John Lennon - Walls and Bridges

Walls & Bridges

Lennon's fifth (I'm not counting the dreck before Plastic Ono Band) studio album is an improvement over Mind Games. Walls & Bridges was recorded during his infamous "lost weekend" & it's amazing that he even got this album done. Walls & Bridges was his second album to be a #1 album. "Whatever Gets You Through the Night" was a #1 single & "#9 Dream" went, coincidentally, to #9 on the charts.

The album opens with "Going Down on Love" which explains his situation concisely at that time. A separation from Ono wasn't doing him a lot of good. "Whatever Gets You Through the Night" is one of the most pop inflected things he ever did. It's upbeat & makes you want to get on the dance floor. It has a great sax solo & great harmony vocals from Elton John. "Old Dirt Road" is a comfortable song co-written with Harry Nilsson who was John's drinking buddy during the "lost weekend". Lennon had also produced Nilsson's studio album at this time. "What You Got" finds Lennon getting funky with a guitar riff driven song that shows he could still rock. Like most of these songs on this album, Lennon exposes his inner feelings & expresses the loss he was feeling at the time. "Bless You" slows the tempo & has John going for that "dreamy" sound; there is a tasteful keyboard base to this song provided by Ken Ascher. Though some might feel, rightfully so, that much of this album was written with Ms. Pang in mind I can't help but hear this as Lennon baring his emotional sleeve concerning his separation from Yoko. "Scared" reveals these feelings better than almost any song Lennon ever did. Like many of the songs on this album Lennon eschews the use of a guitar as a lead instrument turning to a saxophone as the primary solo instrument. "#9 Dream" is a song that goes for that "dreamy" sound that has the music to convey that feeling (don't you just hate what has been done to this song?). "Surprise, Surprise (Sweet Bird of Paradox)" is a time filler. "Steel & Glass" is, arguably, the best song on the album. It's in a minor key, which I love, that allows John (or anyone) to express his innermost feelings, plaintively. "Steel & Glass" is a perfect description of Lennon, himself; a man of many contradictions, so strong &, yet, so weak. Jesse Ed Davis does some great wah-wah pedal leads in this song. "Beef Jerky" is a funky instrumental that has a guitar riff giving it impetus. "Nobody Love You (When You're Down and Out)" which is one of John's most insightful songs. His lyrics take us where we really don't want to go, they tell it like it is & they don't cut us too muck slack. They're not mean-spirited but they are incisive. And like John says, "Everybody loves you when you're six foot in the ground." How often is that true in our lives? We can't speak well of some people until they're gone. But, then, everybody gets themselves an eulogy, don't they? The original album closes with the incredibly lame "Ya Ya" that John recorded with his son, Julian.

The disc has three bonus tracks added to the original. The first, "Whatever Gets You Through the Night" is a live version that John performed with Elton John with Elton's band. The next bonus cut is "Nobody Loves You (When You're Down and Out)". This version is a demo version that's remarkably similar to the studio version. What makes this version stand out is that it's the down to the bare bone which makes it even more powerful. There aren't any studio tricks or sweetening; it doesn't get any more down to the basics than this. The last bonus cut is a Lennon interview in which he exhorts the company line of "buy this album". The booklet comes with lyrics, musician credits & a brief history of the name Lennon. September 22, 2008

walls and bridges steel and glass

over all i like this album Walls and Bridges but i love steel and glass
that song is so good it shares the bitterness between lennon and mccartney
during that period john lennon is my hero and always will be i like this album. but steel and glass is my favorite. May 24, 2008

A GEM

You can thank May Ping for this gem. John has a good time on this and you can hear it. He seem so happy at this point of his life. March 19, 2008

Could have been five

Could have been five stars but why in the world is the cover changed? The cover isn't bad but you don't change album covers. Thats like changing a painting. I don't get Yoko Ono. October 4, 2007

ok but I prefer Macca

Some really nice tunes on here. #9 Dream is as good as anything Lennon ever wrote, but there are weak songs on here, namely 'whatever gets you through the night', which to me is a rambling, tuneless dirge and the awful 'ya ya'. Also 'what you got' is abslutely horrible. Still, worthy of a purchase, as there are a lot of melodic songs here, but I think Macca was better, particularly with his strong and more characteristic 'Venus and Mars' out around this time. November 2, 2006

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