John Lennon needs no introduction, he is arguably one of the finest songwriters of our generation, this was his debut solo album recorded with the Plastic Ono Band, the Plastic Ono Band was a concept thought up by John to describe the group of musicians with whom he'd be recording his albums and touring, on Plastic Ono Band this consisted of John, Yoko, Klaus Voorman and Ringo Starr, of note is that Klaus did the artwork for The Beatles album, Revolver.
This album was recorded at the same time as Yoko Ono was recoring her own album Yoko Ono / Plastic Ono Band, it features similar artwork, with Yoko leaning on John as opposed to the opposite as featured on John's album.
Seen as one of the best rock records of all time, John confronts his demons on this record, his lyrics display his ideas on religion and certain tragic events of his life.
The album begins with a bell ringing out, simple, ominous and tragic, leading into "Mother" a song about how both of John's parents left him, in their own ways, his mother being killed in a car accident, and his father moving to New Zealand, the song features piano, bass and drums, the song builds in intensity to the point where John is screaming his lyrics: "Momma don't go, Daddy come home." The screaming inspired by his Primal Scream therapy, in which patients face their pain and let it out.
The second track "Hold On" sees John a contemplative mood, featuring clean guitar and John's softly sung vocals, for some reason or another John impersonates the cookie monster, barking: "Cookie" about half way through the song, I'm sure it's probably an in-joke... Or a reference to advertising in the media, John trying to suggest it wouldn't be long before adverts were inserted in songs.
Next up is one of John's most famous compositions, "I Found Out", which has a thumping bassline and a raw, raucous sound, in this song John states that he's; "Seen religion from Jesus to Paul." An obvious dig at former bandmate Paul McCartney.
Yet another notable tune from John comes next; "Working Class Hero". The lyrics address the ideas of class systems in England, sometimes in a brutal manner: "You're still fucking peasants as far as I can see." Far from dense, this song features John's vocal work and acoustic guitar.
Moving forward, the track "Love" is another of John's piano-based tunes, instantly recognisable simply by its opening line "Love is real, real is love". The line; "Love is asking, to be loved." Sounds like a reference to a certain war happening around the time of recording.
Contrasting and getting loud again, the next song is "Well Well Well". Featuring the catchy and yet again, instantly recognisable repeated refrain of "Well, well well, oh well." The song starts with a distorted guitar riff, then joins a stomping bass drum beat, the song builds to a crescendo with John screaming "Well" in a similar vein to "Mother", the opening track. A brief lapse in the noise before building up again and the screaming returning, the song ends by breaking down with John stating: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." In reference to not being able to keep up the shouting.
The tenth track on the album "God" is another of the tunes on this album that everybody knows. The lyrics are very thought-provoking with lines such as: "God is a concept, by which we measure our pain." The song's chorus features a lengthy of John saying he doesn't believe in things which people have sought resolve in throughout the ages, ending with: "I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me." Because of the seemingly blasphemous connotation of what John sings, the song sparked alot of controversy.
The last song on the album "My Mummy's Dead" is incredibly Lo-Fi and has John singing about his deceased mother to the tune of "Three Blind Mice".
Overall, this album features some of John's most recognisable, controversial and introspective songs, with most of the songs being iconic, people will listen to this album and know all the songs bar one or two, even if they have never heard the album before. Powerful, this is an record people should own.
A classic.
10/10
Now I'm gonna go listen to it again.
This may incur massive, massive wrath, but: Though your review is excellent, I disagree with most of it. John Lennon wrote some excellent songs, both with the Beatles and as a solo artist, but this? This was far from his best album, in my opinion. He was trying to hard to be different and make a statement that nothing came across as it should have.
ReplyDelete'Working Class Hero' in particular irks me, because John Lennon was not raised as a part of the working class! Yes, his mother and father were poor, but he was mostly raised by his aunt Mimi (And his Uncle George, though he died when John was young) who lived very firmly in the middle class, even in upper-middle class it could be said.
John came into his own after this album and did some great stuff, but this album just rolls out hypocrisy after hypocrisy. Heck, I even prefer the Wedding Album to this, and I'm not a massive fan of that one.
Okay, shutting up now. Sorry for 'rawr'ing all over your page!
It's all good, that's your opinion and you're entitled to that, it's been a while since I updated the blog, it's mostly for my English A-level, I suppose I love Plastic Ono because it's raw and emotionally charged, and being the angsty teenage boy I am, I suppose I identify with it more.
ReplyDeletePeace.