Friday, January 7, 2011

lennon

"Everybody loves you when you're six foot in the ground"
-john lennon

As much as he wanted to run from his Beatle past, John never wanted to become marginalized, so there's little doubt his lack of chart success frustrated him heavily, and perhaps made it easier for him to walk away from the music world the last five years of his life. His six non-album singles had some winners: "Instant Karma!", "Cold Turkey", "Give Peace a Chance", plus "Happy Xmas", perhaps the most subversive song ever written. He had no time for religion or materialism, so he entered the yuletide genre with his biggest mind game, causing the world to sing and hear "war is over" every year. Cover versions just keep coming and coming. "Serve Yourself", on either of the big box sets, is also a peach. His albums?
PLASTIC ONO BAND
An intensely personal album arising from his foray into primal scream therapy. The minimalism is starkly anti-Beatle, and the standout tracks ("Mother", "Working Class Hero", "God") are stellar. "Isolation" is great too, and "I Found Out" is lennon the scathing social critic at his lyrical best. The rest? Forgettable.
IMAGINE
The title track is perhaps the most towering artistic achievement of the 20th century, an indelible synthesis of unforgettable melody married to a revolutionary's grand vision. The lyrical seed springs from a yoko poem, so whatever else you might feel about her, it's doubtful he would have written this song had they not met. "Jealous Guy", "How Do You Sleep?", and "How?" are an artist at peak form. "Crippled Inside" is a lyrical gem. The rest is good.
SOME TIME IN NEW YORK CITY
Enjoying this one requires lowered expectations. John moved to NYC, met a rocking band (Elephant's Memory), and decided to write and record an album in two weeks, focusing on contemporary, specific social causes. In the midst of forgettable songs, "Woman is the Nigger of the World" stands out like a beacon in the sky. SOME TIME also marks yoko's debut as a musical partner - writing and singing her own songs. Her music is simplistic...whether we would be more (or less) accepting of it were she not married to john, is a fascinating question. Perhaps both? But naysayers don't get the final word...on the LIVE JAM bonus disc, recorded with zappa and the Mothers of Invention, the most breathtaking track is her "Don't Worry Kyoko". It's one of the more terrifying, mesmerizing recordings you'll ever hear.
MIND GAMES
A marriage is crumbling, and the album that results is a pedestrian mess. Yoko's music is gone, but that's no help. John dismissed the title track as uninspired craftsmanship, and he's right (though it is a fascinating glimpse into a universe where thoughts are more powerful than physical revolution). "One Day (At a Time)" and "Bring on the Lucie (Freda People)" brighten the proceedings, but...
WALLS AND BRIDGES
Largely ignored because its predecessors were dismal and it has no song that ranks with lennon's greatest, it's his strongest top-to-bottom solo effort. Created during his year and a half away from yoko, it's easy to imagine what his music might have been without her...and perhaps too easy to love may pang, his lover during this time, all the more. There's little doubt he was more himself with may. That's a complicated proposition though...john was probably attracted to yoko BECAUSE she changed him. And that's not all bad - in person, he was probably much more a controlling bastard than anyone would want in a lover or friend. Perhaps he wanted yoko because she was the only woman who was as much a controlling bastard as he. The most shameful yoko artistic act i know of is injecting herself into the video for "#9 Dream", when it was may who sang the "john" line...but she may have honestly thought the song had been written with her in mind. The best tracks are "Scared", and "Surprise Surprise (Sweet Bird of Paradox)", written for may.
ROCK 'N' ROLL
An album of covers, a love note to the 50s american music that john grew up on. A lovely party album. The highlights are "Stand By Me", "Bony Moronie", and "You Can't Catch Me" (in which he plays up the similarities to "Come Together", the copyright lawsuit concerning which was the reason this album arose in the first place).
DOUBLE FANTASY
The first album i ever bought. I became so adept at skipping the needle past the yoko tracks, that my brother was gobsmacked decades later when he discovered yoko's songs. Yet the passage of time has made me almost like her stuff. And on john's end? Even with only half an album, his tracks are so monumentally fantastic, that this one ranks on my 75 greatest albums of all time. If i were to mention one song, i'd have to mention all.
MILK AND HONEY
Produced posthumously, after he had recorded the basic tracks. How different would it be had he finished it himself? Plus the double whammy of having to follow up an astonishing predecessor? The deck is stacked, in the wrong direction. Yet any john collection would be woefully incomplete without "Nobody Told Me", "Stepping Out", and "Grow Old With Me". The other songs aren't far behind.

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