MICHAEL CUTHBERTSON
Arts Writer

Until recently, I never bothered listening to John Lennon’s solo work. I had, however, played every Beatles record ad nauseum.  Needing a new outlet for my Beatlemania, I started spinning the Lennon records. To my surprise, his solo albums stand right up there with his work for the Beatles. 

If you do check out Lennon, do not expect to hear a Beatles Part II. His solo stuff is less power-pop than the Beatles. It has a more stripped-down rock sound. The psych-rock Lennon wrote so well for Sgt. Peppers and Magical Mystery Tour is also notably absent. Dropping the frilly production of Beatles music, Lennon focuses more on singing about something that really matters.

Of course, some find Lennon’s lyrics a bit idealistic. He sings a lot about believing in love and peace. I for one find it refreshing. I must admit though, John wrote too many “This is true love, I’m so happy” type songs.

In his defence, I think John felt this way about his romance with Yoko Ono. Now sure, we can blame John for bringing Yoko into the band, giving her too much play time and so on. We can’t however, blame John for loving Yoko and writing about her. Or can we?

Rest assured, John wrote some very heavy songs, but they usually weren’t about love. Instead, he lamented about “God,” detoxing from heroin (“Cold Turkey”) and the “Working Class Hero.” On this happy note, I give you my infallible list of Lennon’s greatest albums.

Shaved Fish

If you’ve never heard any solo Lennon, you have to start here. The album is filled with Lennon’s commercial hits and a lot of great singles, beginning with “Mind Games.”

This is the greatest track of all-fucking-time. It’s a mysterious track. John’s voice is melancholy but I wouldn’t call it sad.  Lyrically, he reminds us how magical life is. “Mind Games” is, much like life, a delicate balance of tragedy and awe.

Lennon is peerless at writing three minute pop songs that strike your nerves. There’s no doubt tracks like “Mind Games,” “Instant Karma” and “Imagine” are formulaic, but it’s such a good formula. Over and over, John will take cliche pop structures, use a powerful voice (enhanced by reverb and overdubbing) and inserts lyrics with profound insight.

Imagine

How can anything sound better than Lennon/McCartney harmonies? Simple, you drop McCartney and have Lennon harmonize with himself. Case in point, when John sings “Oh Yoko!” The sound is electrifying.

I also dig “Gimme Some Truth” — where Lennon gives a genuinely pissed-off speech about how phony the world is. 

This album is great if you need songs to hear when life has you feeling lost. “How?” and “It’s So Hard” are particularly heavy. In both songs, Lennon mentions wanting to kill himself. In typical Lennon fashion by telling us to hold on.

John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band

This album is filled with hurtin’ man tunes. “Working Class Hero” is a great song for 20-somethings making the hellish descent into adulthood. Musically, this song could fit right in with the early Bob Dylan canon.

John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band was written while John did primal scream therapy — where you scream to relieve pain. Not suprisingly, this album is filled with Lennon’s angry, cathartic screams.

“Isolation” starts like a nice little Paul McCartney ballad, then out of nowhere Lennon howls “isolaaaaation” and your brain explodes. Other great screaming vocals come on “Mother.” When Lennon yells “Mommy don’t go, Daddy come home.” Here, you aren`t hearing a Beatle. Instead, you hear the orphaned child from Lennon`s past.

Sometime in New York City

I consider this Lennon’s most political work.  It consists mostly of protests songs like “Attica State.” Lennon sings with outrage about the murder of prisoners during the Attica State riots. When he chants “we’re all mates with Attica State” you feel the revolution in his voice.

The album’s highlight — “Woman is the Nigger of the World” —is undeniably Lennon’s most controversial song. The fact is, John’s title means to say that women are treated like slaves. Anyway, a lot of people took the lyric to be racist so the song was banned from radio. Politics aside, there is some hot saxophone and guitar on this one.