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"An album that will be as much analysed as Sgt. Pepper over the years." (Billboard - 1971)
"It remains one of the most audacious, iconoclastic albums in all of rock and roll." (Guitar World 2016)
"The album certainly shows that he had yet to work through many unresolved matters, and that he still had much anger in him. However he was a brilliant man and knew how to channel these elements in such a way to create some brilliant, memorable and haunting tracks." (This review)
This is album review number One Hundred and Ninety Eight in the series of retro-reviews of both vinyl and CD albums from my collection.
The series is called Cream of The Crate and each review represents an album that I believe represents significant musical value, either because of its rarity, because it represents the best of a style or styles of a music or because there is something unique about the music, the group or the particular production. The first fifty reviews were based on vinyl albums from my collection, with the following fifty on CD albums from my collection. Links to all these reviews can be found at the bottom of the page.
If the 1960's was the decade of "love & peace' then the 1970's was probably best described as a decade of turmoil and even more rapid change. I dig into my crate this week and pull out an artist who changed, almost overnight, changed rapidly leaving the "butterfly of love" behind and showing a tougher and yet more vulnerable side of him.
The artist are John Lennon and of all his albums I have chose the vinyl album titled - Plastic Ono Band. Released on the Apple label in 1970 and has the identifying code of PCSO-7124. It only has 11 tracks and all were written by Lennon.
John Lennon's story is almost as well known as that of The Beatles, with whom he shall ever be tied to.
Yet as he demonstrated to both believers and non-believers, he was much more than John Lennon the Beatle!
The final part of his story is as follows.
On 8 December 1980, the legendary musician was shot four times in the back outside of his apartment building in New York City. He was only 40 years old. 7 days after his death, millions of people paused their daily routines to honour Yoko Ono's request for ten minutes of silence in commemoration of his contributions. 30,000 gathered in Liverpool, 225,000 in New York City's Central Park. The radios went silent, too.
But to try and make his story interesting here are some little known facts and stories about him. John was actually both a choir boy and a scout. In 1963 John almost beat a man to death. Bob Wooler was a DJ that knew the Beatles, he introduced them on stage over 300 times and was often invited to their parties. In 1963 rumours were swirling that John was gay and Wooler didn't help when at Paul's 21st birthday party Wooler started "mincing" around crying out, “Come on John, what really happened with you and Brian? Everybody knows anyway, so tell us.” John had been heavily drinking that night and he was a notorious “bad drunk”.
In a blind rage, John proceeded to beat the stuffing out of a very surprised Bob Wooler, literally kicking him repeatedly in the ribs as he lay on the ground in a bloody heap. According to John, the only reason he actually stopped the savage beating was because, “I realised I was actually going to kill him." Fortunately for him and the Beatles, he didn't!
John was also the last of the Beatles to get a driving licence and was the only Beatle to never become a full-time vegetarian. He also thought he had a terrible voice and would request that George Martin try and cover it up, once asking Martin, “Can’t you smother it with tomato ketchup or something?”
He was never satisfied with the recording the Beatles did. A few years after his split from the Beatles he told George Martin he would love to re-record all, every Beatle track. When Martin asked, Even Strawberry Fields, John replied, “Especially ‘Strawberry Fields'”. He also maintained that the best song he ever wrote for the Beatles was All You Need Is Love.
So to this album. We all know there we what might best be described as "experimental" albums with Yoko, and despite the general ambivalence, sometimes hatred, toward them by his fans, they were necessary as part of John's desire to leave everything Beatle behind, and to cathartically cleanse himself.
He succeeded partially, but in 1970 recorded and released this album, which I must agree with the general consensus that, it was either his best, or among his best. Unlike the previous albums; Unfinished Music #1 - Two Virgins (1968), Unfinished Music #2 - Life With The Lions (1969), The Wedding Album (1969) and Live Peace In Toronto (1969), this album had a coherence, and also represented genuine attempts to provide an album that would be accepted by the public, and one that would consist of all his own compositions.
The album John Lennon: Plastic Ono Band certainly shows that he had yet to work through many unresolved matters, and that he still had much anger in him. However he was a brilliant man and knew how to channel these elements in such a way to create some brilliant, memorable and haunting tracks.
Working with him on production was Phil Spector, who was obviously a two-edged sword himself. Brilliant and an absolute genius behind the mixer, he also brought with him baggage and often lost control, once firing a gun into a the control booth ceiling during a recording session with Lennon.
John & Phil
Yet for all his "eccentricity" his genius and touch can be heard throughout this album.
Track listing:
Side 1
1. Mother
2. Hold On
3. I Found Out
4. Working Class Hero
5. Isolation
Side 2
1. Remember
2. Love
3. Well Well Well
4. Look At Me
5. God
6. My Mummy’s Dead
Mother is one of those tracks that has many layers to it. It is a cry of pain, there is no doubt about it. Having lost his mother at such a vulnerable age in such a way that there were no "goodbyes", the young Lennon carried that pain right through his life. It is also cathartic, with elements of "primal scream" therapy showing through which is of no surprise given John was indeed going through that therapy at the time he wrote the piece.
John had lost his father at an even younger age, when he was a toddler, so the loss of his mother was even more painful. John uses the song not only to release his pain and anger, but in the process of healing it allows him to say the goodbye he never said. That "momma don't go" at 4:44 is absolutely gut wrenching.
Later Yoko said of this track, "He was going back to the days of when he wanted to scream, 'Mother.' He was able to go back to that childhood, that memory."
The track is certainly minimalistic with John playing simple chords in a dramatic manner with just the right amount of pause between each downward chord. Accompanying him was Klaus Voormann on bass and Ringo Starr on drums yet, it is more than just right, it is a superb track and as far as my theory that track 1 on an album should be the artists "greeting card" the track that introduces him, John Lennon could not have done better.
The track opens with the pealing of a funeral bell. The story goes that originally the bell was struck faster, but John insist it be slowed down to give it a more 'deathly' sound. It has been speculated that it represents the "death of his connection with the Beatles". I recall someone (but not who it was) that said of this track, "there is only one thing wrong - it is 10 hours too short!"
Mother, you had me
But I never had you
I wanted you
But you didn't want me
So
I, I just got to tell you
Goodbye
Goodbye
Father, you left me
But I never left you
I needed you
But you didn't need me
So
I, I just got to tell you
Goodbye
Goodbye
Children, don't do
What I have done
I couldn't walk
And I tried to run
So
I, I just got to tell you
Goodbye
Goodbye
Mama don't go
Daddy come home
Mama don't go
Daddy come home
Mama don't go
Daddy come home
Mama don't go
Daddy come home
Mama don't go
Daddy come home
Mama don't go
Daddy come home
Mama don't go
Daddy come home
Mama don't go
Daddy come home
Mama don't go
Daddy come home