John Lennon’s Imagine was more than the sum of its inspirational title track
In the decades since the arrival of John Lennon’s Imagine on September 9, 1971, most of its legacy has telescoped around the title track. But, as members of those sessions reminded us in this Something Else! Sitdown, thete is more to this album than “Imagine.”
“Jealous Guy,” for instance, has become one of the most covered of John Lennon’s solo tracks — with more than 100 reinterpretations, and counting. (Roxy Music had a memorable hit with it just after Lennon passed.) And yet, “Jealous Guy” still belongs completely to its author, as Lennon sings with an unmatched fragility over an atmospheric track that included Klaus Voormann, Jim Keltner, Joey Molland, Tom Evans and John Barham.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?,” says Molland, who had recently worked with his late Badfinger bandmate Evans on George Harrison’s post-Beatles solo debut, as well. “They just called up and invited us down there. John wanted to try out some things with acoustic guitars, and George had just come off All Things Must Pass. Phil Spector was also producing John’s record, so they asked us to play a bit. We went down and it was a great evening — one of the highlights of my life.”
Lennon kicked up his heels on the jaunty “Crippled Inside,” in a move that belied its dark lyrics, and on a paean to domestic bliss called “Oh Yoko!” He asked probing questions on “How?” and “Gimme Some Truth.” He offered grinding rock on “It’s So Hard,” and delicate admissions on “Oh My Love.”
By: Nick Deriso
Source: Something Else Reviews
