ALBUMS: John Lennon/Plastic Ono band; (1970); Imagine ( 1971); Greatest Hits (1978)
MVC Rating: JL/Ono– 5.0/$$$$$; Imagine — 4.5/$$$$; Hits 4.0
I’ve been putting this one off. What can be added to all that has been written about John Lennon?
He was possibly one of the world’s most influential persons. “Bigger than Jesus” he said to one reporter, describing the millions of enthusiastic young Beatles’ fans. That comment led to worldwide controversy, and John said he was just making the point about what was true. Not that it was wrong or right.
In Birmingham there were bonfires to throw Beatles records into the conflagration, fuel for the fire.
White albums turned black.
(OK, don’t call and tell me they hadn’t put out the White Album before the bonfires. It’s too good a line to let the facts get in the way. Some albums may have been ‘shattered’. Or so I hear.)
Some of Lennon’s best work, his first solo album and Imagine, the follow-up, asked the big (frustrating and depression inducing they could be) questions:
If the Beatles had more influence than Jesus or parents, and teachers — Why?
In the song ‘God’ I think Lennon is saying you can’t count on many things. For him, he feels safe and happy with himself and Yoko
‘God’ comes with a recital of what he doesn’t believe in. Here’s a random mix, but it sure seems to be his intention to say I don’t believe in anything or anybody: I don’t believe in Zimmerman: I don’t believe in Beatles; I don’t believe in I-Ching; I don’t believe in Buddha… And so on (Zimmerman is the birth name of Bob Dylan). He ends this piano-backed ballad declaration of adoration for Yoko witth what he does believe in: “Yoko and me, that’s reality.”
John also wrote “God is a concept by which we measure our pain.” Sounds like he’s not a big believer in the God presented by various churches, Islamic mosques and Jewish synagogues.
But in a video clip, Lennon was asked about death. Standing by two cars in a parking lot, he got into one and then into the other saying death is getting out of one car and into another, he said.
I am giving the basically untitled first solo album a rare 5 stars. Ironically I can’t listen to it a lot. So much emotion is layered into that album. Lennon was using primal scream therapy and shows off his angst-ridden screams several times through-out, especially on “Isolation,” ” Found Out’ and “Mother.’
Sample lyric: ‘Mother, you had me, but I never had you.’
His mother was struck and killed by a car at a crosswalk in 1958; His father was a Merchant Marine who was not home much and finally quit coming home at all. So John was raised by his aunt. John’s edge was nicely counterbalanced by McCartney’s silliness. Both had amazing songwriting abilities — though despite Lennon/McCartney being on most of the credits, in the later years, they filed their songs separately. In other words, John wrote “Day Tripper” for example, and Paul wrote. “Get Back.” But all were credited with Lennon/McCartney.