John Lennon - "Imagine" (1971)

Another one of these classic albums a record collection worthy of it’s name probably must include, whether you like the album or not. Though I must immediately admit that Imagine hasn’t been long in my collection, just a few weeks. I found it in a store for used record in Gothenburg for the excellent price of 35 Swedish kronor (= 5 USD), a bargain I couldn’t resist. The low price can be explained by the record’s semi shabby condition, but a simple cleaning of the record made it much fresher. The first half of the opening song and also the title track is not possible to listen to, thaks to a small dent (which of course affects the opening track on the B-side in the same way). Who is to blame, the previous owner or the company pressing the album?

Although I haven’t owned the album, I’ve had the music from Imagine at home since my early teens, on the classic and now extinct format cassette tape. My aunt's husband recorded this album and gave me as a Christmas present, so my relationship to the music is long despite the album’s absence in the shelf. And there is a tendency with classic albums like Imagine that you hear the songs in different contexts - radio, television, advertising, in the form of covers, old concert clips, etc. which makes it kept alive.

Imagine is produced by madman Phil Spector together with John and Yoko, and the sound is different from the predecessor John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band. At Imagine the listener gets to hear more spacious productions with fat strings and a large piano sound, something I suspect Mr. Spector should get credit for. Most of the songs are more readily available and the album is on the whole more commercially viable, a bit gentler and nicer than its predecessor. This is not to say that all the songs are easy and straightforward, also Imagine contains its more challenging creations, such as I Don’t Want To Be A Soldier.
The album was recorded in Lennon’s home studio in London, and some extra recordings were made in New York.

The two big hits Imagine and Jealous Guy are in a way quite cheezy songs to be honest. At the same time the former, in its desire for peace and equality, becomes a political statement in a turbulent time, and the latter has a dark undertone consisting of jealousy’s consequences. Although the song Imagine is one of the last hundred years most classic songs, I've heard it too much. I’ve simply grown tired of it. Therefore, the rest of the album is more interesting in my eyes and ears. If you want to hear a couple of other beautiful songs that are not as worn out I recommend How? and Oh Yoko! where the latter is more up-tempo and energizing. At the moment Give Me Some Truth is my favorite song from Imagine, a song that was around already at the time of the Beatles' recording of Let It Be. It’s a song with a political content where you hear George Harrison play guitar.

To be somewhat negative, I’ve never been fond of John’s a bit thin and nasal voice that puts its mark on most songs. To me his voice conveys bitterness, criticism and a somewhat neurotic feeling that creates a picture of a person I problably would find hard to hang out and chill with. This also goes for his more relaxed love songs. Moreover, one can debate whether the texts with an often political content is relevant today. Has the world changed? Unfortunately, a lot of what he sings about is as relevant today as it was then, although some references, eg to Nixon, are outdated. At the same time there are new politicians today representing what Nixon did then, so perhaps Lennon's contemporary criticism is timeless.

In the end, Imagine is an album I would be a sinner if I didn’t recommended. It really is a classical album and a nice piece of history from the early 70's. I don’t think all the songs are great, some are even quite boring, but it’s still a must have in the record shelf (which of course is easy for me to say now, since I finally actually own it). A lot of people claim that Imagine was the high point of Lennon’s solo career.

　
Tracklist

Side A
1. Imagine 3:01
2. Crippled Inside 3:47
3. Jealous Guy 4:14
4. It’s So Hard 2:25
5. I Don’t Want To Be A Soldier 6:05

Side B
1. Give Me Some Truth 3:16
2. Oh My Love 2:50
3. How Do You Sleep 5:36
4. How? 3:43
5. Oh Yoko! 4:20

Lee Hazlewood - "A Cowboy In Sweden" (1970)

I have a fascination for Lee Hazlewood. His deep baritone voice, the slightly twisted half psychedelic country & western music, and his humorous undertone makes me always feel comfortable in his company. This is a record I’ve been looking for, for some time and finally found at a store for used records on the run-down street Andra Långgatan in Gothenburg, of all places. Thanks to a price under a hundred Swedish kronor (around 14 USD) it felt like a good day.
(You can certainly find this LP online, but I have a policy to buy (almost) all my vinyls in physical stores. It's fun to go and rummage in the record shelves and it's easier to check the condition of albums. Moreover, some of the joy of the hunt is lost if you take the easy way out through the internet).

Lee Hazlewood was born in 1929 and died in 2007. For a number of years in the 70's he lived in Sweden. One reason for this choice was that he had become good friends with TV-producer / screenwriter Torbjörn Axelman (who nowdays spends his time in a psychiatric ward thanks to a shooting incident at his home in Brucebo, Sweden. You can’t go around shooting people and police officers without consequences, apparently). Torbjörn’s work included the TV show A Cowboy In Sweden to which today's album was the soundtrack. Lee also starred in the TV show. On the record two female singers are also involved, Nina Lizell and Suzi Jane Hokom, contributing with a fine contrast to Lee’s drawling, deep voice.

Thanks to that Lee lived here in Sweden there are a few albums that are only released here, as I understand it. According to discogs.com this album was only released in Sweden and the U.S in 1970. A reissue was released in the U.S in 1999. The album has a gatefold sleeve, and on the inside you can read:

'Here's some of the music from "A Cowboy In Sweden."

I hope you like the show and the album. It's a part

of my life I'll always remember. I love you, Sweden,

and all you wonderful people. Lee Hazlewood'

Seems to have been a nice man, our Lee.



Lee and Torbjörn

Most of the songs are really good, especially the B-side is filled with beautiful creations. Here and there fat string arrangements present themselves, vibrating electronic organs and soaring flutes also come to visit, while many songs are fairly simple in their sound - acoustic guitar, bass and drums. But thanks to Lee's touch of humor, sadness, irony and psychedelia, it's always interesting. Who can resist such a cocktail? The album and its sound really smells the 70s which in today's text is a compliment.
The album ends with Nina and Lee's collaboration on the song Vem Kan Segla (Who Can Sail). Nina sings it in Swedish and Lee translates. Apparently this was a minor hit, but personally, I’m fed up with this song, I’d heard too many times already in my childhood. How many times did we have to sing it in school? And already then I didn’t like the song - sad, slow and boring.
Cockaburra sits in the old gum tree, eating all the gum drops he can see... Now, that was a song!

Those who previously have heard Lee Hazlewood will recognize the mood. He delivers as always. For those who have never heard him this album is probably as good a starting point as anyone else of his albums. Lee is well known for his collaboration with Nancy Sinatra, but one should certainly not be satisfied with what they did together. Lee had a solo career that was at least as interesting. Should I describe his music it always ends with me reusing a term I have seen others use - psychedelic country & western music. So those who have never heard him will get a perfect understanding of what it is about.


Tracklist

Side A
1 Pray Them Bars Away 3:42
2 Leather & Lace 3:01
3 Forget Marie 2:00
4 Cold Hard Times 2:20
5 The Night Before 3:15
6 Hey Cowboy 3:16

Side B
1 No Train To Stockholm 2:16
2 For A Day Like Today 4:05
3 Easy And Me 2:50
4 What's More I Don’t Need Her 3:28
5 Vem Kan Segla 2:15

Kate Bush – ”The Dreaming” (1982)

Kate Bush's fourth album, The Dreaming, is not the easiest creation to embrace. This was the first album she produced on her own and it’s an album that asks a lot of the listener. Too much?

I've owned this album since my teens and I have the same feeling about it today as then, there is something strange about it. I really like it, but I don’t like it. I enjoy it, but I suffer. I want to listen to it, but do I? It attracts me, and it scares me. Nevertheless, this album has often been spun on the turntable, and many are the times I have let the songs seduce me, and destroy me. In periods, it has been my favourite album, other times I haven’t understood it.
The peculiarity the music conveys comes from the dark sound Kate has created. The sound feels close, neurotic and erratic. Perhaps her former producers / co-producers made sure to keep the music on the right side of the border to madness, but without someone at her side Kate crosses this border and takes the listener on a journey to a dark and somewhat strange place. As is customary with Kate she seems not to care about what she's supposed to do, she does what she wants to do.

On the album there’s the song Suspended in Gaffa, a song I fell in love with the first time I heard it. This love continues, and it’s one of my favourite songs with Kate. Unlike some other creations on the album this song is quite easy to listen to and traditional in its approach. But you also have a healthy dose of mystery, partly through a text that I don’t understand, and partly through a child's voice that says something barely audible before each chorus. I don’t know what it says, though, maybe "You're a fool who bought this record." Mysteriously enough anyway, and especially the younger version of yours truly liked that. This song alone makes it worth owning The Dreaming.

As mentioned, some of the other songs are not as easy to grasp. The songs often take strange turns and Kate sometimes uses her voice in a way that makes the music both more theatrical, unpredictable and makes you wonder if you really like it. She whispers, sings, screams and yells. It makes the music both more interesting but also more difficult. This is not an immediate record, so to speak. As usual, you have to respect Kate for going in her own direction and creating music that may not be completely tailored. It’s even more impressive when you realize that Kate was only 24 years old when the album was released.

I can’t help but recommend this album, but add a few words of caution. It's probably not the first Kate Bush record one should get if one wants to explore her music. It’ better to get to it a bit later in this process, otherwise the risk is that you become frightened and turn away. Listen at your own risk, in other words.

It can be mentioned that David Gilmour plays some guitar on the album, and do some backing vocals on one of the album’s highlights, Pull Out the Pin.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Sat In Your Lap 3:29

2. There Goes A Tenner 3:24

3. Pull Out The Pin 5:26

4. Suspended In Gaffa 3:54

5. Leave It Open 3:20

Side B

1. The Dreaming 4:41

2. Night Of The Swallow 5:22

3. All The Love 4:29

4. Houdini 3:48

5. Get Out Of My House 5:25