John Lennon/Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band Some Time in New York City (1972)

From udiscovermusic.com

Is pop and rock music art? Of course, it is, and it is arguably the most admired art form in the world. John Lennon and Yoko Ono thought so too and their 1972 album, Some Time in New York City was a genuine and heartfelt attempt to make the art of popular music vital and meaningful in a way that few contemporary artists attempt to do. It was their notion that music should be like a newspaper, reporting and commenting on contemporary issues and to get their music heard in a way that drove the narrative and made a difference.

This album is John and Yoko unbridled, challenging – attacking, even – and it is a whole lot better than critics and fans said it was during the summer of ’72 upon its release. If John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band was a soul laid bare, and Imagine was some more of the same, with “chocolate coating” then Some Time in New York City is pure politics, with almost no one spared the Lennons’ wrath.

Now all this makes it sound like a serious record, and it is, but it is also a record that has great tunes, half of which are written by John and by Yoko together. And it is one that is to be explored and in turn, may well have you exploring the themes that it espoused. There’s female oppression (Woman is the N—er of the World), women’s solidarity (Sisters, O Sisters), prison riots (Attica State), class and oppression (Born in Prison), The Northern Ireland situation (Sunday Bloody Sunday and The Luck of The Irish), drugs and police corruption (John Sinclair), The Black Panthers (Angela) and equality (We’re All Water).

‘Woman is the N—er of the World’ was released as a single in April 1972, ahead of the album’s release and proved highly controversial with radio stations refusing to play it. It lost DJ Elliot Mintz his job at his radio station and had TV show host Dick Cavett threatened with the same after John and Yoko played it live on his TV show. Before the Cavett show was aired on 11 May, bosses at the ABC television station had decided to cut the performance of the song from the broadcast, fearing that it might upset some viewers. To his credit, Cavett objected insisting that the song remain and, prior to the telecast of the programme, he recorded a brief videotape explaining why the song must be shown.

‘New York City’ is the one song on the album that is not political, and it is also the story of the album itself – arguably ‘The Ballad of John & Yoko’ part 2. It is John’s homage to the city to which he and Yoko had moved, having left England at the time of the release of the Imagine album in September 1971 to take an apartment in Greenwich Village. For John, it felt like his new spiritual home – as he told Jann Wenner in 1970, “I should have been born in New York, man. I should have been born in the Village! That’s where I belong! Why wasn’t I born there? Like Paris was in the eighteenth century or whatever it was, London I don’t think has ever been it.”

The studio recordings for the album started in mid-February and ended on 8 March 1972 and for John and Yoko the ethos was to capture their songwriting soon after it was completed and then get their record released as quickly thereafter as possible. Some Time in New York City came out in the US in early June, less than three months after recording was complete. The concept of ‘in the now’ gained further traction through the album’s cover art that was modeled on the front page of the New York Times.

Among their early friends in NYC were the activists Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman who persuaded John and Yoko to appear at a rally for John Sinclair, who had been jailed for possession of two marijuana joints. John’s song of the same name was written at the St Regis Hotel where they stayed when they first arrived in Manhattan. Along with ‘New York City’, it is one of the two songs that are solely his creation. ‘New York City’ is classic Lennon, clever, witty, and it rocks in tribute to those he would pay homage to on his Rock N’ Roll album a few years hence. But above all else it is reportage and tells a (partial) story of John and Yoko’s move.

“The Statue of Liberty said, Come!” – John from the lyrics ‘New York City’.

Aside from these two John solo compositions, Yoko wrote ‘Sisters, O Sisters’, ‘Born in Prison’ and ‘We’re All Water’. Unless you look at the credits you might think that John was involved in writing them, as they seem to have his DNA all over them, and that, of course, is what makes this album and its two predecessors work so well – that John and Yoko are so telepathically a team, a partnership, a ying and yang and completely as one.

It’s also why this album is credited to John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band. But the musicians are not those that had hitherto made up the P.O.B.. John and Yoko met Elephant’s Memory soon after they arrived in New York. The band had been together in various guises since 1967 when saxophonist and singer, Stan Bronstein and Rick Frank Jr, a drummer formed the group. The whole band, who were themselves politically active was recruited for the recording and they were augmented by John’s old friend Jim Keltner on drums.

Much of the album’s sound is raw and visceral – and so it should be, given the subjects they sang about – there was little or no room for “chocolate coating” here. Perhaps it is this that has kept some at bay from properly appreciating the record.

Some Time in New York City finally was released in the UK in September 1972 following a dispute with Northern Songs over the songs that John and Yoko had written together. Critical reception in America had been harsh in the extreme with Rolling Stone saying, “the Lennon’s should be commended for their daring”, before going on to say, “incipient artistic suicide”. Rolling Stone didn’t get Punk either, and Yoko’s ‘We’re All Water’ makes the case for Yoko as the godmother of Punk.

So far this concentrates on the first of the two long-playing records that made up the double album that was released in 1972. The second is two live performances, on side 1 of the LP is ‘Cold Turkey’ and ‘Don’t Worry Kyoko’ that were recorded in London at the Lyceum on 15 December 1969, for a UNICEF charity concert. Aside from John and Yoko the band included Eric Clapton, Jim Gordon, George Harrison, Nicky Hopkins, Bobby Keys, Keith Moon, Billy Preston, and Klaus Voormann. The second side of the second LP features four tracks including ‘Well (Baby Please Don’t Go)’, a cover of the 1958 Olympics’ single, recorded live at Fillmore East on 6 June 1971. John and Yoko perform with Frank Zappa and The Mothers having been encouraged to do so by DJ Howard Smith and artist Andy Warhol. John and Yoko saw the second LP as very much a ‘free bonus’ record to accompany the studio recordings.

“The price of that kind of fun was too high. It was almost five years before our battle with the Nixon government was over (presuming it is over).” – John Lennon

Five months after the release of Some Time in New York City things came to something of a head for John and Yoko. Meeting Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman had been the beginning of John and Yoko’s difficulties with the FBI that began when the two American activists told Rolling Stone that John and Yoko would be playing a Yippie protest show at the same time as the 1972 Republican Convention in San Diego. The Nixon administration began a campaign to deport Lennon, and for years after John and Yoko found themselves fighting to stay in the city they loved. On 7 November 1972 Nixon won one of the largest landslide election victories in American history, John was so depressed that he got blind drunk and a darker period began. Nixon’s victory marked the close of their political period as they fought to stay in America and keep out of trouble.

There may be flaws in this album, but they are genuine, heartfelt flaws of conviction. It is a record born of a conviction to try to make music that was vital and important to two artists that have never been afraid to use music as a medium for their message. And as a bonus, there are some really great tracks that you will find yourself coming back to again and again.

John Lennon Sometime In New York City (1972)

From sputnikmusic.com

Some Time in New York City… This album was not kicked off with a good start. After John and Yoko moved to New York, they started to get involved in anti-war protests, and protests to get John Sinclair out of prison. All of these were followed with Richard Nixon’s attempts to deport John Lennon, which would last for around 5 years afterwards. The original album was, and still is, a double album, filled with mostly songs of a political nature, and some that would cause an about face with Lennon fans who were expecting something like off his Plastic Ono Band release or the Imagine album that was released a year ago. What did people get? Mostly a bunch of half-baked ideas, and the ones that are fully-baked were the ones that caused John major controversy.

The album kicks off with one of the more controversial songs off the album , “Woman is the N****r of the World”, which, contrary to its song title, is about sexism rather than racism. All the fuss about the n-word aside, the track is pretty strong, and really needs a better social climate to listen to it. Just be careful if your friend asks to see your iPod and ask what you’re listening to. “Sunday Bloody Sunday” is also really good, mostly based off the Bloody Sunday Troubles in Northern Ireland, and you can see where John’s sympathies lie, and it is a surprisingly upbeat. The other track that stands out for the recorded set is “New York City”, a Chuck Berry inspired piece about John and Yoko’s new home in the Dakota and Manhattan. It may get a little repetitive, but it’s a rockin’ song, so I guess I could let it slide. Basically, stick with all the Lennon tracks, as they are the strong parts of this whole record.

The other gems on this record are all live, and they comprise of everything after track 10 (which I’ll get to in a little bit), and they come from two different concerts, one of them the live UNICEF jam from 1969, the other from a Fillmore East gig featuring Frank Zappa (yes, that Frank Zappa) on guitar from 1971. The sound quality from the UNICEF jam is a little bit on the poor side, but it does show Lennon’s prowess in a live setting. The later tracks are in better quality, but most could be indifferent about what the tracks contain, especially with Zappa.

Now, I have to talk about the bad parts of the album, and unfortunately, it comprises a lot of the album: Yoko.

Let me clarify my stance on Yoko in this album, because this is an interesting case. I think her songwriting is some of her best on this album, because she had gotten better before this album. Unfortunately, her voice is just really annoying on this album, like many reviewers at the time liked to point out. The song contents of “Sisters O Sisters” and “We’re All Water” are really good, and it forces a reader of the lyrics to really think. When a person listens to them, however, it makes you want to eat your least favorite food for about a week and then spend a night near the toilet. Even the two Lennon songs about the Troubles, including “Luck of the Irish”, are simply spoiled by Yoko’s screechy voice, which is a shame because these songs are pretty good, but why did Yoko have to be on the most sentimental songs of the whole album??!!

On the whole, like most John Lennon albums, the good stuff is really good. The opening song is great, the back-to-basic song is great, the live jams are really good. There could have a lot of opportunities to make this album one of his greatest, but a lot of opportunities were wasted for what they are.

John Lennon Sometime In New York City (1972)

From starling.rinet.ru

Now this is really not the place to start with John. We all fall into childhood sometimes, and he, too, seemed to decide that he had enough of making good music and fell into the world of political battles and demonstrations. (I heard he even wore Mao Zedong badges at one period, but that’s another story). Anyway, this album is nothing but a bunch of rather lame political protest songs with straightforward dumb lyrics. Even worse, about half of the songs are sung by Yoko – a crazy experiment which would unfortunately be repeated eight years later. And even more worse – and I know that’s grammatically incorrect, but I can’t say it any other way – even more worse, this is a double album, with the second one constituting the infamous ‘Live Jam’, parts of it being the same kind of friggin’ ‘experimental’ live jams that are so abundant on John’s early albums. In other words, keep your head down folks. Namely, there’s a century-long version of Yoko’s ‘Don’t Worry Kyoko’ that’s energetic but doesn’t go anywhere in particular and even some collaborations with Zappa (God save Oz!) ‘Scumbag’ is the most atrocious of the lot, with John and Frank singing this obviously mystical word for about six minutes and asking their audiences to participate. If you happen to get this album on vinyl, just burn the second part of it on the spot. And don’t even think about buying the double CD for a ‘nice price’. I have a bootleg copy with most of the crap edited out, but I’ve heard the complete version, and looking at my bootleg copy makes me all the more happy.

For the record: if you did buy the double CD, at least you might be consoled by the fact that the second disc has a passable, although overlong live version of ‘Cold Turkey’, as well as an old blues number with John in top form (‘Well (Baby Please Don’t Go)’). Even though the Lennon Anthology has a far superior studio version. On second thought, out of all the versions of ‘Cold Turkey’ I’m familiar with, this might just be the gloomiest and wildest, with Lennon throwing a series of virtual fits on stage that hasn’t ever been surpassed. And the instrumental backing from the Elephants Memory Band is gritty and crashing. Okay, do not burn this album, but don’t think too high of it, either. It’s truly an unpleasant “nostalgic” return to the crazyass days of 1969.

Now, about the studio disc. Here is where the explanation of my relatively high rating (and yes, a rating of six is exceptionally high for such a record – any other reviewer would probably cut it in half) comes in. The funny thing is, after repeated listens the songs do grow on you, and if you bring yourself to not noticing any of the lyrics – a pretty hard job, as everything is being articulated pretty distinctively – some, if not most, of the studio recordings turn out to have pretty well constructed melodies and an overload of sincere and brimming energy.

First of all, there’s the great feminist anthem ‘Woman Is The Nigger Of The World’ with Phil Spector finally stepping in on his own: zillions of rhythm tracks, booming drums, huge brass sections, and Lennon’s soaring vocals atop of all that – the regular stuff. It is undoubtedly John’s peak as the greatest anthem-writer of rock – the tune’s driving power smashes you against the wall, and John’s soulful and furious vocals are clearly heartfelt: yes, dumb as it may seem, but he really believed all the things he sang about, even more, at times he’s almost able to convince me that ‘woman is the slave of the slaves’, much as I’m sceptical towards the feminist movement (don’t get me wrong – I’m all for equality of sexes, but let’s not get carried away, ladies and gentlemen). Hell, the lyrics might have been even more generic, who cares – I tip my heat to the song that screams POWER POWER POWER with its every note. Pure musical ecstasy.

None of the other tracks amount to such unscalable heights, but that’s no big surprise. Instead, they’re just good. There’s the fast, rocking, upbeat and catchy ‘New York City’; unfortunately, it ain’t a Big Apple anthem, rather ‘The Ballad Of John And Yoko Part 2’. Oh, never mind, it has lots of drive. There’s the pretty country tune ‘John Sinclair’, dedicated to, well, John Sinclair and human rights protection in general (unfortunately, spoilt by the rather annoying refrain ‘you gotta gotta gotta gotta gotta… gottan… gotta let him go’).

Two of the songs are dedicated to Ireland’s struggle for independence. The very fact that John had suddenly become aware of his Irish roots on the spur of the moment stinks of hypocrisy or, at least, of dumbness, and, as usual, Mr Lennon tends to exaggerate (‘as the bastards commit genocide’ is a way too harsh line in any case – why didn’t he sing about Cambodia instead?), but ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ is still impressive, because it’s a harsh Lennon protest song and that genre certainly couldn’t fail. But I’m definitely not a fan of ‘The Luck Of The Irish’, and the middle part sung by Yoko makes me sick: what the hell did she know about Ireland to sing of the country’s goods and wonders? Pretty stinky.

That leaves us with Yokosungs (ha! there’s a good difference: ‘Yokosongs’ are songs about Yoko and ‘Yokosungs’ should be songs sung by Yoko. Ain’t I clever?) Anyway, these I won’t be discussing at all. Horrible generic crap marred by (if crap can be marred, of course) Yoko’s horrible vocals. I feel somewhat ashamed to admit that most of them are quite catchy – it took me years to throw the pedestrian melodies of ‘Sisters Oh Sisters’ and ‘We’re All Water’ out of my head. It irritates me even more that the unbelieeeevably dumbhead feminist anthem ‘Sisters Oh Sisters’ begins with Yoko saying something like ‘hey there male chauvinist pig engineer’. I wonder what did she mean? Maybe he dared making a remark about her singing talents? Sigh. The only thought that the record ends with a seven-minute Yokoscreamfest (‘We’re All Water’) makes me shiver and think about all the sickness this woman has brought into my personal life. And no I don’t blame her for breaking up The Beatles; I only blame her for daring to sing on the same record with John. She’d had a solo recording career by that time (starting with Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band that came out in 1970 as a ‘twin’ to John’s record); why they had to join forces for this one, not to mention repeating the experience later on, is way beyond me.

Anyway, despite the major and multiple flaws of the album, I still feel no problem about giving it a six because when we filter out the weeds, we are still left with a bunch of solid melodies, and melodies are always your backbone, whether you’re indulging in progressive sci-fi fantasies or blurting out acoustic songs of anti-Vietnam protests. Also, ‘Woman Is The Nigger Of The World’ still sounds fresh and mighty to these ears, and any album with this song deserves a high score.