14 December : Lennon/ Ono/ Plastic Ono Band

John Lennon/Plastic One Band was the fifth album released in 1970 by a former Fab. It was released simultaneously (on 11 December 1970) with Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band, the albums having almost identical covers. It was also the first of the former-Fab’s albums I’ve turned off part way through side one. I returned to it today because it seemed odd to ignore a release by such a significant musician; also, I wanted to test the nagging questions ‘is it just me? what am I missing?‘

The second time through I was a little more receptive, but not much. The rhythm combination of Ringo Starr and Klaus Voormann holds things down nicely, and Phil Spector’s production is clean. My problem, I’ve concluded, is with Lennon and the songs themselves. Lennon was obviously one of the great songwriters in combination with McCartney, even if that relationship grew strained. Left to his own devices, I’m unconvinced. Probably the most famous of the songs on this album, Working Class Hero is one I dislike almost as much as I dislike Imagine, and I harbour a very great dislike for Imagine.

Of course, it might just be me; the album was critically acclaimed at the time and retrospectively and, as you’d expect, it has its moments. But overall I find it curiously flat, lyrically  trite, and musically conservative.

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Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band is a very different box of frogs. It isn’t just Yoko’s unique approach to vocals, it’s the whole thing. I immediately liked the opener Why? The band, essentially the same musicians plus the Ornette Coleman Quartet on one track, seem to be set free in a way they weren’t on Lennon’s effort. It reminded me in some ways of Captain Beefheart, in spirit and approach. Ringo the human metronome seems often to be channelling an early example of the motorik pattern familiar to lovers of Krautrock.

This record caught me off guard: I honestly didn’t expect to like it, which just goes to show. Mind you, thinking about some of the stuff that’s caught my attention during this project, especially the jazz avant garde and other general weirdness, perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise.

I’d go further: it’s a more interesting and arresting album than any of the former-Fab’s own of that year, with the possible exception of Ringo’s excursion into Country and Western. Like Ringo, Yoko apparently felt no obligation to be hip. Not only did I not turn this album off, I immediately played it again.

I’m pleased I listened to Lennon’s album, if only to confirm my initial impression; I’m really pleased that, on a whim, I played Yoko too, and heard something new. I listened to both albums on Spotify. Were I to buy one of them, it would be Yoko’s. What a turn up, and I fully appreciate that your mileage may vary considerably.