 "A 4-Star and a 2-Star" | 2006-07-27 |
| - Reviewed By gordodarr2 |
I avoided buying the album for years and years. The songs got little radio play, and the cover just didn't make it for me. It struck me as "this is one album where Yoko's pulling all the strings". When I finally bought it along about 2000, I must admit I was pleasantly surprised. Like many of the reviewers, the album features some good stuff from Yoko.
Angela, John Sinclair, and Born in A Prison provide haunting melodies to rival George Harrison's most melancholy moments.
I will have to agree with the general review of CD2. I do love the live version of Cold Turkey more than the studio version. And, "Well (Baby Please Don't Go)" almost redeems the entire second CD. A real gem.
Thanks to reading these reviews, and the CD notes a little more closely, I now realize that George Harrison appears on the Live Jam - will listen more closely for him today. I may even go and buy the remaster and see what new stuff is there.
Hey, what's the deal with "Live Jam" and George's "Apple Jam" anyway? The Beatles were good arrangers, songwriters - but not great solo instrumentalists. The only way George and John could have pulled this stuff off, in my view, was to have Paul and Ringo in and not all their other mates. They need each other for this sort of thing.
I do enjoy listening to the CD in its entirety. But hey, John's an ex-Beatle and has much higher standards than this! Buy it if you are a Beatles completist, pop history buff, or John Lennon nut that kinda likes Yoko. The rest of you, don't risk it. |
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 "Ghastly Ham-Fisted Hammery" | 2006-02-28 |
| - Reviewed By drmar777 |
This record is so bad, it's embarrassing to think it was ever recorded, must less recorded by a rock legend of Lennon's stature.
The politics are hokey-dopey, the musicianship sloppy, the attitude humorless. Yoko's "tortured child screech" mars nearly every cut, making the album refuse on those grounds alone. The only listenable song is Lennon's homage to his new home, "New York City" on which Yoko does not vocalize. The live cuts are poorly recorded, overlong, half-baked jams, in the manner of the extra disc on Harrison's "All Things Must Pass" album.
It's astounding to think this is the same musician who wrote all those songs on the White Album. But then again, Dylan followed up his best 60s work with some horrid early 70s releases too. |
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| "An actually good disc with Yoko songs! and then the 2nd disc.Waa, Waa" | 2006-01-24 |
| - Reviewed By mr_variety |
| I'm gonna make a bold statement here, and say that Yoko ono has the worst singing voice in the history of mankind. Maybe it's not true, so if you can find one that's worse let me know. Still, somehow, on disc one there is actually a...(here we go)good yoko song. AAAA!! that's right. I was pleasantly surprised to not here her screeching and wailing, like a cow in heat, and instead actually trying to sing. The song is "Born in a Prison," and is probably my favorite song on the album. As for the Lennon songs, they are pretty good, as most of his solo stuff is, lacking a tad bit of originality, and with too many horns. What's with lennon and the horns? All the songs are social protest songs, which i have no problem with. I just thought i'd let you know. It's very 60's though it is from the 70's. At least it's ideas. The second disc is awful and full of yoko wailing; it hurts the ears. You can't help but skip it. The songs are long, and full of so much pointless jamming that it drags on. Truly, the songs are just not enjoyable. Sort of a mesh of monotiny. I spelled that wrong, but anyways...overall, not bad |
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 "great music" | 2005-08-18 |
| - Reviewed By beatlehead402 |
| I haven`t heard this since around 1983 or so .I loved this record as a teenager in the 70`s ,I wasn`t into all the jam stuff back then,maybe now I would like it.Angela is a great track as well as John Sinclair,Born In A Prison is a great track too.I just bought this cd and can`t wait til it gets hear so I can hear it again. |
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| "It's No 'Imagine', I'll Put It That Way..." | 2005-06-19 |
| - Reviewed By somecompany |
Coming straight after the album that some people consider to be John Lennon's best, it was bound to be disappointing, but, sadly, John had lost a lot of his inspiration for this album and it comes off quite poor.
It starts off with Woman Is The Nigger Of The World which, although a good rock song, is hardly up to the standards that the Plastic Ono Band and Imagine albums had set in the previous years. The lyrics aren't all too memorable either and it seems as if John was really forcing himself to write during this time.
Two of his more memorable songs on this album, I think, are New York City and The Luck Of The Irish. New York City's a fun little rocker and while The Luck Of The Irish is known for some very, very bad lyrics, it also has some pretty good, harsh ones too. My favorite being:
"You blame it all on the kids and the IRA,
as the bastards commit genocide"
Simple, but good.
In my opinion, it's Yoko who shines more on this album. Sisters O Sisters is one of her best feminist songs, and We're All Water is a great way to end the album. Sadly, even those can't save the album, but there's still another disc to go.
Disc 2 takes from two live Lennon performances. Cold Turkey and Don't Worry Kyoko are taken from the Plastic Ono Band's second live show in 1969 (with extra musicians including George Harrison and Keith Moon), while the rest of the songs are culled from a surprise live appearance John and Yoko did with Frank Zappa in 1971.
The first two songs are probably the best live stuff that John and Yoko ever did. They're both loud and leave you drained after hearing them, which is the sign of a good, powerful rock song, at least I think so.
The rest is good, but a little shaky. Zappa was always a great live performer though, so he can bring out the best in John sometimes, and Well (Baby Please Don't Go) is a great old rock and roll cover. An interesting note about this live show is that there are three different versions that exist. John's version which appears here, Zappa's version on the 1993 Playground Psychotics album, and the original, unedited form, which can be found on bootleg CDs and videos.
Sometime In New York City is always considered to be the worst John Lennon album and, sadly, I can't argue with that. It definitely represents a slump in his career. Understandable, considering his phones were being tapped at the time, and he was in danger of being deported, but still sad. I only recommend getting this if you're a devoted lennon fan, although the first two tracks of the Live Jam disc are quite rewarding. |
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| "My two cents . . ." | 2005-02-24 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3NVS0OX9HDLUJ |
If you like rock-n-roll, and you like John Lennon, you have to have this album. I don't agree with the political messages in these songs, nor some of John's other songs. However, when it comes to making a political or social point with a rock-n-roll song, I don't think anyone has done it better than Lennon. As evidence I offer Give Peace A Chance, Imagine, Happy X-mas, Working Class Hero, Power to the People, Revolution, Give Me Some Truth, and more.
If you can't get past the lyrics on this album, then you might not enjoy it, and that would be a shame, because I think this album contains some of John's best rock-n-roll tunes. I mean I'll put the music in Woman is the Nigger of the World, New York City, and We're All Water, up against any rock-n-roll tune. These tunes are fun and they rock. If Woman is the Nigger of the World had contained different lyrics, it would have topped the charts.
Anyway, this album has always been ridiculed, but it is vintage Lennon, and great rock-n-roll. This is a chapter of Lennon's life that has to be seen and heard to fully understand and appreciate him.
"Love is a flower,
You got to let it grow" |
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 "Miserable Political Diversion Sinks Promising Solo Career" | 2004-11-11 |
| - Reviewed By tartarlamb |
After the brutal, elemental Plastic Ono Band and the sublime Beatle-worthy Imagine, Lennon & co. crashed into every who's who list of 70s leftist politics and culture with their own brand of obnoxious utopian idealism. The result was this album, a sprawling political polemic thats as tedious to listen to as it is depressing. 1972 would spell the end of what was a very promising solo career -- in a sea of drug abuse, paranoia (some apparently justified, Nixon WAS after him), and marital bickering, Lennon's confidence would be worn out. He would grow cynical, disillusioned, and tired, and the effects can be heard clearly on his next record, the well-written but confidence-shattered Mind Games.
The first half, a studio effort containing some impressive names (Clapton, Hopkins, Keltner and Preston to name a few) is split between John and Yoko tracks. The promising opener, the ruthlessly extreme "Woman is the N----- of the World," is probably the only essential track on the album. Other notable tracks are "Attica State," a disturbingly naive hard-rock response to the Attica prison riots (Free the prisoners / Jail the judges / Free all prisoners everywhere/ All they want is truth and justice / All they need is love and care). It still maintains a bit of shock value. Another is "John Sinclair," a semi-perfunctory folk protest song with a effective repetitive hook. The clumsy throwback rocker, "New York City," is harmless and fun.
Most of the other material is comprised of horribly didactic diatribes on whatever was itching John and Yoko (in the latter's defense, "Born in a Prison" and "Sisters, O Sisters," may be two of the most listenable songs in her career). "Sunday Bloody Sunday" tackles the Irish troubles in what is a remarkably poor effort at a street-wise anthem. "The Luck of the Irish" is even worse - a wretchedly plain duet with John and Yoko, the former playing school teacher, and the latter rambling on about leprechauns, Irish spings, clovers, Blarney stones, and just about every other cliché imaginable. Another duet, "Angela" is passable material.
That's the album. On its release in 1972, Lennon added the live half as a free supplement. However, on CD issue, the album is billed and priced like any double album.
But even the seemingly harmless live half manages to put a stain on Lennon's legend. The story is that Lennon showed up at Zappa's door one morning, introduced himself, and proposed a stage appearance at the Fillmore (where FZ was recording his Fillmore album). The material would be available to both on future agreement. So Lennon and the Mothers appeared on stage together, and with Zappa's recording equipment and musicians, recorded a show at the nigh-penniless Zappa's expense.
Lennon and Spector took the tapes, edited out the Mothers (who, at one point, joined in chanting "We're going to put Yoko in the scumbag,"). John and Yoko claimed writing credits for all of the Mother's jams, including "Scumbag" (actually Zappa's sophisticated epic "King Kong"). Zappa tried to contact John and Yoko, but the two wouldn't return his calls, and even refused to give him any royalties. He never forgave them, and shortly before his death, released the tapes unedited on the Playground Psychotics album.
So, there you have it. An unfortunate period in Lennon's career. Not worth the price of admission, and strictly for completionists only. |
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| "Getting real" | 2004-09-08 |
| - Reviewed By User: AS2CDAQLTDFUI |
One of my favorite John Lennon quotes I heard was in a biography of Mohammed Ali. Lennon said to Ali: "Champ, the more real you get, the crazier it will get". Or something to that effect.
Lennon's whole solo career was a quest for authenticity. Of course ,not withstanding the "dream" (as in the dream is over), his career with the Beatles produced great music that was always pushing the boundaries of pop music.
Lennon was one of those artists who followed his heart and his fans chose to follow, or not. Lennon's political passion was an outgrowth of his humanitarian and social consciousness. All you Need is Love, She Said I Know What It's Like to be Dead, refusing the MBE in protest of the Vietnam war, Revolution, Bulldog, Sexy Sadie, etc, ...
His solo career continued to express this political and social awareness--Bed-In for peace, Give Peace a Chance, Power to the People, Imagine, Give me Some Truth, etc, etc.
SINYC contains a couple of gems--Bloody Sunday I played at Hunger Strike rallies in Boston in 1981, to mixed reviews. John Sinclair has great slide guitar, and lyrics.
SINYC isnt his absolute best, but it's true Lennon. The other important breakthrough in SINYC is that Yoko begins sharing song writing with John. Yoko Ono is every bit the genius that John was, albeit in a different sphere (conceptual art--the fluxus group, etc.) Her outstanding albums include Fly and Approximately Infinite Universe, Walking on Thin Ice, and recent work.
Either you will want this album (SINYC), and you will be glad you own it, or you won't. And I dont care one way or the other. |
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| "I don't know what all the complaints are about..." | 2004-08-09 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3R083ESPEWNQ4 |
| This album ROCKS with a lot of heart. For years I avoided it because I heard it just had a bunch of clunky protest songs and really wasn't worth it. Snobs! I find Lennon's leftist stance exciting and the song topics still relevant: "Woman is the Nigger of the World," "The Luck of the Irish," John Sinclair getting "10 for 2". If you like his tune "Instant Karma" you'll dig this album--it has the same huge sound. Lennon did a lot of pop drivel (e.g._Walls & Bridges_) in his solo career but rarely ripped it up with a band like he does here on every track. Phil Spector's magnificent production just takes the cake. And for fans of Yoko Ono, you're in for a real treat as she gets some great turns at the mic, _Fly_ style. Lennon sings more passionately than he has since _Hard Day's Night_. He was climbing new heights, and for it, the U.S. government threatened to throw him out. This album perfectly captures the excitement and tumult of the time--and it sounds great--check it out. |
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| "John gets topical but never more than skin deep" | 2004-06-07 |
| - Reviewed By wtdk |
| Nothing wrong with John being political or topical (although the music doesn't always date well)the problem with "Sometime" is simple; the songs are some of his least inventive and Elephant's Memory plays the songs pretty badly. There are moments where the album rises from the ashes of burned draft cards to become something more than a political moment in time but those are few and far between. Lennon never went to this extreme ever again because he probably recognized that the songwriting became secondary to the political message. Yoko's songs aren't quite up to the same quality as she would display on their later joint efforts (or her best solo albums) but the same thing is true here; we see them abandon songcraft in favor of political poses. As for the bonus disc, well, how often do you get to hear John Lennon jam with Frank Zappa? It's not the best album in the world but it shows that he could be a lot more inventive when it comes to jamming on stage than he's given credit for in Stones circles. The brilliant cover art is another thing. It's subversie, powerful and nicely done. Printing the lyrics on the cover as if the songs represent "news" of the world was a brilliant concept far ahead of its time. Lennon, like McCartney, Harrison and Starr, had an uneven solo career. In The Beatles they had the checks and balances of each other to keep the excesses of the other in check. Here that's not the case. This is a great companion to one of McCartney's worst albums "Wings at the Speed of Sound"). Good intentions are one thing but, really, there's no excuse for sloppy songwriting or the sloppy musicianship that's plastered all over this album. I remember 1972 quite well and was embarrassed at the time at Lennon's load of hyperbole that came out in the form of "Sometime". Nothing wrong with making political statements but John did it so much better with "Give Peace a Chance", "I Don't Want to be a Solider" and "Gimme Some Truth". |
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