Walls and Bridges was born from the so-called Lost Weekend, a period where John Lennon found distance between himself and Yoko Ono through a new relationship with May Pang. You can tell from just the first few notes of its opening song, Going Down on Love. Where the rest of The Beatles had separated themselves from the sound which defined them during the 1960s, be it with soft rock or psychedelic twists, Lennon found himself toying with an Americanised version of the sound which would carry the likes of I Want You (She’s So Heavy), not in terms of tone or tempo, but in attitude. Lennon sounds adrift, which would be no surprise after learning the context of those eighteen months separated from Ono. Walls and Bridges, either because of that emotional breakdown or in spite of it, is a maddening album, a wonderful glimpse into the mind of an all-time great.
Going Down on Love and Whatever Gets You Thru The Night is a perfect double whammy from Lennon. The latter is a catchy, electrifying song that never relents in the energy it brings. Saxophone thrills and slammed piano keys offer the thrilling side of Lennon, something which was rarely seen on his solo pieces as he opted for avant-garde tales and socially aware points. Lennon at times sounds as though he is adapting the warmer tones heard in the music of Bob Dylan, the little flickers of subconscious writing paired with both a moving and surprising instrumental tone on the drifting Old Dirt Road, is a sign of this. Some of Lennon’s very best compositions, his Beatles work included, can be found on Walls and Bridges. The months preceding the album’s recording, the stunted style of living and the frustrations of personal turmoil all coming to a head, exorcised by Lennon on one of his warmest songs.
If it were not for the strengths of Lennon’s voice, a plain sailing song like What You Got, a song directed at Ono and his desire to rekindle their relationship, would be a clawing, emotional dud. But the harsher voice, the choked-up thrills which Lennon brings to the percussion-heavy What You Got, is stunning. This is where Lennon walks a dangerous line. His wordplay is beautiful, the vocal work sharp as ever, but in the obvious, he loses those subtle details, especially when a few peculiar modulations are featured throughout. Still, Bless You is a furthering of What You Got, and that was as heartfelt as it gets for Lennon. Again those repetitions come to pass on Scared. Paul McCartney was right when he said Lennon could “do better” than this, though Walls and Bridges is a delightful surprise of an album all the same.
Where Lennon stalls occasionally, the instrumentals are there to guide him back to impressive form. When the instrumentals become overbearing and somewhat inarticulate, Lennon is on hand with some of his very best lyrics, the choked-up and emotionally chewed out perspective of a man wanting to reconnect with his soulmate. Walls and Bridges is an astonishing project, the clarity Lennon has in what he wants to say, how he wants these pieces to sound, leads to career-best efforts, from the opening two tracks to a B-Side delight, Steel and Glass. Lennon may have a reputation as a politically conscious writer, but the efforts he provides here, particularly on Nobody Loves You (When You’re Down and Out), highlights a musician channelling the tonal changes of the 1970s. Leonard Cohen did as much on Death of a Ladies’ Man, and Walls and Bridges is very much that style for Lennon.
