Product Description

WALLS AND BRIDGES was made during Lennon's marital separation, while carrying on a Yoko-approved dalliance with May Pang. Lennon addresses the awkward yet open triangle with songsto each of them. In "Bless You", he wistfully wonders how and where Yoko is during their time apart and proclaims an eternal love. "Surprise, Surprise (Sweet Bird Of Paradox)" finds him admitting to being jaded to the point of self-delusion only to find beauty, love and surprise in the form of a new lover right under his nose. "What You Got" affirms "You don't know what you got until you lose it"--clearly a man struggling with a personal situation through his art.
"Beef Jerky" sounds like an homage to that great '60s instrumental by The Barkays, "Soul Finger". "Ya Ya" is a true oddity: Lennon and 11-year-old son Julian, future rock star in his own right, in a short, bluesy piano/drum duet. Of course there is also his duet with Elton John on the partying, fun-loving "Whatever Gets You Through The Night". The gem of the bunch,though, is "#9 Dream", easily one of Lennon's best post-Beatles efforts, steering through myriad moods and grooves and adding up to a bona fide pop masterpiece.

Track Listing

1. Going Down On Love
2. Whatever Gets You Thru The Night
3. Old Dirt Road
4. What You Got
5. Bless You
6. Scared
7. No 9 Dream
8. Surprise Surprise (Sweet Bird Of Paradox)
9. Steel And Glass
10. Beef Jerky
11. Nobody Loves You (When You're Down And Out)
12. Ya Ya

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #85537 in Music
• Released on: 1987-07-20
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

One Of My Favorite John Lennon Solo Albums
I love Walls And Bridges and it's one of my favorite solo John Lennon albums.# 9 Dream is such a beautiful song,with a beautiful melody,harmony,music and John's typical beautiful singing voice. I also love Steel And Glass,Nobody Loves You When You're Down And Out, and I like What You Got and Whatever Gets You Through The Night.

Quintessential Lennon
A few too many negative things have been said about this album about this album over the years, despite the ecstatic reaction to it at least in the US on its original release more than 30 years ago. Lennon treading water, depressing, notasgoodasimagine and such like.
It is in fact a truly remarkable piece of work. Lost Weekend or not, this is Lennon's creativity and genius on highly visible display here, on nearly every track. The opener 'Going Down On Love' is a less arresting opener as, say 'Imagine' was three years earlier. But in its haunting minor key melody and gripping lyrics and peerless vocal it is a minor masterpiece. When Lennon sings 'will somebody please please help me?' he really means it. This album continues the return to form which 'Mind Games' was from the previous year, and the main reason is that Lennon is writing about personal experience as opposed to fighting some political cause. And this is what he does best, with only very a few exceptions The second number 'Whatever Gets You Thru The Night' is a joyous ode to survival in the midst of adversity. In this case, losing Yoko no less... which we know was No Minor Event. And the lyrics are very witty and amusing, in particular the timeless trio of 'Don't need a sword to cut thru flowers', 'Don't need a watch to waste your time' and 'Don't need a gun to blow your mind'. Great stuff indeed and you can throw these lines into conversation 30 years on and guarantee an 'Oh that's good' reaction!
'Old Dirt Road' is hardly a classic as a song (when Nilsson covered it in 1980 it became a bit ordinary) but what it does beautifully is convey an atmosphere. Would have worked well on the soundtrack to 'Blazing Saddles' for example. 'What You Got' is a great rocker with another great line, if not exactly original: 'you don't know what you got....until you lose it'. So true. Then there is 'Scared' with a thoroughly harrowing lyric and great minor key melody (again), this time on stomping piano. This track could have been on the first solo album JL Plastic Ono Band but this one is if anything, even more personal. 'Hatred and jealousy, gonna be the death of me' Lennon screams he Really Means It.
Side 2 (of the vinyl album) opened with No 9 Dream, which Lennon himself dismissed (somewhat) as 'craftsmanship'. Who cares? It's a truly beautiful melody and a great ghostlike vocal. 'Surprise Surprise' is about as close to a thowaway as there is on this album, but even here the harmony vocals of Elton John take this rather ordinary song to a higher level. And by the way Elton's contribution to 'Whatever Gets You Thru The Night' does the same to greater effect (listen to the lacklustre version on the Lennon anthology and you will know what I mean!). 'Steal and Galss' is Son Of 'How Do You Sleep', this time (presumably) aimed at Allen Klein. Less convincing in its delivery no doubt because the resentment on this occasion was rather less severe. A great song all the same. 'Beef Jerky' is an amusing if lightweight instrumental which brings us to the closing number 'Nobody Loves You' which is probably even more effective on the Anthology version (a rare event). Again, a beautiful number, full of very personal and moving sentiment. The album version is perhaps a little over produced in its Spectoresque strings and horn section, but this is basically very minor criticism. The middle eight 'well I get up in the morning' section brings goosepimples on both versions. A very moving song. 'Ya Ya' brings things down to earth int he same way as 'Her Majesty' did at the end of 'Abbey Road'. ,
All in all, this album is a triumph , about the definition of Triumph Out Of Adversity if you ask me. Ringo at the time in 1974 called it the best album of the last 5 years. And he was probably right. But now, 30 years on, it is more than that. More than that.

love it love it love it
this has a special place for me as it is the first lennon or beatles album i bought as a new release back in 1974. it may not be Imagine or A Hard Day's Night but it is full of Lennonesque brilliance, originality and magic. Just listen to the opening of Going Down On Love, listen to #9 Dream, or Nobody Loves You When You're Down And Out. God, what a sad day when we lost John.

In more than one interview he was disparaging about Walls And Bridges but an artist is not necessarily the best judge of his own work. And it won't get the digital makeover the other albums have got because it was made during (and refers to in its lyrics) his separation from Yoko, who has become custodian of the Lennon legacy, wherein the rubric is that Yoko Ono is an indispensable element of anything Lennon did that was worth anything. Maybe i'll use my pc to remaster the vinyl copy i still have after thirty years.