Look, Lennon has been a great protest singer in the past - his debut solo single was "Give Peace a Chance", after all, so it's not that he is incapable of spreading political messages in an anthemic and catchy way. The issue is that, while Lennon takes up plenty of noble causes on this record, he failed to break out his proper songwriting chops to do so - ultimately, that is the issue that knee-caps the entire album. Of course, some of the lyricism puts itself in rather odd situations as well, best seen is the album's now infamous opening track in "Woman is the N****r of the World", a track that tries to take on sexism but ended up just becoming a meme 50 odd years later. It's not that the song itself isn't good, but even back in the wild world of the early 1970s, the use of the N word was generating hot controversy around this song - if it wasn't flying back then, it certainly ain't flying now, even with a solid message about sexism at the core. Even more unfortunate is the terrible collaborative tracks with Yoko Ono, more than a few of which rank amongst Lennon's worst drivel put out on an album; two songs about then recent atrocities in Northern Ireland (Bloody Sunday, for any of you yanks like myself) manifest themself on this album, and both suck. "Sunday Bloody Sunday" has a truly terrible hook, even with a driving rhythm, and "Luck of the Irish" is a dirge if there ever was one; I would take Paul's own "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" over either of these any day, Hey, it may not be that great, but at least it's catchy. John himself only has two bright spots on this album, one with the rocking "New York City" and another with the bluesy "John Sinclair", an admittedly great deep cut from his catalog - love the slide guitar here. Yoko ends up taking home some of the bigger prizes on this album, with her closing "We're All Water" being a fun and exciting song about how we're all equal in some way - it's actually pretty good!
Fortunately, both for the record buyer in the 70s and the streaming listeners of the now, there's a bonus disc bundled in with this album, and this is where you can almost make your money back. Yes, Some Time in New York City carries on the great tradition of albums like Wheels of Fire where you record a studio album, and bundle it with a live disc that is better than the studio cuts - both the covers are even in black and white. Huh. Anyways, the live disc is made up of two performances, with the second half being a particularly exciting jam session with Frank Zappa and the Mothers - granted, this is the Flo and Eddie era of the Mothers, so it is a bit divisive, but hey don't be picky! Seriously, though, this live disc is fucking wild. It starts with a certifiably roaring version of "Cold Turkey", a song that I already think is one of the strongest early Lennon solo songs, but this version is set on fire. Did I mention George Harrison was on this version? Yeah, he certainly brings it, as they do with a version of "Don't Worry Kyoko", which also happens to be one of my more preferred Yoko moments. It's 16 minuets, noisy, and cool as hell. The Zappa jam is pretty damn cool, too, with a roaring version of "Well... "Baby Please Don't Go" and some cool jamming on "Jamrag", although it sure sounds an awful lot like Zappa's group is doing most of the heavy lifting to me. If only the live disc didn't end on the assuredly long-winded and painful "Au", then maybe we'd have a great live record here. As it is, it really does sputter out towards the second half of "Scumbag", which just feels a bit too repetitive. This is the time where I mention that this live recording is also available on the Playground Psychotics album, released by Zappa in 1992, which also includes new mixes of these songs with a more audible Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, so if you really just want the Zappa jams, go there instead.
Some Time in New York City is a missed mark for John, no two ways about it. Both this album and Paul's occasionally political Wild Life the year prior has taught me that, perhaps, The Beatles are best off never doing albums formed wholly around political topics - given their background in pop music, a whole album structured around political ideals just doesn't work towards their songwriting strengths. Luckily, 1973 saw them snapping out of it and going back to making the music that is undoubtedly their forte, which means that albums like Wild Life and this one are more often than not remembered as odd moments in otherwise stronger discographies - I'm inclined to feel the same way about this release here. Undoubtedly John's weakest solo album post-Beatles, and there's very little doubt to the contrary in my mind.
RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯
Listen to Some Time in New York City.
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