventually improve.

Year Of Release: 1986
Record rating = 7
Overall rating = 11

A moderate live album with a nasty sound. But it's the only good live Lennon you'll ever get.
Best song: COME TOGETHER

Yoko released this together with Menlove Ave. in 1986 to satisfy some of the fans' needs for a live Lennon album. Flawed as it might be, this is the only qualified live product you'll ever find (the 1969 Live Peace In Toronto doesn't count: it was just a pale sloppy effort, comparable to the 'Apple Jam' on Sometime), because John didn't give that many public appearances as a solo artist and never even once went on tour, so every live document of his is kinda precious if only because of its rarity. This one features an edited version of one of Lennon and Yoko's two shows at Madison Square Garden in August 1972, right in the very middle of his sudden politically active period.
Frankly speaking, one could easily cut down and slaughter this release if one really felt a great urge to. Several complaints from your poor little reviewer to be made on the spot, here and now, sur-le-champ, as some of the Fifth Republic representatives would say. The sound quality is very mediocre; apparently, the performance was never intended to be released, and the sound engineers didn't bother too much about getting the mix right - I've heard live bootlegs with far, far better quality. Next, the crowd mars several songs with its stupid singalong: the most embarrassing moment is when the beer-drinkers start chanting 'Power To The People' when John breaks into 'New York City'. Next number two, Yoko mars several songs with her wailing: she tries to get as much attention as possible, although let's be fair - this time she is more restricted than on the Stones' Rock'n'Roll Circus or on the Toronto album. And finally, the track listing promises you 'Give Peace A Chance' which you don't get. What you get instead is just half a minute of the crowd chanting the lines to the song, even if they did actually sing the song at the concert with an ecstatic Stevie Wonder helping out on the harmonies, and as rumour has it, ventured out on the streets continuing to chant it. (A bit of that performance can be encountered on the Shaved Fish compilation, tacked on as a 'bonus' to the end of 'Happy Xmas'). Not that I miss the song particularly, but still I feel like being ripped-off, and it ain't a pleasant feeling.
Still, I've slowly grown to enjoy the actual performance. If you can get through the muddy sound, crowd noises, Yoko noises, and the famous feeling of "where's song so-and-so and what the hell is song so-and-so doing here", you might admit that the playing is really tight, the band members, including the brass section, are quite professional and all the instruments are in their places. Most importantly, the show is pretty hot and energetic - John was really meaning it, and the raw atmosphere is captivating even in the worst moments. Of course, John mostly relies on his recent solo hits, but since then most of them have become rightful classics, and overall I can't see no reason why you should be displeased on hearing a live version of 'Instant Karma', or 'Mother', or 'Woman Is The Nigger Of The World'. The live version of 'New York City' is so driving I could even call it superior to the studio original, were it not for the sound quality. The saxes totally rock, too. And as a cool surprise, at the end you get a reworked version of 'Come Together' (including messed up lyrics, of course - John could have made a better choice than to try and remember all the lines in this super-complex lyrical number), and even a 'Hound Dog'! Wow, what could be more desirable? Of course, I'll overlook the fact that the latter is incredibly sloppy, but I suppose Lennon could pull off a classic rock'n'roll piece with absolute brilliancy even on his deathbed; the raunchy vocal delivery overshadows all the missing components in the sound.
Hey, I just saw I wrote 'the saxes rock' a few lines above. That's an interesting pun right there; do you know that sax- is a Latin root meaning 'rock'? Eh? Actually, they do not always rock. They're quite all right on songs where they do belong, like 'Woman Is...' and 'It's So Hard', but imagine an 'Imagine' with the saxes. Eeek! It's even worse than strings. Lennon almost sounds like a lounge lizard on that one.
And there's 'Cold Turkey'. What the hell - yes, I'm not dreaming, It's yet another live version of 'Cold Turkey'! Hey, you may not possess even a single bootleg and oops! one day you wake up and find yourself owning three official live versions of 'Cold Turkey'. Doesn't it inspire you? Nah.
Probably one of the most attracting, if irritating at times, parts of the package is John's stage banter that sometimes goes as far as to become completely offensive - for instance, one of the numbers is announced as 'this is the first song I've done since I left the Rolling Stones'. It's fairly obvious John was still pissed off at his Beatles legacy at the time: 'Come Together' is the only Beatles number played on here, and it's quite telling that John takes a song off Abbey Road - the most 'solo-Beatlish' album of the band. 'We'll go back in the past', John says, and immediately adds: 'Just once'. And, of course, there's no escape from the preachiness from every corner: 'Mother', for instance, is announced as a song 'written about my parents, but it's actually about everybody's parents'. But bitterness aside, in brief the message of the concert is simple: peace and love, brothers (and sisters! don't you go forgetting the sisters! John even doesn't forget to change the line 'a brotherhood of men' to 'a brotherhood and sisterhood of men'. Clever. The problem is: has he ever thought about the possible meaning of the combination 'sisterhood of men'?)

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<[email protected]> (22.05.2000)

It's a shame Lennon never went on tour, since it would have given him a chance to get more into the swing of things, so to speak. Nevertheless, this wasn't a bad show at all. Oh, sure, some of the songs sound a little clumsy, but there are several others that hang together very nicely. Aside from the trouble John seems to have singing it, 'Come Together' sounds pretty good here - particularly the drums, although they should've given the sax player a coffee break. Actually, a long coffee break, since he doesn't fit in at all on 'Cold Turkey' (which is otherwise another decent reading of this much-released song), 'Mother' (which, I think, is the weakest track - the playing is sluggish and John can't hit the notes) and 'Imagine' (where the hell were they? a cocktail lounge?). Generally, the other songs all sound fine, if not quite as good as the studio versions. I could pretty much do without this version of 'Hound Dog,' however. It just doesn't drive enough.
Incidentally, there is another excerpt of 'Give Peace A Chance' that was released a decade earlier that was included on the compilation, Shaved Fish, which is apparently part of the same recording. It's hard to recognize it as a Lennon recording, though, since you only hear him briefly, and otherwise hear several other singers (who basically sound like gospel singers).
Son of incidentally, this CD greatly benefited from the extraction of the three Yoko songs that were performed in the show. And who can we credit with extracting those songs? Well, I'd guess that the producer of the CD must have made the decision. Now, if I could just remember what her name was....I seem to recall she used to be married to one of the Beatles....

Year Of Release: 1973
Record rating = 7
Overall rating = 11

A transitional effort. Still, lots of good ideas to be found here, along with some horrible STINYC leftovers.
Best song: MIND GAMES

By 1973 John managed to somewhat cure himself of his political schizofrenia, concentrating more on his personal problems - the tensions between him and the American government had died down a bit, and he finally made the retro transition to normal activity without letting the current political situation overshadow the global message of his songs. Which is definitely a good thing for us the listeners who are not living in the Seventies and don't give a damn about John Sinclair - and don't even give a damn about Angela Davies, although hopefully listening to STINYC will at least induce somebody to browse through modern history and sociology textbooks.
Nevertheless, nothing ever passes without a trace, and there are still some washed-up remains of the old politically active stinker evident here. Thankfully, their number is limited to two tracks, and it's a good thing, because they're far worse than the ones on New York City. In particular, the main thing that unites the fake anthems 'Bring On The Lucie (Freeda People)' and 'Only People' is a totally phoney atmosphere. It's not that the melodies and lyrics are horrible: on the contrary, they're pretty catchy and sometimes even infectious. Yet somehow, John manages to have forgotten to provide them with the kind of thumping energy and 'universal sound' that was so prominent on the previous album. The anthems on NYC sucked if you actually tried to take them and their messages close to heart on an objective level, but they worked - John had a talent of making you believe in all his idealist fantasies and prophetic ambitions just by the sheer power of melody and bombastic, overwhelming arrangement. Here, the anthemssound as weak parodies. Weak parodies - nothing more! Have you heard 'Only People'? A song based on an idiotic, repetitive chorus obviously standing there in the role of computer programs pronouncing the meaningless phrases 'Only people know just how to talk to people... only people know just how to change the world... only people... only people...' while John keeps shouting out his 'hey hey' and 'come on now'. But who is he shouting at? It sounds as if he is shouting at this dumb chorus and all they can do in response is keep repeating the same pre-programmed lines. Listen to it, if just out of curiosity! It's a very weird song. I could write a whole article on it because it's very metaphorical to me. I bet John just thought it would work out as a people's rights anthem, but instead it works out like a parody on people's rights anthems. Bizarre. Practically the same goes for 'Bring On The Lucie' which is at least more energized, although that's not really saying much. Oh well, maybe he should have brought in a couple more saxophones.
Now the introspective stuff is really much much better. The title track is an absolute classic and it's one of John's best songs ever - an epic love hymn which really makes one think about one's place in the universe. And 'Intuition' is one forgotten gem - maybe because it's so quiet and short, with a nice lil' bass riff that just seems to be sayin' to ya: 'well I'm here, but don't you mind, I won't be really boring you, just thought you would like me to hang around for a while'. So welcome it and let the song grow on you - and maybe you'll feel about it just as I do. Indeed, these two songs are enough to buy the album - and you won't find 'Intuition' on any hit collection in existence!
The rest of the album is either generic ballads or generic rockers, and I have mixed feelings about them. About half of them are nice and about half of them are certainly low-quality for John. Well, 'You Are Here' and 'Aisumasen' are pretty nice Yokosongs (and I don't know who plays the guitar solo on 'Aisumasen', but it sure is the best moment of that one), but they're nothing spectacular. 'I Know (I Know)' is slightly better, 'cause it's also introspective, but 'One Day (At A Time)' (by the way, you don't mind my using parentheses all the time? I have an excuse - every third song on this album uses parentheses, and if John is a friend of parentheses, why shouldn't I be?) is a horrible song, mostly because of John adopting an ultra-sweet falsetto tune which doesn't suit him at all. Come to think of it, I now suppose that he really intended parts of this album to sound like a parody. A stupid parody at that. Just consider the lyrics: 'You are my wisdom, I am your strength... you are my honey, I am your bee...' Berk. [You are my ass, I am your hemorrhoids]. Elton John liked that song and did his own version (which is actually better), and it should have been his duty to convince John to leave it to him.
As for the rockers, one of them is quite OK ('Tight As', with blistering lead guitar parts), and the other one is named 'Meat City', features ununderstandable lyrics and sounds like a loathsoame heap of heavy metal bullshit loaded with uninspired sound effects; it's one of my least favourite John songs ever. It does rock, but the muddy production gives me a headache, and a far more painful headache than the usual wall-of-sound production of Spector ever could (maybe John should have kept Spector for this album, after all). And to think of the fact that it is used as the album closer!
So you already see, there's really a lot of dung here ("dung" according to John's own standards - in the hands of a minor band, this could have been a real chef-d'oeuvre). If you're not afraid of digging in, though, you'll be rewarded - the title track, 'Intuition', 'I Know (I Know)', 'Aisumasen', 'Tight As' and 'Out The Blue' (a nice ballad I've forgotten to mention) are really worth the price. But overall, Lennon's sound is obviously deteriorating a little - this is the obvious point at which the title of "coolest ex-Beatle", that was first awarded to Harrison and later clung on to John, finally was relegated to Paul. And there that title stayed right until December 1980, when it was finally understood that the coolest Beatle is the deadest. Par excellence.

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<[email protected]> (22.05.2000)

There really is only one song on this album that I would consider to be weak, and that's 'Meat City,' which is very unfocused, although it seems to be the only track that sounds like an album-closer to me. The rest of the songs are all fairly solid material. And yet, somehow, the whole album seems to be lacking something. In fact, when I set out to respond to this one, I had to play it a couple of times just to remember how the tunes went. I guess that's what it is - the songs just don't glue themselves to the brain like they do on virtually every other Lennon album. And yet (again), I can't say there's really anything wrong with these melodies. In fact (hope you're sitting down, George), I think 'One Day At A Time' is one of the prettiest melodies Lennon ever came up with, and personally, I like the way he sings it. 'Intuition' is also a pretty strong song, as is 'Out The Blue' and I could swear at least a couple of others that sure enough have already exited my brain - and I just listened to them twice! And then there's the one that's on most if not all the compilations, 'Mind Games,' which I think never comes across as well as any of the other compilation tracks. I certainly don't dislike any of the songs on this album. Oh, and about 'Only People' - I think what it is about that chorus is that it sounds too much like it came straight out of a fast-food commercial.
About the session musicians: that guitarist who plays so nicely on 'Aisumasen' is David Spinozza, who plays on the whole album, apparently. Also, and this is for the Kinks fans out there, the bass player on this album is none other than Gordon Edwards, who spent about a year in the late seventies as the Kinks' keyboardist.

m.miller1 <[email protected]> (07.12.2000)

This is without a doubt the worst post beatles work John did, and thus probably his worst effort. To me it sounds like he is out of ideas, both lyrically and musically. 'Mind Games', 'Out The Blue', 'I know' and 'Bring on the Lucie', are all OK, but the rest are highly uninteresting.

Year Of Release: 1974
Record rating = 8
Overall rating = 12

Another sincere and quite effective record. Shows how good it can be to stay away from Yoko...
Best song: DREAM #9

Better, definitely better. He starts to near the level of sincerity and "accessible introspection" so brilliantly achieved on his first two albums. However, there's also an obvious and crucial difference: the sincerity of Plastic Ono Band and Imagine was either an angry, pissed-off kind of sincerity or a quiet and peaceful, loving kind of sincerity. That is, songs like 'I Found Out' made you clench your fist and songs like 'Look At Me' or 'Jealous Guy' made you cry. The ones on Walls And Bridges mostly make you feel... somewhat "uncozy", I'd say. A disturbing album.
'Scared' is probably the song that best represents John's state at the moment: tired, pursued by the government of the States, separated from Yoko, secluded in L.A. and drunk to half-death. It's a great song from beginning to end - starting with a brass sound that resembles an elephant's trumpeting battle-cry and a wolf's moon-howl at once, and then it goes into a moody, 'bored', and bleeding tune which captures John's emotions perfectly. The desperate, devastating emotional charge of the song is impossible to resist. Same goes for the melancholy ballad 'Nobody Loves You When You're Down And Out' (not the old Jimmy Cox blues standard popularized by Clapton, but certainly with a hidden nod to it) which is John's pessimistic view of the world and a certain level of despair. If he's ever had one 'disillusioned' album, this is just it.
Indeed, this is one grandiose shift from the universalism and hey-now-peopleism of the previous two albums. It's obvious that by that time John had come to realize all of these things were just vain wastes of time, and there you have it - another total crisis. What about 'Steel And Glass', the punkishly strong, menacing, kind of ballad with venom streaking out of all the holes? 'Your phone don't ring, no one answers your call. How does it feel to be off the wall?' No such lines on POB! It's really weird shit! And a true classic for John, too; I can't seem to recall even a single performer who would be able to master such a huge, gushing series of "tension-ripping" mini-climaxes, one for each verse, within a single song. Simply put, when listened to properly, 'Steel And Glass' leaves you completely devastated. Out of breath.
OK, apart from these things, there are quite a few spirit-raising ditties on here, too, so calm down and don't despair. For one, 'Dream #9' is a lush psychedelic anthem which sounds as if John, indeed, lifted it directly from his sleep: these warm, 'sprinkling' tones, the echoey vocals really make the music feel coloured and magical. I still can't get it into my head how he managed to get that miraculous production - it sounds as if the music is coming from within your brains, not from an outside source, especially if you put it on really loud in headphones. Indeed, if an argument were to be made that John could easily polish his material to a high shine just as efficiently as McCartney, you wouldn't need to go further than 'Dream #9' - McCartney never even once approached that level of sonic brilliancy. Pity that John didn't venture any deeper in that direction, although, come to think of it, Walls And Bridges is an excellently produced album in its entirety.
The big hit on here was 'Whatever Gets You Thru The Night' - a fast, slightly disco-ified, jazzy number, but it's all right: the multiple layers of guitars, pianos and saxes give it a specific kind of sound. It's just a cool pop number, and quite deservingly, it hit it real well on the charts (with a goofy story about John and Elton John making bets - the latter bet Lennon it was going to be a hit and if it would, the two would play a gig together, which they did). Not that it gives the listener an accurate picture of the album: cheerful, upbeat and groovy, it hardly fits in with the general atmosphere, but at least it provides us with some relief from the incessant hammer-on of depression, compassion and declension.
On the softer side, 'Old Dirt Road' and 'Bless You' are good, tear-jerkin' Lennon ballads in their own right, and the opening 'Going Down On Love' is a rather complex multi-part composition which goes nowhere in particular but still ends up being memorable and involving. And not a single Yokosong! Well, it was the Lost Weekend, after all. This wouldn't last long, unfortunately, but while it's here, you might as well enjoy it... I even heard a couple of these songs might be dedicated to May Pang, his Chinese secretary. Definitely John had a real passion for Far East girls...
Stinkers? Yeah, sure, but not too much. 'What You Got' is an ineffective pre-punk number that people with more rockin' preferences might enjoy, but my personal taste sez DUMB; 'Beef Jerky' is a totally stupid and out-of-place instrumental groove; and the closing 'Ya Ya' is just John fiddling around on a piano with his son Julian. Silly but fortunately, short. Plus, the back cover is John sticking his tongue at ya, and I don't know whether you'll like it or not. I don't like the sight of his tongue. But at least it's not his ass, which, knowing John, I assume it might well have been instead.
In any case, whether you like this album or not is not so important - more important is the fact that Walls And Bridges finally sees John totally cured of all "political diseases" and returning to what he did best, which is describe his inner feelings and the changing of his nature so that other people might easily identify with himself. No more trite political declarations made on the spur of the moment - powerful as they were, most of them were dating quicker than any of Sweet's contemporary hit singles. Welcome, eternal topics and ever actual spiritual confessions. Huh?

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<[email protected]> (23.05.2000)

I'm having trouble figuring out whether I really like this album or not. Like on the previous album, most of the songs are fairly solid. And yet, little of this really jumps out at me and reveals itself as topnotch John Lennon music. I guess I'd pick 'Steel And Glass' as my favorite track, but it's utterly impossible to not think about the similarities to 'How Do You Sleep?' In case anybody cares, John apparently wrote it about Allen Klein. I also really enjoy the Lennon-Nilsson collaboration 'Old Dirt Road,' as well as most of the other songs. I could pretty much take or leave the real poppy stuff ('Whatever Gets You Thru The Night'; 'What You Got'). Overall, I think I like this album more than Mind Games, but maybe I don't really give a shit one way or the other. No matter how you slice it, he hadn't gotten back to the peak he reached earlier in the decade.
There is one funny little detail on this album. There's a little guitar riff on 'Beef Jerky' that's played on the higher strings that sounds very similar to a guitar riff in 'Let Me Roll It' by Paul McCartney and Wings, which had been released nearly a year earlier on Band On The Run. A technical point: Phil Spector wasn't involved on this album or on the previous one. By this time, though, John had recorded the portion of Rock And Roll that was produced by Spector. After Walls And Bridges, he recorded the rest of that album, but without Spector.
Another technical point: I think 'Bless You' is probably one of those dreaded Yokosongs, George.

m.miller1 <[email protected]> (07.12.2000)

This album has really grown on me. I think it is very well produced , and a vast improvement on Mind Games. 'Whatever Gets u Through The Night', 'No. 9 Dream', and 'Nobody Loves You'.... are fantastic.
Its no return to the form of Plastic Ono Band, or Imagine, but they were pretty creative dead ends so its a little much to expect that of every JL album. Its a basic pop/rock record really, but there's nothing wrong with that.

Year Of Release: 1975
Record rating = 8
Overall rating = 12

A jolly funny album of Fifties' covers. Pure Fifties - and pure Lennon!
Best song: STAND BY ME

Look here! What does a pretty brilliant guy do when he feels as if he's totally running out of ideas? Well, of course, he takes some other guys' ideas and tries to assimilate them to his own! This is how I'd like to characterize John's state at the time of putting the final touches on this album (initiated some time before, as you'll find out in the comments below). He was still in the midst of his Lost Weekend with May Pang (if he hadn't dumped her by that time, of course), and feeling so drunk and miserable he was obviously having a pretty hard time trying to come up with something original. He did try to record a few original numbers (some of them can be found on side A of Menlove Ave.) but they all sounded rather mellow, and so he contented himself with the older stuff. But older or not, John really makes these songs his own, and it works!
It's not that John leaves much of the original works. Most of the numbers are seriously jazzified and overamplified, with heavy emphasis on brass and Spector's 'wall-of-sound', but that's alright by me and should be alright by anybody who's not a mindless purist; rock'n'roll does work all right in stripped down arrangements, but it also works - in a different way - in super-pompous arrangements. Plus, there's lots of cool guitar lines all around, and the vocals are also quite sumpthin': John's singing is excellent, and I can't help thinkin' that all the alcohol he was pouring down his throat at the time was only strengthening instead of annihilating it, as in so many other cases.
The great Raw Fun of the album becomes obvious from the very beginning - take the opening 'Be-Bop-A-Lula', for instance, on which John rips Gene Vincent's original to shreds! Not that I heard Gene Vincent's original, mind you, but I did hear some of Gene's originals, and if you heard one Gene Vincent song, you've basically heard them all. Forget that, anyway, since I don't wanna mess around with Gene Vincent fanatics. Okay, if you want it, this version may just as well suck in comparison to the original, depending on your personal tastes, but I dig it - the echoey guitars, the stuttering drumming that sometimes seems to be falling out of nowhere, the raspy vocals and the brilliant retro guitar solos really make this one thump and pump.
Meanwhile, a lot of formerly fast boppy numbers are slowed down - amazingly, for the most part it's done to good effect: Chuck Berry's 'You Can't Catch Me', the song that started the whole business with this album, is transformed into a lengthy, moody, nearly hypnotic jazz shuffle, and 'Sweet Little Sixteen' is practically unrecognizable with its huge funky brass onslaught and slow, rhythmic driving wah-wah. But the grooves are constructed very well, all based on megalithic repetitive riffs that help you go along with the business, and John sings at the top of his lungs, adding on a supplementary battery. But no, forget it, I won't even try to mention all the tracks on here - there's too many of them. Let's just have a short run through my personal favs. These include 'Slippin' And Slidin', driven by rollickin' piano a la Little Richard's original and cheerful bizarre saxes; the hard-rockin' 'Bony Moronie' with that unbelievable riffage; the acutely-pointed vocals on the medley 'Bring It On Home To Me/Send Me' (with the great intonation on the line 'don't you know I miss you so MUUUUCH? My - eek! - days - eek! - so lonely'; surely it betrays John's longings for Yoko?) and the best of all - the great ballad 'Stand By Me' which has obviously become a classic, seeing as it has been included in the Collection. It sounds like pure John, in fact (the real author's name escapes me now), and whoever it is dedicated to, be it Yoko, May Pang or any other chick, it does sound frighteningly emotional. The guitar solo punctuates it a lot, too.
Letdowns? Only one in the closing 'Just Because' which is too slow even for this album, and the production finally gets completely overboard. It's different from the rest in that it's neither energetic nor danceable - a dragging 'soul' groove, in which case its being repetitive simply cannot work to the song's advantage. A rather unpleasant end to a great bunch of tunes. Indeed, I dropped the record one point for that. (You mean I actually wanted to give it a 9? Hmm... well, actually no. Guess I just imagined I dropped this point. But it is indeed as good as Walls And Bridges, and it's certainly much more of a pleasant surprise).
So - right, ladies and gentlemen, this is a very entertaining listen. It's retro to the bone, keeping in mind the song selection, and yet it's pure Lennon, keeping in mind the way he adjusts this stuff to his own personality. Don't let the album cover fool you - he may be standing there in some Hamburg club being about twenty years old and all, but this isn't even close to the kind of stuff the Fab Four were playing in all these clubs. That was sloppy, muddy, fast and intoxicating; this is professional, crisp, slow and moody. And I really don't give a damn which of the two you prefer the most, but I place my two cents on this one. At least you never can tell what the next track will be sounding like!
And if you really liked this one, be sure to pick up Menlove Ave., too - it has some more outtakes from the same sessions, including a couple self-penned numbers that would have easily fit on here if not for the stupid authorship problem.

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Josh <[email protected]> (15.07.99)

Lennon was all but forced to do an album of covers as a lawsuit settlement. It wasn't because he was running out of ideas (or maybe he was - it was the Lost Weekend).

<[email protected]> (23.05.2000)

A very entertaining album, though John's singing starts to get monotonous after a while. He's sings in the same range on every song. I particularly enjoy 'Ain't That A Shame,' 'Peggy Sue,' and the Little Richard medley ('Rip It Up' and 'Ready Teddy').
Josh is right about the lawsuit story. You might notice that the first couple of lines to 'Come Together' show up in the middle of 'You Can't Catch Me.' Morris Levy, who owned the publishing rights to that song, let John know that he considered this to be copyright infringement. To avoid a lawsuit, John agreed to record some songs owned by Levy.
The original sessions for this album took place at the end of 1973 (almost right after the recording of Mind Games, so we can't expect him to have had much new material at this point), and were produced by Phil Spector. Then, suddenly, Spector went into hiding and took the tapes with him. While John tried to get them back, he went about recording Walls And Bridges. Right after that album was finished (again, no time to come up with a lot of new songs), he went back into the studio to record some more songs for the oldies album, this time handling the production himself. At some point in late 1974, John gave Levy a copy of the masters. Then, in early Feb. 1975, a mail-order album appeared called Roots which sported 15 of the tracks recorded (Rock 'n' Roll has only 13). This album was on the Adam VIII label. The album notes claim authorization from Lennon and Apple. Not only was this authorization denied, but Apple rush-released Rock 'n' Roll by the end of the month to curtail sales of Roots. The Apple album, however, includes only four of the six Spector-produced tracks found on the other album ('You Can't Catch Me,' 'Sweet Little Sixteen,' 'Bony Moronie' and 'Just Because'). The Adam VIII album also includes 'Angel Baby' and 'Be My Baby,' both of which have surfaced in recent years. There are also some longer fade-outs on Roots, and in the case of 'You Can't Catch Me,' the opening lines appear where they belong, and were edited into the middle of the song for the Apple release (perhaps to distract us from their connection to 'Come Together'?)

Year Of Release: 1980
Record rating = 9
Overall rating = 13

A brilliant collection of peaceful introspective songs. You can almost feel him telling it to you person...
Best song: no, this time I really don't know. Not DEAR YOKO, but that's all I can suggest

Almost five years passed since the 'return to roots', and things have changed a bit. John threw away his guitar and devoted himself to his family. And I really don't know what made him pick up that instrument once more, but one thing is for certain: the layoff period really did him good. Not that he managed to solve all of his difficulties - the bitterness of 'I'm Losing You' is still unmatched - but the overall mood of the album is still extremely peaceful, contented and loving if compared to almost any of his previous efforts (well, maybe Imagine comes a little close). Unfortunately, the reconciliation with Yoko also led to her playing an active part - in fact, she is credited as a full-time partner on here, throwing in half of the songs which she supposedly wrote herself. Out of this stuff, only the guitar-heavy 'I'm Moving On' can stand the test of time; lame fast New Waveish filler like 'Give Me Something', dated cabaret crap like 'Yes I'm Your Angel', trippy anti-war songs like 'Beautiful Boys', disco filler like 'Every Man Needs A Woman To Love Him',  and anthems a la 1972 ('Hard Times Are Over'), all adorned by her 'beautiful' singing voice and orgasm-imitating screams, just don't go anywhere at all.
There is one good thing, though: bad as they might be, they only serve to make the seven Lennon tunes all the more beautiful. Indeed, they are so breath-taking that I didn't hesitate to give the record such a high rating. He does go for a rather light, pleasant, and probably commercial sound, but some of the tracks still rock out, and anyway, I don't think he made them sound commercial on intention. He was just in a peaceful mood and created some of the loveliest ballads on the planet. 'Dear Yoko' is the only track on here that somewhat approaches 'lightweight', with its disco synth riff; but it's groovy, danceable and inspired, and certainly better than the repetitive prayer of 'Oh Yoko' on Imagine. And the others? Wow, they rule without any compromise. '(Just Like) Starting Over' opens the record with a sound of ticking bells (on a toaster?) which certainly reflects his newly-found household freedom, and it's a beautiful romantic song carried along with a mighty bouncing riff. The melody is something special, too! You've never heard a melody that great and you'll probably never hear one like that again... 'Cleanup Time' is another ode to peaceful and quiet life, graced by some splendid vocal harmonies and guitarwork. 'I'm Losing You' is another masterpiece: a tearing riff introduces the most angry and bitter song on here. I wonder if that was an outtake from the Walls And Bridges sessions? Complaining about losing Yoko at that time sounded rather dated, I confess. So I really feel puzzled about that song, but listening to it still makes me cry: it's one of the most convincing attempts at picturing the emotions one feels when he's losing somebody dear. The lyrics are clever, the singing is top-knotch, and the instrumental passage manages to increase the tension to a redhot level. And John also holds the side closer: 'Beautiful Boy', an ode to his son Sean, is certainly the most gentle and loving song ever written by a father about his son. Plus, it includes the greatest line of all time: 'When you cross the street, take my hand/Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans'. Somehow people often omit the fact that John was a great poet - not just a great composer.
On side B, John continues his marathon with 'Watching The Wheels', slightly less intense musicwise but containing some sincere lyrics in which he explains the reasons he quit music for such a long time; states his love for Yoko in the absolutely gorgeous ballad 'Woman' (this is where his genius shows itself in its most bright form: somehow he manages to transform a potentially banal and routine pop song into a heavenly chant bringing tears to one's eyes); and ends up with the already mentioned 'Dear Yoko'. Unfortunately, the album ends in two Yokosungs, but my advice is just skip them. They're not worth it. Oh, okay, they may be worth listening, but having to listen to all that mediocre stuff alongside John's gems was always a huge bore to me. Especially before the CD age, when I recycled these songs in my Walkman and didn't dare to push the 'fast forward' button so as not to waste my batteries... But enough about me. If you don't own this album (or at least the John Lennon Collection which has most of these songs), you basically know nothing about John Lennon. Fate has it that he was shot less than a month after its release - and note: not a month earlier or half a year later, but exactly when it came out! Fate? The punishing hand of some deity? Ah, who knows what... forget it again. I'm not going to speculate on the situation. I'll only say this: each time I hear this album it makes me wanna cry. Even if it's so jolly and peaceful... hell, because it's so jolly and peaceful. Maybe if he'd been shot by some FBI crook after Sometime In New York City, it wouldn't have turned out so sad...

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Simon Hearn <[email protected]> (09.09.99)

Hmmm. I always have said to any new listener, who doesn't own a Lennon album - "got get Imagine and Plastic ono band". I have to change my opinion. IT is a few months since I listened to this in its entirety and I have to say listening to it again has made my think that this is the best of his solo efforts.
'Watching the Wheels' is absolutely terrific - haunting, moving and at the same time it has a hopeful quality. Of course, 'woman' is a great track and shows Lennon as a guy who is not afraid to lay his emotions bare for all to see (owners of plastic ono band will know this only too well). I also love 'Beautiful Boy' - a song which makes my hair stand on end. All in all a class album deserving the 9, but now in my opinion, a 10.

Cara Bradbury <[email protected]> (27.03.2000)

Great album , but if you've already got the John Lennon Collection and don't like Yoko's songs too much ( they fill half the album ) I wouldn't bother buying it . The only different song on here is ' Cleanup time ' . But if you don't have the John Lennon Collection then go , go , go and buy Double Fantasy. The seven Lennon songs on here are fab .

<[email protected]> (23.05.2000)

Of course, buying The John Lennon Collection instead of Double Fantasy means not having 'Cleanup Time,' which would be more than just a missing song. It's arguably the strongest track on the album. It gets a good run for its money from 'Dear Yoko' (damn that's catchy stuff!) and 'Watching The Wheels.' I also enjoy 'Beautiful Boy' (he sounds more like a big teddy bear than a teddy boy, wouldn't you say?) and 'I'm Losing You' (the middle part melody is fantastic). The only Lennon song on here that doesn't quite do it for me is the drastically over-rated 'Woman.' I realize it's heartfelt and everything, but it's just so melodically unexceptional.
Then there's the Yoko stuff. I think her songwriting had improved over the years, but technically speaking, it still wasn't that great. However, the arrangements on her songs make all the difference. If you just pay attention to the arrangement of 'Beautiful Boys,' for instance, and ignore the flawed piece of songwriting that it actually is, it turns out to be a pretty amazing piece of music. This is the case with most of Yoko's tunes on here. While I like some more than others, I can't actually say that I dislike any of them. And even though some of them sound a bit dated now, they all seemed a lot more daring to my ears back in 1980 than any of the Lennon material on here.

Rich Bunnell <[email protected]> (31.07.2000)

I agree-- who cares about the Yoko songs? I get about fifteen seconds into "Kiss Kiss Kiss" and decide not to listen to a single second of her material for the rest of the album. Maybe there're only seven Lennon tunes, and thus most rational CD listenes will only program their CD for seven of the fourteen tracks. This is fine, because despite the fact that this gives you only approximately twenty-five minutes of Lennon material, it's ALL ace and makes up for the relative ripoff that this album might seem like. "(Just Like) Starting Over" is a gorgeously harmonized '50s-style hit single, "I'm Losing You" has a great weary guitar lick (why the hell does Prindle hate this song?), "Beautiful Boy" is pretty and memorable, and....well....all of Lennon's songs are amazing. Full-sounding, produced, these are seven pop masterpieces. I follow the exact same logic as you in that thanks to Yoko's songs the album can't achieve a 10, but it's still great enough to receive a very solid 9/10. What awesome songs!!!

Glenn Wiener <[email protected]> (23.10.2000)

John should have known better to let Yoko contribute her crappy songs to this album. John should have tried to write about three more. Than this would have been a recording that rivaled Imagine. But no he had to do the fifty fifty deal with his much less talented partner. Actually 'I'm Moving On' is pretty darn good as it follows the pattern of 'I'm Losing You' quite nicely. All of John's songs are fairly pleasant. However 8 winners out of 14 just don't cut it for me.

m.miller1 <[email protected]> (07.12.2000)

I dont consider this a proper album. I combine the lennon tracks of M&H with these, and make a really excellent final JL album. I cant stand Yoko Ono, she irritates me greatly, call me a snob but I just cant listen to her "music" - its crap, there's no getting around it. My oh my, the times John must have laughed inwardley at Yokos insane babble. He must have been making this album with her for a laugh. To me it seriously taints the ease with which I can listent to the often brilliant final recordings of Johns.
Many critics had a go at him for producing banal pop rubbish, but I enjoy that aspect of this album. All the songs are great pop, and in 'watching the wheels' you had a great lyric also, but you cant help feel a little irate at the hypocracy of it. Lennon had continuously attacked Paul for making such music, and yet here he was singing all lovey-dovey about his woman. You'd think that people would have had enough of silly love songs - obviously not john, "and what's wrong with that?" as a certain Mccartney once said.

Year Of Release: 1984
Record rating = 5
Overall rating = 9

Some good outtakes and some more dated Yoko crap.
Best song: I'M STEPPING OUT

And thus commences the lengthy story of Yoko Ono publishing archive Lennon material. It culminated this year, of course, with the release of the 4 CD Anthology, but I'd bet you anything she still has lots of this stuff under her pillow - after all, she's not supposed to die right after spending all the Anthology royalties, ain't she? Be sure to expect Anthology-II in a couple of years!
This album isn't supposed to look like an 'archive document', by the way. It's rather supposed to look like Double Fantasy Vol. 2: the songs were mostly worked on by John in 1980, and once again, half of the songs are Yokosungs. This time, though, they are totally unlistenable and remind me of the happy 'experimental days'. 'Sleepless Night' could have been a nice tune, but only without Yoko's gimmicks and without Yoko's voice. The others couldn't have been saved by God Almighty.
As for John's contributions, they seem significantly weaker than the ones on Fantasy, but I still think it's mostly because of their underarranged condition and low production value. Any proof? I have heard lots of DF outtakes and demos that sounded like stupid clumsy crap; who'd ever have guessed they would turn into brilliant songs in their finished form? Certainly not me. The songs on Milk And Honey, on the other hand, do have that same feeling about them - simple chord sequences, sincere and emotional lyrics, and an overall 'genuine' look to them. Which is even more sad, since it clearly shows John wasn't yet at the end of his rope when the fatal shot rang. 'I'm Stepping Out' is a nice boogie which probably uses a metaphor to showcase John's return to the public eye, and even if it sounds slightly disco, I don't mind, because it's full of guitars and pretty things like that. 'I Don't Wanna Face It' is good, too, continuing the subject of 'Watching The Wheels'; 'Borrowed Time' and 'Grow Old With Me' are fairly pretty little pop ditties, and the latter could even become a great personal lovin' anthem, like 'Woman', but the murky sound eliminates that possibility. But in general - these are good songs! You just have to dig into them, or, better still, lie down on your back, face the sky, count the larks and try to imagine the way John could have released them on an album if he were left alive. At least, this is a better way of spending your time than listening to Alanis Morrisette or Puff Daddy.
Who knows what direction rock music could have taken if John were still alive? Would he be engulfed in the craziness of Eighties/Nineties electronic pop, or would he, on the other hand, pioneer some new development? Who of John's pals were putting out such terrific music in 1980? Paul with his unlistenable synth experimentations? George - with his preachy dance music? Maybe the Stones with their disco craze? Or the dying out Who? Nah. Nobody. One has to admit it, Double Fantasy/Milk And Honey (well, at least the 'potential' Milk And Honey) were the last truly timeless classics by any rock 'dinosaur'. Much as I hate the word, I still have to admit it. I enjoy some of the Stones' 1980s-1990-s records, but gimme 'I'm Losing You' and 'Woman' over Bridges To Babylon and Voodoo Lounge any time of day...

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<[email protected]> (25.05.2000)

I guess the result of sharing Double Fantasy with Yoko was that John had a lot of extra songs lying around. I'm glad she decided to release these, as they're all pretty darned good (except maybe 'My Little Flower Princess' which seems pretty thin). 'Nobody Told Me' is damned infectious, even if the chorus is a jumbled mess. My favorite, however, would have to be 'Grow Old With Me' since it sports one of John's most beautiful melodies. I also think the demo turned out to be a good way to release this, since it's a song about growing old and sounds sort of antiquated like a 78 record. Yoko's songs don't hold up as well as on Double Fantasy. This may have something to do with Jack Douglas not being involved as a producer. There is a bit of interesting atmosphere on some of her tracks, but most of the songwriting is thoroughly unexceptional. In particular, 'O' Sanity' is pretty much a throwaway. And I actually feel a little guilty not liking 'Let Me Count The Ways,' since it's obviously very heartfelt and the lyrics are pretty good in spots. But, as far as the melody goes, it makes me think of drawings made by children. We applaud the 5-year-old for coming up with the piece of creativity, but when the 45-year-old comes up with something equivalent, we go to the yellow pages to look up mental health professionals.
As far as the direction music would have taken had Lennon lived, I strongly suspect it would be pretty much what it is. First of all, musicians don't tend to be particularly trendsetting once they hit their forties. And secondly, John Lennon, as consistent as his songwriting was, had stopped being innovative years before he died.

Year Of Release: 1986
Record rating = 4
Overall rating = 8

More obscure outtakes. Some hidden gems, but most of these songs you know already.
Best song: HERE WE GO AGAIN

Another cash-in - this time released the same year as Live In New York City (Yoko must have been buying a new house or a couple Boings). What it contains is mainly outtakes from around 1974-75. Side A is all dedicated to outtakes from the Rock'n'Roll sessions, most of which you probably haven't heard before unless you're a bootlegger, while side B has some Walls And Bridges outtakes from songs you already know by heart if you ever sat through that one.
Which, in sum, gives us five new songs and five old outtakes. Not a great deal, but still, something to get interested in. It's also interesting how the two sides contrast with each other: the first five tracks sound like finished songs, most of them with Phil Spector's 'wall-of-sound', while the latter five tracks all sound raw and rarely have anything significant besides Lennon's guitar and some drums or pianos. Or whistles. Oh yes, and he's singing on all of them, too. I should have mentioned that.
Out of the five new tracks, I like 'Here We Go Again', with the masterfully produced 'circular' rhythm and gradual mounting of tension; and 'Angel Baby' is a beautiful ballad featuring one of the most bombastic arrangements ever heard on a Lennon song. The other three songs are significantly weaker: Elvis' 'My Baby Left Me' is treated as a singalong slow choir number and was quite justly expelled from the original record, Spector's own 'To Know Her Is To Love You' is just sooooo slow, bombastic and mastodontic that even John was probably afraid of the final result; and finally, John's own 'Rock And Roll People' is a good, but somewhat clumsy piece of boogie-woogie which you really don't need.
Side B just isn't worth discussing: all the outtakes are significantly inferior to the finished product, even if they sometimes feature different lyrics (the 'gross' verses on 'Steel And Glass', for example), and they don't interest even me - so they certainly won't interest you. Surely Yoko could have released something more worthwhile? Nah, this is probably her commercial strategy. Oh well - we all have to gain money, don't we? So don't hurry, and you'll be able to milk this cow until the end of the 21st century. If you live that long.

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<[email protected]> (25.05.2000)

Definitely for Lennonphiles only. Most of the tracks on side one are fully produced but not the best songs, while side two is basically The John Lennon Anthology, but focusing only on Walls And Bridges. I still enjoy several tracks, however, notably 'Rock And Roll People' (it's good to hear Lennon's own version of this track, which he gave away to Johnny Winter), 'Steel And Glass' (even a working version is worthwhile) and 'Here We Go Again' (which is interesting but not that great). I don't think there's anything terribly wrong with the rest of this stuff, but it should have been saved for the Anthology/Wonsaponatime project. And my, but that Phil Spector fellow sure knows how to glop on tons of production, doesn't he?

Teresa Juarez Guzman <[email protected]> (26.11.2000)

Probably, I'm the only person around willing to sit through this product again and again. My thoughts on "To know her..." are enough to defend the whole record as a must for music seekers of John Lennon through his crazy sessions in 1974: it surely reflects (looong and bluuuesy as it is; non pleasant for the ears but, damn, it shows a lot of passion!) the hurtful need for acceptance. After this, we get alternative versions (the best for sure, just compare the corny "Walls and Bridges"' number three track to the masterful, wistful Lennon-Nilsson's "Old Dirt Road" included in this compilation: all you need is waterrr... without those dated effects in the final take... ) of "Scared" (without the stupid howl), "Nobody Loves You (When You're Down And Out", "Steel And Glass" and "Bless You" (again, without the overproduced final take.) My argument? Because these were the first versions I ever listened, they've grown fond to me, independently (because?...) of their direct, more natural approach. It sure isn't a 10, nor a 9. But it's still very emotional and that means a lot to me, and I cannot rate my emotions easily. Or maybe I can. Dylan's Time Out Of Mind made me cry for about half an hour, and that would rate it above from Menlove Avenue!... Seriously: this (and Dylan's too!) is a fine album destined to a record collection for a lost weekend.  

Year Of Release: 1998
Record rating = 8
Overall rating = 12

A surprisingly effective collection of outtakes and other stuff.
Best song: GOD SAVE OZ

Well now lookey here! Yoko can be financial and clever all at once! I originally wrote that Lennon Anthology off as soon as I heard about it. Which is no surprise: after all these half-lame outtake collections, four CDs of new material sounded fairly suspicious. And indeed, I really don't know whether the whole box set is as promising as this shorter, 21-track selection (I'll still be looking for it - but can't promise anything for the near future). But on here, the songs mostly work. There are some embarrassments, sure enough (like a fairly muddy and unpleasant take on 'I Found Out' - they sure could have picked out something more convincing), but they're really minor embarrassments. On the other hand, we get presented with a couple of wonderful demo versions which are even better than the finished songs, and this is more than I can say about, for instance, the Beatles' Anthology. The short acoustic demo of 'What You Got', for example, suggests that the song could have developed into something more pleasant than the clumsy pre-punk sound on Walls And Bridges. And the versions of 'Be Bop A Lula' and 'Rip It Up/Ready Teddy' are generic, fire-breathing rockabilly at its best - without all the horns and multiple overdubs that constituted the atmosphere of Rock'n'Roll. A solid alternative to the originally released numbers, even if not necessarily superior (I kinda miss the horns in 'Rip It Up' sometimes, yeah, I'm apparently that cheese-based guy next door, but don't sue me, I do think Phil Spector is one of the few producers who really knows how not to misuse the horn section).
Earlier outtakes are just plain fun. Notice, for instance, how in 'God' he doesn't insert that famous 'dead end' after screaming the line 'I don't believe in Beatles!' and just goes on screaming in the same key: 'I just believe in me! Yoko and me! And that's reality!' You can actually see his working process that way, because, for sure, the final result was much more intriguing. And how about an organ-based version of 'Imagine'? Later outtakes are curious: 'I'm Losing You' with loud distorted guitars? Even though I far prefer the original version, this is at least novel. Groovy! There's also a version of 'Real Love', yet untampered with colleague Beatles' efforts and Jeff Lynne's boomy production (although I think it was previously available on some official compilation, but I'm not sure whether it was exactly the same version). There's a great live version of 'Woman Is The Nigger Of The World' which doesn't exactly co-incide with the one on Live In NYC (if I understand correctly, this one's from the second show, or vice versa). Oh God, why couldn't all of John's misguided political rantings be at least half as convincing as that particular anthem? My, my...
And, finally, there's a really sweaty take on 'Baby Please Don't Go' which we originally only had in a live version (marred by Yoko's screeches, too). It's really amazing how John could take one of the dumbest blues numbers in existence - possessing a grand total of two or three different lyrical lines - and grace it with such a bitter emotional edge. Which, once again, proves the theory that blues is only worth what the actual performer puts in it rather than on its own. Well, it turns out that even if the entire song just repeats 'you know I love you baby please don't go, you know I need you baby please don't go' for ages, in the hands and vocal chords of such an ace performer as John this can reach a climactic effect.Yeah, there's indeed a lot of stuff you shouldn't hesitate to waste your money on.
And, there are some new songs here! 'God Save Oz' probably dates from his 'political' fase, but it's so much better and funnier than most of the stuff on STINYC that it really makes me wonder... 'Only You' is a so-so ballad and not even a John original (wasn't it first tried by the Platters?), which is further proved by the fact that John ended up giving it to Ringo - hear a glammified version of that one on Mr Starkey's Goodnight Vienna. But 'Serve Yourself' is a really strange piece. It claims to be a parody on Dylan's 'Gotta Serve Somebody', and so it seems - in the beginning. Later on, however, it begins to degenerate into a furious, frenzied solo acoustic rocker with horribly obscene lyrics, obviously improvised. It looks like John was terribly pissed off at something, and it could hardly have been just Dylan. In fact, I even feel uncomfortable about listening to this flow of obscenity directed at no-one in particular, and I admire Yoko's spirit in that she decided to throw this on to the general public. Listening to this song, you really become aware of John's dangerous potential. Oh, well. There's a hooligan deep inside everybody, I guess.
The only serious disaster on this selection is tracks from Milk And Honey that have been obviously touched up after John's demise (again?). The orchestral arrangements on 'Grow Old With Me', for example, are in very odd contrast with the song itself which still sounds like a patchy, muddy demo. Lame. Also, I'm not terribly moved at these short spoken links inserted now and then, like 'A kiss is just a kiss' or John telling his son a story about how he fell down from the sky in a cardboard box. Maybe it works better on the box set, but here it sounds somewhat out of place. But, like I said, these are only minor misses. Any true fan of Lennon will certainly get a lot of enjoyment out of this selection. And to think these songs and outtakes have been hidden from us for years! But I guess I'm too hard on Yoko, blaming her for stuff she's released and for stuff she hadn't released. Maybe I should just shut up.

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<[email protected]> (01.06.2000)

I think this release was a pretty good idea, as it brings together the best (or so it seems) tracks from The John Lennon Anthology and puts them on one CD. I do think most of the better tracks were used, but there are a few instances where I would have chose differently. It seems a shame that 'I'm The Greatest' wasn't included, since it was probably the best Lennon song that wasn't released by Lennon. For those out there interested in trivial details, 'I'm Losing You' is the version in which Lennon is backed up by Cheap Trick. Also, 'God Save Oz' was released by the Elastic Oz Band under the title 'God Save Us' with Bill Elliott singing lead. Chronologically, it shows up between the 'Power To The People' single and the Imagine album. The b-side shows up on the Anthology, and is called 'Do The Oz', and is sung by John and Yoko (even on the record).
Overall, I think this is a pretty enjoyable CD. Some tracks sound pretty close to the official versions, but at least they're not over-arranged the way they were on Mind Games and Walls And Bridges.

mjcarney <[email protected]> (22.07.2000)

Basically, this isn't a bad summary of the 4 disc boxed set.  I don't own this, but own the boxed set, and I would say that this is average, but of course it is missing most of the best songs from the boxed set.  The biggest disapointment on this is the missing of "Imagine(Live)" which is instead replaced by the interesting, yet unrewarding 'Imagine Take one' (which is inferior to the original).  'Imagine Live' is breathtaking, just Lennon alone with an acoustic, it is for me what the song should have been, more folky rather than a piano ballad.  The disc is also missing most of Lennon's unreleased demo's from Disc 4 of the set.  "Dear John" "Life Begins at 40" and "The Happi Rishi Kesh Song" (for humor's sake) would have been great on here rather than the overly done "Grow Old With Me","I'm Losing You" and "Woman is the Nigger of the World (Live).  I mean--why do we need another version of that last song live when the one on Live in NYC is already far superior.  Of course some songs from disc one are missing too, but that is why it is only a one disc sampler.  It is pretty good, but I know for me that I would end up wanting the boxed set after hearing this disc making the disc completely useless in the long run.  If it had the anthologies best tracks, it would be all you would really need in the less expensive route, but as it is it can't get anything better than a 5/10--you will just want to hear more.

Year Of Release: 1989

A good place to start with your Lennon. This one replaces the out-of-print Shaved Fish which had the advantage of including 'Mother' and 'Woman Is The Nigger Of The World'. This one has neither, yet it does include much of the significant stuff, like 'Mind Games', 'Love', 'Dream #9', 'Whatever Gets You Thru The Night', 'Imagine' and 'Stand By Me'. Plus, it has all but one of the Lennon originals on Double Fantasy ('Cleanup Time' has been probably omitted, since it was not unjustly feared that fans would skip the original Double Fantasy in that case. No offense, Mrs Ono Lennon) - great fun. Next, there are some significant singles which you should never live without: 'Give Peace A Chance', 'Cold Turkey' (a bitter 1969 anti-drug ditty with some effective Primal Screaming; by the way, funny enough, it is still credited to Lennon/McCartney, even if the only thing McCartney had to do with it was placing his veto on it appearing on a Beatles album), the magnificent cosmic rocker 'Instant Karma', the famous anthem 'Power To The People' (one of the few Lennon peace anthems that actually works) and the spirit-raising 'Happy Xmas (War Is Over)'. Lastly, the collection boasts an obscure B-side - 'Move Over Ms L' is another Rock'n'Roll outtake. It doesn't go anywhere much in particular, although it's at least better than 'Rock And Roll People', but it makes the collection a must for completists. When will those record companies be run by honest and generous people?

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<[email protected]> (01.06.2000)

Even casual fans who aren't completists should buy one of the Lennon compilations, if only to make sure they own 'Cold Turkey,' 'Instant Karma' and 'Happy Xmas' - three of his greatest songs. Not to mention 'Power To The People,' which is pretty strong, and 'Give Peace A Chance,' which is not terribly impressive but nevertheless historical. For those who are completists, well, you gotta have The John Lennon Collection in order to include 'Move Over Ms. L' in your collection. No other CD has it. Incidentally, four of the songs on the CD are bonus tracks not included on the original LP: the aforementioned 'Move Over Ms. L,' 'Cold Turkey,' 'Happy Xmas,' and 'Stand By Me.'
For those who want every Lennon recording, however, you still need to find Imagine: John Lennon, the CD that accompanied the film of the same name. This includes an acoustic guitar demo of 'Real Love' and Lennon demonstrating 'Imagine' for the first time to the session musicians. (It also includes several Beatles tracks.) And for those who want every odd mix of every Lennon track, you'd still need to find Shaved Fish, since there's an edited mix of 'Give Peace A Chance' which is erroneously listed as the first half of a 'medley' with 'Cold Turkey' (which is included in its complete form). There's also an experpt of a live 'Give Peace A Chance' which is superimposed onto the end of 'Happy Xmas.' Also.....Lennon Legend includes the single edit of 'Mother.'
P.S. Just as a correction, 'Give Peace A Chance' was the song credited to both Lennon and McCartney - not 'Cold Turkey.' In fact, I think Paul's rejection of the latter song was part of Lennon's impetus for keeping his name off of it.

Year Of Release: 1990

The video of the famous Toronto 'Live Peace' concert. There's also an album with the whole concert, which I reviewed above - I actually got the album after the video, so pardon my being a little repetitive. The band is nice, with Klaus Voormann on base, Clapton on lead guitar, and future Yes drummer Alan White, but the material is unrehearsed and sloppy. They do perform a couple of driving numbers (especially 'Yer Blues' and 'Money', re-capturing some of the old live Beatles magic), but overall this is rather dull, and the final 'experimental' groove with Yoko is simply nasty. Strange enough, the best moments on the video are some energetic performances by old rock'n'rollers at the beginning of the festival, most notably Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard (and you can find these performances on videos of their own). So really, no need to engage.

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Year Of Release: 1992

Probably meant as a visual companion to the CD of the same name, this one features lots of musical videos, set to John songs. The only live number is a final run-through of 'Imagine' at some kind of party which I'm still not able to identify; the band that backs up John is clad in two-side masks, probably denoting society's ambiguity (?). All the other clips are quite nice, even though there just wasn't enough footage to make them all entirely different: towards the end, you can find footage you've already seen once or even twice. Highlights include:  a very psycho 'Mind Games' with John going on the streets dressed as a scarecrow, footage of the recording of 'Stand By Me' and 'Slippin' And Slidin'' (okay, so these are probably live in the studio, too), and 'Whatever Gets You Thru The Night' set to some animated Lennon drawings. Letdowns include an overlong 'Give Peace A Chance', although it's really the song that's overlong, not the clip, a murky 'Cold Turkey' and the general monotonous atmosphere. Recommended only for huge fans, but for huge fans heavily recommended.

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