Beatles “Real Love” (Capitol)
After leaving the Beatles, John Lennon quickly established a new musical identity based on the two loves of his life–old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll and his alter ego, Yoko Ono. The new John first surfaces on the “White Album.” The song “Revolution 1,” a romp to the rhythm of Fats Domino’s “I Hear You Knocking,” had bluesy chord changes and “om-shoo-be-doo-wah” backing vocals. “Revolution 9,” an experimental sound collage, introduced the avant-garde Ono to a mass audience. A similar juxtaposition of styles showed up on Live Peace in Toronto 1969, the first popular Lennon solo album, which starts off with the classics “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Money,” and “Dizzy Miss Lizzie” and ends with 18 minutes of chaotic wailing by Yoko. Presenting familiar oldies along with his wife’s confrontational weirdness onstage and on record, Lennon wanted the public to accept both as two aspects of the same musical entity.
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The connection between the four Beatles produced results that amazed at nearly every turn, and they gradually amassed a body of work that’s taken on a life of its own, a whole that’s obviously greater than the sum of its parts. The plug was pulled on the band’s connection after too many blown fuses. And now after all this time, politeness and technology have combined to yield two token gestures of self-tribute, but both fall short of revitalizing a current that once rode on youthful passion.
