« Optimism | Main | Visionary in Residence » Ed Ward on John LennonYesterday Ed Ward acknowledged the anniversary of John Lennon's murder with a piece that's more history than celebration – Ed is critical of Lennon's music, and I think most would agree that Lennon never did great work after he left the Beatles. It could be that his genius worked in a particular context, not just as part of a group but as part of a particular milieu that slipped from his reach as he grew increasingly famous, rich, and isolated. Ed makes a good point at the end of his post: I've mellowed slightly in my feelings about Lennon, but I remain firm in believing that groups are more than the sum of their parts, and leaving for a solo career, nine times out of ten, means that the quality of your art is about to go down precipitously. None of the ex-Beatles were close to what they'd been as Beatles. That includes John, his posthumous deification notwithstanding. And since I know that's going to piss people off, I invite the pissed-off to examine their relationship to nostalgia, the most destructive and limiting way to look at art you've experienced, since it usually means you've found a way to seal yourself off from the reality of both the art of the past and of the present. jon posted this at 7:47 AM |
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