While Lennon claimed to have always been politically minded, given his working-class upbringing in class-conscious England ("I've been satirizing the system since my childhood," he once mused), rock-pop sensibilities, clever wordplay, or matters of the heart usually took precedence in his musical output. But here Lennon and Yoko, accompanied by New York's Elephant's Memory, sing and scream freely against sexism in "Woman Is the Nigger Of The World" and "Sisters, O Sisters." They protest incarceration in "John Sinclair," "Attica State," and "Born In A Prison," colonialism in "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "The Luck Of The Irish," and racism in "Angela."
The richness of Phil Spector's production fills out the danceable grooves on nearly every track. Also featured is Lennon's paean to his adopted home, "New York City," with allusions to doping clerics and transsexual rockers as well as the highly quotable line, "What a bad-ass city!" On the bonus disc, Lennon and Ono get it on with Zappa and the Mothers in live sets from London and New York. Things heat up considerably with "Cold Turkey," freak out with "Don't Worry Kyoko," and veer into the ridiculous with audience participation on "Scumbag." SOMETIME IN NEW YORK CITY is some of the groovin'-est, most tuneful agit-prop ever committed to disc.
Recording information: London, England; New York, NY.
Photographers: Bob Gruen; Joe Sia.
Arrangers: John Lennon; Yoko Ono.
Personnel: John Lennon (vocals, guitar, National guitar); John Lennon; Ian Underwood (vocals, keyboards, wind); Bob Harris (vocals, keyboards); Frank Zappa (guitar, background vocals); Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Wayne "Tex" Gabriel (guitar); Bobby Keys (saxophone); Nicky Hopkins, Billy Preston (keyboards); Don Preston (synthesizer); Jim Pons (bass instrument, background vocals); Gary VanScyoc (bass instrument); Jim Keltner, Rick Frank (drums, percussion); Keith Moon (drums); Yoko Ono (vocals, drums); Howard Kaylan, Mark Volman (vocals); Stan Bronstein (flute, saxophone); Adam Ippolito (piano, organ); John Labosca (piano); Aynsley Dunbar (drums).
(*) MP3 for this song is from a different CD. Listen to the sound sample to be sure this is the version you're looking for.
Some Time In New York City/Live Jam Music Review
Customer Some Time In New York City/Live Jam Reviews
Average Rating: (2.3 out of 5 stars)
Awful Easily, this is the worst solo Beatle album. Yoko's voice is terrible, and I don't care what any critic says. She really did not help Lennon's music in any way. The political songs have not aged well. Submitted by pstairiker (Caldwell, NJ) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo 2 of 2 found this helpful.
A rewritten moment in time This album seems to be about a moment in time, more so than any of Lennon's others. The moment reflects Lennon's political interests circa 1972. There is certainly a "cringe" factor associated with listening to this album now-probably due to the fact that these songs were mostly about causes/ideas that didn't really have a long shelf life. The Yoko tracks-well, they were never the reason to buy a Lennon album. The Lennon tracks-well, we have all heard better from him. The good and the bad: The Mothers/Lennons' jam has been edited to just "Well (baby please don't go)". Missing is the semi-tedious, but momentary snicker-inducing "Scumbag/Jamrag/Au" jam (or as Frank Zappa titles part of it on his version of these proceedings as "A small eternity of Yoko Ono" available on his Playground Psychotics album). I'm all for listening to less of Yoko screach endlessly, but 2 things come to mind. One, a distinct part of the album was removed. Two, one of the bonus tracks, "Listen the snow is falling" -(collectable as a b-side I guess) is Yoko singing-(which is not that far removed from the sreaching anyway)-so we didn't gain much by editing/adding to this album. By the way, the "morphing" label from the LP, seems to have missed being put on this album. Believe it or not, it appears on the remastered Walls and Bridges album. Finally, for the first time on the cd jacket, the packaging reflects the LP's red sharpie marked-up Mother's Filmore East album jacket--even though the "Jamrag-Scumbag-Au" jam, while listed-is missing. I can only guess that Yoko is re-writting Lennon's history again for her own purposes. By, the way the re-mixed songs do sound better. Submitted by orson (Westchester, NY, USA) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo 2 of 2 found this helpful.
This remix fixes alot that was wrong I have the original vinyl release and the double CD that came out years ago. This album is a true diamond in the rough. I have never been a fan of the "wall of sound" production techniques of Phil Spector and the original mix was chock full of all that is wrong with that approach. It was a very dense, dry, claustrophobic sound. This remix fixes most of those problems. You will notice much more space in the mix. Each instrument is given it's own place. I could go on about hearing acoustic and electric guitar parts that were previously buried. The piano solo in "Angela" is a thing of beauty and it is lifted to it's rightful place in the center of the sound spectrum. EVERYTHING sounds better, cleaner and more lifelike. The remastering has seen to that. Even the two songs that were not remixed, "Attica State" and "John Sinclair" sound fresh and new. The slide guitar on "John Sinclair" is frankly, incredible. I even enjoy Yoko's songs much more. The backing tracks shine in this remix. Even the live tracks that originally made up the second LP sound much better. I actually can hear the brass section in "Don't worry, Kyoko" and it is unnoticeable in the original mix. This recording was viewed as a flop when originally released but I guarantee that a fresh listen with this new mix and remastering will make converts of everyone who takes the time to listen. Submitted by Fritzopup (Worthington, Ohio, USA) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo 1 of 2 found this helpful.
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