John Lennon song by song album by album thread.

Grow Old With Me
I love this song. It makes me teary nearly every time I hear it. The production is the only thing keeping it from a 5.
(4.5/5)

MILK AND HONEY
5 good to excellent John Lennon songs with one dud (Flower Princess) is pretty close to John's output on DOUBLE FANTASY, but unfortunately the Yoko songs are not as strong this album.
(3/5)

 

Guess we're about the same age with similar experiences. My dad had and Akai and Sony 2 track reel to reel machines. The Akai came with 2 external mics and you could record one track at a time. I used to experiment driving the needles into the red for effect..Also used to plug guitars into them for a gnarly solid state distortion..That Harmon Kardon would of been able to equal or better Johns recordings with external mics.... I have a Denon DRM700A in my system these days, when I want to play tapes... No mic inputs, but I record digitally these days. Still have my old tape collection, just haven't gotten around to bouncing it to digital.

 

Milk and Honey - I'm surprised at how much I like it overall, as I've never considered it among my favorites. 4/5 (All else being equal, I'd probably rate it quite a bit lower if Lennon had still been alive at the time, but as it is, we're lucky to have what we do have.)

 

Milk and Honey

This is not just a regular album, but of course an album finished as best it could be after John's sad passing. It is cobbled together from what was available at the time, and it does sound it. The songs are good, but not John's best. How much he would have developed them over time - we can't know. But, I think the end result would have been comparable to Double Fantasy.

Unfortunately, while I think Yoko's contributions fit in on SINYC and DF, I feel that they don't really add to the album here. As someone mentioned above, perhaps Yoko lacked the support she had on previous albums in terms of refining her songs and the production of them.

3.3/5

 

Lennon wasn't very technically adroit and liked to record "hot off the press" so fiddling with open reels might not have been his thing in 1979/80, but the Tascam 144 four-track cassette recorder was available to buy from late 1979. I still have one, haven't used it since transferring some 1980s stuff to digital in 2007.

 

Well fairly obviously Yoko lacked John's support, encouragement, faith, production knowledge, composing skills, A&R expertise and his particular musicianship. That's what made the difference.

 

Milk & Honey

This has one of my favourite John tracks (I Don't Want To Face It), four others I enjoy, plus Flower Princess, which is okay. Overall, for me, it's slightly below D&F but much, much better than R'n'R and STINYC. So, I'll give it 3/5.

Re. The Threetles and The Anthology single(s); in my alternative universe, if they wanted some new recordings they would simply have released a three-track EP, with one song each from Paul (Beautiful Night?), George and Ringo. If they wanted a John track too, then either leave it (Free as a Bird or Now and Then?) in its original demo form, perhaps with a bit of minor editing, or record a new version from scratch without John.

Alternatively, they could just have released a 60s track to promote each volume, eg a decent mix of Leave My Kitten Alone, Got To Get You Into My Life and the While My Guitar Gently Weeps demo with the proper ending.

 

Milk & Honey

I remember getting this on cassette sometime in the 80s. I think I was 8 or 9. Anyway, at the time, I thought it was quite good. I didn't think the songs sounded "unfinished". The only Lennon track I thought was really weak was "Flower Princess".

Going on many years later, I still enjoy it, but I can see how a lot of these are unpolished. But even "Flower" has risen in my opinion. When my fiance heard it for the first time recently she said it was excellent. So, even songs that some consider weak others feel are strong.

Unfortunately, Yoko's songs here are not very good. I kinda like "Your Hands" for the Japanese/English citation thing going on, but her work on Double Fantasy and Season Of Glass was much better.

All in all, it's a solid 3 out of 5 for me

 

Is next up Live In NYC?

 

I'm afraid I can only give Mile And Honey a 2.0 rating. Given the circumstances, I don't mind the rough state of the demos or the second tier nature of the songs. But Yoko's wrongheaded attempt to keep the spotlight focused on her is really off-putting to me.

 

I tried and true technique---used to do it myself

 

MILK AND HONEY

1. "I'm Stepping Out" (John Lennon) – 8/10
2. "Sleepless Night" (Yoko Ono) – 8/10
3. "I Don't Wanna Face It" (Lennon) – 8/10
4. "Don't Be Scared" (Ono) – 8/10
5. "Nobody Told Me" (Lennon) – 9/10
6. "O' Sanity" (Ono) – 8/10

Side two

1. "Borrowed Time" (Lennon) – 9/10
2. "Your Hands" (Ono) – 7/10
3. "(Forgive Me) My Little Flower Princess" (Lennon) – 7/10
4. "Let Me Count the Ways" (Ono) – 7/10
5. "Grow Old with Me" (Lennon) – 10/10
6. "You’re the One" (Ono) – 7/10

Total -- 8.3

Not quite as good as DF but close. I'd rather listen to this

 

Milk and Honey is just hard to rate. The songs often aren’t finished, the versions are run throughs and demos. And nice to have, but sometimes hard to listen to.

2/5

 

Milk And Honey 1.5

 

I'd be OK with Milk & Honey going out of print for all time. I think these John outtakes are better suited in other compilations where they are presented in more honest context, included in bonus material in a deluxe Double Fantasy, or conversely put into a project where they are finished off by Sean, Julian, etc.

 

yes.

 

Not available on Spotify. Will have to go to the vinyl.

 

Grow Old With Me has a lovely melody, but the version on M&H is difficult to appreciate. Yes, I think this could have been an album highlight. 2.5/5

 

Ranking of Johns songs so far:


Instant Karma: 4.869

#9 Dream: 4.802

Jealous Guy: 4.773

God: 4.769

Imagine: 4.716

Watching the Wheels: 4.687

Working Class Hero: 4.679

Oh my love: 4.6

Love: 4.578

Mind Games: 4.494

Mother: 4.456

Happy Xmas (war is over): 4.395

(Just Like) Starting Over: 4.387

Isolation: 4.303

I’m Losing You: 4.251

Out The Blue: 4.237

Woman: 4.232

Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy): 4.219

I Found Out: 4.146

Gimme Some Truth: 4.142

Nobody Loves You (When You’re Down & Out): 4.046

Cold Turkey: 4.022

How? 3.982

Hold On: 3.975

What You Got: 3.933

Bring On The Lucie (Freeda Peeple): 3.887

Crippled Inside: 3.867

Look At Me 3.810

Nobody Told Me: 3.785

Grow Old With Me: 3.775

Whatever Gets You Through The Night: 3.734

Oh Yoko: 3.722

I Know (I Know): 3.715

Bless You: 3.708

Remember: 3.653

How Do You Sleep?: 3.644

Well Well Well 3.608

Old Dirt Road: 3.554

Scared: 3.533

You Are Here: 3.521

My Mummy’s Dead: 3.447

Steel & Glass: 3.446

Aisumasen: 3.364

New York City: 3.331

Intuition: 3.264

Borrowed Time: 3.252

Give Peace A Chance: 3.205

Woman Is The n****r of the World: 3.2

Going Down On Love: 3.177

Surprise, Surprise (Sweet Bird of Paradox): 3.133

It’s So Hard: 3.090

Tight A$: 3.053

I Don’t Wanna Face It: 3.023

John Sinclair: 2.943

Meat City: 2.812

Cleanup Time: 2.806

Power To The People: 2.784

I Don’t Wanna Be A Soldier: 2.675

Dear Yoko: 2.671

I’m Stepping Out: 2.62

Only People: 2.613

Sunday Bloody Sunday: 2.573

Angela: 2.540

One Day At A Time: 2.479

The Luck of the Irish: 2.445

Move Over Ms. L: 2.431

Beef Jerky: 2.204

Attica State: 2.019

(Forgive Me) My Little Flower Princess: 1.625

 

Score for Milk & Honey: 2.688

(Average song rating: 18.08 div 6 = 3.013)

 

Albums ranked:


Plastic Ono Band: 4.487 (Average song rating: 45.813 div 11 = 4.164)


Imagine: 4.465

(average song rating: 39.247 div 10 = 3.924)


Double Fantasy: 4.243

(Average song rating: 27.253 div 7 = 3.893)


Walls & Bridges: 3.756

(Average song rating: 39.258 div 11 = 3.568)


Live Peace In Toronto: 3.187


Mind Games: 3.142

(Average song rating: 37.399 div 11 = 3.399)


Rock n Roll: 3.104

(Average song rating: 41.734 div 13 = 3.210)


Milk & Honey: 2.688

(Average song rating: 18.08 div 6 = 3.013)


Some Time In New York City: 2.28 (average song rating: 19.051 div 7 = 2.721)

 

I can’t believe that STINYC scored lower than Milk & Honey.

I actually can’t believe that ANYTHING could score lower than Milk & Honey!

 

I’m afraid we’re going to have to wait until tomorrow to rate & discuss the Live in NYC album; I’ve had a long, busy day hanging a show & can barely keep my eyes open.

Speak tomorrow, guys.

 

Totally off-putting.
If John had not been killed and he and Yoko had worked on the album together and released it a year or so after 'Double Fantasy it would have been received much better.
As it is , Yoko appears to be advancing her own agenda and fleshing it out with some John scrapings.

 

" Now it's time to say goodnight / Good night , sleep tight / Now the sun turns out its light/ Good night , sleep tight "