Julian Lennon - "The Secret Value of Daydreaming" (1986)

It can't be easy having the name Julian Lennon. On one hand you've got an easy step into the music industry thanks to your last name, on the other hand people will always connect your name with your father. And who wants to be compared to a legend all the time? Can you ever win?

Not Julian in this case, not with this album. I must be clear from the start, I think this is a really lousy album. It's got all the bad things I connect with the dark 80s - that polished, boring, lightweight sound where nothing, absolutely nothing, catches your interest. Where everything is wrapped in... in... I don't know... the 80s?

The production and sound is easy to hate, unfortunately the songs are as bad as the production. According to me, not one song gets an A on this album. Or a B. Or even a D. With a different production the closing song Want Your Body maybe could get a C. And too often the songs are too long, it seems like the producer wanted to drag them out as long as possible just to fill the album with time. The music can be described as typical commercial 80s pop.

My criticism doesn't come from comparing Julian with his father. That's not necessary. But if I do compare with my last post which I defined as public therapy, this record is an exercise in total shallowness.

Julian may be forgiven. He was only 23 years old when he made this album, and from what I've read it was made in a hurry due to his earlier success with his debut album. Gossip also say that he didn't really live a healthy life after his initial success which might have affected his song writing.

I don't really like hammering down on a record like this, but in this case I can't do anything else. I bought this album in my teenage years just because I was curious how an album with John Lennon's son would sound like. I played the record once, then it found it's place far back in the collection. There it stood for 25 years until I played it again before writing this post. I'm absolutely sure I will not play it again.

Tracklist

Side A
1. Stick Around 4:04
2. You get What You Want 4:04
3. Let Me Tell You 4:17
4. I've Seen Your Face 3:28
5. Coward Till the End? 6:12

Side B
1. This Is My Day 3:55
2. You Don't Have To Tell Me 4:56
3. Everyday 3:51
4. Always Think Twice 3:58
5. Want Your Body 3:26