Lennon And McCartney 1967-1972
It is amazing how when you go poking into a subject, more data tends to appear as if by magic. This happens so often that I now expect it. Recently I had the opportunity to read Better Than Lennon by John Cherry, this book is reasonably objective and compares the styles, both in life and music of the two men. He most certainly comes out giving Paul McCartney much higher marks in both his choice of lifestyle and maybe more importantly his musical abilities.
I was rummaging in my DVD collection today and discovered one that I had not watched Composing Outside The Beatles. This DVD is a critical look at the period 1967-1972, and what happened to Lennon and McCartney during the post Beatles years.
Lennon had tagged up with Yoko Ono, and took a huge step backwards with the release of Two Virgins. I am hard pressed to find a single person that has anything complimentary to say about this album. The cover art was controversial, a full frontal nude picture of John and Oko, and the music was pretty damn awful, if indeed you can even extend the label ‘music’ to it.
The panel on Composing outside The Beatles puts forward an interesting observation. Lennon and McCartney had long had differences of musical opinion, yet had collaborated on many songs and projects. Why did they suddenly distance themselves? The answer may well lay in the company they kept, within weeks, they had both married. Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman who was to become a major influence in his life. John Lennon married Yoko Ono, who already was becoming a wedge within the Beatles.
Lennon at some point realized his errors and as the experts like to say ‘he became a sloganeer’, All You Need Is Love, and Give Peace A Chance are the results. Certainly they have become anthems of the modern world, but technically they leave much to be desired. In some ways they are analogous to “Who Let The Dogs Outâ€, a staple at almost every football game. Cute the first 10,000 times you hear it, but has no musical value.
I enjoyed this DVDÂ a great deal, I think in some ways it balances out Better Than Lennon, but I still have a problem with John Lennon.
Using many pieces of archival footage married to modern commentary, this is a great documentary.
To order your copy, just click on the cover art.
Simon Barrett
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I’ll tell you what happened to John Lennon. He was a serious depression because he secretly was fighting to see a lovechild daughter he produced with a married woman. This is what is coming soon to be viewed as the ultimate bombshell of John Lennon’s life. This lovechild is now 45 years old and will inherit a fortune of money that accumulated over the years. Hidden by yoko ono and michael jackson. Yes, folks Michael Jackson. This is why you are seeing so many Beatle things right now. That is also why Jackson was taking on 02 Arena in London before he died. He never made it. God probably took him because after all his thievery over the years agains this lovechild’s inheritance Beatle catalogue. He didn’t want Jackson to make a Billion pay back debts then say here Lovechild daughter of Lennon here is you inheritance.
Do you think he a had a lovechild with Lulu or somebody else happening at time like Ronnie Spector in New York? She was his girlfiend during Beatlemania days.
What a shallow review! Did this website actually pay Simon for this fluff? I could understand this review if it was made by a sixth grader (11 or 12 year old).
Simon maybe you should get another job, say as a dishwasher. Yeah that’s it or a cashier if you have the IQ. Idiot!!
Oh, please do tell us all about ‘your problem with John Lennon’. We are all so terribly interested in you and your sophisticated views. Its amazing how when you go poking a dead horse with a stick, flies and maggots like you come out of hiding. This is all so terribly new. You’ve discovered that Paul McCartney was a more natural musician than John and you didn’t like the Two Virgins album. groundbreaking stuff. I’ll take the Plastic Ono album over any solo album Paul ever did (though i do love the entire Ram and Band on the Run LP’s and tracks off others). I absolutely love Paul, saw him this year and it was one of the best shows i’ve ever seen. However, if you think John Lennon was not one of the greatest songwriters of all time and roll out drivel like this to try and make an argument (that has been made a million times before much more successfully)only proves what an intolerable bore you are.
[…] a more significant influence on music than John Lennon. But, I also watched an interesting DVD, Composing Outside The Beatles. This DVD tends to sway in the opposite direction, Lennon was the master, McCartney the […]
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