Some Time in New York City

Bruce Beatlefan (January 31, 2006)

Oh gosh am I going to make Beatle/Lennon fans angry when I say I love this album!

Let me start by saying that a \"Smart Beatle\" mystique formed around John Lennon during a time when he was just spinning random, disjointed ideas off the top of his head in a very offhand manner (the songs \"She Said She Said\" or \"Happiness is a Warm Gun\" and his book \"In His Own Write\"). Unfortunately (and egged on by Yoko) he began believing the pseudo-intellectuals who were besotted by him and fell all over himself with his SERIOUS work. I know critics and fans rave about \"Plastic Ono Band\", but to me it is forty minutes of abrasive sour whine. And now this...he discovers politics (well behind the Guthrie/Dylan/Baez curve) and decides the world needs to hear his opinion (woefully uninformed and sophomoric--good grief what an embarrassment \"Attica State\" is) on drugs, foreign policy, feminism, etc. Please John please go back to Mr. Kite, Walruses, and Tickets to Ride!!!

Wait a minute...didn\'t I say I loved this album? I did. In JL-POB there is too little fun to get past the lyrical drudgery. Not so in this album! Some Time in New York City is a blast. John and Yoko, pumped up by Elephant\'s Memory Band, shriek and stomp and boogie with some of the finest and most enjoyable rock and roll they\'ve ever written. \"Attica State\" is pathetic social comment but it sizzles. \"New York City\" is John\'s greatest rocker since 1968\'s \"Revolution\". Yoko\'s 1950\'s throwbacks (\"Sister O Sister\" and \"Born in a Prison\") and her rocker (\"We\'re All Water\") are enjoyable tunes. Cynics may say that any idiot can sound good when their music is pumped up by Lennon and company, but it is Yoko\'s blistering vocal on \"Sunday Bloody Sunday\" that makes it arguably the best song on the album.

Get this album, not to be educated by the lyrics, but for the best of all reasons: It has a beat and you can dance to it.

John (July 15, 2005)

An absolute disaster. Unlistenable. A waste of time. Don't bother. What the hell was John thinking?