Elly Roberts reviews
John Lennon:
Rock 'N' Roll
Distributed by
Parlophone (EMI)
- Year: 2004
- Rating: 5/10
- Cat. No: 7243 874329 2 5
Track listing:
1. Bebop A Lula
2. Stand By Me
3. Medley : Rip It Up / Ready Teddy
4. You Can’t Catch Me
5. Ain’t That A Shame
6. Do You Wanna Dance
7. Sweet Little Sixteen
8. Slippin’ And Slidin’
9. Peggy Sue
10. Medley : Bring It On Home To Me / Send Me Some Lovin’
11. Bony Moronie
12. Ya Ya
13. Just Because
Bonus Tracks:
14. Angel Baby
15. To Know Her Is To Love Her
16. Since My Baby Left Me
17. Just Because (reprise)
This reissue of John Lennon’s tenth and controversial 1975 album
does little to hide the problems of the day. At the time it reached number six in the
album charts in the UK, but received very mixed reviews. One minute it works,
the next it’s a total disaster.
As Paul McCartney started to spread his
Wings in the early seventies, John Lennon was becoming more and more of a
house husband to Yoko Ono. Glamrock ruled the airwaves, so what did Lennon
do? He went back to his musical roots and enlisted the help of Phil Spector
and recorded Rock 'n' Roll. There was however, more to this release than meets
the ear. Controversy surrounded it from start to finish.
It was troubled times: John and Yoko were having marriage problems, and
Lennon was being sued. Apparently, this album was the result of a lawsuit
brought by Morris Levy, the owner of several Chuck Berry copyrights, who
claimed Lennon had committed plagiarism, by borrowing the music from You
Can’t Catch Me for the Beatles’ Come Together in 1969. To settle the suit out
of court, which called for him to record three Levy copyrights, Lennon
agreed, and they ended up on this album. Ironically, the track he ‘borrowed’
turns up in the tracklisting; being one of the best.
Of the four Beatles, Lennon was probably the out - and - out rocker, so he
selected some late 50’s early 60’s favourites and put them together with
some pretty high profile musicians including Jose Feliciano, Leon Russell,
Jim Keltner and Klaus Voorman. A covers album dedicated to his heroes – Gene
Vincent, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Buddy Holly and Ben E.King - he
brought in Phil Spector to produce on some tracks.
Originally to be called Oldies But Mouldies, recording began in Los
Angeles in late 1973, but they disagreed over the product, and the sessions
fell apart. Spector, who held the tapes, was later involved in a car accident,
with Lennon unable to get them back. When he did, he decided only four takes
were acceptable.
A year later, just after the release of Walls and Bridges, he re-recorded them.
In my opinion it’s a fifty – fifty split as to whether it works. Main
criticism is: the vocals seem overloaded by Spector. Secondly, Lennon’s
singing sounds strained at times eg Ain’t That A Shame. Thirdly, was this
Rock 'n' Roll? Very debatable, using a big band sound for the genre
didn’t appeal to everybody, but they were pretty hot.
If you separate the singing from the musicianship, you get a very different
finished product, and Lennon failed to see this.
Highlights include a storming Stand By Me, You Can’t Catch Me.
Thumbs-down for a silly Do You Wanna Dance, a shoddy Peggy Sue, and a
nasty Bony Moronie and Just Because.
After further legal wrangling, it was eventually released in April 1976.
Lennon once said, "I’m ending as I started, singing this straight
rock’n’roll stuff" I’m not too sure about that.
This reissue, remixed and remastered complete with four bonus tracks, was
supervised by Yoko Ono.
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2010.