{"id":22560,"date":"2022-03-12T05:30:41","date_gmt":"2022-03-12T10:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=22560"},"modified":"2022-02-21T15:44:28","modified_gmt":"2022-02-21T20:44:28","slug":"march-through-time-john-lennon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/12\/march-through-time-john-lennon\/","title":{"rendered":"March Through Time: John Lennon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-22561\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_lennon.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_lennon.jpg 425w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_lennon-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_lennon-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/>For many years after his tragic death, it was considered bad form to utter or write so much as a critical word on the subject of John Lennon\u2019s body of work. His presence looms large in popular music to this very day, though he\u2019s remembered primarily as a Beatle and a cultural icon. With the passing of time, people seem to have forgotten that he released a number of albums. Some were great, and some were not.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><i><b>Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins<\/b><\/i><b> (1968)<\/b> \u2013 This and the two that would follow in rapid succession are properly thought of as audio art pieces, not music-as-such. If you care to dig deeper into the man\u2019s work \u2013 i.e. beyond the hits \u2013 these are worth a listen. Just know what you\u2019re getting into. And for context, you\u2019d do well to pick up John Robertson&#8217;s book, <i>The Art and Music of John Lennon<\/i>.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions<\/b><\/i><b> (1969)<\/b> \u2013 see above comments.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Wedding Album<\/b><\/i><b> (1969)<\/b> \u2013 ditto.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Live Peace in Toronto<\/b><\/i><b> (1969)<\/b> \u2013 Rough and ready, wild and wooly, and rocking as hell. John, Eric, Klaus and Ringo, warts and all. A great concert document. Side Two is great as well, but in a very different way. If you don\u2019t appreciate Yoko, Side Two is best avoided.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>John Lennon\/Plastic Ono Band<\/b><\/i><b> (1970)<\/b> \u2013 People talk about Neil Young\u2019s <i>Tonight\u2019s the Night<\/i> and Big Star\u2019s <i>Sister Lovers\/Third<\/i>. You want visceral? Try this. Harrowing, more stripped-down than the Stooges, and (uncharacteristically) a Phil Spector production!<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Imagine<\/b><\/i><b> (1971)<\/b> \u2013 The opposite of <i>JL\/POB<\/i> in nearly every way. Lush and finely-wrought, but with nearly as much fire and venom. A triumph.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Some Time in New York City<\/b><\/i><b> (1972)<\/b> \u2013 Gritty and loose-limbed, it\u2019s musically effective. But the strident, politically-themed lyrics are largely bereft of nuance. Copyright issues aside (sorry, FZ), the bonus disc is kinda fun. \u201cWell\u201d is particular is superb.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Mind Games <\/b><\/i><b>(1973)<\/b> \u2013 Imagine writ small. The songs aren\u2019t quite as good overall, but there are some real keepers and some overlooked gems.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Walls and Bridges<\/b><\/i><b> (1974)<\/b> \u2013 The production on this is a bit overwrought. It has its moments, and there\u2019s no denying the majesty of its best tracks, \u201c#9 Dream\u201d chief among them. Groovy packaging design, too.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Rock &#8216;n&#8217; Roll<\/b><\/i><b> (1975)<\/b> \u2013 Far better than its reputation suggests. Even with Phil Spector\u2019s heavy-handed production, a classic. \u201cJust Because\u201d is a classic.<\/li>\n<li>Double Fantasy (1980) \u2013 Very good but alas perhaps not always great. Some of Yoko\u2019s material is stronger than some of John\u2019s. Still, essential.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Milk and Honey<\/b><\/i><b> (1984)<\/b> \u2013 The muse had returned, though. Had it been finished as intended, <i>Milk and Honey<\/i> would have been well-received. And we\u2019d have gotten to hear those songs live.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Menlove Avenue<\/b><\/i><b> (1986)<\/b> \u2013 More than a collection of demos, this relatively hard-to-find LP offers song you\u2019ve heard in arrangements you haven\u2019t, with less filigree and more emphasis on the songs themselves. An overlooked piece of the catalog.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Honorable Mention: Find yourself the three-song EP documenting John\u2019s final stage performance, at Madison Square Garden, guest of Elton John.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For many years after his tragic death, it was considered bad form to utter or write so much as a critical word on the subject of John Lennon\u2019s body of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22561,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,65],"tags":[1183],"class_list":["post-22560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","category-review","tag-john-lennon","cat-27-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22560"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22563,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22560\/revisions\/22563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}