Albums

• John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
• Imagine

1. Mother
2. Hold On
3. I Found Out
4. Working Class Hero
5. Isolation
6. Remember
7. Love
8. Well Well Well
9. Look at Me
10. God
11. My Mummy’s Dead  

Released in 1970, this is the debut solo album by John Lennon.  There’s very little else I can add when it comes to discussing this man’s career.  Of course, the famous story goes that John Lennon is one half of what was possibly the greatest song-writing partnership in the history of popular music.  Teamed with Paul McCartney, he reached the dizzy heights of fame with The Beatles in the 1960s.  In 1970 The Beatles split, John was in love with Yoko ‘Love her or hate her’ Ono and the rest is history.  The resulting album from all this insecurity is an intensely personal set of songs, something which would have certainly never been allowed to appear on a Beatles record.

From the introductory toiling bells, to the expressionless drumming from Ringo Starr, Mother makes it apparent that John Lennon will be pulling no punches, neither here nor anywhere else on the record.  Seemingly about Lennon facing his inner demons and confronting the fact that both his parents had abandoned him, be it voluntarily (his father) or through death (his mother), it is a deeply private affair.  Hold On is lovely, continuing with the record’s uncomplicated arrangements.  “Hold on Yoko, Yoko hold on… it’s gonna be alright,” is the sound of Lennon comforting his wife, bidding her to have faith in him and convincing her that they too can face up to their ordeals.  Admittedly, it’s hard to keep a straight face when John imitates the Cookie Monster from Sesame Street in the middle of the song but few could reject Hold On’s genuine appeal.

Very much bitter and a workout for Lennon’s disappointment with this world’s pretences, I Found Out speaks for itself, as Lennon imparts the unenviable knowledge he has located through a trial and error lifestyle, “I seen through junkies, I been through it all, I seen religion from Jesus to Paul!”  Bluesy and possessing a raw, earthy charm, it is a lesson in minimalist perfection.  The unsophisticated, distorted funk makes a return later on during Well Well Well and makes for another winner in my book.  Lennon screams his heart out all the way to the devastating finale, where the song all but cowers beneath his presence.

The album, like the man himself, has its flaws.  Working Class Hero is tiresome on the best of days, with a droll circulation of only the most basic of guitar chords.  John Lennon may be politically aware and discuss the trials of the working class everyman, but nevertheless, he simply will not win me over with this sluggish addition to the album.  Likewise, Isolation is a chore to sit through.  Neither emotionally rich nor musically convincing, it simply shuffles in an undistinguished manner to the end of its running time.  Yes, it is unfortunate that the middle-section of this record is mostly without merit.

Thankfully, things don’t just pick up, but rather go into overdrive with the aching plea of Love.  Just how does the man wring out so much pain into those few piano chords?  I honestly can say, hand on my heart, that I’ve scarcely heard such a touching and yet stripped back cycle of piano chords.  The song defines love itself, as Lennon tries his best to accommodate for the greatest of all emotions – unreserved love.  “Love is touch, touch is love.  Love is reaching, reaching love.  Love is asking to be loved,” and so on, ad infinitum.  Sounds basic, and I guess from a technical point of view it is, but very few recordings can wreck as much havoc with your heart as Love manages.  Almost as important as Lennon’s earlier musings on the world of love is his patriarchal views on religion, as seen on penultimate track God, which describes God as ‘a concept by which we measure pain’.  Lennon has a seemingly endless selection of expressive piano chords at his disposal, as he practically breaks through your ribcage and grasps your beating heart in his palms.  The song, in effect, closes one chapter of his life and opens another, as documented by the lyrics, “I was the walrus but now I’m John and so dear friends you just have to carry on.  The dream is over.”  Poetic, don’t you think?

1. Imagine
2. Crippled Inside
3. Jealous Guy
4. It’s So Hard
5. I Don’t Wanna Be A Soldier
6. Gimme Some Truth
7. Oh My Love
8. How Do You Sleep?
9. How?
10. Oh Yoko!  

Released in 1971, Imagine is the second solo album by John Lennon.  Due to the classic title-track, Imagine is often the most revered of all his solo works.  Previous solo album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, is a favourite in my collection due to the private and confessional nature of the songs featured.  From that viewpoint Imagine is the spiritual successor to John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, with its fair share of unabated commiserations towards personal losses.

The greatest shift in style, however, is that the piano ballads which were once overpowering with their raw sadness have now been given a slightly more commercial appeal.  Now, I’m not saying that John Lennon has sold out, added whimsical trumpets to the proceedings and started singing in a hit making falsetto, but Imagine is unquestionably an easier listen than its predecessor.  Evidence is abundant; see that many of the songs now feature a string section, something which was previously absent.  The balance is well perfected, though, and the strings serve to complement the instrumentation already at hand, not to obscure and overshadow it.  Lyrically, the songs are as honest as before.  You truly get the sense that John Lennon had become disillusioned by this world’s disappointing façade, with it being high on exploits and with little substance below the surface.  How much is a man willing to put in before he expects to get something back?  In John’s case it wasn’t unreasonable to become embittered by the corrupt nature of governments and religious parties.  And, then, that may lead on to one becoming resentful towards, well, everything.  Or as John says on How?,  “How can I go forward when I don’t know which way I’m facing?”  Not an album to play for laughs, then.

The title-track begins the album.  It puts forward the well-mined belief that without differing countries, religions, and general greed, we could all live together in peace.  Unity is the key.  Of course, this isn’t a new idea, and this principle has been exploited in literature thousands of times over the years, not least of all in the Bible, which ultimately culminates in the idea of a perfect Heavenly Government and people living together in harmony.  I mention the Bible because John always made out he was against religion.  I always find it quite startling that Imagine’s ideas are similar, if not identical to those found in the Bible.  I’m not implying that John Lennon had a religious belief system, but rather that in his attempts to get away from the hypocrisy of religion he ends up coming full-circle and ending up with the same results – world peace.  Imagine’s merits extend far beyond its positive message and into what has to be possibly the most iconic set of piano notes ever.  They seem to carry the whole weight of the world on their shoulders.

I hold Jealous Guy in the highest regard.  It has the same, familiar honesty which Lennon displayed on his previous album, and it is Imagine’s most exposed and confidential song.  Surely one of the most moving pieces of music ever devoted towards a love interest, Jealous Guy develops an uneasy atmosphere, one ultimately concluding in a confession, “I was feeling insecure – you might not love me, anymore.  I was shivering inside… I didn’t mean to hurt you.  I’m sorry that I made you cry! I didn’t want to hurt you… I’m just a jealous guy.”  Imagine having the courage to stand up and say publicly, ‘Yeah, I’m a jealous guy.’  That is, essentially, what Lennon is doing here.

Lennon brings out the political card on Imagine’s lengthiest song.  Featuring a harder and more edgy sound than much of Imagine, I Don’t Want to Be a Solider sees Lennon at his most sour and cynical, “I don’t wanna be a lawyer mama, I don’t wanna lie! I don’t wanna be a soldier mama, I don’t wanna die!” Oh, yeah, it also features a saxophone (Not a commercial one, though J).  The production of the song is very in your face – imagine an ugly version of Phil Spector’s famed wall of sound.  Gimme Some Truth has the same attitude and proceeds to drag a number of institutions through the mud, “I’m sick and tired of hearing things from uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocritics!”  Musically, it’s the least exciting song on Imagine.  I’m not particularly a fan of political lectures, especially when they are carried out so haphazardly.

Long thought to be a clear and blatant attack on ex-songwriting partner, Paul McCartney, How Do You Sleep? features a acerbated Lennon, lashing out at his fellow Beatleman.  It has a throbbing, uninhibited bluesy feel to it, which snowballs into this awesomely acerbic fit of anger, “A pretty face may last a year or two, but pretty soon they’ll see what you can do!”  Keep up the hating, John.  For an album shot through with such negativity it is surprising to find the album closing with an upbeat and catchy number, Oh Yoko!  But I guess that’s what love will do to a man.  Very much a potential pop single, its simplicity is deceptive, and repeated listens will have you find that it’s yet another song about what love is itself, as Lennon recalls everyday activities in which distraction causes him to, “Call your name, oh Yoko!”  That’s what love is, people.  It consumes you, envelops you, cloaks you… and becomes your every waking thought.  Beautiful.

You may initially be influenced into purchasing this album because of the timeless title-track, which is fair enough.  Don’t leave it there, though, and make sure you give the entire album a thorough going over.  While it isn’t quite as good as John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band it is still a near essential purchase.