The production on there literally sappier and cornier than 97% of McCartney's solo shit. Great song, but the production on it annoys the fuck out of me.

As for Plastic Ono Band, I respect it mainly for reasons outside the actual music. Musically, however, I find it extremely bland. And I'm not saying that in comparison to McCartney, I'm just saying it in general. From a purely musical standpoint, the songs here are extremely basic and straight-forward - it's the raw energy and visceral power of his voice, as well as his "introspection" that save the album. (Even his "depth" to me is a little overrated though - songs like Working Class Hero and God are classic pseudo-intellectual Lennon, not to mention extremely narcissistic. If that's your thing, cool. "If you want to be a hero, well just follow me." What?) Honestly, there are, at tops, four or five great songs here with some definite filler mixed in.

My main issue with Lennon's solo stuff is that he really takes himself so fucking deathly serious it's borderline comical. He insists upon himself like a motherfucker. Just for comparison's sake, McCartney's first five solo albums (and many more thereafter) are pure, unfiltered anything-goes assholery with not even a whiff of self-importance. Not to mention, musically they easily hang with a lot of The Beatles stuff IMO.

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