John Lennon Some Time in New York City Album Cover Art

Our latest installment in an exclusive series of articles on solo Beatles albums of the past features Wally Podrazik's  re-evaluation of John Lennon and Yoko Ono'south controversial 1972 collection "Some Time in New York Urban center," an album that still draws negative reviews merely, nonetheless, is recommended for both musical and historical reasons. …

The John & Yoko Show Hits the Mainstream

Paul McCartney has been the target of some angry fan jibes online for the collaborative company he's been keeping lately, most vocally about releases with rapper Kanye West. Those comments might seem similar an boggling reaction to his creative choices until you flip back the calendar. In the immediate post-Beatles era of the early 1970s, McCartney was the target of snide comments virtually multiple musical matters, from Linda McCartney at his side on disc to the perceived fluffy nature of some of his compositions.

Those paled, though, in comparison with the unbridled takedown that accompanied John Lennon's 1972 release, "Some Time in New York Urban center." That two-record prepare (credited to John & Yoko, backed by the Elephant's Retentivity ring) reflected the bug and ideologies of the company they were keeping at the fourth dimension. The likes of Jerry Rubin (a central figure in the encarmine 1968 Democratic National Convention protests) and David Peel (who recorded the album "The Pope Smokes Dope"). Radical artists. Street activists. War critics.

Such associations did not go down well. "Some Fourth dimension in New York City" served every bit a lightning rod for anybody ready to share their annoyance at John and Yoko'southward participation in those efforts. Or who merely wanted to vent over the couple's years of public posturing and/or offbeat art projects.

Under the headline "Bland Balladry," the Milwaukee Sentry opened its article on the album (back when local papers devoted time and infinite to their own original reviews) with the observation from the Heartland that "When music talk turns to pretension, sooner or after y'all arrive at the names of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. In nearly cases, it will be sooner." The article went on to dismiss the album contents equally a "shrill superficial look at trendy leftist politics" with lyrics that ranged "from crude to bland."

The passage of fourth dimension hardly moderated the barbs. Mark the 2010 reissue of the remastered John Lennon catalog, the magazine Uncut described that prepare as "a contender for the worst LP by a major musical figure," noting its 1970s left-wing clichés were "hamstrung by the utter absence of conviction inside the melodies and lyrics." The Rolling Stone retrospective at the same time called the original release "a disastrous double album of simplistic sloganeering."

Fifty-fifty given that such negative judgments still linger, "Some Time in New York City" is nonetheless recommended here for both a musical and historical visit.

Here's why:

Historically, "Some Time in New York Urban center" held a special place of amore for John Lennon.

During David Sheff's lengthy 1980 interviews with Lennon and Yoko Ono (for publication in Playboy  mag), "Some Time in New York Metropolis" was the just album to earn a personal suspension and callout equally Lennon was reviewing his body of work, disc by disc. Sheff noted Lennon gazing at the jacket and observing, "Man, information technology'southward overnice to come across this."

With the impending release of "Double Fantasy" afterward in 1980, that nostalgic connection back eight years was understandable. To that point, the 1972 release of "Some Fourth dimension in New York City" was the only other case of John & Yoko issuing a mainstream music album together.

Not John on one side, Yoko on the other (as in "Live Peace in Toronto" or Lennon solo singles from "Requite Peace a Chance" to "Power to the People"). Non simultaneous solo releases (as with the pair of 1970 John Lennon/Yoko Ono "Plastic Ono Band" albums, or the companion 1971 Lennon "Imagine" and Ono "Fly"). Those accommodations had allowed Lennon fans who did not care for Ono'due south music to easily walk on by.

Previous releases credited to "John and Yoko" had been the experimental art pieces ("Two Virgins," "Life with the Lions" and "Wedding ceremony Album"), which had been seen and heard by very few.

"Some Time in New York City" was different. This was a heavily promoted collection of rock and pop songs (many co-authored), co-produced with Phil Spector and presented as a truthful collaborative showcase past John and Yoko, who took turns on lead vocals throughout the anthology and fifty-fifty shared a few duets.

The start tease of their joint arroyo had hit tardily in 1971 with the successful Christmas single "Happy Xmas (State of war Is Over)," credited to John & Yoko (co-producing with Phil Spector). Although John's vocal dominated, Yoko's voice was also clearly in the mix throughout.

In fact, the popular success of that holiday release might accept been seen every bit evidence that the world was gear up at last for the John and Yoko show to accept the mainstream tape release stage.

Information technology was not.

"Some Fourth dimension in New York City" stalled on Billboard'southward top album charts in July 1972, never cracking the Top 40 during its brusque four-calendar month run. The pb single was even less successful and spent a mere 5 weeks on Billboard'southward Hot 100 without breaking into the Top 50.

Nevertheless, some four decades later, information technology is all the same easy to appreciate John Lennon's affection. The album perfectly captured the bailiwick affair of the title: This was John and Yoko'south scrapbook clippings from the opening days of their very public lives in their adopted new habitation — a memorable inaugural time in New York City. Their words and music and activism reflected the people, places and influences in their lives.

Even more than important, it reflected what seemed to be a newcomer's enthusiastic cover of the American mode. They were eager to be part of it all, to devote their artists' sensibilities to political pursuits on the problems of the day, residing in the hip and politically active circles in and around New York Metropolis.

The gatefold record packet looked similar a newspaper, with the anthology title set in New York Times-similar typeface, from "JOKO Printing," "Late Metropolis Edition." Seven columns of text (the song lyrics) covered the front and dorsum sides, peppered with photos and oblique driblet-in poesy and poetry ("At that place are no birds in Viet-Nam"), forth with a call to action ("Register to Vote").

The mailing side of the petition and a carte du jour included in the album packet.

Appropriately, a pre-printed "Justice for John and Yoko" petition was part of the original "Some Fourth dimension in New York City" album packaging, urging fans to show their support for allowing "John Lennon and Yoko Ono to live and work freely in our country." (All of these details are best appreciated via the original 12-inch vinyl LP-size release)

By 1972, though, John Lennon and Yoko Ono had been staging fine art events and promoting various causes for one-half a decade. For some, in that location was John and Yoko fatigue, a sense of "enough already."

In their split record releases, they had managed to sidestep such reactions by focusing on poetic imagery (as in John'southward "Imagine"), abstract sound play (as in Yoko's vocal gymnastics), and archetype rock riffs (as on "Live Peace in Toronto").

With "Some Time in New York Urban center" they brought a paper op-ed page to life confronting a volatile backdrop of generational and social conflict: racial tensions, the Vietnam state of war, anti-war protests, the celebration of drugs, free oral communication conflicts, and the ongoing re-ballot campaign of U.Southward. President Richard M. Nixon. Among the general public, there were strong opinions on all sides of these topics.

For record buyers looking for a new John Lennon music drove (or at least collaborations more like "Happy Xmas"), the approach taken past "Some Fourth dimension in New York Urban center" was akin to a contemporary Tv viewer looking for a favorite entertainment channel and instead being stuck spending some fourth dimension with an MSNBC or a Fox cable news diatribe. The music was solid enough, but the lyrics throughout the anthology pushed bated a sense of decorum in favor of activist engagement.

"Some Fourth dimension in New York Urban center" offered blunt polemics on such topics equally activist Angela Davis ("Angela"), headline-grabbing American prison confrontations ("Attica Land"), a life-is-a-prison house lament ("Born in a Prison"), feminism set to a pop beat ("Sisters O Sisters"), repressive marijuana laws ("John Sinclair"), generations of conflict between the Irish and the English ("Luck of the Irish"), and the specific events of the January 1972 shooting of protesting civilians past British soldiers in Northern Ireland ("Dominicus Bloody Sunday").

Picture sleeve for the anthology's single.

However, the track that probably sealed the sales fate of "Some Time in New York City" was its 1-and-only unmarried. With the deliberately provocative utilise in the championship and primary chorus of what is now unremarkably referenced as simply "the N-word," Lennon most guaranteed that "Woman Is the N*gger of the Globe" would not receive radio play. It may well have been intended as an creative allegory about suppression and exploitation (starting time expressed by co-author Ono), but information technology came off as highly charged and inappropriate.

Equally just another rails, perhaps buried deep in the 2-disc gear up, it might take slipped by, simply as the album opener and promoted unmarried, the song struck some as uncomfortable and in-your-face. Lennon and Ono brought the song to Dick Cavett's testify in May 1972 to promote the album, and but strong efforts by the host kept it from being excised from the pre-taped programme.

And yet … scattered throughout this album were moments of aching beauty ("Luck of the Irish"), lyrical playfulness ("New York City"), and killer craft ("John Sinclair"). Yoko Ono's all-time solo composition came in the driving trip the light fantastic number "We're All H2o" with its "tin can't-go-information technology-out-of-your-head" imagery of President Nixon and Chairman Mao Tse-tung dancing naked (a doctored photo of the political leaders appeared on the front encompass, itself another source of controversy, leading to stickers roofing the image).

Oddly, the "bonus" 2nd disc of the prepare provided one of the more accessible and radio-friendly offerings, a alive embrace version of the decidedly nonpolitical oldie "Well (Baby Delight Don't Get)" (a 1958 striking past The Olympics). That was part of a guest appearance past John and Yoko at a 1971 Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention concert at the Fillmore East. Lennon described the number as one he had not performed since his days at the Cavern.

The 1992 Frank Zappa album that included John and Yoko's performance.

The remainder of the bonus disc included additional riffs from Zappa'due south show on one side, experimental sound collages that blended 1 to another. (Two decades after the "Some Fourth dimension in New York City" release, Zappa issued his own total version of this concert night on the album "Playground Psychotics," marking the times and titles differently, including a retitle for Yoko Ono's "Au" every bit "A Small Eternity With Yoko Ono.")

The other side of the bonus disc featured "Cold Turkey" and "Don't Worry Kyoko" as performed live in December 1969 at the Lyceum Ballroom in London for a UNICEF charity concert, with George Harrison as ane of the bankroll musicians.

However, the perceived preachy nature of the studio songs left the album with its reputation for existence "a tough heed," so and now. The short nautical chart life of "Some Time in New York Urban center" in 1972 also brought to an end a continuous eight-yr run (back to February 1964) past Beatles and solo releases on Billboard's peak albums chart, some other strike confronting the set.

Just could "Some Time in New York City" take been saved? With a different lead single, say the "Ballad of John and Yoko"-like "New York City"? Additional tracks? Fewer tracks?  For a 2005 reissue, Yoko Ono took one alternative approach: cutting the release to a single CD. In the process, some of the running times were trimmed and most of the live Zappa concert textile on the original Disc 2 was jettisoned, leaving but the live "Cold Turkey," "Don't Worry Kyoko" and the oldie "Well (Infant Please Don't Go)." In addition, both sides of the "Happy Xmas" unmarried were added. For the 2010 remastering, though, the set was restored to its full length.

That actually is the way to go today, because it is true to the original intent of the album. You may non concur with all of what'due south sung, merely in that location'south no dubiety that information technology represents a glimpse into the creative souls of John Lennon and Yoko Ono at the time.

The front and dorsum of the album's gatefold embrace.

Lennon's participation in the early 1970s political era has also drawn the attention of admiring scholars, chroniclers and artists such every bit writer Jon Wiener ("Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files") and filmmaker John Scheinfeld ("The U.S. vs. John Lennon"), in office because it was an authentic and wholly unnecessary commitment to issues past a star. It resulted in far more than generating whining Net complaints. There were real personal consequences to this political involvement, in critical and sales popularity and, most importantly, in personal well-existence, as government forces pushed back, through official and unofficial channels.

All those issues aside, though, how do the songs stack upward in the 21st century?

A number of the studio tracks ultimately lost the battle against their own lyrics ("Sisters O Sisters," "Born in a Prison" and "Angela"). Yet, four are unqualified keepers: "New York Urban center" (for its rapid fire autobiographical narrative), "John Sinclair" (for its killer Lennon slide guitar licks), "Luck of the Irish" (with its evocative music and imagery that manages to weave lyrics about torture and genocide into pure poetry, sung by both Lennon and Ono), and the live "Well (Baby Please Don't Go)."

In the next tier down, "Due north-word" aside, "Woman Is" confidently shows off the flippant, wall-of-sound Phil Spector producing fashion. Both "Attica State" and "Sun Bloody Dominicus" take an ambitious driving edge, turning their chronicles of authority outrage into rallying rhythmic chants. "We're All Water" gives Yoko Ono the closing number, though its dance club riffs continue (and on) to "Hey Jude" length."

Perhaps the best reason to listen to "Some Time in New York Metropolis," though, is that information technology stands as a helpful guide to amend appreciating the finesse of "Double Fantasy" in 1980. Without overt political posturing, that later album pulled off an even more aggressive back-and-forth programming approach between Lennon and Ono lead vocals, to far less consternation.

By then, information technology seemed that the world was set at last for the John and Yoko show to return and have the mainstream tape-release stage. Looking to the future, but informed by the by. Still in New York Urban center, but in a very different fourth dimension.

Walter J. Podrazik

austingrosse.blogspot.com

Source: https://beatlefansomethingnew.wordpress.com/2015/03/23/play-it-again-some-time-in-new-york-city/

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