STACK NZ Aug #65

MUSIC

FEATURE

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JUST LIKE STARTING OVER

Graham Reid considers the solo albums of John Lennon, which are reissued this month on vinyl.

H ad he lived, John Lennon would turn 75 on October 9. Which means – because he had 17 years on the world stage before his murder in 1980 – that he’s been dead twice as long as he was alive and famous. Recently Paul McCartney noted that Lennon’s death turned him into a martyr, and its also true that – perhaps largely through Lennon and Yoko Ono’s mythologising – that this complex man has been reduced to some broad strokes, notably as that of a peace campaigner. But it’s worth remembering that on the Imagine album, which featured that wishful title track, Lennon also sang the bitter How Do You Sleep ? which was an astonishing personal attack on McCartney. Peace out, brother? If you take out Lennon’s solo projects during the final years of The Beatles – largely unlistenable and now time-locked avant-garde work with Ono, aside from the Live Peace In Toronto album – he recorded seven studio albums in the final decade of his life (not bad remains an extraordinary, musically spare and emotionally bare collection. From “Mother, you had me but I never had you” through to “I don’t believe in Beatles, I just believe in me, Yoko and me” this was therapy in song. This was the most un-Spector production by Phil ever; Lennon’s guitar playing is a searing revelation (he wouldn’t return to anything this raw until Ono’s Walking On Thin Ice at the end of his life) and Ringo Starr’s drum fills are inventive. Open-heart surgery on the soul and unique in popular music. Imagine (1971): Yes, the album with That Hit-cum-Anthem but also the revealing Crippled Inside , Jealous Guy (consider how many of his Beatles songs were about jealousy) and How? ,

a couple of Lennon’s Beatles and post-Beatle songs, and then Ono takes us into a pre-punk/avant-garde future with a whole side of screaming over rough guitar jamming and riffery. But here are all the studio albums from his still astonishing John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band through Imagine , the wobbly double Some Time In New York City , the somewhat uneven Mind Games, Walls and Bridges , the obligation covers album Rock’n’Roll ,then the final in his lifetime Double Fantasy (co-credited with Ono) and Milk and Honey (also co-credited to Ono). However, this month, the individual albums are also being issued separately and because things like the agit-prop Some Time In New York City have dated badly (what does Rockefeller mean to anyone today?) and the final two are musically less interesting (aside from Ono’s songs, but she’s an acquired taste), you may just want to cherry pick. So…

given he took five years off after his Rock’n’Roll covers albums in 1975). All of those albums and the posthumous Milk and Honey , which was almost complete at the time of his death, have long been out of print on vinyl, so the nine album box set Lennon (S ometime in New York City a double record) of the whole lot on 180gm virgin vinyl has been welcomed by collectors and those who just want to hear this music afresh. It’s a hefty chunk of Lennon, although Live Peace In Toronto deserved inclusion. It’s like a history of rock’n’roll as the scratched together band which included Eric Clapton rip through old rock standards,

For more reviews, overviews and interviews by Graham Reid see: www.elsewhere.co.nz

FOUR OF THE BEST FROM A FORMER FAB FOUR MAN the angry Gimme Some Truth and gentle Oh My Love . Then of course there is How Do You Sleep ? which is a brutal stab at former pal McCartney (“The only thing you done was yesterday”). Further proof of what a complex, emotionally volatile man he was, but also memorable tunes. John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970): His first major statement post-Beatles effective tune. There’s a bit of filler (B eef Jerky, What You Got ) but the best (which also includes Nobody Loves You ) make this one well worth discovering.

Rock’n’Roll (1975): Obliged to record three songs for allegedly ripping off Chuck Berry’s You Can’t Catch Me (for Come Together ), Lennon – separated from Ono, drinking heavily – employed Phil Spector (also out of control) to oversee some rock’n’roll sessions in Los Angeles. Out of the ensuing chaos, headlines about drunken behaviour and Spector making off with the master tapes ,Lennon eventually managed to salvage an album that was nowhere as bad as it might have been and at its best ( Stand By Me, Ain’t That A Shame, Slippin’ and Slidin’, Bony Moronie ) was actually terrific party music from a man who had little to prove and was obviously enjoying himself.

Walls and Bridges (1974): The album which divided critics, sold reasonably well, included the hit Whatever Gets You Through The Night with Elton John, and which has aged better than others in his catalogue. If his emotions were still bouncing around – Steel and Glass is a rewrite of How Do You Sleep? with former manager Allen Klein in the sightlines, Bless You a lovely and heartfelt ballad – his musical gifts were assured. #9 Dream boasts a glorious melody, Old Dirt Road co-written with Harry Nilsson is unique in his songbook and Scared another of his personally revealing songs set to a simple but

AUGUST 2015 JB Hi-Fi www.jbhifi.co.nz

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