I paid £12 for a paperback on Amazon about 3 months ago.
― nate woolls, Saturday, 23 October 2010 21:17 (thirteen years ago) link
$165 ! wow how long has it been put of print?
― piscesx, Saturday, 23 October 2010 21:21 (thirteen years ago) link
*out
Elliot Mintz is, or was, effectively PR for Yoko - and constantly put out a stream of stories patching up the mythology of John and Yoko as the great romance, minimising the Lost Weekend period, and glossing over John's depression of the mid-to late 70s.
Fred Seaman's assessment:
"She (Yoko) told Mintz to play up her role as businesswoman and to publicize her reliance on psychics. Mintz had once told me that he did not think that press reports about Yoko's confidence in psychics were good for her image. I was therefore astonished when he agreed with everything Yoko said. He was a consummate sycophant."
― Bob Six, Saturday, 23 October 2010 21:47 (thirteen years ago) link
Really into Walls and Bridges today, especially this one:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSS2ABconDg
― austinato (Austin), Wednesday, 14 October 2015 00:00 (eight years ago) link
I'm...not fond of Woman.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 15 November 2017 03:30 (six years ago) link
if i recall, the original demo on the lennon anthology has some real power, but the MOR production on double fantasy really takes the life out of it.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Wednesday, 15 November 2017 03:56 (six years ago) link
I'm...not fond of Woman🕸.
― Naive Teen Idol, Wednesday, 15 November 2017 04:15 (six years ago) link
was just thinking about how pathetic double fantasy & the interviews he gave in 1980 would be seen if he had lived longer
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 15 November 2017 04:29 (six years ago) link
the contrast between the playfulness and inventiveness of lennon's earlier lyrics and shit like "after all, it is written in the stars" is p depressing to me. and yeah the "little child inside the man" stuff suggests that lennon spent a little too much time absorbing, i don't know, self-help books and psychobabble during his period of exile. the double fantasy stuff i honestly enjoy most is the lighthearted stuff like "starting over."
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Wednesday, 15 November 2017 04:52 (six years ago) link
CLEANUP TIME
― timellison, Wednesday, 15 November 2017 05:44 (six years ago) link
I love 'Woman' - beautiful song. Lennon was pretty much spent creatively by 1972, but he still turned out the odd gem.
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Wednesday, 15 November 2017 07:00 (six years ago) link
Love it too, mostly for sentimental reasons
― Week of Wonders (Ross), Wednesday, 15 November 2017 15:53 (six years ago) link
I mostly prefer Yoko's tracks on Double Fantasy to John's, though.
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Wednesday, 15 November 2017 17:24 (six years ago) link
Season of Glass is a better album
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 15 November 2017 18:06 (six years ago) link
yes and yes
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 15 November 2017 18:31 (six years ago) link
I would have voted for John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band like everyone else, but second choice would have been Walls & Bridges, surprised it got no votes.
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 15 November 2017 18:36 (six years ago) link
I think there's three great songs on Walls & Bridges, and two of 'em were singles.
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Wednesday, 15 November 2017 18:40 (six years ago) link
been thinking how being freed from the Beatles really invigorated his songwriting, so many great songs (and def a fair amount of his best) came out in that '69-'72 period. And then around when he splits with Yoko he seemed to mostly lose the plot.
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 15 November 2017 18:42 (six years ago) link
Yeah, '69-'72 was a great period for him artistically (with the exception of Some Time in New York City,I guess.
But: 'Give Peace a Chance', 'Instant Karma!', 'Cold Turkey', 'Mother', 'Working Class Hero', 'Imagine', 'Jealous Guy', 'Oh My Love', 'Gimme Some Truth', 'Happy Xmas (War is Over)' ... I mean, you can't fuck with any of those.
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Wednesday, 15 November 2017 18:54 (six years ago) link
and that production/mixing style he hit on with Spector with the pounding rhythm section + slapback vocal echo was such a great combo. Gives the grooves in things like "How Do You Sleep" a real oomph.
xp
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 15 November 2017 18:55 (six years ago) link
Lennon loved slap-back on his voice, didn't he? It's on his better Double Fantasy songs. Too bad the drum sound is so awful on that record.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 15 November 2017 18:58 (six years ago) link
Well, you can, but that much should be obvious.
― Terry Micawber (Tom D.), Wednesday, 15 November 2017 18:59 (six years ago) link
Even after that there was 'Mind Games', '#9 Dream', 'What You Got', 'Woman' and 'Nobody Told Me' ... he could still write a great song, just not as many of them. The arrangements of a lot of Lennon's solo stuff can render a lot of it feeling really samey, though. I wish his solo career was a touch more diverse.
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Wednesday, 15 November 2017 19:01 (six years ago) link
xpost:
Nah, all of those tracks are flawless. Perfect.
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Wednesday, 15 November 2017 19:02 (six years ago) link
yeah his sound got really limp w out Ringo and Voorman and Spector imo
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 15 November 2017 19:03 (six years ago) link
Bring on the Lucie and One Day at a Time are hidden gems on Mind Games
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 15 November 2017 19:04 (six years ago) link
agreed that POB and Imagine are two of the best produced records ever, rhythm section is just incredible
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 15 November 2017 19:05 (six years ago) link
After The Beatles broke up, you could have been forgiven for thinking John and Paul would come out with mammoth blockbuster releases and George's record would have been less popular, but John put out this raw confessional record, George put out a mammoth blockbuster and Paul put out a record of him pissing about like it was no big deal.
In hindsight, by the time Band on the Run came out in '73, both John and George were already past their prime - whereas Paul just went from strength to strength commercially and still had many great songs in him.
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Wednesday, 15 November 2017 19:12 (six years ago) link
I can't bear to listen to "What You Got" and "Going Down on Love." You know how on that Billy Joel thread certain 1986 sound like the Forgotten '80s of shitty sunglasses and terrible DX-7 sounds? Those two Lennon songs constitute the Forgotten '70s.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 15 November 2017 19:13 (six years ago) link
Ah yeah, I like 'Bring on the Lucie' too!
(x-post)
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Wednesday, 15 November 2017 19:15 (six years ago) link
everyone so otm about the Mind Games deep cuts. i really like that album.
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 15 November 2017 22:40 (six years ago) link
Me too. "Out the Blue" and "I Know" as well. And "Only People!"
― timellison, Wednesday, 15 November 2017 23:04 (six years ago) link
Some "Julia"-like finger picking on the beginning of "Out the Blue."
Would be fun to take a crack at remixing that album, for sure.
― timellison, Wednesday, 15 November 2017 23:30 (six years ago) link
Wrote on "I Know (I Know)" some years ago:
http://thisiheard.blogspot.com/2012/01/john-lennon-i-know-i-know-1973.html
― timellison, Wednesday, 15 November 2017 23:57 (six years ago) link
it's remarkable how bad Mind Games sounds to me, compared to the mix on Pussycats, which sounds great
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 November 2017 00:01 (six years ago) link
It's a shame. Gordon Edwards on bass. He's great on "I Know (I Know)!"
― timellison, Thursday, 16 November 2017 00:03 (six years ago) link
btw to any interested here, I am planning on running the solo Beatles poll after the Wu-Tang poll wraps up
debating whether Pussy Cats is eligible given the extent of Lennon (and Ringo's) involvement. Inclined to let any of George's Travelling Wilburys songs be eligible as well. Basically if a Beatle wrote it I'm inclined to let it in.
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 November 2017 00:06 (six years ago) link
nice
― flappy bird, Thursday, 16 November 2017 02:01 (six years ago) link
So long as "Cheer Down" gets votes.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 16 November 2017 02:46 (six years ago) link
It will get one from me :)
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 November 2017 02:50 (six years ago) link
Yeah, 'I Know (I Know)' and 'Out the Blue' aren't too bad. I think Mind Games could have turned out better if he'd been more focused on the songwriting front and had a team of musicians that could have injected a bit of excitement into the proceedings.
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Thursday, 16 November 2017 06:59 (six years ago) link
Lennon died a couple of months after I was born, so his songs were around a lot in my early childhood. I think 'Woman' was among some of the first songs I ever heard, and I still really like it for, yes sentimental reasons but also because I like the melody and overall sound. I think it's easy to look at a lot of these songs from the perspective of an adult music enthusiast and say 'oh but this is terribly cringey and maudlin', but I wasn't thinking that way when I was a kid, or even a naive teen, so I can't look at it in this objective way.
― Fox Mulder, FYI (dog latin), Thursday, 16 November 2017 10:57 (six years ago) link
You remember "Woman" from when you were two months old? That's some power of recall.
― Terry Micawber (Tom D.), Thursday, 16 November 2017 11:00 (six years ago) link
I think that it’s normal that there are only 2-3 good/great songs on some of his solo albums because, in a way, that was his default rate in the Beatles after Revolver/quitting touring.Iirc he was quite lazy after the beatlemania days (rightly so) and never as productive as McCartney. So it was a pain in the ass having to « produce » news songs whenever a new album was planned.He was on fire again for a while with the band split but I suppose he went back to his « lazy » mode, hence the 2-3 songs + filler.
― AlXTC from Paris, Thursday, 16 November 2017 14:25 (six years ago) link
also, hard drugs.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 16 November 2017 14:26 (six years ago) link
LSD/Heroin : Pepper to Get Back Cocaine : Abbey Road to Imagine Heroin : the rest of the 70?
― AlXTC from Paris, Thursday, 16 November 2017 14:35 (six years ago) link
You remember "Woman" from when you were two months old? That's some power of recall.― Terry Micawber (Tom D.), Thursday, November 16, 2017 11:00 AM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Terry Micawber (Tom D.), Thursday, November 16, 2017 11:00 AM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
As far as I know, people back then would continue to play records they'd bought months, if not years after the fact
― Fox Mulder, FYI (dog latin), Thursday, 16 November 2017 15:04 (six years ago) link
'68-'69 was Lennon's heroin period.
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Thursday, 16 November 2017 15:06 (six years ago) link
I was thinking that all his best work was done while he was still living in the UK. Has he done anyting on par with his best work after moving to NYC ?
― AlXTC from Paris, Thursday, 16 November 2017 15:16 (six years ago) link