REVIEWS:
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COMMENTS
a warrior, a poet , a rebel, a husband, a political leader,a father, and a hero. he will always be the man who created imagine.
thank you critics on the internet for reviewing the john lennon albums well if paul is the biggest sap in the music world to critics he is sappy! TOOOOOO many ballads! not much rock! AHHHHHHHHHH^*^(*^(^)^)^)^)*^)*^)*^)(*^(*$)$)%(_%)$)$*$*(^$(*^$*(%(^)(^)^*)&)__)*_)*+*_+ well no more rantings john lennon is #1 i garuntee well double fantasy or DF for short has all the cool lennon tunes and the wierd yoko tracks well some times i think she IS strange despite all that john is the leader of the world and if you think that is cliche don't ask but 1984's milk and honey is weak anywho THANK U!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think, that John Lennon was the best singer in the world !!!
(Casey Brennan's review)
This was John Lennon's first real solo album, since the three experimental albums he and Yoko released during the period of 1968-69 didn't really contain songs. Released only a year after The Beatles parted ways, Plastic Ono Band already shows John as a superb solo artist with his own voice. Basically, this release is the outcome of the traumatic primal therapy sessions that the couple took during the course of 1970. These sessions, which made John deal with the pain he endured as a child and teen, ended up being let out in his anguished songwriting. Consequently, the record has a high abundance of emotion and anger pouring through it, as John sings about how he felt abandoned by his father Freddy who left him at age 5, and the sadness felt by the death of his mom at age 18.
Both of these events are covered in the emotional opener "Mother", which starts off with a distant churchbell, before a simple melody backed by a sparse arrangement of just piano, bass, and drums comes in and gives the song an effective treatment. The screams at the end of this track highlight the tune, as they are carried out with such force and passion. The rest of the album follows in the same way with some of the most simplest melodies you'll ever hear on a Lennon album. "Hold On" is the 'cutest' of the bunch, with its quiet and restrained guitar-sound, and an odd John(?) saying the word 'cookie' in a monster-like voice before the last verse.
Meanwhile, "I Found Out" is a harsh rocker with biting lyrics and intense, thumping drums by the one and only Ringo Starr, who makes his appearance on drums throughout the record. The choppy guitar sound of this song is replaced by a folky acoustic guitar on the Bob-Dylanish "Working Class Hero", which is a heavy protest song dealing with politics on society. The emotional solitude of "Isolation" and heartfelt "Love" are two other highlights here, as the former is fueled by an engaging piano and breathtaking bridge, while the latter is a beautiful ballad with up-front vocals by John and an incredible piano melody played by producer Phil Spector. The acoustic and tender "Look At Me", which sounds like it could have come off of the White Album is also quite good, with its down-to-earth acoustic melody. The second hard rocker of the album, "Well Well Well" has some more effective Lennon growls, as he screams 'well' over and over again during the instrumental break as if his life depends on it. I've never heard a scream so menacing and great in my life before.
The most grand statement of all though would have to be "God", which is an honest confession from John that blows down all hopes of The Beatles staying together, when he says the dream of what was the Beatles is over. This striking and melodic piano tune breaks the myth down and tells the world of his new rebirth, truly a powerful way to end this honest album. "My Mummy's Dead" is a childlike forty-second ditty that comes as a nice afterthought to this song. The only slightly weak song would have to be "Remember" which seems to take a little too long to get to the cheerful bridge, although still a fine tune. The plaintive beauty and simple nature of the tunes, make the statements on this album all the more effective and powerful; definitely the strongest solo outing by John Lennon.
A note for Didier Dumonteil who called me "the second guy" -- basically I wrote the positive review of Imagine because I don't really think it's inferior to Plastic Ono Band. Different? Yes. Inferior? No. Frankly, I think the criticism of Imagine is one of tone -- the critics can't imagine how an album can engage the subject matter of Plastic Ono Band without being extremely solemn throughout. As for your examples of confessional albums -- they're great, I just wanted to say that I think it's getting rare to do stuff like that, these days. Your examples are of classic albums. And I agree with you that Plastic Ono Band should get a 10. So let's look at it, with special emphasis on what it says:
"Mother" gets to John's reflection upon the broken home that raised him, and the locus of emotional feeling that resided in him when he wrote the song. "Mother" contains a precious lyric: "Mother/ You had me/ But I never had you." This is a great line of reasoning to send in a Christmas card to your favorite Randists or other varieties of rugged individualist Internet nerds who imagine themselves "sovereign individuals" (maybe because they can't get a date on Saturday night or something). Look, I can't get a date, either, but that doesn't cause ME to pretend that I didn't come out of a woman, that I wasn't raised in a family, I don't pretend that I chose my childhood guardians or the circumstances wherein I grew up and it doesn't mean I wasn't chosen by society to be the person who I am today. I dig the church bell at the beginning, too.
"Hold On" is John's best wishes to the world as it confronts him, very cool. "I Found Out" is a slap at the pretentiousness of the world that hides from its inner pain. "Working Class Hero" is a confrontation with the class basis of the capitalist world: "There's room at the top they are telling you still/ But first you must learn how to smile as you kill/ If you wat to be like the folks on the hill." This is something the social theorists in their ivory towers don't confront, the possibility that the escalator of social mobility (under capitalism) could in fact be one of the worst aspects of capitalist life. John would have understood whether that was true or not, since his own story of growing up would have fit nicely in one of Horatio Alger's books.
"Isolation" sums up John's preoccupation: "People say we got it made/ Don't they know we're so afraid," bordering on self-pity. "Remember" has a great tune, I guess the lyrics stand for a sort of memory, I'm not sure I know what it means, though I never understand most of my dreams either. "Love" and "Look At Me" (later in the album, after "Well Well Well") are soft, pretty tunes that leaves you floating, like "Oh My Love" on the "Imagine" album. "Well Well Well" is pretty mundane, I'd say to myself, when compared with the observations of the rest of the album. The screams at the end, though, seem to betray the attitude of "cool" at the beginning, that things are in fact not so cool. The album ends with "God," a rejection of devotion ("God is a concept/ By which we measure/ Our pain"), accompanied by a big list of things Lennon claims not to worship, and "My Mummy's Dead," the title explains the tune.
This album is the epitome of music as therapy. There are clearly enough high points in the therapy session to rate it a 10, as well. It's good therapy: jettison those ideological hangups, see society for what it is, peel off that steely exterior so you can be naked before yourself. It's also purposefully solemn throughout, and the choice to end the album with "My Mummy's Dead" seems to reinforce that choice. Robert Christgau's essay on Lennon in his book "Growing Up All Wrong," discusses how Lennon retooled his approach to pop music starting with the song "Julia" in the Beatles' White Album, and that Plastic Ono Band was the most essential of the later Lennon, though Imagine (Christgau says) was in some respects a better album, taking the approach to a new level by popularizing it.
I'll concede that the critics might not understand what it was all about if they hadn't heard Plastic Ono Band, but I challenge them to go back and listen to Imagine once again, maybe they can see the song "Crippled Inside" (for instance) as cut of the same therapeutic cloth. In short, therapy doesn't always have to be solemn. If "I Don't Want To Be A Soldier" (from Imagine) was a throw-away, then what was "Well Well Well"? Actually I don't think either tune was a throwaway. Sure, there are some tunes in Imagine that are mean, but didn't Lennon tell you in the Plastic Ono Band, and remind you again in parts of Imagine, that this is a world of mean people? (Not to mention some of the best songs of the White Album, "Happiness is a Warm Gun" for instance...) From "Isolation": "I don't expect you to understand/ After you caused so much pain/ But then again you're not to blame/ You're just a human/ A victim of the insane." Isolation is something you want to break out of, after all.
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COMMENTS
[email protected] (didier Dumonteil)
The plastic ono band came aside as a shock in 1970.I do think it deserves a 10.After this album,Lennon ,freed from his demons was never the same.But what an album!This evolution was logical:see Julia on the white.
When i first heard Lennon sing mother,i coulndn't help but being moved to tears(my own mother had passed away the year before)No artist has expressed so much with so little!
[this part of the comment was written before the second review:]
I wonder how much the second guy would have rated this.He awarded 10 to imagine,that was great ,but definitely inferior to the gutty realism of POB.A lot of artists try a hand at the confessional genre -it was a breakthrough at a time where artists were not in the me-trip,or were hiding behind metaphors (Dylan):Neil YOung's tonight's the night followed suit,it was a great album,but something was lacking,I 've been wondering why for many years and i think the main reason that Lennon had something to lose when he released his first solo work because he was regarded as a god.And God came down to pay a visit to mortals.This LP is on a par with the best Beatles LPs even if(because ) it's so different.
when i first heard this i thought well its good but not as good as every one says. But then i realized every song is good especially "Mother", "Working Class Hero", "Isolation" and God. A 10, but Imagine is just as good, probably better.
(Casey Brennan's review)
Phil Spector also helped produce this follow-up to the emotional Plastic Ono Band album. The title track alone became John's anthem, and is the biggest and most well-known hit of all from his post-Beatles career. The stately piano which introduces and runs through the song is pure beauty, and the orchestration flows magnificently with the optimistic and dreamy lyrics. This is definitely a genuine classic, but the gorgeously breathtaking "Jealous Guy" is just as great, maybe even more melodic than "Imagine". The lyrics are affectionate and the melody priceless, but the sweeping track also has some tuneful whistling towards the end.
The rest of the album doesn't quite hit these highs, but there are plenty of very worthwhile tunes with lyrics geared mostly towards his love for Yoko, or biting criticism towards ex-Beatle Paul (even the back cover is an obvious pun against Paul's Ram album). The tuneful rocker "How Do You Sleep?" is actually one big attack on Paul, with lyrics that criticize Pauls' new solo career: 'and since you've gone you're just another day'.. 'the sound you make is muzak to my ears'. This hardhitting tune rolls along steadily, with harsh lyrics that go along perfectly against the dramatic orchestration in the background.
Equally as great is the towering orchestrated ballad "How?" and the politicalized sarcasm of "Give Me Some Truth" (great lead guitar-work by Harrison on this one) which sounds like it was recorded in a large humid box. John is more sentimental on the enjoyable tune "Oh Yoko!", which has a little sing-a-long melody, and the lovely "Oh My Love", a delicate piano tune. Elsewhere, there is the honky-tonk styled "Crippled Inside" (an unassuming and catchy tune), the rough-edged and bluesy "It's So Hard" (which is backed by Japanese orchestration and some sax), and the lengthy "I Don't Want to be a Soldier" (the only offending track on the album).
What really makes the latter song banal is not so much the lame production as it is the uninteresting and thoughtless lyrics, which get redundant real fast. Nethertheless, these tunes show John in his prime musically, since many of the melodies are top-notch and, in most cases, the production job is just right. Since this was released during the era when John was most involved with liberal-minded politics, the follow-up would come out as a protest-inflected piece of work called Sometime In New York City.
Are rock musicians as introspective as Lennon was when he wrote Imagine? Anymore? I suppose there's Jackson Browne, he's still out there introspecting, but it isn't really quite the same... Tons of critical praise was heaped upon Lennon's Plastic Ono Band, but Imagine is IMHO just as good, or better. OK, the critics all love Joni Mitchell's album Blue, but I don't think Blue is close to being her best album, or even her most introspective. Whatever. I guess the critics listened to the sonorous piano of "Imagine," John's vision of a perfect world and all, and then from those heights they descended to the tone of the rest of the album. Hey! Maybe that's intentional!
OK, the tune on the next song "Crippled Inside" was jingly, kind of a ragtime, like he's making fun of neurotic people, but that tune is not all that nasty, not as nasty as he was on "How Do You Sleep?" which was a jab at Paul McCartney of course. And of course Richard Nixon, the probable target of "Give Me Some Truth," well, he deserved it... From "Jealous Guy" and "It's So Hard," you can tell that John was screwed up, from "I Don't Want To Be A Soldier" you can tell that he thought we're all screwed up (he's right of course), and then in "How?" John asked the real tough questions. Sometime in the next few years our appointed US President should also be asking himself, as John did, "How can I go forward if I don't know which way I'm facing?" Fat chance.
Tunes are all well-crafted, music you can party to, I guess John was trying to slip in his message subliminally while everyone was playing his records at cocktail parties. Bunch of guests played backup here, George Harrison played guitar on this one, it's thoroughly produced and all by John & Yoko & Phil Spector. A unique album.
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A 10, the best parts are far better then Plastic Ono Bands. The worst song is Oh Yoko, the lyrics suck real bad. But the melody is ok so the song is ok. But Jealous Guy is the best song hes ever done. BTW it was origanlly called "Child of Nature" and he wrote it during his india stay at the white album in 1968. If you search for it on Napster you can get the Beatles playing it during the Let it Be sessions. Anyway, the title track of course rules but what about "Give me Some Truth" (also from the Let it Be sessions)? What a classic. I like "How do You Sleep" alot as well. It is harsh though, mean as hell.
(reviewed by Samuel Fassbinder)
How I found this album: I found this album in a Wherehouse outlet in the used stacks about thirty miles from where I live. I had to do a lot of browsing only to stumble upon this one accidentally. I had to pay $22 to buy it, I've looked everywhere else, in all of the John Lennon music bins everywhere, and seen nothing. Maybe someone could write in and tell me if they've seen it anywhere in a store. Sure enough, you can indeed buy this album on Amazon.com. Word to the wise: don't go scrounging your local outlet unless you know it's there already.
Why I bought this album: I was wondering why Lennon solo albums had such a severe drop-off in the ratings after Imagine. George Starostin, for instance, labels this Lennon's worst album. I don't remember if I'd ever listened to this thing on vinyl back when I was a college student. Frankly, I was skeptical - Lennon was always a pro at rock melody, and I had to wonder if the criticism of this album was directed at something I didn't mind, like radical lyrics or whatever. The cover has the faux newspaper on the front, so that should tell a listener that this is going to be "journalism music," music that sings of the issues of the hour. Now, the best "journalism music" that I've heard came from a once-famous folksinger named Phil Ochs, but that's another story. This is John Lennon and Yoko Ono journalism music. Speaking of the hour of this production: I remember 1972 pretty well. I was a ten-year-old, it was a sort of coming to political consciousness for me. I remember taking a great interest in the political campaigns of the Presidential candidates and in the news, in Vietnam and Watergate and all.
What the album sounds like: There are two discs, and that's why I paid the $22. Amazon.com wants something like $28, and then you have to add shipping, no? The first one is Sometime In New York City, a collection of new songs performed in the studio. More than half of these feature Yoko's voice, and I'm sure this ticked off the critics, to buy a John Lennon album and to have to listen to a lot of Yoko Ono's songs. If we look at the trajectory of Lennon's solo career, we can see his "rock as therapy" thing becoming coherent with Plastic Ono Band, we can see him sweetening his message to reach a popular audience in Imagine, and so what's next? Well, "Sometime in New York City" offers us a Phil Spector-adjusted rock band with strings and horns and full instrumental accompaniment, offering us bombshelled messages lobbed into the lyrical content.
"Woman Is The Nigger Of The World" is an impolite critique of sexism sugarcoated with a beautiful horn section. John tells us oh-so-brusquely that we (men) set women up to be virgins while setting them up to be whores, so they lose no matter what they do. "Woman is the nigger of the world/ If you don't believe it take a look at the one you're with," he sings, double-strength politics straight out of a Feminism 101 college class set to double-strength pop orchestration and a soaring melody. It can be a little bit overwhelming to listen to this song in the early morning hours.
So Sometime In NYC is POB and Imagine, only politicized and escalated. Reviewers of this album on amazon.com either loved it or hated it depending upon whether they could cope with Lennon/ Ono's political lyrics, Yoko's voice, and the jams of second disc. A lot of people hated Yoko Ono with a vindictiveness that seems wholly unjustified -- it says more about them than it says about her, the worst that can be said about her is that she's a better avant-garde artist than a rock star. But that doesn't really show up on the first disc. We'll get to the second disc later in this narrative, now for the rest of the first disc. After "Woman Is The Nigger Of The World" on the first disc, there's "Sisters, O Sisters," Yoko Ono singing lead vocal above a shimmying Spectorized rock-and-roll orchestration, tasteful violins in the background. "It's never too late/ To build a new world," Ono chirps in her thick Japanese accent. This is my favorite song on the album.
"Attica State," the next tune, credited to Lennon/ Ono, probably a duet although Yoko's voice overshadows John's a bit. I think I remember hearing one of its riffs used on the Grateful Dead's "Truckin'" or something. They sing "Now's the time for revolution," and it makes me wonder what happened to the John who composed "Revolution #1" for the Beatles' White Album, did he decide to stop advocating reformism when he left the Beatles, what happened there. The next song, "Born In A Prison," another pleasing Ono vocal with pretty instrumental backup in the delicate Yoko style that showed up more thoroughly on Double Fantasy, but be glad the album comes with a lyric sheet if you don't understand quite what she's singing just from listening to her voice. The lyrics have to do with this philosophy that all life is "doing time," as John once said.
Later, historically (1975), the philosopher Michel Foucault wrote a book called "Discipline and Punish," which discusses how the basic human institutions of "developed" society (hospitals, prisons, schools, barracks, factories) are all like prisons, and how it ties in with the history of prisons and of the social sciences. The saxophones in the background to this song sound like the saxophones they used to play at the end of "Saturday Night Live," back in the Seventies when the show had John Belushi and Gilda Radner and Jane Curtin and Dan Aykroyd and those people.
"New York City" is a song about John moving to New York City, a song I understood as a sort of ripoff of "The Ballad of John and Yoko" as its melody is an oversimplified version of that song's melody (with Jerry Lee Lewis piano tactics in the background), and as the lyrics of both songs give the listener a postcard of how John and Yoko are doing these days. Even though "NYC" has freaky lyrics, it suffers by comparison. The next two songs are "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "The Luck of the Irish." "Sunday Bloody Sunday" rocks out, "The Luck of the Irish" is a sweet little ballad, both of them deliver the message of "down with the British, up with the Irish," done a little too simplistically for my tastes. Yeah, U2 did a later song about "Sunday Bloody Sunday," about the same political event, different song.
The next songs on the album are the repetitive and bouncy "John Sinclair," about a man who was given a long prison term for possessing a couple of joints, and "Angela," sung in solidarity with Angela Davis, who was also in prison at that time. These songs gave a political boost to the people they're about. Biographies of Lennon's life sometimes complain that this period of Lennon's career did not give him much financial or creative satisfaction, or so the biographers imagine, but maybe (I suppose) they gave him some POLITICAL satisfaction. After all, he was doing benefit concerts at this time, while fighting for his right to stay in the United States as the FBI spied upon him. Do you suppose? (a sad side-note: one of the biographies of Lennon speculated that, if John had not won his battle to stay in the US, he might be alive today.)
The final song, "We're All Water," is the perfect philosophical note to bring the album back to some of the deeper reasonings that you can hear on Plastic Ono Band or Imagine. This tune shimmies like "Sisters, O Sisters," there are solos in the end by guitar, piano, and Yoko's squalling voice. This disc gets a 9 and not a 10, because I know Lennon can craft better melodies than what you hear from him on Sometime In New York City, and because I think the connection isn't made between the Irish thing and main political theme of the disc, the matter of freedom and equality especially brought up in the Yoko Ono songs. Lennon relies too heavily on the repetition of traditional rock riffs here. Give it a 9 and not an 8 for Yoko's performance, by far one of her best, better than what she does in Live Peace In Toronto or Double Fantasy.
I really dig what they were trying to do with this thing, all told. A big puzzle about the whole matter is that much of the audience, critics and lurkers alike, saw the politics in "Plastic Ono Band" and "Imagine" as meaningful, but they missed this one entirely. Well, the politics in "POB" and "Imagine" is psycho-politics, the politics of being "crippled inside," so people appreciated that because they know what they feel, but this, this... One concern about the recognition of "politics" in this album is that a lot of the politics in the album is protest politics, centered around particular places and people, whereas the politics that should concern the album-buying public is really an ongoing global concern about economics, it's the politics that springs forth from a world where the top 1% of US owners own 40.1% of the wealth, and where this money translates into power, into control over the American system.
Even more worrisome is the propaganda flooding the airwaves, justifying our support of corporate rule with our every word and deed and belief. Protest politics dissipates -- the reasons for writing "John Sinclair" and "Angela" have long since changed their names and locations, though such reasons still exist. In that sense the lyrics of some of the politicized '80s rock stuff (see the list in my review of Jackson Browne's World In Motion) hit a chord not echoed in this album. What can you expect, though, from rich rock stars?
The second disc, "Live Jam," has creative versions of "Cold Turkey" and "Don't Worry Kyoko," but you might as well hear the version of the latter piece on Live Peace In Toronto, you know, the "cloud album." And then there's "Jamrag," Scumbag," and "Au," they're rock and roll all right, it's all quite listenable and you could play it at a party if you wanted, it's just that there's nothing interesting about it, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention jam with them (without really advancing the creative energies of the Plastic Ono Band), basically there's not much of a point to it, you might as well listen to this disc while doing the laundry or something. I will give it the obligatory three points for competent musicianship and a point for holding my interest at the beginning, rounding out to a 4.
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(reviewed by Casey Brennan)
This album's title track (which was a single as well) is clearly the most outstanding song on here by a country mile. This orchestrated track opens up Mind Games with the sound of a few piano notes before the lyrics roll in, complete with an incredibly great melody and optimistic bridge which highlights the song. After this tune the album becomes cluttered with too much filler or unspectacular material, which is bogged down even more by the skimpy production job. John must have had writers block around this time, as the politics of this record seem tired. Also, the rough times between him and Yoko would account for a busy year of lost inspiration for writing substantial tunes (their nearly year-and-a-half separation after this release would be known as John's 'lost weekend').
This lack of inspiration probably accounts for the several underdeveloped melodies on this album. Side two is slightly weaker than the first half, with the bouncy and lighthearted "Intuition" and the neat-sounding rocker "Meat City" (a rock n' rollin' tune with beefy guitars), being among the finer moments. "Only People" is also a good tune; a simple and catchy melody with a keyboard in the background pumping along make this an enjoyable number. Tunes such as the trite "Out Of The Blue", the unmelodic calmness of "You Are Here", and the pleasent ballad "I Know (I Know)" are not so worthwhile though.
On the first half of this release we have the three seconds-of-silence track "Nutopian International Anthem" which is just, well, just there, and the preachy "Aisumasen (I'm Sorry)", which is a little dull. The other three tracks keep the album from being totally lacklustre, as "Tight As" is an enjoyable and partly memorable rock n' roller, and the mini-highlights "One Day (At a Time)" (the most noticable melody on the album) and "Bring On the Lucie (Freeda People)" (good sax and exciting performance) are striking tunes. While Paul McCartney was at a peak with Band On The Run in the same year, this record shows John in a bit of a decline, as this is clearly not him at his best.
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(reviewed by Casey Brennan)
John's forthcoming album Walls And Bridges showed him in his 'lost weekend' phase, which was a time that involved excessive amounts of drugs, alcohol, and partying. At one point he appeared on stage with Elton John at Madison Square Garden because it was upon Elton's request for Lennon to do so, if the catchy rocker "Whatever Gets You Through The Night" (which has some harmonies by Elton on it) went to number one. Strangely enough it did. This bum and lonely life (which May Pang helped with) John had for himself must of somehow gave him a burst of inspiration and creativity because the songs he presents here are of pretty good quality.
The previously mentioned "Whatever Gets You Through The Night" shows him in a partyish mood, with a funky rythym section and great sax backing his jubilant singing up. In a more somber and longing mood, "Scared" is a disturbing track with a smoothly played guitar and sax in the background, and "Bless You" (which has the best and most peaceful melody on here) is a peaceful, affecting tune that shows him desiring for Yoko. The top highlight though would have to be "#9 Dream", with its beautiful atmosphere made by the lush strings, and the spirited melody it carries.
The tone of the record is more on the despairing side, when a tune like "Steel And Glass" comes on; the thing that makes this song is the chorus where he sings 'Steel And Glass' against a sweeping orchestra and quietly honking saxes. The mood stays light and soothing with "Old Dirt Road" (a good tune with imaginitive lyrics), the nice opener "Going Down On Love" (another cozy atmosphere on this one), and on the lesser numbers like the May Pang tribute "Surprise, Surprise (Swet Bird Of Paradox)", and "Nobody Loves You (When You're Down And Out)", which come towards the end the album.
Things do rock out with the heavily funky "What You Got", which is a pretty great track with a memorable and commercialized chorus. The other funky track, the instrumental "Beef Jerky" (sign of the times), and the stupid, but short "Ya Ya" (a cover tune with Julian on drums) are the only real throwaways on here. Most of these songs are good though, and still show John still putting quite a bit of passion into his work, even at lonely times. This is his last real album (skipping over the covers album Rock And Roll) until the 1980 release of Double Fantasy.
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(reviewed by Casey Brennan)
Released a mere month before John death, Double Fantasy was recorded at the happiest time of his life, since he was on the verge of a successful comeback after nurturing his son for five joyful years. Consequently, this joy shows up in the seven John Lennon tunes on here, which range from straightforward and spirited rock n' roll ((Just Like) Starting Over), to sweet ballads (Woman). Also, his love for Yoko must of been at its greatest because he let her write the other half of the songs. Her stuff does bring the album down a bit, since her vocals are too awkward and annoying for the material (which is defintely not up to the standards of John's on here), and the tunes themselves are clearly the weakest of the bunch.
I have to admit that I actually do enjoy two of the Yoko-tunes on here though; the new-waveish "Kiss Kiss Kiss" and "Give Me Something" have the most tolerable vocals from her on here, along with good beats (a little guilty pleasure). Also, they are both really short, which is a plus! Besides those two you can forget it, I don't even have to mention the other Yoko Ono crap on here. Fortunately, John Lennon more than makes up for these weak tracks, when he contributes several tunes that turn out to be some of the best in his whole career.
"(Just Like) Starting Over" is a great 1950'ish rock n' roller, with a performance that just screams with enthusiasm, while my pick for the strongest tune on here, "Watching The Wheels", is a very well-crafted tune that has a strong melody with irresistable vocals by Lennon during the chorus. The three ballads, the sea-breeze of "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)", the secure "Woman", and the seductive beat of "I'm Losing You" are all excellent songs on here too. The fast-paced "Dear Yoko" and slick-sounding "Clean-up Time" are not first-rate like the others, but still quite good.
Fortunately (or unfortunately considering how you look at it) the album is sequenced so every other track is a John one, which is better than going through all the Yoko dreck in one sitting. Too bad it had to be the last studio album from him as it shows him in a happier and much more together state than ever before. There is definitely less sarcasm, and more sentiment on this record than on any other Lennon album of the past. Probably the most inconsistent excellent album out there, and lowest 8 I'd ever give.
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(reviewed by Casey Brennan)
Although the new 'best of' collection simply called Lennon has just came out; there is almost no need for it since this has nearly the same tracks, and collects most of his real defining moments anyway. Of course the key hits from each of his six studio albums are collected on here. Even though there is an overabundance of tracks on here from Double Fantasy (near half the album in fact), and only one track from Plastic Ono Band, the various non-album track singles and B-sides make up for it.
The politicalized 1970 single, "Instant Karma!" is one of John's best and most famous tunes, with a powerful Spector production containing completely thundering drums and amazing vocal delivery. "Power To The People" is another political rant, with booming drums and bass making it a robust tune, and "Give Peace A Chance" (which was recorded in a hotel) works as a great sing-a-long, even if it runs a little too long. The 1971 single "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", is the best Christmas rock song out there, and the straightforward tunes, "Move Over Ms. L" (the sax solo is the highlight of this song) and "Cold Turkey" (a bass-heavy tune) are pretty good too.
As for the album tracks, the elegant "Love" is the one track chosen from Plastic Ono Band on here, while the top highlights from Imagine, the title track and "Jealous Guy" are also thankfully here. The half-studio, half-live Sometime In New York City didn't have any real hits on it since it's mostly a time-piece recording, so nothing from that is on here. As for the next few albums, the most worthy is collected; Mind Games with the title track, Walls And Bridges with "Whatever Gets You Through The Night" and "#9 Dream", and the cover album Rock N' Roll with "Stand By Me" (maybe the best from that album).
The six tracks from Double Fantasy may be a little too much for this compilation, considering that this takes up nearly half of the second side. If "Dear Yoko" (which is a good, but not spectacular song) was taken off and replaced with a song from an earlier Lennon release, then it wouldn't feel like such a load. The other five tracks ((Just Like) Starting Over", "Woman", "I'm Losing You", "Beautiful Boy", and "Watching The Wheels" ) from Double Fantasy are definitely worthy of being on here though, since they are some of his best tunes. Overall, this compilation does great service to John as it collects all the hits (duh), along with powerful non-album tracks.
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