John Lennon and Plastic Ono Band – Self-titled Review

Not the solo debut of John Lennon, but certainly the introduction of listenable sound. Unfinished Music began as an avant-garde projection of post-Beatles fame, and ended as an annoyance. Even if lightning does strike twice, the thrill of a second strike is lost with the third. Those claps of thunder preceding John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band were a chance for Lennon to distance himself from the perception of a post-Beatles rock and roller. He was undefinable and, to a degree, still is. Protest heavy but offering pop music thrills with sorely underrated albums like Walls and Bridges. That 1975, Elton John-featuring release is his best effort, but this collaboration with the Plastic Ono Band is a close and worthy listen. Every moment of John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band feels tied to the past, be it The Beatles or Lennon’s personal life. It’s the reactive nature of the album which keeps it alive. The honesty of his writing is what prevails. 

Experimental therapy or witch doctor nonsense, nobody can know for sure. The works of Arthur Janov influenced Lennon. You can hear that trauma therapy here. Not the screams or relived moments, but the outcome of the work Lennon and Yoko Ono put in. Pieces like God and Mother are disarmingly open, forthright moments from a man whose celebrity status would have suggested a want for privacy. A continuing, staggering emotional openness is what John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band offers. It’s both a sincere adaptation of Lennon’s personal life and an abstract view, too. A fine line like this is bound to cause trouble further down the line, but the sparse and throaty Mother is fantastic. Backed by just a piano and a few taps of percussion, Lennon blows a vocal that he would have criticised Paul McCartney for just a few years before. Harsh howls into the abyss suit the tone for Lennon here.  

John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band has consistently beautiful instrumentals, from the delicate guitar work of Hold On to the crunchy electric crackle found on I Found Out. It would be all too easy to dismiss these tonal changes, the harshness of John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band, as faux, if it were not for the sincerity woven into the lyrics. Blues rock works best when the songwriter is reflecting with honesty, and as much can be heard here. Working Class Hero is a beautiful account of how Lennon is perceived now, decades on from his death, and Isolation is a stellar follow-up which muses perfectly on the impact of being an icon for people. There are still the obsessives, those still grieving a man they never met, and it sounds as though Lennon predicted this on John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band.  

Irrespective of the future-telling mysteries of this album, there are moments of sheer instrumental and lyrical brilliance. It’s not as powerful a debut as George Harrison’s or McCartney’s, but third place is a fair placing. Consistency is what Lennon hits on here, and after three albums of teasing audiences with avant-garde screaming, he internalises those howls and brings on a quality release. Not his best, but one of his most memorable. A moment of genius on Look at Me has Lennon contemplate what he is meant to be. Not as a person but as a performer. The two are linked together, inevitably so for any artist worth listening to, but it affects Lennon throughout this album most of all. A staggering piece of work because the openness is unexpected and often brutal. Followed up by God, and it marks a brilliant end to John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band, a double bill of songs which managed to blur Lennon’s political activism with problems of the heart.