Double Fantasy

[The Big Guy]

Released in 1980.

[chris]

a welcome return to music making for the former beatle, after taking 5 years off to bake bread and raise his young son, sean. the songs he wrote came quickly. and we forgot what a force john's soothing voice could be. he offers several gems with this record. starting over, woman, watching the wheels all recieved regular airplay. and deservedly so. rumors began of possible tour to promote this album. a long, extensive interview with playboy suggested he was glad to be back...happy to be making music again. john was full of life...doing what he was born to do.

the album was also half filled with donations by yoko. who continued her avant garde style of music...brought back to popularity with the success of the new and finely coifed B-52's. listen carefully to the early B-52 music. it is truly impossible to not hear yoko's influence.

the 80's showed much promise with the return of john lennon. what the future would hold would be anybodies guess. then, tragically, on december 8th...that promising future was taken from us. we can mourn the loss of one of our time's greatest songwriters...or we can celebrate what little time we were allowed to spend with him. instead of being disappointed that was all we got...i'm going to choose to be greatful for the gift of lennon's music. for art can be appreciated long after the artist turns off the microphone.

[2 of 3]

Sadly, this was the final album of new music from John....to bad too...since it's a load of rubbish. Another former Beatle album not purchased by yours truly. If Paul released this album, he would have been hammered by the critics and Lennon himself.

[chris]

i think lennon's half of this disk is superb. maybe not as deep and as personal as his other solo recordings...but superb nonetheless. however...(i'd like, for the most part, to keep this on a positive note...) it really is a fine...half album. i can unequivically say that half of this album is great.

[mervap]

I think what kinda gets lost with "Double Fantasy" and "Milk & Honey" is that the JL that wrote these songs is coming from an entirely different place in his creative life than the JL that wrote "Mother".....while the wounds that gave rise to songs such as "Mother" are still there, he seems to have made his peace with them. Folks who expected the old Lennon would doubtlessly be disappointed....many were. It would be interesting to see what this album's chart action would have been if not for the heinous events of Dec. 8, 1980....how would this phase of JL's career played out?

One critic at the time said that JL's role on "Double Fantasy" was more like "a session guy on his own album, entirely relaxed in his own skin".

The production values are certainly less dense than on any other Lennon solo work.

[2 of 3]

i'd like, for the most part, to keep this on a positive note..

I thought you liked evil 2 of 3 ?

You see, with all the Beatles, there's the group that basically gives them a free pass....because they are Beatles. Then there's the group that doesn't think anything they do as solo artists is a good as the Beatles. I sit on the fence here. He's John Lennon. After a 5 year hiatus, I was hoping for something like Mind Games as a single. Not some basic rock and roll structured ditty talking about how he's been baking bread. Just Like Starting Over, to ME...is embarrassing...coming from this guy. It's his version of Another Day. Now, neither of these songs is bad of course...but Lennon should have gone for the long bomb. The whole album makes me feel nothing but indifference. Yeah, quite a few good songs on it. Big Deal. I want epics from John Lennon.

[chris]

this is an interesting thought...first...i refuse to believe that none of their solo output can be as good as the beatles. granted, i'm still waiting for the first solo collection that equals or surpasses what the boys did...but i remain optimistic, nonetheless.

but weren't john and paul masters of writing the rock and roll ditty? john wrote whatever was pertinant to him at the time of his writing it. when he was militant john, he did some time in new york city (which i think is crap). when he was lost weekend john, he did i miss you yoko songs. when he was now what in the world am i gonna do, my band just broke up john, he screamed in POB. i can't say i'm too surprised at what he offered on double fantasy. he wrote about his life...and his wife.

people have always criticized paul's work as being inferior to the beatles. but what...with the exception of the song imagine...can stand up with the beatles best? john was given lots of credit for some great music. but he doesn't get chastized for releasing subpar work the way his other songwriting partner did. i can suggest john's solo work was every bit as uneven as paul's, if not more so. and if his last album was not as good as some of his best work...well, its just john being john.

[2 of 3]

but he doesn't get chastized for releasing subpar work the way his other songwriting partner did.

We just did. STINYC is just a waste of vinyl. Actually if you ljust glance at STINYC, for just a second you read STINK. Kind of like when I see Styx...I see Stynx.

You're right though, his work was just as uneven as Paul's. Dang, Ringo had the best singles for the first few years.

Still, I feel it's nothing to get excited about. It's good....but not John Lennon good.

[Kylenz]

STINYC is just a waste of vinyl.

I think of that album in the same way that artists these days give you a bonus live dvd with their cd, so the live record with the Mothers doesn't count. I am a fan of STINYC, and I also enjoy Double Fantasy. Big fan of the singles - Starting Over, Woman, Watching the Wheels. Beautiful Boy is also a wonderful song. He's in a different headspace, but it's a melodic and contented space.

But my favourite song BY FAR on Double Fantasy... is Yoko's Kiss Kiss Kiss. It's light years ahead of not only John's stuff, but even the B52s would struggle to write something as fresh and new-wavy as that. I'm not very keen on Yoko's other contributions on Double Fantasy though. I think her songwriting was more consistent on Milk and Honey.

[mervap]

If Paul released this album, he would have been hammered by the critics and Lennon himself.

Now that I've had THREE YEARS to consider these comments, I got to wondering....was there ever an interview with Paul, before JL's death, where he was asked what he thought of "Double Fantasy"? I don't recall seeing one....perhaps some of you might have?

[2 of 3]

I've never seen a whole interview, but I did see Paul mention that Beautiful Boy was his favourite song.

[chris]

it seems to me that there are countless times john commented on a paul album. but i am aware of...no comments from paul regarding any of john's stuff. it seems almost natural that paul would be asked about john's last album (being songwriting partners and all)...but are there any comments about paul's opinion on imagine, or POB, or mind games? did john just spout his opinion more pften? was john asked more often about paul's records than paul was about john's? did people not care enough to ask what paul thought?

[Greg]

DF:  I don't like it.  Never did.  Bought the single before the album came out even.  Any, Woman is an awesome tune.  I was into some of the newer British bands at the time and Two-Tone ska label.  Maybe it was just bad timing, but that album just had little appeal to me.  I like Kiss Kiss Kiss somewhat.  Although if she's not married to John Lennon her songs don't see the light of a stereo needle. 

Anyway. 

Sometime In NYC I like sort of.  The spirit of it I like.  Actually maybe it's the memory of it I like!  I just was thinking it's been a long time since I played it!

[chris]

played my wife the lennon songs from this album. sigh. she is from iowa, after all. she loved the song woman...but never knew it was by john. she loved the song starting over...but never knew it was by john. she loved the song watching the wheels...yep, you got it.

so, i'll be looking for another wife...

[2 of 3]

If you want another wife, you have to move to Utah, not Iowa.