John Lennon
"John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band"

Released: 1970
Lennon's first actual solo-album. I don't count his weird collaborations with his missus (mind you, there's a Yoko Ono album that's damn good, "Approximately Infinite Universe"). After his divorce from The Beatles he underwent primal therapy with Dr. Arthur Janov and this album is pretty much the result. Or the soundtrack, if you like. Lots of anger and rawness here. This is very far from a polished album, but that might be why it's so strong. The pain is incredible in "Mother", the contempt is strong in "I Found Out" and "Working Class Hero" and the feeling of isolation is very precisely mirrored in..."Isolation". The song "God" is one of Lennon's strongest songs. And there's tenderness in "Love". A very personal album this. Like looking into someone's secret diary.
If you like this album, well...I'm a huge Lennon-fan, which means that I find something great in (almost) all his records. "Imagine" may have been regarded by Lennon himself as sugar-coated but it's still very good. It doesn't only contain the title-song, y'know... An album by another artist that springs to mind is Elvis Costello's "Blood And Chocolate", which in a way resembles the spirit of "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band".

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