John Lennon Plastic Ono Band

This month will see John Lennon's entire back catalogue released in spanking new remastered form and so, being a lifelong Beatle nut, I think the time is right for the Archive to look at Lennon's entire solo output, well ignoring the Two Virgins and the Wedding Album, all that Unfinished Music crap,  which are too indulgent even for me.

And so first up we have The Plastic Ono Band.

It is impossible to listen to this album today and feel the incredible vibe it must have created on its first release - coming hot on the heels of the technicolour brilliance of The Beatles, this is a stripped down raw sounding album that is far more punk than any of the punks ever managed to be.

Lennon was always a truthful songwriter, perhaps too truthful and this album lays his psyche out for all to see. It is a concept album of sorts and the concept is John Lennon and it is without any doubt one of the best albums ever recorded. It is definitely  the most honest. By this stage Lennon had nothing to hide - he had already posed naked on an album cover and this time it was his inner self that he was stripping to the bone.


"Lennon has much fear in his makeup and a great chip on his shoulder about the unfairness of the world." Michael Watts, Melody Maker December 1970.

Mother - the first track finds Lennon in lost little boy mode, screaming out his anguish at his mother who didn't give him enough of her time and a father that all but abandoned him. The song soars because of the feeling in Lennon's voice and it becomes so intense it hurts.

Hold On - Lennon in ballad mode telling Yoko that everything will work out in the end. It's a beautiful song but it has an edge to it.

I Found Out - This is a totally stark rocker with a bass beat that propels the music forward in an almost violent fashion and Lennon here denounces the fame business - I learned something about my ma and my pa, they didn't want me so they made me a star, Lennon belts out in one of the versus and in another he yells that's he's seen religion from Jesus to Paul.

Working Class Hero - A lot of people have dismissed this song as being a millionaire rock star claiming to still be a working class hero, but I don't buy that. If anything this is Lennon at his most angry - spitting on the education system that is designed to turn a person into just another cog in the wheel. It's political, it's furious and it's bloody excellent.

Isolation - another gorgeous track in which Lennon bares his soul, revealing the fact that he feels an outcast from both the worlds of show-business and the world he grew up in. People say we've got it made, don't they know we're so afraid.

Remember - is another rocker with Lennon's vocal being buried deep in the mix. The song is as cynical as it's possible to be and ends dramatically which is perfect for the piece.

Love - a gentle love song that offers a break from the relentlessness of the previous tracks. It's a lovely piano led piece that proves that Lennon was often capable of as much  sweetness as McCartney himself.

Well, Well, Well, - this is the most ferocious song on the entire album with Lennon positively screaming his throat raw as attacks all that he sees as fake. Turn up the volume for this one and prepare to be left shell shocked by this brilliant assault on the senses.

Look at Me - Lennon puts his identity crisis to music - wondering what he is supposed to be and asking for guidance. He is clearly no longer Beatle John and is at a loss as he asks to be accepted for himself.

God - everything that Lennon once held precious comes under attack - Elvis, Dylan and even Jesus are denounced in this stark and effective song. Towards the end of the track Lennon declares that he no longer believes in Beatles and the lyric still has a resonance today.

My Mummy's Dead - a childlike dirge sung to the tune of Three Blind Mice. At first listen it may seem a bit odd but there's a brilliance there. Lennon becomes a young child again, mourning the loss of his mother and ending this downbeat album on a truly downbeat note.

To my mind Plastic Ono Band is the best of all the Beatles solo albums - it's an autobiography in music and Lennon bares his soul to a degree that has never been done before or since. The resulting album is a true masterpiece that will shock anyone who only knows Lennon from his more commercial work but after a few listens it does not fail to delight.

An album for thinking not dancing.

Porn novelist released from prison

DONGGUAN CITY, China—The arrest of a high school teacher and blogger who wrote a popular internet novel documenting the “hidden pornographic world” in Dongguan, an industrial city located in China’s Pearl River Delta, has galvanized the country’s literary class, according to an article on The EpochTimes.com website.
Yuan Lei, who wrote the 350,000-word In Dongguan, was released by police Wednesday after protests by fellow writers and others, but the fallout left some feeling insecure, especially since Yuan had committed no crime other than to write about an aspect of the city that the authorities would prefer were not publicized.
The novel, said the site, described “Dongguan City's hidden world, around the life of the younger generation and the local sauna and porn industry. China’s popular Tianya.cn forum saw 2.6 million web clicks since the novel was first serially published in June 2009. More than a dozen publishers have approached Yuan, though the novel has not yet passed official scrutiny.”
On Sept. 28, the police caught up with Yuan at his school and arrested him, charging him with the damaging the city’s reputation.
“Following Yuan's arrest, many web users commented that this novel merely reflects reality and should not be called disseminating pornography,” reported The EpochTimes.com. “Some were shocked to discover that writing a novel could even be cause for arrest.”
Another popular web writer, Murong Xuacun, said the arrest left him feeling unsure of his own safety. "If this person could be arrested, the next one to be arrested might be me. Or, if this person is arrested now, I should have been arrested a long time ago.”
Despite those fears, for others the release of Yuan is a sign that China is changing in profound ways, and “an indication of the awakening of Chinese people, and the power of people.”

A POLICEMAN'S LOT

"Throw in Buffalo Bill, a Wild West show, murders that may or may not be connected to Jack The Ripper, and you have a really hot read. I don't want to say too much for fear of giving something away, but it's a well-written yarn and you will get hooked right away. It's also, for me, a nice change of pace from the modern urban hard-boiled junk I've been digesting lately." From the review of A Policeman's Lot by author, Brian Drake which can be HERE

The above is taken from a review from author, Brian Drake - A Policeman's Lot is available in both standard eBook and Kindle.

Think you know the Jack the Ripper story?

Think again!

 

Inspector Frank Parade carries out his daily duties in the Welsh industrial town of Pontypridd, duties complicated by the unprecedented presence of 500 members of Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show encamped outside the town, not to mention the thousands attending the show every day.  A series of depraved murders quickly makes things even more complicated.  Buffalo Bill stands squarely in his path when Parade tries to investigate the likely possibility that one of the hundreds of show members is involved.  And soon enough Parade’s own superiors are blocking his inquires, too.  Still more deaths occur as Parade sifts through the thin evidence available and finds a trail that may lead to the perpetrator of the most heinous crime of the 19^th Century—London’s “Ripper” murders. 

 

Shocking revelations come thick and fast.

 

 The greatest criminal mystery in history is about to be solved by a Welsh copper and an American Legend.

 

Ten Reasons why eBooks are the new paperbacks

The following list was published on Newsblaze.com and is reposted here with permission.

* eBook sales are growing exponentially.
* eBooks offer authors a much heftier royalty, making them more attractive to independent self-publishers
* eBooks are very cheap to buy.
* eBooks don't take up space, rot or collect dust.
* eBooks can be instantly downloaded and then read immediately
* With today's improved electronic readers, e-books have the advantage of go-anywhere practicality and durability.
* Publishers are reluctantly embracing eBooks and may already be thinking about abandoning traditional paperback and hard cover divisions in favor of e-book production.
* E-books are so cheap to mass produce - it's as simple as copying a master computer file-that the relatively huge cost of printing paperbacks and hard cover books may no longer make sense.
* Kindle and iPad sales are skyrocketing as readers discover that their high purchase prices are still lower than the total cost of the many paperback books they will read.
* A younger generation, already accustomed to downloading and a digital world, will expect content in electronic form, just as their parents saw paperbacks as the avenue to cheaper content.

And the latest from Amazon - e-book sales have already surpassed hardcover sales and will surpass paperback sales in 2011. Paperbacks have always sold more copies because of their lower cost, but without that advantage they are disappearing from the marketplace.
According to industry statistics, e-book sales have skyrocketed in the last ten years because of improved e-book readers and ease of downloads. The Association of American Publishers estimates that physical book sales generated $24.3 billion in 2008, down 3% from 2007. Self-published and ghostwritten books, however, are increasing in number.

True Grit 2010 - why westerns fans should give it a chance

In a perfect world Hollywood would not be in the business of re-making classic movies but in reality, there will always be one classic (and some not so classics)  or other in the process of being remade. Mostly these remakes are dire as with Casablanca, sometimes quite good as with 3 10 to Yuma and there are rare occasions where the re-make is even better than the original as with Ocean's Eleven.

So re-makes will always be there and if we're going to have a plethora of reimagined movies in the cinemas, then why not a few westerns? There are precious little made these days and few with such a high profile as the True Grit movie that I think it is, at least, deserving of an open mind. I've heard too many people grumble about this one, saying it is sacrilege to remake a John Wayne movie and especially such an important one as this.

The original True Grit was the movie for which John Wayne won an Oscar but it's no Red River of The Searchers. I love the movie and Wayne is superb in the role of Rooster Cogburn - it's a great family action movie starring the greatest action movie star of them all. But it's not a precious work of art that should be hidden away, belonging to a previous age. And even if the re-make does suck, which somehow I feel it won't, the brilliant original will still be there and no matter how good Jeff Bridges proves to be as Rooster, Wayne will still be the definitive Cogburn.

Yep Jeff Bridges who takes on the Wayne role for the 2010 True Grit, has some big shoes to fill but don't forget he's not the first to try on Wayne's role - Warren Oates played the character in the mostly forgettable True Grit: A Further Adventure.

Judging from the trailer and the pictures released thus far the actor looks superb in the role and I've not been so excited by a forthcoming movie since Debbie Does Dallas 9 - hang on, I think I might have actually dreamt that one and not seen it. Still it was good, especially the part where I and the...

Another point in the remakes favour is that the Coen Brothers are behind it - truly maverick film-makers if ever there were any so we will be spared a straightforward copycat movie.

So to those western fans thinking of boycotting this one - "All we are saying is Give Rooster a Chance."

Yep I'm looking foward to this one:

THE ONE WITH THE GUY WHO LOOKS LIKE ROSS FROM FRIENDS

THE ONE WITH THE ROSSALIKE

I'd like to point everyone to this article on A Writer's Life because author, Lee Goldberg who looks a bit like Ross from Friends makes some good points - eBooks are not the enemy - right on, brother!

eChildren's Books

A survey by the New York Times confirms what the Archive has been saying for some time - that eBooks will get children interested in reading again:

About 25 percent of the children surveyed said they had already read a book on a digital device, including computers and e-readers. Fifty-seven percent between ages 9 and 17 said they were interested in doing so.
Only 6 percent of parents surveyed owned an e-reader, but 16 percent said they planned to buy one in the next year. Eighty-three percent of those parents said they would allow or encourage their children to use the e-readers. After worries about video games, computers and other technology distracting children, the paper notes out that educators and parents hope to use the new devices to introduce children to reading. It makes sense considering children are so tech savvy now.