Well, well, well – your host Dogfacedboy and guests StevenC, DrJ and Ola* take a look at the Lennons in the 1970’s.
– Were they a bad influence on each other?
– Did Yoko really break up the Beatles after all?
– Are Richard Skinner’s pants ablaze?
– Is the Lennon legend built on shaky foundations?
– Imagine there’s no Mark Chapman
Links to Yoko audio and visual aids to follow. Get on the mind train.
Direct download to http://theafterwordpodcast.libsyn.com/the-afterword-25-the-blather-of-johnandyoko
* not properly introduced so try and guess who is who
DogFacedBoy says
Podcast soundtrack via Youtube
DogFacedBoy says
Doctor J’s propose JOHNANDYOKO 1981 tour setlist
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7721/17051471912_33906b7b25_o.jpg
Moose the Mooche says
Beautiful Boy (Everyone Goes to the Toilet) – is this some kind of Jonathan King cover?
Moose the Mooche says
Yoko didn’t break up the Beatles….
It was THE MAN
DrJ says
I look forward to that setlist going viral with the heading “OMG ACTUAL LENNON 1981 SETLIST!!1”
Rigid Digit says
The Afterword version of ‘The Hitler Diaries’ may be right there in that jpeg
Martin Hairnet says
Haven’t listened to the podcast yet, but I was just listening to the album Mind Games on Spotify. Like much of his American output from the 70s, there’s not too much to get excited about. Something weird happened with his voice too. It became nasally and quite irritating and seemed to lose the honesty and vulnerability that was evident on the Fabs records and his first two solo albums. Having said all that, I still think #9 Dream is one of his most beautiful songs.
nickduvet says
Back in 2011 I was in New York and caught a special Lennon tribute show by The Fab Faux at Radio City Music Hall. The Faux’s attention to detail is legendary, as many of you will know from the Abbey Road suite clips on youtube. Here, the resonating guitar intro to ‘I Feel Fine’ was perfectly executed; flutes were present and correct at the end of ‘You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away’. Equally impressive was their ability to convey an intensity to match Lennon’s. In particular, drummer Rich Pagano did a convincing job on the ‘Mama don’t go, Daddy come home’ section of ‘Mother’.
Anyway, as a supplement to the 1981 set list, here’s how ‘A Night In The Life’ played out:
Tomorrow Never Knows / Whatever gets you through the night / Nowhere Man/ Across The Universe / I’m A Loser / Come Together / Norwegian Wood / I Feel Fine / You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away / Watching The Wheels / Strawberry Fields Forever / No Reply / Happiness Is A Warm Gun / Rain / Cold Turkey / I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
Working Class Hero / Mother / Power To The People / Instant Karma / Because / Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite / Help! / Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds / Jealous Guy / Mind Games / I Am The Walrus / Yer Blues / In My Life / Imagine / Revolution / A Day In The Life
Encore: All You Need Is Love / Give Peace A Chance
Moose the Mooche says
Fab Faux?
HOWAYYYY SHE LOVES YA, YABOOGAMAN!
AH HERRRP WUV PESSED THU OOORDISHN LIKE!
dai says
Haven’t listened yet. That set list would have been amazing, however these were the days of shorter, less nostalgic shows and I think the following would have been more likely
Part 1
Double Fantasy in full (inc Yoko songs)
Part 2
6-8 oldies ending with Imagine, maybe 2 Beatles songs.
SixDog says
Yep.
Just need to look at some of Wings live shows to see where that would’ve lead.
All of Venus & Mars and BotR plus Lady Madonna
Rigid Digit says
The proposed Set List is nothing more than speculation – how can we really know what he would’ve chosen to play?
Easy – got to a small, plain looking semi-detached house just off Ilford High Street and ask him.
This is not widely known, but he shares a house with Elvis Presley and Marc Bolan. James Dean lives next door, and Mama Cass has the upstairs flat opposite.
Kurt Cobain viewed a basement flat in the same road, but chose a similar property in Croydon (better transport links apparently)
Moose the Mooche says
Nick Drake, meanwhile, has a rather gaudy ranch-style property in Malibu, complete with a hot tub. And a bright red sports car.
Moose the Mooche says
Serious answer: Walls and Bridges material would have been unfortunately off-limits, because Mother Superior disapproved of the May Pang connection (even though she set it up…. f***ing weirdo). Basically it’d be DF plus a few bits and bobs off Imagine, then Give Peace as an encore. If you read JL’s final interviews he was clearly not the world’s greatest Beatles fan – the idea of him revisiting any pre-Yoko material doesn’t work, except maybe the early rock’n’roll covers.
In answer to Hairnet above, his voice suffered through being stuck in the studio and, more damagingly, not competing with Thumbs. Just listen to how good his voice is on the 1972 live album compared to Mind Games. A live Double Fantasy, for that reason alone, would have been pretty interesting.
Martin Hairnet says
There’s a plodding, session musician sameyness to most of the songs on Mind Games and Walls and Bridges. Lennon’s voice was most effective when there was space around it, but on those albums he had to compete with loud and cluttered arrangements. I hate all that muddy brass on Walls and Bridges. If that album had been recorded at Abbey Road with George, Ringo and Klaus, and George Martin on production duties, it would have been a much better record.
noisecandy says
Very interesting and enjoyable podcast. I hadn’t heard the story of John, Yoko and George going to watch the Pythons in New York in September 1980. I wonder if they spoke to Eric Idle about their portrayal as Ron Nasty and Chastity in The Rutles?
DogFacedBoy says
Lennon was a big fan of The Rutles and even allegedly advised Neil Innes to drop ‘Get Up And Go’ from the original because it was a little bit too close to the original
DogFacedBoy says
from the original album that should be
Ainsley says
Another really enjoyable listen. Not a subject I would have gone out of my way to find either, which made it all the more interesting. Keep ’em coming, much appreciated.
deramdaze says
Cynthia, in an interview around the time of Julian Lennon’s initial success, rather pointedly said she’d had the best of John Lennon.
If my listening habits are anything to go by, rarely venturing past the first four mono albums/Past Masters Vol. 1 and the two BBC releases (i.e. the fun stuff that teenage girls liked!), I agree with her.
Lennon’s New York (indeed anything to do with New York in the 1970s and 1980s) leaves me cold.
I wouldn’t have wished it on my worst enemy.
dai says
Enjoyable listen again chaps. Not completely sure about the Monty Python thing but I hope it happened.
Slightly harsh on John’s solo career I thought. I agree he lost interest but Mind Games and Walls and Bridges both have some excellent songs, just dont compare them with his eg 1967-8 output.
I remember D Fantasy coming out. It certainly had mixed reviews but was a decent success. I believe Starting Over was high in the US charts and still climbing at the time of his death. Was also his first top 10 single in uk since Happy Xmas … (Apart from Imagine released 4 yrs after the album).
Steven C says
I was sceptical too, but Keith Badman in his book “After The Break Up” pinpoints 28th September 1980 at the Pythons’ Hollywood Bowl gig as the date when George (& Derek Taylor) met up with John & Yoko. George apparently gave John a copy of his new album on cassette – this would presumably have been an early version of ‘Somewhere In England’.
dai says
Oh and Plastic Ono Band was a masterpiece, his Sgt Lennon as he called it.
Some interesting sounds from Yoko, have a couple of albums will investigate further.