{"id":25363,"date":"2023-06-08T05:30:22","date_gmt":"2023-06-08T09:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=25363"},"modified":"2023-06-08T07:40:28","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T11:40:28","slug":"take-5-julian-lennon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/08\/take-5-julian-lennon\/","title":{"rendered":"Take 5: Julian Lennon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>While it\u2019s true that the listening public probably wouldn\u2019t know his name if he weren\u2019t the son of one of the most famous and important musical figures who\u2019s ever lived, Julian Lennon is a music artist whose work merits attention. After a lengthy period away from making music, John Lennon\u2019s eldest son \u2013 who turned 60 on April 8 \u2013 returned last September with <em>Jude<\/em>, his first new album in more than a decade. The new album features a strong track in its single, \u201cLucky Ones.\u201d Here\u2019s a look back at five key tracks from the back catalog of Julian Lennon.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cValotte\u201d from <em>Valotte<\/em> (1984)<\/strong><br \/>\nFrom the single\u2019s picture sleeve that strongly echoes a Hamburg-era photo of his father to Phil Ramone\u2019s production choices, most everything about Julian\u2019s debut demonstrates a conscious attempt to build on the sound and character of his father\u2019s solo-era style. But none of that should take away form the fact that \u201cValotte\u201d is a stirring, catchy pop ballad. <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2009\/10\/21\/blast-from-the-past-julian-lennon-valotte\/\">My review of the <em>Valotte<\/em> album is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sNo7tZA0TxQ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cStick Around\u201d from <em>The Secret Value of Daydreaming<\/em> (1986)<\/strong><br \/>\nEven the first few seconds of the single from Julian\u2019s second album place the song firmly in its time: \u201880s synthesizer\/sequencer textures, pig-squeal guitar fills, gunshot snare drums. But as mainstream 1980s pop goes, \u201cStick Around\u201d has its charms, and Lennon deserves points for moving in a harder-edged musical direction. <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2009\/10\/21\/album-review-julian-lennon-the-secret-value-of-daydreaming\/\">My review of <em>The Secret Value of Daydreaming<\/em> is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tl0wA2hhLv4\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cNow You&#8217;re in Heaven\u201d from <em>Mr. Jordan<\/em> (1989)<\/strong><br \/>\nJohn Lennon famously collaborated with David Bowie, co-writing, playing guitar and singing on the Thin White Duke\u2019s \u201cFame\u201d in 1976. Thirteen years later, Julian Lennon released this track, one that borrows much of its character from Bowie\u2019s \u201880s work circa <em>Let\u2019s Dance<\/em>, <em>Tonight<\/em> and <em>Never Let Me Down<\/em>. It\u2019s difficult to know exactly what bits of Julian\u2019s own musical identity figure into the song, but weighed on its own, \u201cNow You\u2019re in Heaven\u201d is a perfectly acceptable piece of late \u201880s album-oriented rock. <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2009\/10\/22\/album-review-julian-lennon-mr-jordan\/\">My review of <em>Mr. Jordan<\/em> is here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6n8J4UyAZXE\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cSaltwater\u201d from <em>Help Yourself<\/em> (1991)<\/strong><br \/>\nJulian took a couple of years\u2019 break after <em>Mr. Jordan<\/em>, and when he returned with his fourth album, he seemed to have moved back toward making music that expressed musical ideas that suited his talents more closely. The lovely, thoughtful, meditative and eco-topical \u201cSaltwater\u201d wouldn\u2019t have sounded out of place on his dad\u2019s <em>Mind Games<\/em> or <em>Walls and Bridges<\/em> LPs. The retro keyboard hearken back to the mid \u201860s, and the lead guitar break is a dead ringer for one of his father\u2019s closest mates, George Harrison (it\u2019s actually played by the great Steve Hunter). <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2009\/10\/22\/album-review-julian-lennon-help-yourself\/\">My review of <em>Help Yourself<\/em> is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/j7vdP0VZ3dE\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cI Don&#8217;t Wanna Know\u201d from <em>Photograph Smile<\/em> (1998)<\/strong><br \/>\nJulian took an even longer break after his fourth LP, with a seven-year wait until the release of <em>Photograph Smile<\/em>. Arguably, it was worth the wait: \u201cI Don\u2019t Wanna Know\u201d is a delightful slice of Beatlesque janglepop, with a strong melody, scintillating vocal harmonies and a catchy melody full of subtle yet clear nods toward the Fab Four. And the music video doubles down on the Beatleisms, adding up to Lennon\u2019s strongest outing since his debut. <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2009\/10\/23\/blast-from-the-past-julian-lennon-photograph-smile\/\">My review of <em>Photograph Smile<\/em> is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kR5AEfPU_TQ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While it\u2019s true that the listening public probably wouldn\u2019t know his name if he weren\u2019t the son of one of the most famous and important musical figures who\u2019s ever lived, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25364,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,51,62],"tags":[1220],"class_list":["post-25363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","category-pop","category-rawk","tag-julian-lennon","cat-27-id","cat-51-id","cat-62-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25363","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=25363"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25463,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25363\/revisions\/25463"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}