I get that the album is raw, primal, non-Beatley etc. and for that it gets a lot of accolades. I also think some of the lyrics suffer for the same reasons. Forced rhymes and profanity come to mind. Anyway, what is everyone’s opinion of the album?
As a creative “statement” I think it sits alongside some of his best Beatles material. He never equaled it as a post Beatle.
I think it's a great album. It certainly requires the listener to be in the right mood, it's not always that I feel like listening to it but boy, what a strong set of songs! And the raw production is just what those songs need.
It's a strong album, but one that is often misunderstood or misrepresented, IMHO. It's four best tracks are pretty gentle and/or acoustic songs (Isolation, Love, Working Class Hero, God). It's hardly a screamer or a really dark album, except for the very end of Mother, and the mediocre blues stomp Well, Well, Well. I really can't stand Remember. I think it is tuneless and plodding and overly long. This song needed a strong producer. I realize I'm in the minority there. The rest is cool. Ringo is a monster on this record. Klaus is just OK. God is fairly innovative even.
Best album Lennon made by a considerable distance. He's focused and committed . The songs are strong and he sings them well. The Plastic Ono Band is playing well too. That drummer is pretty good.
Fantastic, bare, "elemental" album. Nothing fancy; just great. There used to be a restaurant in Granite Falls, Washington, called The Timberline, and they made the most fantastic steak sandwich there, and it amounted to a steak on a toasted, buttered French roll. There were no other toppings. There was no fancy-pants aioli or garlic infused buttermilk sauce or any of that foo-foo junk. It was direct, and to the point, and perfect -- just the basics, done to perfection. Plastic Ono Band is the Timberline Cafe steak sandwich of Beatles solo albums, and I would not change a thing. It is also one of Ringo's great moments on record. Rock-solid Ringo.
Unpopular opinion but I can not get into this album at all. The production of a lot of Lennon albums leave something to be desired.
I like Remember but I agree that it’s too long. It could have been a verse shorter. But melodically and Ruth that pounding piano rhythm it’s pure Lennon. Ringo’s drumming on this album is the epitome of his “serving the song”. Agreed also, on Klaus. He has a few great moments but a few clumsy ones as well.
Far as production, this album is kinda in its own class; but I’m with you on the sound of most of John’s albums production/mix wise.
Besides the comments here in this thread, you can spend several months reading 164 pages about its box and the music here. Grab some coffee. Plastic Ono Band box coming in 2021
It's a very good album. 2/3 of the Tunes are very good. The lyrics are kind of too juvenile and teen-angst for a 30 years old. But what can you do? The guy doesn't want to be a Beatle anymore but some millions bought this album because it's a former Beatle whining that he isn't a Beatle anymore, oh how brave he is. The whole thing is embarassing, but you don't buy solo Beatles for the lyrics.
Probably my favorite Lennon solo LP. But these days I don’t listen to it much, too much of a downer lyrically. I play Yoko’s companion LP a lot more frequently.
For those insulting the album, if any of it's songs had been Beatles tracks, they'd be praised. POB isn't just John's best post Beatles, it's the best post Beatles album period, even post Lennon's death.
Without reaching the greatness he accomplished as a Beatle (none of them did), to me this is the best John Lennon solo album. And it features what I consider the very best drum sound that Ringo Starr ever got in the studio.
For me, a perfect piece of work. I have loved it for forty plus years. But, I don’t agree that it’s the best solo album by an ex-Beatle (there is no best, just favourites).
This sums up my thoughts exactly. Almost everyone praises ATMP as the best solo ex Beatles album, but for my money as good as ATMP is, it's not a patch on POB, or for that matter Imagine.
Great work of art. As honest as I imagine any recording can be. He bared his soul here, to shocking effect. I was probably 14 years old when I received it, and it was quite a dramatic experience in my household because as I listened to it for the very first time, my father happened to be resting on my bed in the room with me. Well, I followed along reading the lyrics sheet as it played, and when Working Class Hero came around, I clenched my teeth ready for the impact... BOOM!! "Did you hear that?!" reacted my father, asking to see the lyrics sheet I was holding, noting "here's another filthy one" reading the words to I Found Out. Well, being only 14 years old, I can honestly say I was probably not quite ready for it, and it did shake me up a bit. This was not common in popular music at the time. But that aside, and in broader perspective, having lived with the record through my adulthood, I am still impressed with the stripped-down painful beauty of this record. He never matched it, probably partly out of fear, partly out of having gone through the catharsis, and able to move on, although that caustic Lennon sensibility would show itself in other ways through the years. I just think he was most vulnerable here, and most identifiable as a fragile human being. But beyond that, it is surprisingly musical all the same. Great record, although probably not the kind of thing to spin if you want to get the party atmosphere going. Best listened to in complete solitude.
It's John's greatest work and it still is the greatest album I ever bought. I am not going to go into why it is so brilliant. It would be like trying to explain why "King Lear" is Shakespeare's greatest. The simple answer is, it just is. Same with trying to explain why "Plastic Ono Band" is the greatest rock and roll record ever made. The simple answer is, it just is.
Worth it for Ringo's drumming alone.... It's not something I go back to often, but it's a highly personal, influential artistic statement and without question John's greatest solo work.
And that was the point. Those songs were written after his therapy with Artur Janov. He was exorcising all his childhood, teenage and early adult life's traumas. It wasn't supposed to be mature.
Unfortunately I cannot get into many of his studio albums, Plastic Ono band included. But he has sooooo many great songs, that I made a very large Greatest Hits package.
