Imagine

I mean, it's Imagine by Julian Lennon's dad, it's a bit 'meh'. Jealous Guy is a good song....towards the end it made me punch a wall...but at least it wasn't my wife, eh John?

I found this album even more mean-spirited, and insecure than I remembered it - "Imagine no possessions", sang the man who had a temperature-controlled room for his fur coats. 1 star

John Lennon is the worst human being who ever lived

Can we stop pretending every shit from a Beatle is gold? #freeRingo

I’m slowly realizing that a big part of the Beatles magic was the mix of their individual sounds together. Paul’s sound without John or George was great, but it was just missing something. This album further proves it. I think it’s the closest John sounded to his days in the Beatles... turns out George was on guitar for a lot of it... which, I think, is a huge reason why it’s as close as it is.

This album taught me an interesting lesson. Namely, that Lennon really needed the rest of the Beatles to avoid being a bullshit artist. I think it's because he was pretty much a trash human being and, without the balancing influence of his bandmates, all of his egotism, hypocrisy, and pretension didn't get filtered out. Instead, he spent the whole album spotlighting his worst traits to the detriment of his (few) positive traits. To say it's distasteful is an understatement. Giving this one a very generous 3 stars...

Glad he's dead.

"In this moment, I am euphoric. Not because of any phony god's blessing. But because, I am enlightened by my own intelligence" -John Lennon

This is a phenomenal album with some of John's best songwriting. It's debatable which of John's songs is his best but Imagine would certainly be on the short list. This song as well as the ballads Jealous Guy and Oh My Love are all done with piano accompaniments rather than guitars resulting in the album having a soft touch. The guitars are saved for the rockers. Most Beatles trivia buffs will say John's last public performance was in 1974 when he joined Elton John to play a few songs after losing a bet but the real trivia geeks will say his last "public performance" was in 1977 when John was bored in a Tokyo hotel so took out his guitar and played Jealous Guy while sitting near the elevator. The way I heard it, nobody who saw him knew who he was or cared! Crippled Inside is an excellent tune. It has a hint of country and excellent keyboards contributed by Nicky Hopkins. The opening piano on Crippled Inside is reminiscent of the beer barrel piano style on the intro to Paul's song Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da which I understand John contributed even though he hated the song! Side 2 starts with some venom with Gimme Some Truth. The political message in this song is obvious hasn't changed much in 50 years. John knew how to dish out venom when he felt it was warranted. Of course he saves his best insults for Paul in How Do You Sleep. In this song Paul is the target of his venom as John returns fire after the salvos Paul aimed at John and Yoko on "Too Many People" from his second album. Perhaps the most clever is John's comment on Paul's post Beatles' songs when he says: "The sound you make is muzak to my ears". I expect this would have been devastating for Paul to hear. As they say, the truth hurts. Lesson for Paul: Don't use lyrics as a weapon when fighting with John. Oh Yoko is another love song to Yoko. I'm guessing Paul would have preferred if John had contributed this love song to Abbey Road rather than the far less commercial / user-friendly I Want You (She's So Heavy). John's harmonica at the very end is random but a very good way to end an excellent album.

As a kid, I would have given this a 5. As the album hits it the middle group of songs, it becomes more average. By the end you realize Spector’s production is the only thing making some of the average songs great, along with mysticism around Lennon’s celebrity. As an adult with a new perspective, the album is good, but not as big as I once thought it was. Due to Spector, I would give this 3/5 album a 4/5.

The worst impulses of Lennon are encouraged when freed from the Beatles.

I have always loathed the song Imagine. This hatred, I understand, is very common. Both on its own and considered within cultural context, Imagine cheesegrates the sensibilities of anyone with a scraping of taste, reason or heart. It rhymes "one" with "one", just as a starter. The melody is basic past the point of banality (and it was used better on Jealous Guy, which in any case was performed better by Roxy Music: you really need Bryan Ferry for that blue, wistful saudade atmosphere, that's what he gets up in the morning for). A millionaire ensconced in his mansion asks us to "imagine no possessions"; presumably he imagined no possessions, as he could just buy whatever he wanted. One can defend its simplistic, naïve messaging as wilfully childlike and idealistic (in fairness, it does retort "You may say that I'm a dreamer"), but that just underscores its infantile, playground view of politics; also, as adults, aren't our political values meant to be taken from sources a bit more substantial than 3-minute hippy anthems? Yet the inherent irksomeness of Imagine has become exponentiated to an emetic degree by its overbearance in culture. Remember Gal Gadot and her celebrity pals trying to bring the world together in the early days of Covid by singing Imagine over their phones? I just tried putting it on Youtube, but I was genuinely too scared to hit play. Imagine is, of course, mountainously smug, but Gal et al. create a planet of smugness in 3 minutes, whereas that slowpoke God had to take a day to make the earth (although he did also make the heavens and light that day too, so he took a third of a day to make the earth, maybe?). That is one especially charmless sample from a smorgasbord of mortifying celebrity versions of Imagine. Want another? Cee-Lo Green's take on Imagine changes the most interesting line "and no religion too" to "and all religions too", managing the dubious achievement of making Imagine even more inane and unchallenging. About the only by-product of Imagine of any merit is when Oasis stole it for the beginning of Don't Look Back in Anger, which is still the best of beery singalongs at closing time. Still, I'm here to review an album, not one song, and the album is properly weird. It does have the apparent virtue of authenticity, of John Lennon making an honest John Lennon album, but an honest John Lennon album is not an album around which the cult of John Lennon was consecrated. Now, if you want John doing songs that sound like Beatles off-cuts, you have Crippled Inside's jaunty cynicism (George Harrison plays on 5 of the songs). Gimme Some Truth provides you with your fix of vinyl-thin political protest. If happy-clappy hippy sentimentality is your bag, man, then aside from Imagine you cool cats should dig Oh My Love, though I wonder if it's possible not to laugh at the lines "I see the wind / I see the trees". I'm So Hard is yer boilerplate bluesy rocker, and I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier Mama is yer standard jam that goes on just a tad too long. But if none of these styles really satisfy, the weaknesses of John Lennon's songwriting emerge like a magic-eye picture. In particular, much of his lyricism is unintentionally comical. "Oh Yoko, my love will turn you on" ends in perhaps the three worst words imaginable in that situation (seriously, do you want that image rattling around your head?). "How can I go forward when I don't know which way to turn?" only makes sense if John is driving a car. I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier Mama has its die/fly/cry/lie rhymes, making you wonder if John don't wanna be a launderer mama, he don't wanna dry, John don't wanna be a salesman mama, he don't wanna ply, John don't wanna be a psychic mama, he don't wanna scry... (make up your own, kids!) But the best song on the album also makes for the most uncomfortable listening (well, aside from the excruciating Imagine). How Do You Sleep? shows us the angry, resentful and vindictive John Lennon, his ire generated by and thrust at Paul McCartney. Brief backstory: with the fallout of the Beatles' break-up, the courts had gotten involved, and John made a few disparaging asides about his former bandmates in interviews. Macca then, on his album Ram, recorded Too Many People, which featured a few mild jabs at Lennon, then took out an ad parodying John and Yoko's bagism by showing Macca and Linda dressed as clowns (I would say Macca probably meant this as a joke, albeit perhaps a little unwise in the midst of the legal farrago). This caused Lennon to revert to his most splenetic in How Do You Sleep?, barraging Macca as a middling chancer bolstered by sycophants who will ditch him now the talent (i.e., John) has disappeared. The thing is, the song works: the wordplay is clever and intentionally funny ("The only thing you done was yesterday", "The sound you make is musak to my ears"), and Phil Spector's strings reinforce the groove of the Wurlitzer and slide guitar (George Harrison again). But the rancour John displays only unsettles the listener, like a glimpse of, well, an exceptionally bitter argument between a divorcing couple (Ringo visited the recording of this song and found it upsetting, believing justifiably that John had gone too far). As for its place on the album, it frankly demolishes all the peace-and-love affectations the rest of the album tries to volunteer, implying that John the ambassador of peace was hiding John the brute spoiling for a fight, and all it took for that metamorphosis to occur was a slight dig and three pints of bad cider. In summation, Imagine qualifies as the quintessential John Lennon record, but that is very much a backhanded compliment. It has all that's stimulating about John Lennon's music, and all that's tiresome. Whether you find Imagine inspiring or exasperating is your prerogative. Personally, I don't find John Lennon, or Imagine, that interesting. The songs tend to be just okay, with one notable atrocity, and the best song is unrepresentative of the album and itself a disconcerting listen. Much of the curiosity this album fosters is due to its historical circumstances: the break-up of the Beatles and the curdling of hippy utopianism. By the by, I write this in 2022. Since in recent times we have witnessed a worldwide resurgence of nationalism and religiosity, along with marked increases in inequality and the entrenchment of consumer capitalism ("imagine there's no smartphone / I wonder if you can"), doesn't that mean that the legacy of Imagine is illusory, and that the judgement of history is that John Lennon was a tosser?

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1/10 - I hate John Lennon. Overrated as fuck. I don’t know how people listen to this and think it’s good.

Bland. Very MOR. Would have given it a very bland 2 but it's hard to listen to a wife beater twittering on about being a jealous guy so he's getting a 1.

I went into this album having already downloaded two of the songs, I left having downloaded them all. This album has it all, good songwriting, good music, and variety. The political messages sound extra important in today’s world and the Paul McCartney diss track is something special. I’m sure I’m biased because of my Beatlemania as a kid but I have to rate this as a near perfect album. 9/10 but 5/5

Pile of shite.

Epic.

John Lennon’s second album is portrait of a man who is at a crossroads and is trying to figure out who he is. This inner turmoil is also reflected in the shifts in genre from the placid and occasionally lush (classic Phil Spector production), to the more country/rockabilly, and rock and roll influences tracks. Lennon is contemplative, remorseful, and angry all in a 40 minute span. He ends and starts the album with no answers to the deeper questions but with the knowledge that love and humanity are the heart of the answer.

It's Lennon. I already loved all the songs I knew, but there were a few I was unfamiliar with, and even those are lovely. Aside from loving this throughout, I have to go top marks in case one day Mum finds out I didn't, she'd hurt me, I'm sure of it.

A complicated album for me to review. John Lennon is one of my favorite musicians of all time. He is probably my favorite male vocalist. When I was younger I saw footage of people mourning him after his assassination and I remember crying my eyes out. He has been an icon to me. Heʻs also from what Iʻve read later in life, kind of a huge asshole and physically violent person to both men and women earlier in his life, before he (mostly) repented. I wonʻt go into depth on this front but suffice it to say that itʻs enough to really taint his legacy and recently has made it hard for me to fully put that shit out of my head when listening to his music. But for the sake of this review Iʻll attempt that. Anyway, this album is wonderful, but still a huge drop in quality from his previous album, Plastic Ono Band, which is one of the greatest of all time. Imagine (the song) is extremely overplayed, but it's still a classic. Oh Yoko! has been a favorite of mine for years, ever since I heard it in the Wes Anderson movie Rushmore. Gimme Some Truth is just a brilliant verbal assault on hypocritic politicians. I have a really fond memory of my aunt rap-singing "I'm sick to death of seeing things/ From tight-lipped, condescending, mama's little chauvinists" to me when I was kid. I love how vulnerable and open he is on this album, he really bares his soul in many songs like Jealous Guy and Oh My Love. His love for Yoko inspires so much beauty in his music. A dark spot is How Do You Sleep, a scathing takedown of Paul McCartney that always felt unnecessarily cruel to me. A reminder of just how fucked up he could be in one moment while in the next being this revolutionary, life-giving force of music.

Despite how much of a behemoth the title track is, this album has a number of pretty great songs on it. Pretentious high concept nonsense before it was cool. Phil Spector sort of ruins it a bit though. I quite like that it is pretty angry and political but really just sounds like a pleasant pop album. I really love Oh Yoko.

Five important Lennon solo songs; Jealous Guy, Gimme Some Truth, How Do You Sleep, How, and his signature song Imagine. A mixture of protest songs, primal scream truth-telling, and pop fancies. Straightforward production with a crack band, tastefully under-playing, and really lovely string arrangements. This is probably Lennon's strongest solo record, but it sure ain't a satisfying substitute for a Beatles album. Thank god Lennon vetoed the record company's desire to release Oh Yoko! as a single. Nothing against Yoko, but this song is noticeably more pop than the rest of the record, and a little out of place. The thing I really noticed about this record is how honest Lennon often is. Listening to Jealous Guy, he is saying things in a blunt, unvarnished way that I find hard to believe that the biggest pop star in the world would put on a record for all to hear. He is really laying himself open on this record. Although that could be the flipside of a view that everything he says is a Very Important Work of Unimpeachable Genius, and he uses honesty as a moral shield for his culpable behaviour. He seems to regard his shortcomings (temper tantrums, domestic abuse, vitriolic egotism, needless provocation, unfaithfulness, hypocrisy, etc etc) as artistic opportunities rather than personal failings. Mind you, a myriad of followers had been telling him he was some kind of messiah for nearly a decade at this point. I'm sure it's hard to maintain perspective in those circumstances. As a result, he still can't reconcile his ambitions and ideals. I mean, Imagine is just the tone-deaf plea of a multi-millionaire to eschew material possessions. Easy to say, if you're rolling in it, mate. But I think this song is now officially recognized for the hypocritical bullshit it really is, following Gal Gadot's incredibly ill-conceived cover video released during covid.

Heard it many times. Not a Lennon fan

This is really an exceptional album. John was a complete asshole, but also a complete musical genius. This one actually belongs on the list. 5/5

Discazo

No. 221/1001 Imagine 5/5 Crippled Inside 3/5 Jealous Guy 4/5 It's So Hard 3/5 I Don't Wann Be A Soldier Mama 2/5 Gimme Some Truth 3/5 Oh My Love 4/5 How Do You Sleep? 4/5 How? 3/5 Oh Yoko 4/5 Average: 3,5 I mean this is pretentious, but the songs were just too good.

After Plastic Ono Band's violent debeatling, the nation's favourite demagogue continues his primal scream-induced plainspeak. Try this on for rawness: "No short-haired, yellow-bellied, son of Tricky Dicky is gonna Mother Hubbard, soft soap me with just a pocketful of hope." Or, "I was feeling insecure / You might not love me anymore". Lennon softens the edges with pop-friendly euphemisms, albeit acerbic ones, such as "You can wear a mask and paint your face / You can call yourself the human race," but most notably Spector's luscious wall of sound, which coats Lennon's salted caramel brittle with a litre of extra thick double-cream. Special mention to Oh Yoko!, which is almost a unassumingly beautiful as the Velvet's After Hours. Makes me think I'm in love with Mrs Lennon every time.

It's so much more than its title track. Demerit for explicit references to Yoko. Best track: Gimme Some Truth

The good songs are great but the filler's not killer and overall I think John was never the same after the Beatles. He seemed to put less effort into the craft of songwriting and used songs more to express smaller ideas. I prefer the sparse production of his first solo album to this one. All I want is the truth!

Enjoyable listening. I prefer George Harrison's solo albums, he really flourished when he was liberated from John's tyranny. The one thing everyone needs to know is that the track Imagine was largely written by Yoko Ono, who John selfishly decided wasn't worth crediting because she's "just a wife, y'know?" He was a total douchebag, but it is easy listening.

Imagine being good

First track sounds like something that would be sung mawkishly at Anfield. Can see where the worst parts of the beatles albums come from with the 2nd. It's basically just when I'm 64, or a wacky Norman Wisdom chase montage. Ponderous, dull uninspired garbage from the joint worst beatle

The song crippled inside sums up the holier-than-thou man babies below. 5/5 Album. 5/5 Artist.

I grew up with this album so it's difficult to view it objectively. I can see how some might see this as a bit wishy-washy musically but the sound has Lennon stamped on it and it depends on whether it's your bag. There are some genuine classics here though- Imagine (of course), Jealous Guy, Give me some Truth, but my favourite has always been 'How do you sleep' which was aimed at Paul and is pretty scathing and is surely one of the best songs anywhere. After listening again to the whole album there are a few weaker tracks but the general album taken as a whole is worthy of *****

one of the classics

5/5 based on the 1st song...

Loved it

A perfect album.

Obviously excellent. Oddly, he showed this first to some guy, I forget who. “Imagine” was originally a B-side on that tape.

I think I last listened to this album all the way through when I was about 12 years old (my best friend's older brother had a copy) and I'd forgotten how utterly, utterly brilliant it was and I want to apologise to the world for leaving it so long - I've played it 5 times today to try and make amends. It's just visceral and totally brilliant, the best thing I've heard so far. Can I give 6 stars? (also just noticed that Billy Bragg nicked the riff from 'Oh Yoko' for 'Waiting for the great leap forward'). I wrote loads more (twice) about this album but deleted it all - there was no need, you already knew it all anyway.

5 stars

listening to this album calmed my anxiety

Hot Stuff!

It is a great album from a great man. Remember when Gal Gadot and her 'friends' did Imagine at the start of lockdown?

It is a classic, heard imagine so many times it can be a bit tiring, but think jealous guy is the best anyway

A cultural landmark, from a flawed man that wrote great songs.

Love you Dad

Huh, I wonder why I've never heard of any of these songs besides the title track? Oh, they're all shitty blues songs made by an Englishman.

Preface: I'm a big Beatles fan. I swear. That said, I've never really liked much of John's solo work, save a few tracks. And of those tracks, "Imagine" is not one of them. There's nothing musically compelling about the track for me, and lyrically, it's just a void. My issue isn't even about the hypocrisy of a rich man imploring the listener to imagine no possessions. It's that it postures as being profound, as revolutionary, when it's neither. It's just a bunch of vague gesturing. "Bad things bad, good things good." Thanks, John. I'm actually kind of glad that that stupid video during the pandemic shone a light on how empty the song is. (Jeez, it's like I'm hating the song more as I write about it!) Anyway, the title track aside, I hadn't heard anything from the album. I didn't have high expectations, but I came with an open mind. Somehow, it was even worse than I thought. This was a slog, pure and simple. Of course I have my biases. Blues rock isn't really my thing, but I think I can still appreciate it when it's done well. But "I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier" was SUFFERING. Ironically, by around the 4-minute mark, I think I wanted to fly, cry AND die. Jealous Guy is... something. It's like when you rightly criticize someone for something and they get on their knees and say "Oh, yes, I'm SUCH a terrible person, I don't deserve love, I should just go crawl in a hole and DIE." Jesus Christ. Gimme Some Truth. Did you know that... politicians lie? John knows, and he's tired of it! Look out! I will admit, "How Do You Sleep?" is a novelty. Paul not like us. A couple of good zingers. But here's the thing. It's on Imagine. IMAGINE. The fact that he included such an over-the-top mean-spirited song on IMAGINE is hilarious. It provides the perfect contrast and exposes the hippy-dippy, wishy-washy, well-wishing nonsense exactly for what it is. I was fully prepared to give this a 3, maybe a 2, until I realized over the course of writing this how much I actually hate this album. I'm actually shocked. It's terrible. Fav track: Oh My Love

Didn’t even listen to it. IMAGINE that. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Imagine opening an album with what is arguably the greatest song ever written. As tired an opinion as that is, it's very hard to argue that "Imagine" isn't a perfect song in absolutely every way. A simple and beautiful piano melody, with a simple and beautiful message. Lennon described the song as "anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic, but because it's sugarcoated it's accepted ... Now I understand what you have to do. Put your political message across with a little honey". It became an anthem for the idealists of the world, a mantra for atheists, but ultimately, it's a simple message of peace and optimism for the world. Most of the rest of the album shows a more introspective side of Lennon, than a politically charged one. "Crippled Inside" is a jaunty country rock number with a more sinister subject matter dealing with external success not equating to inner peace or happiness. "Jealous Guy" is an apologetic reflection on fear and insecurity. "It's So Hard" mixes sexual innuendo, depression and the blues. "Oh My Love" is a delicate song of quiet gratitude and vulnerability, sandwiched in between songs of anger. "How?" is an existential crisis, questioning how to live well, stay honest and strong when the world seems out to get you. "Oh Yoko!" is Lennon focusing on his devotion to Yoko as the answer to all of this. Outside of introspection, Lennon couldn't resist taking a very public dig at Macca. "How Do You Sleep?" is as blunt as you can get, and is certainly not served with a little honey. I was always more of a fan of John's contributions to the Beatles, but I've really gotten to like Macca's earlier solo work as I've gotten older (predictable or what?). Regardless of your stance on the rifts between John and Paul, this is a great song, even if it's full of spite, anger and hate. The political side of Lennon is here too, and not as "sugarcoated" as the title track. "I Don't Want to Be a Soldier" is a hypnotic declaration of rejecting assigned societal identities as a form of self-preservation, listing the negative outcomes that come as a result of assuming these roles: death, lies, depression. It's a rare album where a song as brilliant as "Gimme Some Truth" isn't even the best track on it. It's one of my all-time favourite songs. Lennon attacks lies, media spin, political doublespeak, and moral cowardice. The song is fast and angry and Lennon's quick, snarling vocal delivery is matched by George Harrison's fantastic slide guitar, forming something truly special. It says something that the song is still so relevant in the post-truth dystopia of today, 55 years later. "I'm sick and tired of hearing things / from uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocritics / all I want is the truth / just gimme some truth". In a way, Imagine works as its own argument. It opens with an almost impossibly perfect ideal, then spends the rest of its runtime testing that ideal against fear, anger, jealousy, doubt and contradiction. But for all of the existential uncertainties of Lennon's introspection, and the politically charged anger punctuating it, this fractured self-portrait ultimately comes across as optimistic. The world is messy, and self-reflection brings more questions than answers, but cutting through the lies and noise leaves space to imagine something better.

A contender for best solo Beatle album and evidence of the sheer breadth and range of Lennon’s. Imagine, jealous guy and how do you sleep are now legendary songs, but gems like ‘oh my love’,and ‘how can I’ really sound like late Beatle songs. Gimme some truth has also gained a reputation. Excellent stuff - timeless

Surprise that has a bit of country rock? Not sure if that’s accurate to say. Very different from Beatles yet I can also hear some of the similar melodies in some

Very nice and cozy album, I enjoyed this quite a lot.

Like just for Jealous Guy and Imagine you have to say this is a classic album

Of course it’s fucking good- it’s John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and Phil Spector. I wish there was a 4.5 star option, this was a 4.5 star album for me. I’m keeping it at 5 stars purely out of respect for Yoko Ono. God the music was good in the 70s! Reminded me of some of my favorite Bowie sounds…

John Lennon’s best and a top 3 post-Beatles album. Love or hate the title track, it kicks off into a great time right after and showcases John’s finest ballads. One of my favorite tracks, I Don’t Wanna Be a Soldier, is a tense, primal track with a sick groove, the kick drum doesn’t get this crazy again until Oh Yoko, surprisingly. Also a fantastic closing song with a beautiful piano.

Just like Mark David Chapman, it's always the religious wingnuts fucking it up for the rest of us. This album kicks ass. Imagine has been overplayed but it doesn't make it any less classic. And look at his backing band, I see any of those names on any record and it's a good bet it will be worth a listen.

omg finally a beatles adjacent album. I've never listened to the album in full, but I know many of the songs from it already. I really enjoyed it honestly, it was nice to get an album I had actually heard of and had been planning to listen to at some point. 5/5

For me, this is the first Beatles related album to crop up in this exercise. . I've never been made keen on the production of this album, and the mix now sounds somewhat dated. That said, it's an excellent album with a number of truly great songs on it. The other songs are at worst 3 star songs but being a fan of The Beatles and their solo work I rate them a little higher. This is a 5 star album. Would I listen to this album again? Yes. Would I buy this album? I did. 1. "Imagine" - An iconic song. It's just a lovely, mournful, ballad with a beautiful sentiment. - (5/5) 2. "Crippled Inside" - A Country, Rock a Billy sounding number, that has a jauntiness that cleverly disguises the lyrical meaning. - (5/5) 3. "Jealous Guy" - Arguably the best song on the album. - (5/5) 4. "It's So Hard" - (4/5) 5. "I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier" - This still sounds fantastic. - (5/5) 6. "Gimme Some Truth" - Visceral. - (5/5) 7. "Oh My Love" - (4/5) 8. "How Do You Sleep?" - Was he glad that he got this off his chest? This is a fantastic song. Great slide guitar solo by George Harrison. - (5/5) 9. "How?" - (4/5) 10. "Oh Yoko!" - (4/5) Total - 46 Average - 4.6

It is for work such as this that John was my favorite Beatle. Paul may have had a knack for catchier melodies, George a better guitar player, and Ringo a better Ringo. But John’s ability to sing about hard truths with a simple honesty tops all that.

my problematic fave. look, i know that he was not a good guy ok, and some of these lyrics - i am looking at you 'jealous guy' - are just awful. despite the fact, this album is a bit of an all time greatest and i continue to be very impressed by it. sorry everyone.

One of the most famous songs of all time, says it all, and it's a good album!

Beautiful songs. How could I not enjoy listening to John Lennon.

Not the best solo album from a former Beatle. But pretty close! You really can hear all the things that John brought to that band without any other influence. And for a brief moment it’s magic. 5/5

5/5

This is a classic. Every song shows Lennon's brillance

Really really good. Jealous Guy, How, How Do You Sleep, Gimmie Some Truth, all absolute classics. Even Crippled inside, which I am not a huge fan of, when it's in the context of the album, it sounds good. Really good

Enjoyed this album - Imagine was the only recognizable song for me, but I really enjoyed the rest of the songs. I liked the variety - some bluesy, some more traditional rock. Easily an album I could listen to again.

Never had actually listened to the album except for the song, ‘Imagine’ - actually pretty good. Lennon was such a genuine talent.

Very good. Love the vibes!

Compared to the other John Lennon album, this one was pretty good.

I loved this album on its release but am now more aware of his complex personality and failings. Sometimes it's necessary to look at the art without the baggage. Still a good album for me

I very much enjoyed this album. Lennon has a very strong voice here and speaks on issues about the world, peace, and love that are still very much relevant today. I feel like I really got to know him very well as a person. Very strong lyricism and songwriting. Musically, it's pretty basic, although there are some unique moments that made my head turn. His vocals are strong (of course). The best moments in this album are when the piano is front and center. I don't think there's any filler here; each song serves a purpose and really tells a strong message. I rank this up there with albums I'll highly recommend and maybe revisit a few times, but not *quite* the level of my 5 star picks. Really fantastic, 4.2/5

Imagine is the highlight but plenty of hidden gems. The Lennon/McCartney legacy lives

Good album with some good songs. This would be even less interesting without the Phil Spector touch.

Some great tunes here, but other than title track, nothing transcendent. Paul shade is great

some of sam's favourite non-beatles, beatles songs. some good country style stuff on there!

4/5 so impressed about how much I liked this! Lyrics really resonated and all the songs had a nice ring to them

Ok, maybe I'm feeling guilty cause I gave Daydream Nation a 3 yesterday, but this was better than expected, so fuck it...

I mean, it's imagine by john lennon. What can I say? I grow up with this song and the lyrics is still in my head perfectly

Still a very good album, doesn't include the Yoko stuff that fills later efforts

Rock and lovely details I love the older vibe. The yoko one was cute and I liked the folkyness to it

Every so often when listening to a song, something just randomly clicks in my brain. This time, I just never put it together for some reason, but in the movie Forrest Gump, there's a scene when Forrest is on the Dick Cavett show with John Lennon. He's talking about his time in China and John Lennon keeps chiming in with quips from the song Imagine. "No possesssions....no religion too?" Dick then says "it's hard to imagine" and Lennon says "it's easy if you try, Dick." For some reason it just never dawned on me that he was referencing the song Imagine. Listen, i'm not a smart man, ok? I think this album was very emotional and introspective. Obviously the song Imagine is a great song and I think it's unfair that he received any criticism for it........and was also straight up murdered for it (in part). The whole point of the song is that all we can do is imagine a perfect world without all the things that drive us apart.....because it's never going to come to fruition. Doesn't matter if Lennon was a hypocrite and lived as a millionaire. The whole album follows this whole theme of imperfection, hypocrisy, anti-war, all kinds of observational criticism. There's also the "How can you sleep?" song that is a direct attack on Paul McCartney. It's a good aggressive album, but I also can't imagine listening to it again.

The first half of this album makes my heart flip sideways with nostalgia. But then we hit songs like "How Do you Sleep" and "Oh Yoko" and I'm like yeahhh there: this is why John will never be more than my third favorite Beatle.

Although I would have Imagine as the fifth best post-beatles album, Jealous Guy and Oh Yoko are possibly the two most affecting songs for me in the post-beatles catalog. John was always the edge in the Lennon-McCartney pairing and his songs have a way of slicing so deep for me... Imagine is extremely corny (but I can't help but sing along) and How Do you Sleep is the like first rock music diss track from what I can tell! The issue is that none of the other songs are particularly memorable... but man does Oh Yoko! fuck my shit up every time

Loved this album when I first listened to it. Must admit I wasn’t too keen on this on repeat listen, a lot of filler, combined with some of the best post-Beatles songs, takes this album from an average to a good album. “How do you sleep” is still the most underrated song of Lennon’s back catalogue. A respectable 7/10.

It's fascinating to me to be able to hear the distinct parts that make up the Beatles. I am a Beatles fan, but I'm only really familiar with the George and Paul solo works. I think I heard The Plastic Ono Band at some point and wrote John off as "lost his mind". This was nice though, a pretty solid album. John has an impeccable voice. Some of the songs are a bit bland, but I do enjoy quite a few. This album is definitely worth a listen to hear the John Lennon dimension of the Beatles Express itself.

Although not my favourite Lennon album I'd forgotten how brilliantly vicious an attack on Macca 'How do you sleep' was.

My first exposure to the title track was when I was in 6th grade and we read someone's article about them cowering in fear of the communist lyrics. I was never a fan of Lennon as a person. I was a McCartney fanboy and sided with his criticisms. Growing up, I realized I loved Lennon's songs just as much, and honestly I think the title track "Imagine" made me think Lennon was the one in charge of the Beatles ballads like "Hey Jude" and "Let It Be" (turns out McCartney wrote both of them). But these days I appreciate Lennon a lot more knowing that the hard, energetic Beatles songs were sung by his fuzzy vocals. The beginning of "Crippled Inside" strongly reminds me of another Beatles song (from the White album?) but I can't put my tongue on it. "Jealous Guy" is probably my favorite on this album, despite being one of the softer songs I've been known not to be a huge fan of. Not a big fan of the next two tracks. I do appreciate the antiwar sentiment and the psychedelic fuzz in the latter song. Much prefer the second side. Makes sense considering this is where Harrison makes most of his contributions. Many of the Beatlesesque songs on this album certainly feels like they belong on the White album, except much more polished. My favorite of these is "Oh My Love." In fact, I swore that song was on the White album until just today. Such a beautiful song. And yes, even "How Do You Sleep?" is a fantastic song, despite the savagery on McCartney. Album ends on a lovely note with "Oh Yoko" which grows with each listen. Some fantastic songs interdispersed. A few weak songs. But the remainder is great. Coherent and has great mixing and Harrison's guitar work, reminding me that Harrison was not being carried by any means, and dramatically enhances the experience.

Good

Ive always found John though a good songwriter a little bit cheesy. And well, listening to this album was very nice, but sadly, still a little bit too nice at some moments.

Pleasant enough

Yes, the title song may be completely over played, but you can't fault the sentiment. Lennon's more polished second solo album shows him at his typical contrary self, love, peace, jealousy, anger. BT: Jealous Guy, Gimme Some Truth, How Do You Sleep?

Some real gems on here. Also, some not so quality material. Always liked this album, but Lennon’s solo material for me is not his best work. This is no exception.

Bien.

Classic

Good album, just not a five.

Tres bon album jepe sais que c’etait un receuil de toune comme imagine mais c’est rock et tres stylise le reste de l’album. Je ne l’avais jamais ecoute au complet et je suis agreablement surpris. Je reecoute a coup sur. 4.75