I see Radio 2 has wheeled out the usual suspects for a ‘Lennon at 80’ tribute. I lasted 15 minutes, as it seems to have been produced by someone with severe concentration problems. It jumps all over the bloody place, and the snippets of music are jarring.
Has anyone listened all the way through? It seemed to be heading down the hagiography route, not telling us anything we didn’t already know.
As usual, a good listen. I am a Beatles nut, but I always learn something new. In this case the Janis Joplin recorded message.
I think you were a little hard on Lennon’s solo career. He released 6 albums (and several standalone singles) between 1970 and 75, which matches Macca. He then took 5 years off which was pretty understandable I would say. And I think Walls and Bridges is an excellent album, great songs, great singing, kitchen sink production. At least his 3rd best solo record, might even beat Imagine.
I think he had done”universality” in The Beatles, when his own name was on the records, he adopted a different, more personal approach.
His solo career has been hugely overrated in my view. But I don’t have the will to argue the case – just a personal opinion. If people get something from it, great. I think, like Sandy Denny, he was ‘spent’ artistically by the time he passed on. Because the solo career was thus brief and finite, people (with relation to both of those artists – and others with similar untimely ends) work really hard to squeeze worthiness out of a fair amount of mediocre music and a handful of gems.
Each to their own etc. etc., but I agree with you!
Taking “Plastic Ono Band” to be the best one, it’s not exactly an album returned to on a regular basis, surely (?), and whenever I do listen to it (about once every five years), it’s a bit like wading through a Party Manifesto … quite worthy, you kinda think it’s doing you good, but you’re sure not to go back to it anytime soon.
It misses an ingredient called “Paul,” I’d suggest, a lot more than “McCartney” misses “John.”
When Lennon said “I don’t believe in Zimmerman,” “I don’t believe in Beatles,” and “I don’t believe in 60s,” he 1. should have, 2. should have, and 3. definitely should have.
I don’t think his solo career is overrated any more. Time has passed and things have swung in the other direction I feel.
I can understand Plastic Ono Band not being for everyone, but it is a genuine, personal, heart wrenching experience. From the biggest rock star in the planet, that took a lot of guts.
Imagine may have been overrated, Some Time in NYC is indeed close to unlistenable and Mind Games pretty flat and ordinary (with a couple of gems), as I said I like Walls and Bridges a lot and always had a soft spot for the much maligned Rock n Roll. Double Fantasy is not a full album, only 7 songs of which 3 or 4 are top drawer.
According to info on the Hoffman forum an 8 disc SDE is imminent (6 CDs, 2 Blu-rays), presumably also including Yoko’s excellent album released at the same time.
It’s a slim album anyway, with a lot of the songs extended a good couple of minutes beyond their natural end in order to pad it out a bit. What on earth are they going to find to fill 8 discs??
I remember being thrilled by Instant Karma!, his best solo track in my view with a brilliant Phil Spector production. After that Plastic Ono Band seemed such a drag. He then pulled himself together for the satisfyingly mainstream Imagine, followed by the commercial suicide of Sometime In NY. Personally, I have a soft spot for Mind Games. It has some clever songs on it and I prefer it to Band On The Run but its production is thin (please get a Giles remix) and it didn’t succeed in a bounce back like Imagine did. Like dai, I thoroughly enjoy Rock ‘N’ Roll, and Walls And Bridges to a lesser degree. If you pull the Lennon songs from the final two albums with Yoko and put them together, you get a pretty decent album I think. Certainly, an ‘album’ I enjoy as much, if not more so than McCartney solo.
After The Beatles, as far as I was concerned, they could all do as they pleased and, to a large degree, they did. With Lennon, you have to take the rough with the smooth. As with all of them, their albums carried the weight of being compared unfavourably with The Beatles, Lennon most of all. He kicked back hard against that. His solo albums reflect who he was at the time. He wore his heart on his sleeve. He was determined that his work would be John Lennon and not solo Beatle. Good for him.
(We are all drawing a veil over his first three albums and the grounds of common decency?)
Worth checking out the David Quantick iamtheeggpod podcast on Imagine the album for a fresh, entertaining take. Also the documentary on the making of. Can make a person reconsider the worth of these tunes in a positive way. Did for me anyhow.
Think not. Easy enough to look up. I believe he has just done Shaved Fish, which is a pretty good 70s best of. Quantick did a very good white album one too in 2 parts. Of course he’s not for every one. I like the guy.
I don’t think Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey make up a really satisfactory listen, put it all together and still make maybe half a good album. Around the same time McCartney was making Back to the Egg, McCartney II and then later Tug of War, much more interesting stuff.
Hmm. McCartney II I enjoy but has its weaknesses. Back To The Egg I felt was brave at the time but is no longer an album I listen to. I’ve never been smitten by Tug Of War. I’ll give it another spin with my *interested* ears on!
Well, none of them are perfect, but they are packed with oodles of melodic invention, bonkers lyrics (sometimes good ones) and superb singing. John’s stuff is a little drab in comparison (with mainly superb singing).
Podicle says
Thanks for this. I’ve been eagerly checking my podcast app each day for another of these fine episodes.
dai says
Look forward to hearing it, possibly while running this evening.
Podicle says
It’s exactly the same for me. Except without the running.
Hamlet says
I see Radio 2 has wheeled out the usual suspects for a ‘Lennon at 80’ tribute. I lasted 15 minutes, as it seems to have been produced by someone with severe concentration problems. It jumps all over the bloody place, and the snippets of music are jarring.
Has anyone listened all the way through? It seemed to be heading down the hagiography route, not telling us anything we didn’t already know.
dai says
As usual, a good listen. I am a Beatles nut, but I always learn something new. In this case the Janis Joplin recorded message.
I think you were a little hard on Lennon’s solo career. He released 6 albums (and several standalone singles) between 1970 and 75, which matches Macca. He then took 5 years off which was pretty understandable I would say. And I think Walls and Bridges is an excellent album, great songs, great singing, kitchen sink production. At least his 3rd best solo record, might even beat Imagine.
I think he had done”universality” in The Beatles, when his own name was on the records, he adopted a different, more personal approach.
Colin H says
His solo career has been hugely overrated in my view. But I don’t have the will to argue the case – just a personal opinion. If people get something from it, great. I think, like Sandy Denny, he was ‘spent’ artistically by the time he passed on. Because the solo career was thus brief and finite, people (with relation to both of those artists – and others with similar untimely ends) work really hard to squeeze worthiness out of a fair amount of mediocre music and a handful of gems.
deramdaze says
Each to their own etc. etc., but I agree with you!
Taking “Plastic Ono Band” to be the best one, it’s not exactly an album returned to on a regular basis, surely (?), and whenever I do listen to it (about once every five years), it’s a bit like wading through a Party Manifesto … quite worthy, you kinda think it’s doing you good, but you’re sure not to go back to it anytime soon.
It misses an ingredient called “Paul,” I’d suggest, a lot more than “McCartney” misses “John.”
When Lennon said “I don’t believe in Zimmerman,” “I don’t believe in Beatles,” and “I don’t believe in 60s,” he 1. should have, 2. should have, and 3. definitely should have.
dai says
I don’t think his solo career is overrated any more. Time has passed and things have swung in the other direction I feel.
I can understand Plastic Ono Band not being for everyone, but it is a genuine, personal, heart wrenching experience. From the biggest rock star in the planet, that took a lot of guts.
Imagine may have been overrated, Some Time in NYC is indeed close to unlistenable and Mind Games pretty flat and ordinary (with a couple of gems), as I said I like Walls and Bridges a lot and always had a soft spot for the much maligned Rock n Roll. Double Fantasy is not a full album, only 7 songs of which 3 or 4 are top drawer.
dai says
According to info on the Hoffman forum an 8 disc SDE is imminent (6 CDs, 2 Blu-rays), presumably also including Yoko’s excellent album released at the same time.
Arthur Cowslip says
8 discs?????!!
It’s a slim album anyway, with a lot of the songs extended a good couple of minutes beyond their natural end in order to pad it out a bit. What on earth are they going to find to fill 8 discs??
dai says
The Blu-rays will probably repeat the CD content like in the Imagine set.
So 2 original albums, maybe Live in Toronto, a disc of 69 and 70 singles (Inc B sides), then 2 discs of outtakes?
Tiggerlion says
I remember being thrilled by Instant Karma!, his best solo track in my view with a brilliant Phil Spector production. After that Plastic Ono Band seemed such a drag. He then pulled himself together for the satisfyingly mainstream Imagine, followed by the commercial suicide of Sometime In NY. Personally, I have a soft spot for Mind Games. It has some clever songs on it and I prefer it to Band On The Run but its production is thin (please get a Giles remix) and it didn’t succeed in a bounce back like Imagine did. Like dai, I thoroughly enjoy Rock ‘N’ Roll, and Walls And Bridges to a lesser degree. If you pull the Lennon songs from the final two albums with Yoko and put them together, you get a pretty decent album I think. Certainly, an ‘album’ I enjoy as much, if not more so than McCartney solo.
After The Beatles, as far as I was concerned, they could all do as they pleased and, to a large degree, they did. With Lennon, you have to take the rough with the smooth. As with all of them, their albums carried the weight of being compared unfavourably with The Beatles, Lennon most of all. He kicked back hard against that. His solo albums reflect who he was at the time. He wore his heart on his sleeve. He was determined that his work would be John Lennon and not solo Beatle. Good for him.
(We are all drawing a veil over his first three albums and the grounds of common decency?)
Diddley Farquar says
Worth checking out the David Quantick iamtheeggpod podcast on Imagine the album for a fresh, entertaining take. Also the documentary on the making of. Can make a person reconsider the worth of these tunes in a positive way. Did for me anyhow.
Tiggerlion says
Has he done an eggpod on Mind Games?
Diddley Farquar says
Think not. Easy enough to look up. I believe he has just done Shaved Fish, which is a pretty good 70s best of. Quantick did a very good white album one too in 2 parts. Of course he’s not for every one. I like the guy.
dai says
I didn’t think he added much on that one, just seemed to be saying that everything on the album was “great”. One of the weaker podcasts for me.
dai says
I don’t think Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey make up a really satisfactory listen, put it all together and still make maybe half a good album. Around the same time McCartney was making Back to the Egg, McCartney II and then later Tug of War, much more interesting stuff.
Tiggerlion says
Hmm. McCartney II I enjoy but has its weaknesses. Back To The Egg I felt was brave at the time but is no longer an album I listen to. I’ve never been smitten by Tug Of War. I’ll give it another spin with my *interested* ears on!
dai says
Well, none of them are perfect, but they are packed with oodles of melodic invention, bonkers lyrics (sometimes good ones) and superb singing. John’s stuff is a little drab in comparison (with mainly superb singing).
Arthur Cowslip says
I’m fine with solo John. Those ten years would fit nicely on a 20 track Best Of compilation and you wouldn’t need any more than that.
Steven C says
And a separate episode on ‘Yoko Ono / Plastic Ono Band’
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/nothing-is-real-a-beatles-podcast/id1462587848?i=1000493940452
Sniffity says
Amused at the Yoko ep being “Everything Is Real” 🙂
dai says
Excellent, helped with my insomnia (not a backhanded compliment)