Sometime In New York City

When the record come out in 1972, it was touted as John's nadir, just as Paul McCartney was getting pummeled by the press for his album 'Wild Life'. John's record was critisized for replacing poetry with sloganeering while Paul's was critisized for sloppiness and being generally light weight. Both records deserve a fresh look today.

Yoko has remixed Some Time in New York City and to her credit it is a great improvement. Her mixing has reduced the chaotic echo feel of the Phil Spector production. The 2005 CD has a presence the 1980s issue of the CD lacks, no doubt to the improvements in technology at Yoko's disposal and her own underestimated ear for sound and production skill. The remixed CD has a warmth and clarity it lacked in all orther incarnations, and the Lennon's Zappa number, now edited to John's performance only (a wise move given that the 'Au' and 'Scumbag' numbers were tough to sit through) you can now hear Flo and Eddie's back up vocals on the track. the Slide guitar on 'John Sinclair' jumps out at you, and the single, 'Woman is the Nigger of the World' remains on of his better collaborations with Phil Spector.

I would suggest that anyone interested in learning about Lennon's music pick up this CD. It is side of John Lennon that was just as interesting as his confessional side, and in hindsight, not so very much removed.

"Sometime in New York City" is an interesting collection, by turns inspiring and infuriating. Lennon had previously written mostly about his own life (and since the Beatles' break-up had released two unequivocal classics in the shape of "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band" and "Imagine"). On "Sometime in New York City" he turns his attention to a variety of political causes and social issues surrounding him in his adopted new home, and the Troubles in Ireland. The results are varied. On occasion they are rousing and perceptive (the title track for example, also "Woman Is the Nigger of the World" and "Attica State"). At other times they sound glib and hasty. He blotted his copy book in the UK particularly with two rather shrill (albeit undoubtedly heartfelt) polemics about Britain's involvement in Northern Ireland, one of them about the Bloody Sunday shootings, which remains a contentious issue to this day. Some wondered what a multi-millionaire rock star living abroad really had to say of any value about the tense and polarised situation in Northern Ireland at the time.

Some others were ambivalent about "Sometime...." owing to the equal billing of Yoko. I mean, she broke up the Beatles, right? There was a lot of hostility towards her still in 1972. Actually though, her feminist anthem "Sisters, O Sisters" and call for racial harmony in "We're All Water" are very strong and among the album's highlights.

If the album suffers from too much political sloganeering, it also struggles at times with the rather stodgy playing of the backing band Elephant's Memory. They could rock effectively enough but with little of the finesse of the Beatles or Lennon's other musical collaberators on earlier solo material. He deserved and could surely have recruited far more worthy musicians to give the songs an extra push.

The second half of the set catches the Ono Lennons at a number of live shows, concentrating on extended riff-laden guitar jams and Yoko's throat-shredding vocal histrionics. The presence of renowned task master Frank Zappa on some of this does not appear to bring much focus to the performances, they are primal in every sense. But there is an undeniable energy to this material and it can be very invigorating played as loud as your neighbours can stand.

For people exploring John Lennon's solo catalogue for the first time then, "Sometime in New York City" is not the best place to start, but if you've been impressed by "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band" and "Imagine" (and I certainly hope you would be) this mixed bag is occasionally brilliant. It also has considerable historical interest and undoubted curiosity value.