The John Lennon Collection

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John Lennon

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John Lennon was brilliant. With Paul McCartney he was genius. What we see on this album is the genius that John was able to achieve without Paul (which makes some of us wish they had remained friends and co-writers).

Documenting the very best John Lennon solo songs from 1969 to 1980, this collection is nothing less than a must-have for any serious music or rock fan. Why? Because John had the knack for writing it all. Hard rock, soft rock, romantic rock, a touch of experimental, psychedelic rock...but he didn't call it any of those. It was just simply his music. John never liked to be labeled or classified in his life, and I think he would be happy that he is thought of as a great artist and musician and human, and not just a particular type.

"Give Peace a Chance" is what was once called a classic protest song. Yet it is a poignant reminder of what John stood for and how he died. Hard to listen to this song and not think of John.

"Instant Karma!" is another song of peace, and wonders why people spend so much time worrying about the unimportant things, and not enough time worrying about each other and the world we live in.

"Power to the People" is another song from the era of protests, getting right to the heart of John's belief that if all people banded together they could make the government do right.

"Whatever Gets You Thru the Night" is good rock and went to #1. Elton John jokingly bet John that this song would go to #1. If it went to #1 then John had to appear at one of Elton's concerts. The song did go to #1 and John appeared at an Elton concert in Madison Square Gardens, the last concert appearance by John Lennon.

"#9 Dream" is so very good. One of my favorite John Lennon songs. A very surreal and mellow song, bringing back memories of the psychedelic songs of the 60s. Ah! bowakawa pousse pousse.

Next is "Mind Games", a song about seeking answers in life. Of course the song says the answer is love, and anyone who looks beyond love has missed the answer. "Love" follows, a very simple song with minimal instrumentation that fits well with "Mind Games" given the essential theme of both.

"Happy Xmas (War is Over)" is another great song in the vein of protest songs. John was very anti-war, and many of his songs hold to the ideal that people have more important things to do than fight with each other.

Then comes "Imagine", once again a song about an ideal world, where the strife caused by religion and property and hate and greed and hunger are all gone, and we live together in harmony. This song will always be John Lennon's signature song.

From here the CD moves on to relationship songs. "Jealous Guy" is song about being jealous over his wife. John realizes that he broke with the very ideals he has espoused for so many years in his relationship with his wife. A great way to say "I'm sorry".

The next song is a fantastic cover of "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. A very classy song by a very classy guy.

"(Just Like) Starting Over" is one of several songs from the album "Double Fantasy". This song did very well in the charts and helped make "Double Fantasy" a huge selling album. Good solid rock love song, just like "Woman", the song that follows.

"I'm Losing You" takes a different tack on love, where the singer realizes that somehow he and his significant other have somehow lost what made their relationship, and the two are growing apart. There are some good riffs in this song.

"Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" is an ode to John's son Sean. A bit of whimsy and pride, and a pretty song.

"Watching the Wheels" would seem to be John's explanation for why he dropped out of the music business. At the end of the song he says simply:

No longer riding on the merry-go-round,

I just had to let it go.

"Dear Yoko" is a faster paced song, and there is no need to explain what it is about. "Move Over Ms. L" would seem to be written about a female Lennon, but I have it on good authority that the song was written for Keith Moon. I can't credit my source, so we'll leave it as a mystery.

"Cold Turkey" has got to be the most bizarre song on the collection, and just goes to show what happens on a bad trip, or perhaps from going cold turkey. A touch of progressive in this song.

Enough details. John Lennon was a great. This collection has his very best (unusual in a "greatest" collection). If you've been looking for the perfect John Lennon collection, this is it.

When The Beatles broke up, each of the four members would embark on solo recording careers. Each of the four members would achieve some level of commercial success and each would have a #1 song as a solo artist. However, each member would also embark on different musical styles that would become his signature as a recording artist. For Paul McCartney and John Lennon, the bar would always be set higher. This is because this duo was the primary songwriting tandem for the biggest band in Rock history. However, McCartney and Lennon's solo careers - while commercially successful often became the subject of criticism in the music community. In some respects, I think this criticism was justified. For John Lennon, much of this criticism was wrapped around his relationship with Yoko Ono - who played a role in John's music throughout the 1970s. One of the most tragic things about Lennon's death in 1980 was that he was just beginning to regain his creative edge that he had with The Beatles - namely his "Double Fantasy" album. Lennon's solo work from his beginnings with the experimental Plastic Ono Band through his final album "Double Fantasy" (just released before his death) are covered on the 1982 compilation "The John Lennon Collection".

One ingredient that made The Beatles so successful was having George Martin as a producer. While it is ok to have an artist produce himself, I think the presence of a third-party as a producer is key. This is part of the problem I think that plagued Lennon and McCartney at various points of their individual solo careers. Both McCartney and Lennon needed that "push" to get the most out of their powerful creative juices. If you take a look at what seems to be the strongest material in "The John Lennon Collection", it is when Lennon worked with producers Phil Spector and Jack Douglas. Spector, has always been a source of controversy with Lennon - and especially during the breakup of The Beatles, but Spector produced terrific tracks like "Instant Karma!", "Happy Xmas", and the legendary track "Imagine". Douglas was responsible for producing very personal "Double Fantasy". Lennon does have some points where he produces himself and does well ("#9 Dream" and "Mind Games"), but there are also songs where he clearly needs that push (such as "Cold Turkey")

One thing I normally like about greatest hits collections is when the songs are arranged in chronological order. This allows me to hear how the artist has progressed across time. In the case of Lennon, his solo career started out with some very experimental and tracks that were more socio-political l in nature ("Power to the People" and "Give Peace a Chance"). By the mid 1970s he was doing things a little-more mainstream (such as his cover of Ben E. King's "Stand By Me"). After his 5 year hiatus, John would come back with a most personal album "Double Fantasy". This album was much more reflective on John as a personal and also dealt with his wife and newborn son. In the case of "The John Lennon Collection", it does not go in chronological order - thus you don't see how Lennon transformed as an artist during this period.

There are other John Lennon Collections in the marketplace that can also be considered:

"Shaved Fish" - This is an early compilation of John's work that was released in 1975. It includes the following songs that were not released on LP: "Instant Karma," "Cold Turkey," and "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)." It includes two tracks not on "The John Lennon Collection".

"Lennon Legend: The Very Best of John Lennon": This is a 1997 compilation includes all, but 4 of the "The John Lennon Collection" songs ("Stand By Me", "I'm Losing You", "Dear Yoko", and "Move Over Ms. L"). It does include two songs from Lennon's posthumous album "Milk and Honey" (Nobody Told Me" and "Borrowed Time" that was released after "The John Lennon Collection".

"Lennon": This is a Four-CD boxed set and is the most comprehensive collection of Lennon's solo work. All of the songs from "The John Lennon Collection" are on here with the exception of "Move Over Ms. L".

One interesting thing about "The John Lennon Collection" is that this focuses on John himself. Throughout his solo career, John gave credit to Yoko Ono on several of the tracks. As for this compilation, although you can hear Yoko on several songs - this collection tends to ignore Yoko - except where she is given production credits. While I never cared much for Lennon's early experimental and socio-political songs, I was glad that "Double Fantasy" had six songs on this collection. While I do think "Watching the Wheels" is probably Lennon's best song - I also got appreciations for "(Just Like) Starting Over" and "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)". I was even surprised to hear what sounded like a steel guitar on "Beautiful Boy". It is a shame that Lennon did not live through the 1980s because I really think this was just the tip of the iceberg to a rejuvenated solo career for Lennon.

Other very good songs outside of "Double Fantasy" that I like include "#9 Dream" and "Whatever Gets You Through the Night".

One thing I liked about the liner notes was that all of the lyrics for each of the songs are included. This is something that is unusual with greatest hits collections The songwriting credits are included as well as the song release dates and album titles the songs are from. I would have liked to see some sort of write-up or tribute on Lennon in this collection - particularly since this was released shortly after his death. Overall, "The John Lennon Collection" gives a good snapshot of his career. Deep fans may want to see some more of his experimental work with Yoko. I still think the other compilations are deeper and less dated than this one, therefore I might look at those first.