Elly Roberts reviews
John Lennon: Sometime In New York City
Distributed by
Parlophone
- Cat.no: 3409762
- Released: November 2005
- Rating: 2/10
Originally issued in 1972, with The Plastic Ono Band and Elephant's Memory, 'Some Time' is not for the faint hearted.
By comparison with previous hit
Imagine it's very dated. Produced by John, Yoko and Phil Spector, it was
Lennon's third supposed solo away from the Beatles mothership. Ono's
presence and influences are palpable throughout: five co-credits, three
solo credits, leaving John with two.
For my liking, there's far too much
'interference' from Yoko. It makes you wonder how it's regarded as a solo
album. Bonus tracks are, Ono - Listen The Snow Is Falling, Lennon/Ono on
Happy Xmas War Is Over. Completed on their third wedding anniversary, March
20 1972, it still counts as a mixed bag of results. Amongst some half decent
songs it's countered by the dreadful.
It's a strange juxtaposition of music
with Lennon reverting to his Rock'n'Roll roots while Ono continued her
elastic, screechy vocal style, regarded as 'emotionally trailblazing'. Her
avante garde artistic explorations were well executed in the '50s and '60s
before she teamed up with Lennon.
This union effectively brought her greater musical attention that would have
otherwise gone unnoticed. As Lennon gradually left McCartney behind as
co-writer, Yoko became his principle partner. It was a time of great change
for Lennon.
As an album, it's almost schizophrenic. Containing some powerful music and
controversial lyrics, it's seriously brought down by the bizarre shouting
and wailing on the 15 minute live jam of Don't Worry Kyoko - it's a case of
- send in the men in white coats. Well Baby isn't much better either. They
are amongst the worst possible music committed to a recording, ever. No
wonder it sold poorly, reaching #48 in the USA, # 11 in UK.
After the
monster of Imagine, overall, it was a major low musically. It reflected
their resumed interest in leftist political figures like Abbie Hoffman and
Jerry Rubin. Controversial lyrics, "Woman is the nigger of the world."
elsewhere, "The Pope smokes dope every day..." may also have been a
contributory factor. In many eyes it was seen as his attempt at a Dylan like
protest contribution referring to, for example, the incarceration of Black
Panther - Angela.
The full list of tracks included are :
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2010.