11th December - John Lennon's John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band

Artist – Album: John Lennon – John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band

Released: 11^th December 1970

Sounds Like: Nowhere boy

Once upon a time, John Lennon wrote songs called ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ and ‘I Feel Fine’. By the end of 1972, he was writing songs called ‘Isolation’, ‘Love’, ‘God’ and ‘My Mummy’s Dead’ – I think it’s fair to say the man had moved on to bigger things.

John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band is big in almost every sense: the topics he covers, the emotions he conveys, the fact that he was the man that once claimed that is his band were bigger Jesus. The only way it isn’t huge is in its arrangement. More often than not, Lennon is accompanied just by a piano or a guitar, as he works his way through a litany of troubles.

If that all sounds like a bit of hard work – and, trust me, this is serious stuff – you have to remember there is still the Lennon in there who wrote the likes of ‘Please Please Me’ and ‘All You Need is Love’, and if there’s a pop hook and a positive message to be mined, it’s unlikely to be ignored completely. ‘Mother’ may be one of the saddest songs in his oeuvre, but it’s built on a beautiful piano melody. ‘Hold On’, ‘Working Class Hero’ and ‘God’ are all therapeutic, powerful and enjoyable in equal turns. Lennon even sounds hopeful on ‘Love’. Only on ‘Well Well Well’ does the album verge close to unlistenable. Never has a top pop star been so open, honest and brutal.

Albumaday... rating: 9/10

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

6.       Remember – 4:33

7.       Love – 3:21

8.       Well Well Well – 5:59

9.       Look at Me – 2:53

10.   God – 4:09

11.   My Mummy’s Dead – 0:49

 
Listen to ‘Mother’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDVkkwl6aJo

Also released on the 11^th December:

1968: Blood, Sweat & Tears – Blood, Sweat & Tears