John Lennon – Rock ‘N’ Roll (1975)

This was the last album John Lennon delivered before taking a five year break from making music to spend some time with his wife the artist Yoko Ono. This one is seemingly a throwback to some of the music and sounds that John Lennon had approved of when he was young, being all cover songs here. With some bad things ongoing at the time, including John’s “lost weekend”, John Lennon still managed to release the music here, which should be an interesting listen. Let’s take a listen and hear what he has to offer.

We begin with Be-Bop-A-Lula which begins with some cool vocal harmonies, before launching into a piano driven 1950s style piece. It sounds extraordinary and incredible here, and is very nice and catchy listening. There is a clean guitar solo which is nicely delivered here, and the whole thing sounds really amazing. Nice to hear, this is very much akin to Rockabilly music, and sounds really great. Clever, catchy and unique, a really awesome song. Sounds great.

Next is Stand By Me which begins with some nice acoustic guitar and organ, and just sounds incredible. This is a true John Lennon classic, and deserves multiple listens, it is a nice love song of sorts and is really excellent. Awesome stuff, it is a really great and excellently delivered piece with some saxophone parts to match. There are some awesome harmonies and a great slide sounding guitar solo here that sounds terrific. An instant classic, and just sounds incredibly good from start to finish. Great song.

Rip It Up / Ready Teddy comes along next, and is more retro styled listening here. It is super short at merely one and a half minutes long, but is a great example of music here, with more saxophone and other 1950s sounds about it. Great stuff, and excellent to hear. Nice tune.

You Can’t Catch Me is next and is much longer here, at around five minutes long. It sounds very incredible and original, and is a gloriously emotional listen here. It is a cool throwback to pre-The Beatles sounds and is really great in that respect. Really awesome stuff, this is a fresh and inspired listen that is amazing and great to hear. An old time listening experience, complete with bongos and horns, John Lennon sounds really incredibly good here with his singing and musicianship. An awesome listen from start to finish, this is really great to hear. An ode to the music of the past, John Lennon does really well here. Great song.

Next up is Ain’t That A Shame which has some nice piano, subdued horn parts and has a nice retro feel to it. It is another incredibly good and interesting musical listen at hand here, sounding very 1950s. John Lennon knew how to create some wonderful music, and his departure from the world is definitely missed. Still, some great music is here, and this is thoroughly enjoyable. Awesome to hear, the outro in particular is interesting.

After that is Do You Want To Dance which begins with some cool bongo beats, some nice guitar and some great sounding music here. This is a short, sweet and really nice listening experience that sounds as fresh and wonderful listen as it did in 1975. Great stuff, even if it is a cover here. Excellent sound and listening, it has a rather quirky ending and just sounds marvelous. Nice song.

Sweet Little Sixteen follows with some weird percussion sounds, before launching into a very 1970s piece of music, with some wah-wah guitar and saxophone to hear. This is really nice listening here, and just sounds awesome. A really well played and awesome piece of music, it sounds very lively. Really nice to hear, this is a fine listening experience. A great groove of sleazy funk, John Lennon surprises us all here. Nice tune.

Slippin’ And Slidin’ comes next, and just sounds really awesome, with more boogie styled piano and saxophone parts and a really energetic, Jazzy sound about it. A really incredible and lively sounding piece of music, this is a really good listen here. Marvelous and different, this is really cool. The suspenseful ending is really excellent here, too. Great music.

Next along is Peggy Sue which is a cover of the popular energetic original 1950s song, which is awesome. It has fast acoustic guitar, pounding drums and a nice piano to match. The guitar solo in the middle here is raw and rocking. A really lively and wonderful interpretation of the original song, just a great listen.

Following is Bring It On Home To Me / Send Me Some Lovin’ which begins with some classic sounding piano, before launching into a decent and bluesy sounding classic song. A great and nice sounding piece of music, this is really cool and extraordinary. Great to hear, this is a fine listen with plenty of horns and harmonica here, too. Great stuff, sounding very different in an original context of retrospective covers. Decent listening, just a great song and piece here. Nice tune, a really gentle listen.

Bony Moronie is next, a thunderous and funky sounding piece of retro inspired music here. Really interesting listening, it tells the tale of a Rock and Roll lady who one lusts after. Excellent song and cover, with some unusual wah-wah slide guitar here, it sounds really interesting and different here. Great stuff, and a really excellent listen, it sounds cool and unique. Excellent music, even if it is only a cover. Good to hear. John Lennon nicely yelps throughout this piece.

Ya Ya is next here, with a descending chord intro, saxophone and a great cover here. A very nice classic 1950s sounding piece, even if it was recorded in the 1970s. Jazzy, funky and audibly delicious, John Lennon proved himself to be a cat with a few tricks up his sleeve. Excellent music here, and a really great listen. John Lennon and crew deliver an excellent performance here, short and sweet.

The last song here is Just Because and it begins with some nice keyboard and some lyrics where John Lennon questions the time (year) the number came out. He puts in an amazing performance here, likely the best singing on the album, and just sounds wonderfully melodic and perfectly vocally, especially in retrospect without autotune or anything like that. Great music here, and this just sounds phenomenally excellent and a very soulful cover. There is a glorious saxophone solo here too that just sounds amazing and fresh here, before the end of the song has a nice faded out outro here. A sweet finish to a great and underrated album.

This is surprisingly decent, fresh and energetic for a covers album. Genuinely good and very listenable, John Lennon proved to many that ever a covers album can sound really amazing and genuinely great. Although the end of John Lennon’s life was most tragic, he definitely sounds on top here, just before he took a five year break with Yoko Ono. Excellent music, and album. The story behind the album is very interesting, and is worth Googling if you are keen to hear about it.

Awesome.

9/10