John Lennon
Reviewed on this page:
Live Peace In Toronto '69 - Plastic Ono Band - Imagine - Mind Games - Walls And Bridges - Rock 'N' Roll - Double Fantasy - Milk And Honey
Like many rock fans, I grew up worshipping John Lennon more than any other musician. His violent death in 1980 is still a burning memory in my mind; it forever dashed my childhood hopes of Beatles reunions, but, more importantly, it ended a sometimes brilliant solo career that clearly hadn't yet run its course. Between that and Lennon's five-year "househusband" recording hiatus in the late 70s, his solo catalogue isn't nearly as rich as it could have been - his few early 70s records include some minor efforts like Rock 'N' Roll in addition to masterpieces like Plastic Ono Band. Another disappointment is the grudging realization that the Beatles were more than just an alliance of superstars; without the others, Lennon sometimes just couldn't deliver when it came to melodicism, production, and musical virtuosity. Still, though, Lennon's best solo albums are well worth having, and his impact on 70s rock was substantial.
There's an impressive John
Lennon site that even includes fan album reviews, which naturally run the gamut from thoughtful and longwinded to sketchy and ungrammatical. (JA)
Two Virgins (Lennon/Ono: 1968)
Lennon's first stab at a solo effort consisted of a random sound collage recorded in one all-night session, more or less as a commemoration of the incipient Lennon-Ono union (ahem). Strangely, it's widely available on CD. Avoid. (JA)
Life With The Lions (Lennon/Ono: 1969)
Yet another aural collage released on the Beatles' vanity label Zapple, with even less historical interest. (JA)
The Wedding Album (Lennon/Ono: 1969)
More experimentation, like the previous two records. (JA)
 Live Peace In Toronto '69 (1969)
Having cut his last sessions with the Beatles (the official breakup didn't occur until months later), Lennon whimsically accepted an invitation to a benefit concert. Since he hadn't yet put together a backing band, he nabbed some friends- Eric Clapton, bassist/Beatles crony Klaus Voorman, and then-obscure drummer Alan White - and rehearsed them on the plane across the Atlantic (!). The result is a predictable mess. The first side starts out with 50's rock 'n' roll covers like "Money," and rambles through a couple of sloppy Lennon tunes ("Cold Turkey," with Yoko bearably odd, but the band just losing it at the end).
Both Clapton and Lennon were close to their respective peaks at this point, and some of it does rock out. The second side is a pair of Yoko Ono tracks: "Don't Worry Kyoko," a random rock riff that goes on for five minutes, and "John, John," an atonal, 12-minute marathon of Yoko screaming over the band's random rumblings - some of her singing is eerie, in the style of traditional Japanese flute playing, but mostly it just verges on imitation guitar feedback (there's plenty of real guitar feedback already). (JA)
Plastic Ono Band (1970)
 - Stark, minimally-arranged songs where Lennon purges, well, just
about everything there is to purge. Always direct, hard-hitting and
tender by turns, almost every track here is a gem; together with Joni Mitchell's Blue, this album is a
reminder that there was a time in rock history, before David Bowie,
when realness mattered. (DBW)
- This is the ultimate in underproduced, but brilliantly written rock. Lennon milks every style he knew to the hilt, from nihilistic protest songs (his masterful "Working Class Hero"; "I Found Out") to harrowing confessionals ("Isolation") to elegant, understated love songs ("Hold On"; "Look At Me"; "Love") to shuddering rockers ("Well Well Well") to introspective epics ("Mother"; "God"). Ringo drums, Klaus Voorman plays bass, and Phil Spector "produces" in the most uncharacteristically minimal way imaginable. Essential for anyone with even a passing interest in Lennon's work. (JA)
 Imagine (1971)
Everyone's heard the title track, but there's more to this album than just one masterpiece. The production is more filled out than the last time around, usually to good effect. Most of the songs are entertaining, and some are memorable - especially the ballads ("Jealous Guy"; "Oh My Love"). George Harrison plays lead (often slide) guitar on about half the tracks, and it's a major asset (the fine protest song "I Don't Want To Be Soldier"; Lennon's famously nasty Paul McCartney bash-a-thon "How Do You Sleep?").
Despite this, Lennon's musical ideas are already starting to narrow at this point (retro rock 'n' roll like "It's So Hard," with Jim Gordon on drums), and his politicized lyrics are getting increasingly nasty ("Gimme Some Truth"). The backing band includes Klaus Voorman (bass), Nicky Hopkins (piano), and future Yes drummer Alan White. (JA)
Outside of the title cut, I've never gotten into this album, but I
won't diss it because I don't have it and can't substantiate my
criticisms. (DBW)
Sometime In New York City (1972)
I've got the live album from this set (one studio, one live), and it's an unlistenable mess, with Yoko screaming her head off through most of the sloppy, pointless big-band jamming, which alternately features an all-star British pickup band, or Frank Zappa's post-Mothers group (the tapes came from two different concerts). Most sources claim that the studio LP is not much better. (JA)
I've only heard a few songs from this, and I'm not particularly
looking forward to hearing the rest. (DBW)
 Mind Games (1973)
After the Sometime In New York failure, Lennon went back to the basic sound of Imagine, sweetening it only occasionally with big name session players like Michael Brecker and Sneaky Pete Kleinow. He comes up with one more expansive classic (title track), and a lovely guitar ballad ("I Know (I Know)"), but on the rest of the record his melodic sense seems to be occluded, and the lyrics fall into three categories -- Yoko songs ("Out The Blue," "Aisumasen"), raunchy rockers ("Tight A$," "Meat City"), and pseudorevolutionary silliness ("Bring On The Lucie (Freda Peeple)") -- none of which are at all memorable. (DBW)
Maybe it's tepid, but it's enjoyable. I haven't heard it in a long time, but it does sound like a second opinion is called for. (JA)
 Walls And Bridges (1974)
Crafted to return Lennon to critical and popular acclaim, with
dated mid-70s production gimmicks and guest stars like Elton John,
who sings on the number one single "Whatever Gets You Through The
Night." There are flashes of genius everywhere; although he rarely
sustains it through an entire song, when he does (the venemous character assassination "Steel And
Glass") it's amazing. (DBW)
Rough versions of about half the tunes later surfaced on the posthumous cash-in Menlove Avenue. (JA)
 Rock 'N' Roll (1975)
A selection of 1950's rock covers produced by Phil Spector. The sources include all the usual suspects - Leiber-Stoller, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, Sam Cooke, etc. Spector seems to have had a bigger influence here than on Plastic Ono Band; a lot of the tracks feature a big, brassy horn section and a thudding, echoey ambiance. Meanwhile, Lennon himself sounds like he's trapped in a time-warp, belting out the oldies as if he was still on stage at the Star Club in 1961. The effect is unsettling - you can't tell if it's a heartfelt tribute to Lennon and Spector's younger, simpler days, or a tongue-in-cheek parody, or just a sloppy toss off.
But in the end, that's what makes it so much fun: unlike McCartney's much later 50's tribute album (Back In The USSR), the records displays genuine spirit and humor, not just flawless technical expertise and command of musical lore.
"You Can't Catch Me," for example, gets a winking "Come Together"-like treatment that hints at Lennon's earlier, uncredited lifting of the tune; and there are amusing and imaginative music flavorings all over the place.
Rock 'N' Roll was the source of several out-takes that surfaced on Menlove Avenue, and Lennon's last album before Double Fantasy, as he took a five-year break to serve as househusband and father to Sean Ono Lennon. (JA)
Shaved Fish (1976)
A greatest hits; we're only mentioning it here because it contains Lennon's first three post-Beatles singles, none of which were released on albums before: the antiwar jingle "Give Peace A Chance," the harrowing "Cold Turkey" (about heroin - featuring fellow addict Eric Clapton) and the anthemic "Instant Karma." All three tracks are so important it's probably worth buying this even if you have all the other tracks on the original albums. (DBW)
Those three singles did also appear on later compilations, such as 1998's Lennon Legend. (JA)
Double Fantasy (Lennon/Ono: 1980)
I have nothing against Yoko Ono; she's an important conceptual
artist, and she's gotten a ton of unfair criticism from Beatle fans
for reasons that I think have more to do with sexism than anything
else. But pop music isn't her forte, and I think most people
would've rather had a whole Lennon album, especially after a five-year break, than have to listen to a bunch of Ono songs. Anyway,
there are some brilliant Lennon songs ("I'm Losing You," "Watching
The Wheels," "Beautiful Boy"), huge hits that aren't terribly
interesting ("Starting Over," "Woman"), and minor pieces ("Dear
Yoko"), all in the same Walls And Bridges style that walks
the line between carefully-produced and over-produced. (DBW)
Milk and Honey (Lennon/Ono: 1984)
 - Leftovers from the previous album, completed before his death in
1980, plus six Ono numbers ("O Sanity" is mercifully brief). The hit ("Nobody Told Me") is boring,
and the other songs are none too tuneful, and frequently
clichéd, from rockers ("I Don't Wanna Face It") to pseudo-reggae ("Borrowed Time") to the unfree-love anthem "Grow Old With
Me." (DBW)
- Actually, I find plenty of this stuff tuneful - even the Yoko tracks, which are mostly slight but pleasant and economical love songs (the bombastic, hyper-sincere "Your Hands" and the Talking Heads-like synth-disco groove "You're The One" are painful listening, though). None of John's numbers are masterpieces and they mostly have a super-light touch ("Borrowed Time"). But several, including "Nobody Told Me," are memorable; they're mostly very enjoyable and intricately produced; and it's fun to hear him let his hair down with some improvised lyrics.
And what does Wilson have against love songs? "Grow Old With Me" is a pretty damn good one, albeit a scratchy demo. A full album of this stuff would have been fantastic. There's a ton of session players here, including Tony Levin, Hugh McCracken, Andy Newmark, and Earl Slick. (JA)
Live In New York City (1986)
I've heard this a couple times and found it unimpressive, but clearly it's your best bet if you want to hear Lennon live in concert. Recorded in 1972 at Madison Square Garden, it features a brassy, R & B-flavored backing band and is dominated by relatively straightforward performances of Lennon's solo work to that point ("Imagine"; "Cold Turkey"; "Mother"; "Give Peace A Chance"). The only Beatles tune is "Come Together," and there's also a take on "Hound Dog." (JA)
Menlove Avenue (1986)
Assorted scraps from mid-70s sessions. Side one has some unreleased out-takes and a couple of unused Rock 'N' Roll oldies like Phil Spector's "To Know Her Is To Love Her," and side two comprises rough, alternate versions of Walls And Bridges material like "Steel And Glass." Only a real diehard would want to shell out money for something like this. Cool album cover, though. (JA)
Wonsaponatime (1998)
Another collection of outtakes, this one extracted from a lengthy box set. The track listing is lengthy but appears to be dominated by alternate takes with just a few "new" tunes. (JA)
Starting over?
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