Was it Live in N.Y. City which really scared the Powers That Be?

I remember even when Live In NYC came out, and I was the biggest
Lennon fan around so I was into it.
But it didn't take me long to realize it was one of his weakest
efforts ever and it was overpriced and just not up to the level of his
other albums.

However, looking back on it, it was a very BOLD statement, putting out
an album of all political songs, and supporting the likes of Johh
Sinclair, hanging out with (the still-radical at that time) Jerry

BlackMonk...

Or Genuine Imitation Life Gazette.

abe slaney...

I think the 'Thick as a Brick' correlation is actually noteworthy since
TAAB was released in England in March '72 and in the US in
May...Sometime in NYC was released in June '72 so it was hot on the
heels of TAAB. I don't remember very well but it must have been
noteworthy that 2 best-selling albums in the stores released in the US a
month apart both featured mock-newspaper album art...and none before or
since that come to mind.

poisoned rose...

I can think of one....

BlackMonk...

2 best-selling? STINYC wasn't exactly a big hit by any standards and Jethro
Tull didn't even have a US top 40 hit until that November.

poisoned rose...

Thick as a Brick was #1 on Billboard. If that doesn't qualify it as
"best-selling," I don't know what could.

I'd guess that they had some idea of what the album art would be on STINYC
more than three months before it was released.

I'd never heard the Four Seasons album but I looked it up and I'm
intrigued. Aside from the comical effect of four cousines from New
Jersey dressed in foppish Kinks outfits it sounds from the reviews like
it has some musical merit. I'll check it out.

BlackMonk...

I don't know if it's even in print, but once it could be found in every used
record bin in America.

From the tracks I've heard, a charitable description would be a minor effort
at the kind of psychedelia found on the early Bee Gees albums. A less
charitable description would be "groovy" music for people who think
"Laugh-In" was the height of hipness. It's not unlistenable, but I don't
think much of Jake Holmes as a songwriter.

Rubin, Abbie Hoffman, etc.

A weak album musically, but very strong politically.

I'm looking forward to seeing the new movie, after having just heard
the soundtrack.

Sixties Gen...

I think you are referring to "Some Time In NYC". That was the album

DanKaye...

Yes, of course, that is what I meant, and I knew that, I was just
tired when I posted.

released in 1972 that everyone except me seems to hate. "Live In NYC"
was the posthumous release of John in concert at MSQ, also known as the
One-to-One concert.

I honestly liked "STINYC". At the time, I realized that it wasn't a
typical album. I knew it was a deliberate political statement, and
accepted it as such. I understood that it wasn't supposed to be
compared to other studio efforts, coming so close on the heels of the
"Imagine" album.

BlackMonk...

It was an amibitious failure, not the total disaster that people often say,
but not a good album by his standards.

As for it not "supposed to be compared to other studio efforts," that's a
weak excuse. Why shouldn't it be held up to the standard that John set
himself. In the end, the most important question is "Is this a good John
Lennon album?"

Sixties Gen...

When it came out, John made it clear that it was supposed to be an
aural newspaper commenting on current events...obviously, his intent
was not to make it an album for the ages, just for that age.

btw, I love the cover, especially naked Nixon and naked Mao dancing
together.

The extra album with Zappa was a nice touch too.

Others took it way too seriously, and started moaning that John had
lost his way. Funny how he still managed to produce two fairly good
albums by the name of "Mind Games" and "Walls and Bridges" for someone
who had lost the muse.

BlackMonk...

Those two weren't even ambitious failures, just mediocre records that also
weren't up to his earlier standards.

fattuchus...

I like Walls and Bridges. I think it was a good album. Mind Games also
has a few gems on it here and there.