John Lennon: The Albums

Really enjoyed reading this study of Lennon's solo work. Rogan tackles every song by John but also tells the story of the career with lengthy introductions to each album and what was happening at the time. Bravely, he includes all the Unfinished Music stuff with Yoko and this was one of the most enlightening sections with lots to debate. Other surprises include a staggering reappraisal of Some Time In New York City that really gets you thinking. Rogan's criticism is generally spot on and never pretentious. He has a lot to convey and does so vividly. The work succeeds on various levels - part biography, musical, cultural and political analysis - but never loses its footing or lapses into cliche. One of the best solo Beatle books I've read - and there have been many!

Well Written Study (10/10 people found this helpful)

This must be the first Lennon book I've read that deliberately doesn't mention John Lennon's assassin Mark Chapman and I applaud Johnny Rogan for that. Although there's a lot of biographical background, it's the music that inspires the author and in this chunky book, he approaches Lennon's solo work with the same thoroughness as the best Beatles' critics. Best read with a bundle of CDs to hand, it's full of insights, stories and clever comparisons. I loved the Plastic Ono Band period but didn't get Some Time In New York City - till now. Rogan totally reverses popular opinion about this work and writes 30 pages (!) arguing why we should appreciate it. Having recently seen `The US v John Lennon' I went out and bought Some Time... so Rogan's chapter here was particularly rewarding. The political stuff in the book is revealing and totally unexpected in what I thought was simply an `albums guide'. But it's stimulating stuff. Be warned this a serious book ¬ - no pics, although the cover is classy - but well worth re-reading and great for those discussions about how great Lennon was. As a confirmed Lennon fan, I still learned a lot.

Lennon v The IRA! (7/7 people found this helpful)

This book has hit the headlines due to its revelations about Lennon's meeting with an IRA man, who is duly identified and interviewed. There's a first! But that's only a very small nugget in a book that is anything but sensational. In fact it's not a biog but a superb appraisal of Lennon's solo albums (including those difficult ones with Yoko Ono). Rogan's an excellent critic and interviewer who always offers new information and gets you rethinking about albums you already felt you knew intimately. Although John only released a few albums prior to his death, Rogan's book runs to 276 pages. I expected him to do a good job on the classic `John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band' (which he does) but he's equally good in putting a strong case for one of my favourites `Walls And Bridges' and, most surprisingly, `Sometime In New York City'. His argument about how we see Lennon in light of all the books and revelations that have followed his death is fascinating stuff. Rogan uses this to good effect in discussing `Double Fantasy'. The John & Yoko myth has been analysed before of course but the beauty of Rogan's approach is that he focuses on the work and its meaning to reinforce his points. Other books, starting with Goldman, have told us that Lennon was not the caricatured `house husband'. Some say that makes him a hypocrite. And as for those legendary diaries mentioned in other books . . . don't they suggest a man in torment rather than bliss?
Rogan's aware of all this but he takes on those writers who've dramatized the diaries from the Dakota period by pointing out the positive persona seen during John's final interviews and heard on Double Fantasy, Rogan makes the point that "Lennon sounded a lot more logical in his best interviews than in his prose ramblings. To choose one over the other in search of the `real' Lennon seems at best inadequate and unimaginative." So, in my view, Rogan does justice to a more complex character and in tackling the solo work in such detail reminds us all that there's lots of great Lennon music to devour after the Beatles. Check it out!

John Lennon: The Albums

Johnny Rogan

Reader Reviews:

Excellent Read (5/5 people found this helpful)

Well Written Study (10/10 people found this helpful)

Lennon v The IRA! (7/7 people found this helpful)

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