John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band

From Free net encyclopedia

Template:Album infobox John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band is John Lennon's first official solo album, released in 1970 after having issued three experimental albums with Yoko Ono and Live Peace In Toronto 1969, a live performance in Toronto credited to The Plastic Ono Band. John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band is generally considered one of Lennon's finest solo albums and a landmark recording.

The "Plastic Ono Band" in the album's title refers to the conceptual band Lennon and Ono had formed in 1969 of various supporting musicians they would use on their various solo albums.

After The Beatles' break-up in that April, both Lennon and Ono undertook Primal therapy with the guidance of Arthur Janov for four months in Los Angeles. Forced to confront the traumas of his childhood (abandonment, isolation and death), Lennon finally let his submerged anger and hurt rise to the surface and dealt with it through his art. Similarly, Ono's concurrently-recorded album, Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band was a form of catharsis for her.

Returning to England that September, Lennon and Ono called upon Phil Spector, who had produced Lennon's hit "Instant Karma!" earlier that year, to co-produce both their albums with them at Abbey Road Studios. Ringo Starr played drums, while Klaus Voormann, an old pal of The Beatles' from Germany - and a member of Manfred Mann - played bass. Billy Preston, who had already worked with The Beatles, supplied piano for the searing confessional "God". Lennon himself performed all guitar duties, playing most of the piano as well.

Because of the raw emotion so central to John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, the music itself was kept very basic and direct in arrangement, giving it a stark feel. The only instrument that was allowed to soar with wild abandon is Lennon's primal and harrowing screaming, notably on "Mother" and "Well Well Well", the last of which serves more as a cathartic exercise rather than a proper song.

Throughout the album, Lennon touches upon many issues: the abandonment of his parents in "Mother"; the castigation of class issues in "Working Class Hero" (one of the first songs to feature the word "fuck"); a reminder that despite his rage and pain, Lennon still embraces "Love"; and "God", a renouncement of outside popular culture figures, including, infamously, the other Beatles - where he frees himself and Ono by declaring their independence and belief in each other.

John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band was received with high critical praise upon release and its stature has continued to grow, with the influence of the album's raw honesty and angst audible in much of the "alternative/grunge" scene of the 1990's (including Kurt Cobain's work). In early 1971, the album reached #8 in the UK and went to #6 in the US, going gold.

In 2000, Yoko Ono supervised a remixing of John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band for its remastered CD reissue, including two bonus tracks: Lennon's 1971 hit "Power To The People" and "Do The Oz", which had appeared on the 1998 box set John Lennon Anthology.

In 2002, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band was placed at #22 in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Track listing

All songs by John Lennon.

1. "Mother" - 5:34
2. "Hold On" - 1:52
3. "I Found Out" - 3:37
4. "Working Class Hero" - 3:48
5. "Isolation" - 2:51
6. "Remember" - 4:33
   • Lennon's parting exclamation "Remember the 5th of November!" is a reference to the Gunpowder Plot whereby Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up England's House of Parliament in 1605
7. "Love" - 3:21
8. "Well Well Well" - 5:59
9. "Look At Me" - 2:53
10. "God" - 4:09
    • Lennon's infamous quote, "I don't believe in Beatles; I just believe in me", is heard here
11. "My Mummy's Dead" - 0:50
    • Lennon's mother, Julia, was killed in a hit and run accident on 15 July 1958 when her son was 17

Template:John Lennonja:ジョンの魂