Imagine (1971)
1. Imagine
2. Crippled Inside
3. Jealous Guy
4. It's So Hard
5. I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier Mama,
I Don't Wanna Die
6. Gimme Some Truth
7. Oh My Love
8. How Do You Sleep?
9. How?
10.Oh Yoko!
 
Widely regarded as John Lennon's best
solo effort, and for very good reasons. This album is near-flawless.
Known mostly for the title track, the soft, kind hearted plea for world
peace will probably exist for thousands of years after everyone on the
planet is long gone. There are many similarities between this release
and his freshmen effort Plastic Ono
Band. Like that release, this album fluctuates quite widely in
the "style" department, Lennon showing us he's much more than a one
dimensional artist.
There are ballads, love songs, rockers, protest songs, and pleasant pop
melodies throughout making the recording attractively diverse. The main
difference between this album and his last is that, although still
angry, this album is a lot less personal. To some extent, you could
argue then that it's more accessible. Yes, he's angry, but with the
lyrics to Give me Some Truth, I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier Mama, I Don't
Wanna Die
and Crippled Inside, are masked in a way that sound as though they
could be coming
from anyone - especially during the turbulent early seventies.
All is not doom and gloom. Apart from the above mentioned title track,
songs such as Jealous Guy, Oh Yoko! and the very beautiful
and underrated Oh My Love see a much softer person that, to
some extent, we fell in love with several years earlier when he was a mop top. With all of
these styles, you have to give credit to Lennon for not mucking this up into a disaster.
This could have been an unorganized mess, yet the album mostly never
loses its focus.
Sadly, there's one horrible exception here that's so awful that it tears
this masterpiece down a notch and prevents it from being a true
great work. He manages to take a very bitter, very obvious stab at his
"ex", Paul McCartney on the scathing How Do You Sleep?. It's
painful to listen to the bitterness he expresses, and sadly, he comes
across as a bit immature. In case anyone missed the point, the inner
sleeve has a picture of Lennon holding a pig in a manner that his
ex-Beatle mate was doing on his last solo album, "Ram". It
didn't make anything easier that ex-Beatle George Harrison plays guitar
on the beastly song. To be frank, Lennon should have known better. I
mean, how can the title song on this
album be about world peace, love and understanding, etc. and yet,
at the same time, feature such a petty song about such brutal hatred?
Fortunately the two would kiss and make up a few years later, but it
doesn't help having the permanent scar plastered here for all to relive.
Anyone who knows the history of John Lennon knows that, unfortunately,
his personal life was always filled with contradictions,yet people
tended to idolize his "good" image, which was always a bit unfair.
Anyway, aside from that gaffe, the rest of the album is quite brilliant.
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