89. John Lennon

 

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Former Beatle. A master at confessional songwriting, whose life was tragically cut short at the age of 40 in 1980.

 

ALL MUSIC GUIDE BIOGRAPHY

 

Key Studio Album: Imagine (1971)

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Key Compiliation: Working Class Hero: The Definitive Lennon (2005)

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Career Defining Song:

Imagine (1971 USA#3, 1975 UK#6, 1981 UK#1, 1999 UK#3)

Some Other Key Songs:

 

Instant Karma (1970 UK#4 USA#3)

 

Jealous Guy (1971, 1985 UK#65, 1988 USA#80)

 

(Just Like) Starting Over (1980 UK#1 USA#1)

 

Woman (1981 UK#1 USA#2)

 

Do you think John's solo career was over shadowed by his former band, or do you think his tragic death has meant his solo career has been overrated, especially compared to Paul McCartney's?

To be fair he really only worked from 1970-1975 did nothing till 1980, but he still recorded some pretty good material in that time frame. Of course all the Beatles were judged harshly when they went solo as it was a big act to try and follow. However songs like Instant Karma, Imagine, Happy xmas(war is over), Cold Turkey, Jealous Guy, #9 Dream , Power to the People, Nobody told me and Mindgames and not forgetting "Working class hero" were superb songs. Who knows how his music would have evolved after 1980, we will sadly never know. I liked some of his comeback songs on Double Fantasy like, Just like starting over but some not so much as I felt Yoko was pretty influential.

 

Some of his early solo material could be pretty political like Power to the people, Working class hero, Woman is the n***** of the world, Sunday bloody Sunday, the Luck of the Irish etc. He did like to provoke through his music, although by 1980 he had obviously mellowed.

 

I think history has looked favourably on him, even though he was a flawed superstar.

To be honest as the creative force in the Beatles his songwriting peaked earlier than Paul's did.

 

Up until and including the Revolver album John was the superior songwriter, but afterwards (Sgt Pepper onwards) Paul took over as the best songwriter within the group IMHO.

 

Likewise with his solo career his first two proper solo albums John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970) & Imagine (1971) are stunning albums, but afterwards I honestly don't think he wrote 10 great songs in the remaining nine years of his life as he was a spent force creatively.

 

Whether he would have refound his creative "mojo" after 1980 had he lived is sadly something we can only debate upon as I feel the likes of Dylan (Time Out Of Mind); Springsteen (The Rising); Neil Young (Freedom); Bowie (Heathen) & McCartney (Memory Almost Full) all refound their's after going more than a decade each being near creatively bankrupt. :cry:

 

Mind you the Rolling Stones really should have given up after their 1978 Some Girls album.... :lol:

the godfather of modern pop music?... almost certainly. im not going to post reams of praise for this guy, he was one of our best ever icons, creative, influencial etc.

 

however, his creative talent seemed to be going the way stevie wonders did... 'woman' was goddamn awful tosh! (like the once great stevie wonder 'i just called to say i love you)

I loved his solo work - right up til the end, as well as Milk and Honey, the unreleased demo stuff released after his death.

 

However, I think he was pouring his more creative juices into Yoko's work in the year or two leading to his death... IMO, Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey are both superb Yoko Ono projects.... with some additional Lennon tracks. And far from dulling down his creativity - I think Ono enhanced it.

 

I think by now, had John and George not have died, we'd have had a Beatles reunion... be that a good or bad thing. Or at least a collaboration between McCartney and Lennon.

 

Favourite Lennon solo tracks? 'Love' is pretty much his defining solo song for me - much like Imagine, beautifully simple and understated. 'Happy Xmas' is another that always brings a lump to my throat..... and anything off the Shaved Fish collection, really.

^

 

I have to completely disagree about Yoko being a positive creative force in John's 1980 comeback.

 

Just compare the before and after Yoko influence:

 

Before:

 

John Lennon recorded with Cheap Trick - I'm Losing You (Feb 1980)

 

After:

 

John Lennon - I'm Losing You (Sep 1980 for Double Fantasy album)

 

The former is a very edgy neurotic almost punkish track recorded 15 years before Oasis.

The later is quite frankly a lukewarm blandfest.

 

Whilst I fully admire Yoko for the obvious love that she had for John, and admire the way she has been responsible for the marketing of John Lennon's estate since his tragic death, I have to disagree that she has not been honest with her "Saint John" rewrite of history.

 

I think the way she was responsible for the rewriting of history via commissioning a new set of videos for the Mind Games and Walls & Bridges albums when John had his "Lost Weekend" away from Yoko, to include herself in those videos was pretty naff.

 

Whilst the 1990s remasters of those two albums removing May Pang's vocals from the tracks she originally appeared on was an equally bad move, that smacks of jealousy and insecurity.

 

 

Whilst Beatles fans know that she was not exactly forward allowing the world to hear the last song John Lennon recorded three days before his death; when he was due to catch the QE2 to visit his Aunt Mimi and a couple of old bandmates of his (Paul & George - they confirmed this long held rumour was true during the Anthology project) in the UK for the first time in nearly a decade in February/March 1981.

 

John Lennon - Serve Yourself (demo recorded Dec 5th 1980)

 

The fact Yoko did not allow this bitter caustic scouse Dylanesque diatribe to be used on the Milk & Honey album, says a lot. Whilst in the 1990s both comedians Ricky Tomlinson & Paul O'Grady (aka Lily Savage) asked permission to cover this well known bootleg that finally appeared officially on the "Wonsaponatime/Anthology" project in 1998, but were refused by Yoko. Yet she has not been backward in allowing John's songs to be covered on tribute albums, or in dubious TV commercials.

 

I have no doubt that the Beatles or at the very least the Lennon/McCartney partnership would have reformed if John had not been murdered. However, if they reformed in the 1980s they would have probably sounded like a second rate ELO; and if in the 1990s an inferior Crowded House meets Oasis.

..... However, I must add that this is the best track which John Lennon played on in the last year of his life by some distance IMHO. I think it is vastly superior to anything on the Double Fantasy album.

 

Yoko Ono - Walking On Thin Ice (1981)

 

I think you can tell that Yoko was a big fan of Talking Heads; and John in one of his last interviews referenced the fact that Yoko "loved the guitar sounds on David Bowie's last album (Scary Monsters)".

 

And in 2003 it was remixed by the likes of the Pet Shop Boys, Danny Tenaglia, Rui da Silva, Felix The Housecat and topped the US Dance charts keeping Madonna & Justin Timberlake off the summit of that chart.

'Walking on Thin Ice' is probably my favourite single of all time...... and it's true.... the whooshing guitar sound IS from Scary Monsters.... I'd never noticed that. You're a font of fabulous knowledge, Rich - I love reading your posts.

 

It's a little late to play the Lennon track now (no headphones here)... I'll have a listen in the morning. ;)