John Lennon - "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band"

Since tomorrow Oct. 9th, would have been John Lennon's 70th birthday I am breaking the sequence of my loosen the key blog to honor him. But next week we shall return to the alphabetical order that has been going on.

When I was in high school I was incredibly interested in John Lennon, I still have an interest in him it is just not as dominating. I used to have shirts with his picture and sayings like "Imagine" and "Give Peace a Chance." I found him mesmerizing in a way and just researched him and listened to his music.

His first solo album "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band," excluding the sound experiments of "Unfinished Music," is a brutal confessional album focusing on all the feelings that Lennon was experiencing at the time, including loss, anger, insecurity, bitterness, love and hope. The album is incredibly demanding as it does not bend to the listener, Lennon wants to talk about these things and if you do not want to listen you should buy a different record. When he sings, "I was the Dreamweaver and Now I'm Reborn, I was the Walrus but now I'm just John, The Dream is Over," its a truly moving statement that is heartbreaking. While there is a bleakness to the album, Lennon wraps some simple yet melodic music around his lyrics. I connected with this album in High School because I knew what "Isolation" felt like, and "Love" but also losing dreams and "Look at me What am I supposed to be?" I was feeling those emotions and the confessional feel of the album connected. He also brought some hope on the horizon with songs like "Hold On" and "Love" which I also identified with.

As with all Lennon solo albums, with the exception of "Double Fantasy," some of the songs seem unfinished or simply demos but here it adds to the feel of the album. It is not a perfect recording, the screaming at the end of some songs gets overbearing, the CD reissue also adds two singles to the end of the album seemingly to balance the bleakness. This album brought Lennon from the heights of Beatle power to a regular person who happened to being feeling the same way that many of us everyday people felt. That is the power of the album it explores universal emotions in a simple confessional way. This album is not for everyone as it may be too demanding for some listeners, but it is something special from a very special musician.

So for what would be your 70th birthday I write this review to you John Lennon. You were stolen from us but thank you for the music that you made, as it connected us. I hope you are somewhere hanging with George and jamming with Elvis. Happy Birthday John.