scapp70's Full Review: Imagine [Remaster] by John Lennon
In 1971, John Lennon had some major success with his second solo album titled Imagine. The album was released here in the US on September 8th, 1971 and reached the #1 spot not only in the States, but practically worldwide. John Lennon stated later that the end result for his Imagine album was forced to become a more commercial album. He begrudgingly went along with the accessibility of his new music. You may ask yourself why is good commercial music a bad thing to John Lennon. Is it really "selling out" to have success? You're right it's not, but I have a theory of what he's talking about. I think back in 1971 when the Beatle feud was still new and strong, John Lennon may have tried to distance himself as much as he could from his former band mate Paul McCartney, who naturally would tend to write more commercial rock music. If he could be the opposite of McCartney, then maybe the folks wouldn't associate John with Paul as much anymore. Maybe when McCartney released the very erratic RAM a few months before, an album that for the most part was the opposite of commercial, John agreed to lean toward a more commercial sound. The Imagine album's early pressings used to contain a postcard picture of Lennon holding on to a pig in a sort of mocking jab at McCartney's latest release back then, Ram, where it shows McCartney holding a sheep on his album cover.
The title track, Imagine had reached the #3 spot in the US singles charts. The piano ballad is usually in the top ten best song polls that radio stations have every holiday. The song is Lennon's attempt at doing one better than his previous "world peace" song Give Peace A Chance. The song is Lennon at the piano, and a lush string orchestra backing him with the help of co-producer Phil Spector. I don't think the song has survived the test of time, the song sounds dated and tired today. I think it's a shame that this song has become John Lennon's signature song. Due to great efforts by Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, Imagine is the song that is most associated with John Lennon.
John's very gentle ballad Jealous Guy was three years old when he recorded it for his album. This was written for The White Album, but rejected for some reason. The song had different lyrics back then and was called Child of Nature and it was about John going to meet Maharishi Yogi. The song is too wishy-washy for my tastes; I can't get passed how apologetic he is within the lyrics. But having said that, many artists have covered the song, so it must be among the favorites for some people.
John attempts to rock out a bit on Imagine a couple of times. Give Me Some Truth tries to recapture the angst from last year's Plastic Ono Band album, but doesn't quite cut it. I don't mind a song being monotonous some times, but when you throw in boring, I'll skip it. How Do You Sleep on the other hand does hearken back to 1970's Plastic Ono Band. Despite the unwarranted vicious attack on Paul McCartney within the lyrics, the song makes for a good rocker. I Don't Want To Be A Soldier Mama makes up for the last heavy song on the album. John sounds more sincere here compared to Give Me Some Truth.
For me, the best song on the album is Oh My Love. John equates his abundant feelings of love with how he experiences nature all around him in a brand new way. Love has removed the emotional blockade that was there for so long, and now ♫everything is clear♫. Crippled Inside is a mix of rock and roll and that old 1940s St Louis blues. The song is mildly entertaining for a listen or two. It’s So Hard has an intro that makes you remember his Cold Turkey single from two years before. This song also has a very bluesy feel to it, and Lennon attempts authenticity by using his ‘primal scream’ voice that was one of the major strengths from Plastic Ono Band.
How? and Oh Yoko are basically the same song to me. Despite Oh Yoko's hook, the two songs seem like meager attempts at writing a good song, and when he fails, the strings and orchestral backdrops added almost trick the listener into thinking that they're listening to quality Lennon tracks. How? is definitely the worse of the two, and the lyrics especially are uninspiring, sung to a drone of a monotonous melody. Oh Yoko has the subject of Yoko Ono in the lyrics which is a big downer for me. The quickly put together album really shows here, as Phil Spector's backing vocals suck and are often off key.
I don't recommend this album because of the terrible filler associated with it. Instead, pick one of the many John Lennon anthologies that include Imagine if that's what you need. His 2005 anthology, Working Class Hero even has the best song from this album, Oh My Love.
The Songs:
1. Imagine 2. Crippled Inside 3. Jealous Guy 4. It's So Hard 5. I Don't Want To Be A Soldier Mama 6. Give Me Some Truth 7. Oh My Love 8. How Do You Sleep? 9. How? 10. Oh Yoko!
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