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| Dirty John |
There are a number of songs I don't need to hear again. And at least two of them were written by John Lennon. Imagine is one; mawkish. Woman is another; anodyne. The latter was lifted from Lennon's Double Fantasy album just days after he was assassinated, and put out as a single. Whereupon it went straight to Number One; of course it did.
Double Fantasy was Lennon's first album in over five years. He'd turned his back on music in 1975 and had been working part-time for Warburtons. His new record, released only three weeks before an infamous autograph hunter lay in wait for the ex-Beatle outside the Dakota building, had generally been ignored by the press and public alike. Mark Chapman, however, changed all that.
But if you take Lennon's killing out of the equation, it's a very ordinary album; considering it was made by a very extraordinary man. It's slushy for the most part and a bit of a let down. With the exception of one track. I'm Losing You had been demo'd by Lennon with members of Cheap Trick and it was John at his lowdown best; dirty John, if you will.
But when it came to the finished studio version the rough edges had all been sanded down and his studio musicians had taken all the life out of it. Shame on them.
The Cheap Trick version appeared about 20 years later tucked away on an anthology. And it's still classic Lennon, sounding just how you've always wanted John Lennon to sound. Imagine if the rest of the album had been this good.
John Lennon with Cheap Trick - I'm Losing You (1980)
Yes best track from the sessions. I'm a late adopter with the Trick. But became an absolute avid for the first four albums. Get involved if you haven't
ReplyDeleteI think we're on the same page, Brother Mondo. I've had this fivefer(?) in my collection a long old while now.
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ReplyDeleteIf I want to listen to Lennon in this period, I always go for Double Fantasy Stripped Down. It's a vast improvement... especially Lennon's vocals. No studio wizardry. I enjoy the warts. The version you post of I'm Losing You is such an improvement on the one heard on Double Fantasy. I'm also with you fellas on early Cheap Trick. Power pop at its best. One of the first posts I ever did at my place was dispelling the notion that Cheap Trick weren't relevant.
ReplyDeletehttp://lineartrackinglives.blogspot.com/2010/02/cheap-shots-at-cheap-trick.html
Great logo, great band. Whatever 'relevant' even means these days, the Trick have been ploughing their own furrow for so long it really is just a case of "This is us, this is what we do."
DeleteDaryl hall digs them too, he had them over at his place. High praise indeed.