I am definitely a JL fan, but not so much for his music as his cultural significance and his determination. I disagree with just about everything he did after the Beatles, as far as his social stances and like that, but I admire the fact he had the gall to question authority and the passion to do so without inhibition. And his solo music had some real gems among the coal, some of it needs nothing else, but I also I think some of it was carbon that just hadn't been squeezed hard enough yet. I think the real crux is that his solo music needed someone like George Martin or Phil Spector far more than the other 3 did. His music begged for that kind of input and influence. He had the musicianship at the ready, he could have chose from just about anybody to play on his albums. Now that I think of it, George Harrisons music needed specific production to make it good as well, which could also explain his rather up and down solo career. Mr McCartney seems to have been quite adept at being his own producer by proxy, I assume by his albums. And with Ringo, like the albums or not, they always seemed to have appropriate production for each one. I also think George Martin was the big factor in the difference between Beatles solo and Beatles. Let it Be is evidence of this.
John's problem was that he was lazy and lost interest quickly (two things he admitted to many times in his life)...without the other 3 or George Martin to spur him or Paul to help him clean up his lose ends (with his writing), he was able to half-ass a lot of things in his solo career...basically the opposite of Paul's perfectionism, where he didn't have the other three to reign him in and say "that's enough." However, Paul had more talent in terms of his ear and production skill (he was, truthfully, the only Beatle who had any interest in production during their recording career, something George Martin and others have pointed out several times over the years) so he could compensate for it in many instances (witness the sheer number of hits he's had post-1970). (by the way I totally agree with everything you said, especially what I bolded)
Not only that, John threw it on there as a dig at Morris Levy and to half-assedly fulfill the legal obligation he had to record Levy-controlled songs in the wake of the "You Can't Catch Me" lawsuit ("let's do Ya-Ya, that takes care of that one...")
I too admire JL for his anti-establishment activities. But mostly for his music, Beatles and Post Beatles. His voice was one of the best in rock'n roll history. He could have used some production help in the post years. As for Paul, great talent obviously. But his lyrics are pretty bad post Beatles. And the constant bubblegum sound runs thin for me. Many of his albums are unlistenable IMO. Too cutesy and Barry Manilowish.
I don't know how to say this in a manner that is in any way polite or without inciting some to break out in hives, but quite simply I think Mr Lennon spent too much of his reputation capital trying to uplift his wifes abilities, which I don't think were up to snuff. Regardless of level of talent, two people being creative together isn't always a match. I just never thought his style of music was a match for what she was doing. Trying to use his fame to promote her ambitions really cost him dearly, in my opinion. It would have been fine if it didn't seem like he was trying to impose her on the scene instead of to introduce the world to her. Whether that is what he was doing or not, it just seemed that way, and as a result I think he neglected to rely on the right people to accomplish things with his music he himself was not capable of. Which most artists need. Not all artists are Todd Rundgrens or McCartneys who can walk into a studio and from start to finish do everything required to make an album. Those guys are rare. Guys who can be their own management, producers, agents, engineers, songwriters without co-writers and play all the instruments are rare. And a lot of guys who can do that likely lack the ambition to. I think Mr Lennon chose great musicians but might have made some bad decisions on which other people to rely on for other functions. I suspect he did it more as an element of camaraderie than he did out of pragmatic professional decisions. Which I get. I think he wanted to, for a change, get away from the pressure of the whole Beatles thing and it seems he just wanted to reserve the right to spend some time pulling it out of his ass for a while and be self indulgent. There is something to be said for that, and if that is the case he certainly appears to have got away with it without going broke. And sometimes it worked. Which, good on him for it.
I'll anger some of both Lennon and McCartney fans, but truth be told these guys were the f'n Beatles, and neither spouse had any business in their solo ventures. But these guys WERE the f'n Beatles and could do whatever they wanted. Yoko and Linda could have pursued their musical interests with spousal support (I never saw Courtney Love on a Nirvana LP), but I don't think that was ever the intent.
I actually don't mind either being involved as minor players. Linda McCartney being in Wings was not a big deal, she added some keyboards and did some nice backing vocals on a couple of albums. And of course toured with the band. I got no problem with that. I also understand the pragmatism of her being involved, as they had young children and her being on tour was probably a given, so why not make are a productive member as opposed to just a housewife that was along for the ride? But she was not added and pushed to the forefront and it was obvious she was not being promoted as some huge creative entity. I am a musician, and trust me, musicians do not like wives and girlfriends at band practice unless they stay out of the way, or are a functional part of the project. Or any other individual not part of the band. Anyone not either part of the band or not paid by the band to provide some function simply has no place in the studio, at rehearsal, or at band meetings. Friend, relative, or passerby. But if my wife sang ( she does not) and was welcomed by a band I am in at any given time, fine, that would work. Or any other band members wife or girlfriend, as long as all band members agree with it. I don't remember ever seeing any attempt by him to prop up her personal ambitions using his own celebrity status and musical reputation. Or for him to in any way elevate her above the other band members in Wings. The public certainly never had the impression she was trying to promote herself as his artistic equal, by any stretch. Having done that I think would have besmirched his reputation.
No it is not underrated, there is some good stuff on there but to quote from the Roy Car Beatles Illustrated Record the Transitory Period is going on to long. After this album he never made a record of original material worth buying. I was a fan and still remember my disappointment with Double Fantasy. I bought Walls when it came out and thought it a mixed bunch at the time. Post Imagine Lennon is simply not in the same league as his earlier work.
The comparison between Paul's band treatment of Linda and John's propping of Yoko is understood. I generally agree. Linda even was part of that distinct "Wings" sound. Because Paul was who he was-he was able to bring her on for whatever reasons he had. Obviously over the years, several band members had problems with that. I am a musician so I understand their perspective too.
Too bad we never found out what JL would have done post 40 years old. There's a lot of a career left after that for most. The 70's might have just been a brief period in his output. Instead, it's the final 10 years. Linda's vocals are pretty bad IMO. I recall a tape of her mic on solo….pretty bad. Yoko, same thing. Pretty bad for the most part. But could Linda ever had made a record like Walking on Thin Ice? No way in hades.
With respect to your point, in the studio when you isolate vocal tracks they seldom sound all that impressive. And no, chances are she could not have made anything in music if not for being on a McCartney album and Wings. But then again, half the members of Wings couldn't have either. I also think Yoko could sing, when she actually tried to sing and gave up all that "avante garde" nonsense. She might even have been able to be a recording artist, but not in rock n roll and not as a songwriter. But not without a LOT of backup. And not anything to be taken too seriously. I think Mr McCartney has a good business sense and good general understanding of what the public was about and expected, and was quite pragmatic about the first couple of albums and Wings. For example, even in interviews, the entire Paul/Linda thing was more of a " look, I've grown up and I'm a family man, I got kids and a nice wife and some sheep". It wasn't some "look at us, we've got something to say and you damned will better listen because we refuse to grow up and I hope you don't like it" kind of in your face radicalism about social causes and about "it is my music and I will do it my way". I think Paul McCartney was looking at his future as a recording artist and wanted his art to be taken seriously and to last, and realized that to do that you've got to not be entirely self involved to do so. I think he had the "the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing" attitude. He never seemed to have a chip on his shoulder about his private or public life and never took himself too seriously. And still doesn't seem to have presumptions about his own artistic integrity.
If it was an isolated track then the same applies. I have seen a LOT of artists who didn't sing all that good live. And singers who normally sang great but have a bad night. I am not trying to defend her abilities by any means, but lets be realistic, a majority of recording artists benefit from the wonders of electronic wizardry. I have never seen Steve Perry live, but I have seen a lot of footage of him singing. Never seen footage of him or heard tape of him singing off key. But I had a guy who seen Journey live in the 70s telling me that he sounded horrible when he seen him. Live situations are a crap shoot. The amount of echo in the room, the monitor setup, the guy running sound, the sound system itself, are all factors. I doubt there is any artist on the planet that has watched footage or heard tapes of himself that hasn't cringed at times. She seemed to do just fine on the studio albums, and I like her voice on either Red Rose Speedway or Band On The Run ( I forget which, I think it is the one with Mummonia on it). I think she added something to the studio albums, although not a lot but enough to justify her being there and getting credit for it. And I don't remember hearing anything on Wings Over America that was particularly grating. Then again, electronic wizardry. How many live albums are there that haven't been tweaked a little?
Ah, OK. I've been listening to the vinyl and lost count of the tracks. Still, I've read that John included "Ya Ya" specifically as a surprise for Julian. Surely he didn't think 30 seconds of a rough run-through of the song would satiate Morris Levy? In fact he re-recorded it a couple months later for R&R, so I think it's inclusion had more to do with Julian's involvement and John wanting to include his son on the album than anything else. If he'd been playing "That'll be the Day" with Julian, John would have put that on instead, he just happened to suggest "Ya Ya" because the court ruling was on his mind. But still, the "Age 11" thing is interesting. No thoughts on that? Did Lennon ever comment? Surely him picking artwork he made at age 11 and his son being 11 at the time is no mere coincidence, right?
Funny thing is, Levy probably made more money off that short Ya Ya then the 2 songs recorded for Rock & Roll. Walls & Bridges went to #1 in the USA. Rock & Roll hit #6 (just checked, better than I thought).
Not only that, Linda never thought of herself as a musician and had to be almost forced into it by Paul...she knew she was not very good. Yoko, on the other hand, had an inflated sense of her musical "talents" which John, in whatever illusion/delusion he was under, not only encouraged but pushed onto an uninterested public.
Yep, it was a version of "Hey Jude" from a show at Knebworth in 1989/90, I believe...a disgruntled soundman who was pissed at Paul for whatever reason put the isolated vocal track out as a bootleg called Linda McCartney Sings. Very cruel thing to do, and Paul was understandably quite upset by it. http://www.independent.ie/world-new...rt-at-mockery-of-lindas-singing-26088404.html
In fairness to Linda, there was no headphone pieces in those days and she probably couldn't hear herself. I've done lead vocals in bars where I couldn't hear my voice and the playback was abysmal. I'm no Bruno Mars but I know how to hold a note IF I can hear myself.
Walls and Bridges is probably one of the Lennon albums (or at least, most songs from it) I listen to the most. From the groovy opening track you're just in for a treat... It contains #9 Dream which is probably my favorite Lennon song, and you also get the likewise dreamy, aloof Old Dirt Road plus the absolutely wonderful, hazy, mellow classic that is Bless You, crunchy rock with What You Got and Beef Jerky... Scared and Steel and Glass is Lennon at his most honest and snarkiest... Baring his soul like no one else... He was always brilliant that way. And we get a fun duet with Elton, and another wonderful piece of work with Nobody Loves You When You're Down and Out. This is one of Lennon's best. It's so honest and bare, and only half a decade had passed since the Beatles fell apart yet this song paints him as someone who has been around showbiz since the dawn of time, having garnered all the ups and downs that comes with it. And he most certainly had! The drunken horns and the grandiosity of it all with a tired and brutally honest Lennon singing those words was always a winner in my book. The nakedness of the beginning which segues into the showbiz-y strings and overall feeling just symbolizes everything he went through the ten years up to and including making this album. I've been across to the other side, I've shown you everything, I've got nothing to hide... The only stuff I could do without would probably have to be Surprise, Surprise and Ya Ya. But I can live with them, the album is weighed out well enough with top rate material. I'd say it's underrated when set against the Plastic Ono band record and Imagine, but they all come from different moods. Comparison is tough.
It's so interesting really, this whole idea that Walls and Bridges is Underrated. At the time of its release it was by far John's most popular album. Made it to #1, plus spawning a #1 single, and also a second Top 10 hit. All that despite the complete nose-dive John's popularity took in 1972, which kind of proves just how much WaB was beloved. This album was a Resurrection! It's only with the passage of a lot of time that this album and period of John's life has been somewhat glossed over (the whole "Lost Weekend" trope...if only all "lost weekends" were THAT prolific and successful ha ha). But one only has to look at which Lennon albums and songs the Lennon Estate markets and puts emphasis on to understand why John's biggest selling release is actually forgotten by some 40 years later. The public is hammered with the following John Lennon Talking Points: 1. John's rejection of all things Beatles and pop and his boldness as a solo artist = Plastic Ono Band. 2. St. John the Peace-loving anthem bearer = "Imagine." 3. John's romance with Yoko = Double Fantasy. Pretty much the rest of his catalog gets no real shine because I can only surmise, it doesn't fit in with the chosen marketing strategy/narrative about his life. John having the biggest successes of his solo career while away from Yoko for nearly 2 years doesn't jive with the script...Which is a shame. As someone above said, a "Stripped" or Deluxe version of Walls and Bridges similar to the DF re-issue would be great, and IMO it makes a lot more sense than doing one for DF. You've got all the Menlove tracks that can be cleaned up and remixed for it, some JL anthology tracks, as well as others still yet to be released.
Actually, there are lots of great songs with no bridge or chorus and just go round and round in a circle...Nowhere Man is one of them, in my opinion..but I'll admit that melodically, it's far superior to Gimme Some Truth. While It's So Hard is definitely a "paint by numbers" type of song with it's predictable bluesy progression, I can't agree on How. It has a beautiful, fairly original melody going for it with some nice synchopation...probably one of Lennon's more creative solo recordings, musically.
