Plastic Ono Band [Original recording remastered]

Shocking at the time of release, the album still hits hard with opening track, Mother, where Lennon screams for his departed mother and father. I Found Out lashes out at Lennon's sycophants in a raw, stripped-down arrangement. Working Class Hero sung with just acoustic guitar features one of the sharpest Lennon lyrics anywhere. Meanwhile, Hold On, John, Look at Me and the lone ballad, Love, feature Lennon's more reflective, even gentle side on an otherwise explosive record.

The climax of the album is the infamous God, where Lennon denounces all his idols, from Elvis to Dylan (Zimmerman) to Beatles.

JL/POB is a confessional album and you need to be in the right mood for it, along with Neil Young's Tonight's The Night and Dylan's Blood On The Tracks. For the listener it's a cathartic experience that needs to be absorbed deep into the night. It isn't something you'd play first thing in the morning.

JL/POB is the template for any confessional album, with music that is challenging and uncompromising without any regard to commerciality. If you must own one Lennon record, that is the one.

Remaster: This version of the album definitely upgrades the sound quality of the pressure version. The sound is clearer and far less muddy. The only thing I would change is the choice of bonus track, Power To The People, which belongs in Lennon's New York-protest era. A much better choice would've been Instant Karma which falls in line with Lennon's "scream" phase of 1970.

In 1970, the Beatles finally broke up after a number of clashing differences within the band. Fortunately though, the break up of the band did little to discourage fans - all four members went on to successful solo careers. John Lennon had created several solo projects prior to the break up (the Unfinished Music releases, the Wedding Album, etc.), but none of them were really albums - they were more sound collages than anything else. But, following those blunders that even Beatles die-hards tend to overlook, Lennon put together the first incarnation of his solo band, which he dubbed the Plastic Ono Band. On this, his first solo album, his old Beatles comrade Ringo Starr plays drums, and his old buddy Klaus Voorman plays bass (John met Klaus back when the Beatles were a lesser-known group and they were touring Germany. He is the person that drew the Revolver album cover.) How does John's first solo album measure up? Read on and find out.

Admittingly, this album lacks the polish and the popularity of its follow-up, Imagine, but it's a solid album for the most part. One of the biggest hits of his solo career, Mother, can be found on this album. In this track, John expresses frustration toward his father deserting him and his mother dying at a fairly young age. An alternative, edited version of this song was issued as a single (the edited single version can be found on the Lennon Legend hits compilation.) Another fairly popular song that can be found on this album is Working Class Hero. In the middle-era of the Beatles career, John was heavily influenced by Bob Dylan, and that influence really shows on this track. Here, he manages to create an excellent song with excellent lyrics. A number of other, lesser popular but still excellent tracks can also be found on the album. Billy Preston, a guest pianist on Beatle albums from the latter years, also makes an appearance on this album. As the album progresses, it comes off as uneven in places, but still, many of the songs are excellent.

This compact disc reissue of the album includes two bonus tracks that were not on the original LP. The first one is Power To The People, a fairly big hit for Lennon. The track is very popular, but until now it had only been available on compilations and singles, so it's good to finally have it on an album. Next up is the highly-bizzare Do The Oz. This is a weird track which John and Yoko wrote together. Although strange, this is a better track than some people give it credit for being. Give it a chance, and it will grow on you. There were other non-LP tracks from this era that would have made good bonus tracks, too, and I wish they would have made the cut. Also, on the case, it doesn't say anywhere that these are bonus tracks, which can lead to confusion for new fans. Another thing missing from the case (which also isn't anywhere in the liner notes) is the original album release date - this album was originally released toward the end of 1970.

Overall, John Lennon's first true album as a solo artist is a good one. It's WAY better than Ringo's Sentimental Journey, slightly better than Paul McCartney's McCartney, but not nearly as good as George Harrison's All Things Must Pass (all four of these are their solo debut albums, released in the year 1970, which is why I'm comparing THEM.) If you're a Lennon fan and you've got an open mind, give Plastic Ono Band a listen. But if you're a fan who is more on the casual side, go directly to Lennon's second solo album, Imagine. Don't bother with hits compilations; they just don't do him justice.

Are they saying that it's, God forbid, emotional? What's so difficult about that?

Are they saying that it, by turns, has rockers, elegies, ballads and mid-tempo numbers? Is there anything so inherently difficult about any of these things that it might throw the average attentive listener for a loop?

Are they saying Lennon's album is confessional, angry, heartfelt, honest, despairing, nihilistic? True, it is all of those things and more, but there's nothing difficult about any of them -- unless, of course, the music you habitually listen to consists of nursery rhymes, commercial jingles, Muzak and Paul McCartney albums.

No, Arnold Schoenberg's ERWARTUNG is difficult. Paul Hindemith's Das Marienleben is difficult. John Coltrane's EXPRESSION is difficult. PLASTIC ONO band is simply great, albeit uncompromising, pop music, with sparse instrumentation and yet a remarkably ear-filling and satisfying sound, courtesy of Phil Spector.

Yes, maybe that's the term for this album: UNCOMPROMISING POP.