Imagine was as lush and melodic as anything John Lennon had created since the break-up of the Beatles. Unlike the spartan, three-piece Plastic Ono Band, Imagine gave Phil Spector plenty to work with. The album features over a dozen of rock's top sidemen, and half the tracks are further enhanced with highly commercial strings.
The benign, low-key aura that suffuses Imagine (with one or two curious execptions) may have been due to more than a fulfillment of Arthur Janov's promise of "a tensionless, defence-free life" for those who complete primal therapy. Plastic Ono Band had impressed the critics more than it had the public; and sold a modest quarter million copies. Robert Klein's promo man Pete Bennett let slip that "we told John he had to go more commercial if he wanted a big smash."
The general tone of Imagine (which, as it turned out, sold well over a million) is set by the title song -- easily John's most popular and widely covered solo compostion. "Imagine" also sounds very Beatle-ish, with a melody that conveys the poignant innocence (or naiveté) of "Dear Prudence" and "Because." Retrieving the white banner he had waved throughout 1969, Lennon invites us to share his vision of Utopia devoid of religions ("no hell below us/above us only sky"), possessions, countries, and causes.
The second most popular song on the album was "Jealous Guy," similar to "Imagine" in its refreshing tunefulness, simplicity, and lush orchestration. To a melody almost identical to the verse of "A Day In the Life" John asks Yoko to forgive his cruelties ("I'm just a jealous guy") in a thin, plaintive voice that often comes close to cracking. Like most of Imagine, this touching piece shows Lennon attempting to put across his painful self-discoveries in a more popularly accessible format.
But whatever dissapointment some fans may have felt at McCartney's recent work, few enjoyed being witness to the execution. Musically, "How Do You Sleep?" is brilliant, in that it forces the listener to share John's anger; for that reason, many of his admirers preferred not to listen. (To drive the point home, Imagine was packaged with a postcard depicting Lennon fondling a pig -- an unmistakeable lampoon of Paul's Ram cover, on which McCartney fondles a ram.)
In "Gimme Some Truth" Lennon launches into a similar tirade (again accompanied by Harrison's vicious slide guitar) -- this time against nameless hypocrites, bigots, "pig-headed politicians," and "paranoic prima-donnas" everywhere. A gripping riff and a non-stop torrent of assonance and alliteration add up to an electrifying performance; nonetheless, to Rolling Stone's Ben Gerson, "Gimme Some Truth," together with "How Do You Sleep?," raised a disturbing question: "I fear that John sees himself in the role of the truth-teller, and as such can justify any kind of self-indulgent brutality in the name of truth." Lennon's next album would prove Gerson woefully correct.
Imagine first appeared on the Billboard chart on September 18, 1971, reaching #1 and spending a total of 30 weeks.
- Nicholas Schaffner, The Beatles Forever, pp. 145-46.
Bonus Reviews!
Lennon has emerged as the real British Dylan, chronicling his own personal search for self-expression with that of the times which threaten to divide the self into oblivion. Down-to-earth honest introspection is steeped in insight, while magnificent string arrangements complement Lennon's latest concept of rock on "Imagine," "Give Me Some Truth," "How?," "Oh Yoko" and "Crippled Inside." Move over Sgt. Pepper.
- Billboard, 1971.
Primal goes pop -- personal and useful. The title cut is both a hymn for the Movement and a love song for his wife, celebrating a Yokoism and a Marcusianism simultaneously, and "Gimme Some Truth" unites Lennon unmasked with the Lennon of Blunderland wordplay as it provides a rationale for "Jealous Guy," which doesn't need one, and "How Do You Sleep?," which may. "Oh Yoko!" is an instant folk song worthy of Rosie & the Originals, and "I Don't Want to Be a Soldier" an instant folk extravaganza worthy of Phil Spector. "It's So Hard" is blues. "Crippled Inside," with its "ironic" good-time ricky-tick, is folk-rock in disguise. And the psychotherapeutically lugubrious "How?" is a question mark. A
- Robert Christgau, Christgau's Record Guide, 1981.
The follow-up to Plastic Ono Band continued Lennon's self analysis, but this time the primal scream was tempered with pop sensibility. The anguished search for meaning in life, "Give Me Some Truth," the self-deprecatory "Jealous Guy" and "How?," and the artist's testimony to what it's like being "Crippled Inside" would be quite jolly.
The album first became famous for its anthemic title track, an instant hit in the United States, a smash in Britain upon its years-delayed release, and a posthumous UK number one. The sales achieved during its two chart runs made it one of the best-selling singles in UK history. Its utopian lyrics found favor with people who wouldn't support their sentiments if they were translated into concrete political proposals, a sure sign of how seductive art can be. The actor Christopher Reeve chose "Imagine" when asked on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs what one record he would take with him if stranded.
Anyone who doubted the sincerity of Lennon's love for his second wife or her importance to him need only listen to "Oh Yoko!," a track played like a single on WABC-New York even though it never became one. "How Do You Sleep?" was an insulting jab at Paul McCartney, with whom John was having a public argument of his own launching. It was beneath both of them, but survives as an example of what happens when jilted partners use mass media to deliver personal messages.
In 1987, Imagine was chosen by a panel of rock critics and music broadcasters as the #85 rock album of all time.
- Paul Gambaccini, The Top 100 Rock 'n' Roll Albums of All Time, Harmony Books, 1987.
Imagine can reliably be said to be John Lennon's finest solo album. Lennon's painful, and at times painfully embarrassing, exploratory soul-bearing songs seem excluded from Imagine. The cherry on the cake however comes in the form of the classic title track and the superb now much-covered "Jealous Guy."
Lennon could still deliver a sly kick to the listener, wrapping up "Crippled Inside" in honky-tonk singalong disguise for instance.
Sound quality is variable: "Jealous Guy," is, sadly, still fuzzily distorted: "I Don't Want to Be a Soldier" astonishingly but intentionally boxy; "Give Me Some Truth" still dull and squashed. Other tracks have a simple, direct impact -- in sound as in song.
"So Sgt. Pepper took you by surprise..." Lennon sings here -- launched in the UK the same week as the CD Pepper, Imagine is more clearly in the mainstream of rock'n'roll and despite the protestations of that album's influence is the more important and the more honest. Imagine is a sad testament to all the rock'n'roll Lennon did not record.
- David Prakel, Rock 'n' Roll on Compact Disc, 1987.
Arriving hard on the heels of the icy blast that was Plastic Ono Band, Imagine -- particularly given the title cut -- almost seemed like a warm, fuzzy blanket. Certainly the Beatlesque pop sensibility had returned, and John always was the barbed Beatle. Obviously "Imagine" has now ascended to such anthemic status that criticism of its underlying naivete is a waste of effort, and it is a beautiful song of love, both personal and political. The remaining nine tracks wander over rock's musical terrain while yeilding listenable, oft-times fascinating material, from his infamous attack on Paul ("How Do You Sleep?") to almost giddy, girl-group pop ("Oh Yoko!") coproduced by Phil Spector. With a myth of this magnitude, it is difficult to separate the artist from the legend, or, for that matter, to accept Lennon on his non-Beatle terms. But Imagine ultimately reestablishes the fact that, politics and persona notwithstanding, John Lennon was a consummate rock/pop artist, and songs like "Jealous Guy," "I Don't Want to Be a Soldier," and "Oh Yoko!" are worthy additions to contemporary music's all-time great songbook. The CD's sound quality varies markedly from track to track: "Crippled Inside" and "Jealous Guy" are both open, clear and dynamic; "Imagine" suffers from excessive compression, and the rest have a strong "recorded" feel, sometimes distorted, probably reflecting Lennon's and Spector's use of the studio as a sound palette. "Whip and Mirror by Yoko" -- now exactly what did he mean by that? A
- Bill Shapiro, Rock & Roll Review: A Guide to Good Rock on CD, 1991.
In addition to the revered title track (a #3 hit), this eclectic pop album also contains "Jealous Guy" (later a hit for Roxy Music) and "Gimme Some Truth" (later adopted by such punk rockers as Generation X). * * * * *
- William Ruhlmann, The All-Music Guide to Rock, 1995.
Imagine contains the enduring title hymn and a dark stab at Lennon's former Beatles partner Paul McCartney in "How Do You Sleep?" * * * *
- Roger Catlin, Musichound Rock: The Essential Album Guide, 1996.
Perhaps his most important recording, this stirring album is a brilliant look at one man's uncompromising view of life, documenting Lennon's continuous couch trip -- self-analysis, love, venom and politics with a backbeat, demonstrating which Beatle had the brains. George Harrison's guitar and Phil Spector's production further elevate master provocateur themes from peace ("Imagine," one of the greatest antiwar songs ever) to skewering Paul McCartney ("How Do You Sleep"). * * * * *
- Zagat Survey Music Guide - 1,000 Top Albums of All Time, 2003.
After the primal-scream therapy of Plastic Ono Band, Lennon softened up on his second solo album. There is still some stinging "Gimme Some Truth" and Lennon's evisceration of Paul McCartney, "How Do You Sleep?" -- both featuring George Harrison on guitar. But there is also the aching soul of "Jealous Guy" and the irresistible "Oh Yoko!" Imagine is self-consciously luminescent, pointedly embraceable. Lennon said of the title track, "Anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic, but because it is sugar-coated it is accepted... Now I understand what you have to do. Put your political message across with a little honey."
Imagine was chosen as the 76th greatest album of all time by the editors of Rolling Stone magazine in Dec. 2003.
- Rolling Stone, 12/11/03.
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