OT (Sort of): Excellent Lennon/McCartney article

[sockii]

In Slate this week:

http://www.slate.com/id/2267342/

Lennon and McCartney did, to use the precious phrase, complete each other. "Paul's presence did serve to keep John from drifting too far into obscurity and self-indulgence," said Pete Shotton, a Liverpool boy who stayed in the Beatles' circle, "just as John's influence held in check the more facile and sentimental aspects of Paul's songwriting."

A lot of it's been said before, but not always so thoughtfully. I also couldn't help drawing a lot of similarities to The Police and other bands where creative tension was (IMHO) what often resulted in such excellent, compelling music.

[plutonic]

Thanks Sockii.

[ltwoman]

I've passed through this thread several times and have resisted the temptation (up until now) to add that at least our guys have not been murdered or died of cancer. But we are grateful for many other things that are Police, the creative tension among them. Great music, great reunion.

[smax]

too true, and that's why great partnerships work............. the ghost in the machine demos and particularly the songs which never made it onto that album made me glad that stewart and andy managed to play away the white-boy-funk-ness of some of those tunes and made them rawer and more likely to stand the test of time.......

some of lennons output in the late 70's is truly lamentable / unlisten-to-able... Paul has written lots of 'his type of songs' with oompah bass lines bobbing away and sing-along chorus while john continued to get more abrasive and indulgent.......... i do love paul's recent-ish output; the fireman thing with youth is brilliant and i really like "memory almost full" from a few years ago.... still inventive and relevant.. well done macca...

love Alan Partridge's (comedy) statement that "Wings were the band the Beatles wished they could be".

[Divemistress of the Dark]

Interesting. I just read a book on Abe Lincoln by this same author - the premise was that Lincoln's tendencies toward depression made him a better President.

Wonder what inspired Shenk's fascination with all this.

I read a while ago (wish I could remember the source; it may be Fab Four FAQ 2.0) that McCartney's genius was in arranging, and it caused some of the band's tension: he'd already been styled 'the cute one.' But, yep, I don't think you can listen to latter Lennon and not have that thought cross your mind, much as I love a lot of that material.

(Looking forward to the remastered Lennon solo albums, released in October to celebrate what would have been his 70th birthday.)

It'd really be interesting to get insight into actual Lennon (why on earth did he insist on letting Yoko caterwaul)....but getting at the meat of the subject is nigh impossible, IMO, given all the conflicting agendas of whomever's telling the story.

[Omaha_Perez]

I have to argue with your statement here smax <some of lennons output in the late 70's is truly lamentable / unlisten-to-able>.

This to me seems to be a popular and completely unfair misconception. I contend that the only solo Lennon that is un-listenable is his and Yoko's politically charged double album from '72, Sometime In New York City. His first two solo albums Plastic Ono Band and Imagine are classics. His other albums from the 70s, Mind Games and Walls and Bridges may not be as instantly likable but are both excellent. In fact, Walls and Bridges over the years has grown to be my favorite solo Lennon album. The covers album Rock N' Roll was done mainly to settle a lawsuit but remains a good listen. Then of course there is the little detail that John didn't actually release any material in the late 70s... he was retired until he returned with Double Fantasy in 1980.

Omaha

[Divemistress of the Dark]

Well, and then there's all the stuff on his original box set, "John Lennon Anthology"...and the bootlegs all over YouTube...I could listen to him cover the classics ("Be Bop a Lula") all day long. Love the story about him literally kissing the boots of Jerry Lee Lewis.

But then, I have no objectivity.