Some Time In New York City
by John & Yoko / Plastic Ono Band With Elephant's Memory & Invisible Strings

From Nowhereman1965 09/14/2018 18:17 | #221046

There are many good aspects to John Winston Lennon. However, one bad aspect was the way he was easily led. He jumped onto bandwagons. Always with good intentions, but sometimes it led down a blind alley. This album is exhibit No.1. Musically it’s very poor for a Beatle. Lyrically at times it’s embarrassing. There is the odd good song. John Sinclair for instance. But his naive take on other issues does not stand the test of time. The live part is inessential. One of the poorest albums by an ex Beatle.

It is a political album, based on what was happening in the world at that time. I believe they where hanging around with certain radical people,who would have help shape their views at that time. The studio version of the album is ok, but it is not at the level of his two previous albums. The songs i like best are woman is the nigger of the world,born in prison, new york city, sunday bloody sunday and angela. Live section is poor, apart from cold turkey and baby please don,t go.

From Kingturtle 04/18/2016 16:27 | #164072

1972 was the first year in a decade that none of the Beatles released an LP that was any good. Sadly, this LP is a mess.

An Art Rock album if there ever was one. Experimental, brave and unflinching.

Good work, but more than a half of live jam disc (and maybe some of the Ono's studio pieces) could be not put in.

Woman is the nigger of the world and Sunday Bloody Sunday are my fav track!

For once, I can't defend a John Lennon album on musical grounds. Still, brilliant moments flicker here and there; and you can't deny the honesty and intensity. Brave but very flawed.

As a Lennon fan, I would love to rate this album with "Plastic Ono Band" and "Imagine" - even "Walls and Bridges" - but it does not hold up, musically.

"Some Time..." lacks hooks, strong songwriting, (astonishing for a work by John Lennon,) and is only really interesting for its single, Ono's "We're All Water," and as an artifact of its times.

A "diehard" Lennon fan, even I cannot recommend this album.

From Mother Nature's Son 12/12/2012 20:28 | #57699

Hard to rate this album. I would normally have given it 50/100, but at least I can skip (which I will for the next times) the other half of the album. I'm actually not against Yoko Ono and her voice. It's actually beautifully melancholic, if not a bit off-key, on "Sisters, O Sisters". But her frustrating wailing that doesn't seem to stop ever on parts of this album? No, thanks!

The studio album is completely underrated. It's an album about then recent news and injustice, done mainly in the style of 50s rock and roll songs, with lots of great brass. Women is the Nigger of the World, John Sinclair, Attica State, New York City and Sunday Bloody Sunday are all really good songs. Even Yoko gives a couple good songs with We're All Water and Born in a Prison. It's a lively, meaningful rock album that I would give a solid 4 out of 5. ...............The live album on the other hand sucks big time. Cold Turkey is okay, if not a bit repetitive, and then over the next 40 minutes we get to hear Yoko shouting over loud guitar. It's awful. Don't Worry Kyoko obviously has meaning to it, but it's ear bleedingly awful and 16 minutes long. Even Zappa can't save this live album, which gets about a 1 out of 5 from me.