The consensus on John Lennon‘s solo career is that his first two post-Beatles albums were his best. It’s a testament to his versatility that these two albums (John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Imagine) were so drastically different. Imagine proved the bigger hit of the two by far, as Lennon used his Fab Four-honed pop smarts to put across his profound messages.
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Imagine also showed Lennon’s sometimes wildly conflicting impulses, with the beautiful wishes of the title track contrasted by “How Do You Sleep?,” a nasty broadside aimed at his former musical partner, Paul McCartney. Let’s take a look back at how this legendary album came to be.
The Great Post-Beatles Solo Race
In April 1970, McCartney officially announced The Beatles’ breakup to the world. The four members immediately scrambled to put out solo product. By the middle of 1971, based on sales and chart success, Lennon was trailing his bandmates in the unofficial competition for Most Successful Solo Beatle by a wide margin.
George Harrison was reigning supreme thanks to the massive double whammy of the All Things Must Pass album and the “My Sweet Lord” single. McCartney didn’t score much critical love for his first two solo records, but both sold gangbusters and “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” gave him a No. 1 single. Even Ringo Starr scored an unlikely chart-topper with “It Don’t Come Easy.”
Lennon, on the other hand, released John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band in 1970, using it to cast aside The Beatles and work out personal demons. The music was spare and unvarnished, and he often screamed more than sang. While critics beamed, the album spurred somewhat middling sales considering the publicity of the Fab Four’s breakup. A single release for the chilling song “Mother” went nowhere.
None of this was lost on Lennon, which is why he determined his 1971 album would be more commercial. He let producer Phil Spector work a little of his Wall of Sound magic on the tracks, and he delivered melodies that were smooth and singable. He also had an ace in the hole in the title track, which topped the British charts and restored Lennon’s reputation as a genius with heart.
A Sweet Package
The neat thing about Imagine is that it covers a lot of the same ground as John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, but in much sweeter fashion. Lennon even referred to the album as having “chocolate coating.” “Crippled Inside” deals with inner torment, but it does so with some catchy saloon-style piano. While “Jealous Guy” honestly depicts Lennon’s occasional failings as a husband, it also floats along on a heavenly melody.
Love songs like “How?” and “Oh My Love” find Lennon at his most vulnerable and moving. “Oh Yoko!” takes a playful look at his marriage (In the middle of a shave I call your name). Even the bitterest diatribe against the powers that be, “Gimme Some Truth,” comes couched in a slick, echoey package that makes it sound like it could have been on Abbey Road.
John Vs. Paul
No amount of musical sweetening could leaven the bitter message within “How Do You Sleep?” Peeved at some subtle zingers on McCartney’s Ram album (specifically in the song “Too Many People”), Lennon delivered an unmissable message about Macca (with Harrison playing guitar to provide backup) on this track.
It wasn’t his finest moment, either as a friend or as a musician, with one-liners that aren’t nearly as funny or clever as he, wife Yoko Ono, and manager Allan Klein (each of the latter two allegedly contributed lyrics to the song) seemed to think they were. But it’s only one track, and it still holds some import as a historical curiosity.
The rest of the album is pretty much pristine. Lennon would never again ascend to such heights with his solo material (although, to be fair, his death came at a time when it seemed like his creativity was peaking). Imagine gave Lennon a much-needed hit in the short term. In the long term, we can hear it as the pinnacle of his post-Beatles output.
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Photo by Steve Morley/Redferns
