John Lennon - "John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band" (1970)

Brutal honesty. Personal lyrics. A dose of bitterness. A dose of primal therapy. A relatively tight sound. There you’ve got some of the elements of John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band. When I as a teenager bought this album, I listened a lot to the Beatles, especially I liked their more psychedelic creations. Most of all I liked Lennon's songs. They were often both druggier and more experimental than McCartney's contributions. Therefore I was quite disappointed with this album. It was not at all druggy and psychedelic. There were no backwards guitars or LSD-induced lyrics. Instead it was quite dark and anguished music. Brutal reality.

This was Lennon's first full length album as a solo artist and was recorded at Abbey Road Studios. Much of the music was inspired by the primal therapy he underwent at this time, which explains some heavy themes in the lyrics. Ringo Starr played drums on the album, and Phil Spector plays piano on one song (Love), he’s also mentioned as co-producer. In practice, however, John and Yoko produced most of the album themselves, since Spector was often away on other assignments.

It’s not an easy album to digest and not something you play as nice background music to create a gentle atmosphere. The album requires focus and attention to be fully appreciated. McCartney’s and (sometimes) Lennon's playfulness from the Beatles' days is far away. This is serious, sad, angry, bitter and Lennon makes things clear. Very clear. The opening line from the opening song Mother tells you what it’s all about - "Mother, you had me, but I never had you.".

Probably the most famous song from the album is Working Class Hero. Another famous song is God where John lists everything and everyone he no longer believes in, and where he finally says the now classic line, "I don’t believe in Beatles, I just believe in me."

The album is considered to be one of the major albums in musical history and often gets high positions in the "Best of" lists. Personally, though, I have not had an easy ride with it. Maybe it requires too much of the listener. The lyrics are often too personal and brutally honest. The sound is a bit too cut-down and ”simple”. There are no unusual time signatures, no big arrangements or complex song structures. On the contrary, the songs are quite "simple" - verses and choruses. I miss the experimental Lennon from a few years earlier (not to say that complex song structures and adventurous musical experimentation are always good things).

At the same time I respect the album a lot just because of the above mentioned. And in many ways it’s a groundbreaking album unlike anything else in its mental nudity where nothing is hidden. In other words, more innovative and experimental than most other things made ​​at the same time or later (complex song structures, strange time signatures and backwards drums included).

Although I don’t listen to this album often I must, at the end of the day, say that this is a good album. The opposite, that it’s a lousy record, feels like a quite strange conclusion. John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band is an extremely ambitious album where you’ve got a musician / artist who is very serious about his work. It’s far from commercial radio pop, it’s more like public psychotherapy. It feels as if Lennon was really serious about this album.

Parallel with this recording Yoko Ono recorded Yoko Ono / Plastic Ono Band, which was released the same date. The same musicians and production team were used for both albums. That record hasn’t got the same attention, though.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Mother 5:34

2. Hold On 1:52

3. I Found Out 3:37

4. Working Class Hero 3:48

5. Isolation 2:51

Side B

1. Remember 4:33

2. Love 3:21

3. Well Well Well 5:59

4. Look at Me 2:53

5. God 4:09

6: My Mummy’s Dead 0:49