It's a funny thing, I've been a Beatles fan since I was a little kid (at first through my parents, and then discovering/rediscovering them for myself when the Beatles Anthology came on television), yet I never really delved into their solo careers outside of a single album from each of the fab
* John - Lennon Legend (greatest hits)
* Paul - Paul McCartney and Wings Greatest Hits
* George - All things must pass
* Ringo - Ringo
The only thing I can think is that my obsession with them was a sort of insular tunnel-vision, plus it was only when I was around 14 or 15 that I started using bands that I was into as a jumping-off point for new discoveries.
Anyway, in the last few years I've started exploring the solo output of these talented musicians, and John's work in these first few years is interesting in the extreme. After the experimentalism of 'Two Virgins' and the primal scream release of 'Plastic Ono Band' with this album you get a more centred and, at times uplifiting Lennon release. You get the title track, surely one of Lennon's most iconic songs, there's a little of the old angst with 'Crippled inside', more of the Lennon cynicism on 'Gimme some truth' and the McCartney slagging "How do you sleep?"
"Jealous guy" is a heart-rending look inside John and Yoko's relationship and "Oh my love" feels like a nice little sequel to 'Love' (a personal favourite of mine).
All in all a great album, "I don't wanna be a soldier" is the only track that I found to be 'so-so'.
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