John Lennon - Now and Then (1977)

John Lennon released Rock and Roll, his sixth studio album, on February 17, 1975, through Apple Records. It was his last until 1980's Double Fantasy, giving way to a period during which he stayed at home, did no recording, and very little songwriting, his "house-husband" period. It came after a period of considerable personal turmoil for Lennon, who had been separated from his wife Yoko Ono for a nearly two-year period between 1973 and 1975, during the so-called Lost Weekend. He spent most of that period getting drunk with his buddy Harry Nilsson, mingling with other stars in Los Angeles, and getting into trouble. During this period, he had also become increasingly disillusioned with his career and the recording industry, after a series of issues that plagued him throughout this period. Those of course included the Beatles' official legal breakup in 1974, his firing of Allen Klein as a manager, the plagiarism lawsuit involving his "Come Together" and Chuck Berry's "You Can't Catch Me", as well as the troubled production of Rock and Roll, which saw producer Phil Spector stealing the master tapes and only returning them a year later. By early 1975, John was tired, discouraged, and ready to move on from those wilder times, and even though he made plans to record a follow-up to Rock and Roll later that year, the idea of taking some time off was certainly already in his mind by then.

Making his decision that much easier was a surprise reconciliation with Yoko in early 1975, followed by her becoming pregnant. It was a very high-risk pregnancy, as she and John had already lost a baby in 1969, and if they were to have a kid, this would most likely be their last chance. Thankfully, Sean was born healthy in October 1975, and a week later, a compilation of non-album tracks called Shaved Fish came out, fulfilling John's contract and freeing him from Apple/EMI. The fact that he had no obligations and plenty to preoccupy himself with at home meant he stopped working, and from there, it was radio silence for the remainder of the 1970s. He wrote and demoed the occasional song, but his only major creative project in those five years was the Ballad of John and Yoko musical, which still ended up unfinished. He only attended a single recording session through this period, to give Ringo a helping hand, but other than that he stayed home, baked bread, took care of Sean, traveled to Japan, and kept music low on his list of priorities. When the odd idea came about, he would take a boombox that was placed near his piano, turn it on (usually with a rhythm box), and tape a few takes of whatever he was working on. He sometimes finished them, sometimes didn't, but they ended up unreleased, relics of the Dakota Years, before a trip to Bermuda in 1980 reenergized him and had him working again.

But what if John had released an album during his five-year hiatus? If we think creatively, we might be able to make an album out of the first two years of it, collecting all the demos he recorded. Of course, to do so we need to set some rules first. Nothing that was on Double Fantasy is to be considered, as this album is meant to bridge the gap between it and 1975's Rock and Roll, not to change the timeline in any significant manner. Also, our cutoff date for this album is 1977, so any song that was begun after that is left for a separate reconstruction. Maybe something for the future! Why 1977, you ask? I decided on it because it was the first year where enough songs for an album were available, and it's the exact middle point between his last two LPs of originals, 1974's Walls and Bridges and 1980's Double Fantasy. This will be twelve songs long, just like his final few albums before Sean was born, and we will be using exclusively John's demos here, to make this as faithful as possible to what he recorded. That means no Threetles overdubs, no fan mixes, and no AI, just John, his guitar/piano, and his boombox. Unfinished songs are fair game, as John really didn't record a lot for the first four years of his House Husband period, and we aren't able to be very picky when it comes to the songs' state of completion because of that. With that out of the way, here's what our reconstruction looks like:

Real Love (Between the Lines)

Everybody (Between the Lines)

She is a Friend of Dorothy's (Between the Lines)

Whatever Happened To? (Between the Lines)

Mucho Mungo (Between the Lines)

Tennessee (Between the Lines)

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Free as a Bird (Between the Lines)

One of the Boys (Between the Lines)

Mirror, Mirror (Between the Lines)

Cookin' in the Kitchen of Love (Between the Lines)

Sally and Billy (Between the Lines)

Now and Then (Between the Lines)

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John Lennon - Now and Then (1977)

John and his son Sean at their home's kitchen, in late 1977.

According to both his mistress May Pang and Apple vice-president Tony King, John already had plans for his follow-up to Rock and Roll in early 1975. He planned to record with David Bowie guitarist Carlos Alomar serving as his musical director, and he had already written two songs for the new album: "Tennessee" and "Everybody". He had even chosen a name for the album, calling it Between the Lines. However, as you probably know, life got in the way, Sean was conceived, and John ended up moving back with Yoko and entering his house-husband years, music ceasing to be one of his priorities. He didn't write any other songs for the whole of 1975, and 1976 saw him write only three new songs: "Cookin' in the Kitchen of Love", written on demand for Ringo, "Sally and Billy", and "She is a Friend of Dorothy's", probably the least productive period of his whole life. Although John had already given it away, "Mucho Mungo" was still seemingly in his head by the time 1976 rolled around, as he could be heard demoing the song at the time. We'll consider that a sign that John wasn't done with this tune yet, either due to dissatisfaction or writer's block, and so had he recorded an album back then, it would have been a serious contender. The same goes for Ringo's song, as it's one of the few songs Lennon actually managed to finish for the whole of this 1975-1977 period, we can't waste it.

John's inspiration seemingly returned to him by the time 1977 rolled around, however, as the bulk of this reconstruction comes from that year. From it, we have "Free as a Bird", "Now and Then", "One of the Boys", "Mirror, Mirror" and "Whatever Happened To?", five songs that could've made for the backbone of a very strong record. Finally, although it wasn't finished until 1980, "Real Love" was begun in late 1977, making it the last song to be written for the album, arriving just in time for us to be able to include it. When it comes to sequencing, I tried to take all of the most finished/strongest songs on the record and use them to open and close the sides, with the more unfinished and low-quality songs hidden away in the middle of the record. I was also trying to avoid having too many ballads in a row, as many of these demos are on the slower side, but the album doesn't seem to drag at any moment. An interesting detail to note is that half the album's songs were released commercially: Nilsson recorded "Mucho Mungo" for his Pussy Cats album in 1974, Ringo recorded "Cookin'" in 1976, and John himself re-did "Everybody" as "Nobody Told Me" in late 1980. Finally, the trilogy of "Free as a Bird", "Real Love" and "Now and Then" was finished by none other than The Beatles, during the Anthology project in the 90s. Not bad for something that's just supposed to be a collection of demos!

Clocking in at 40 minutes with two 20-minute sides, Now and Then is the lost link between two distinct periods of John's life, showing us what he'd been up to all those years. As an album, there's clearly no denying that these songs are very rough and unfinished, but with a little bit of work and the right producer being used (and I'm not convinced Alomar would be the right man for the job), it could've easily been as good as Walls and Bridges. The seeds for a good record are all there, and all that it would take for it to come out is some editing and tinkering. Our album cover is a repurposed pannel by his friend and occasional bass player Klaus Voormann, making for a very strong image. "Real Love" would probably be the lead single off the album, as it's one of the strongest, most finished-sounding songs on it and one of the poppiest ones too, with something lighter such as "Mucho Mungo" serving as its b-side. Although it would be fun to reuse the title, this album cannot be called Between the Lines because it is completely different in concept and in song choice, coming out two years after BTL would have, which means we'll have to settle for a different title. I went for Now and Then, which not only is one of the best songs here, but is also a fitting description of where John was at in 1977: dedicated to raising his son and watching the wheels, music relegated to a hobby he picked up every now and then.

Sources:

- Between the Lines: Complete Home Demo Recordings 1975-1980

- John Green - Dakota Days: The True Story of John Lennon's Final Years