He still shines on

Oct. 9, 1940 to Dec. 8, 1980. Such nice, round numbers. Exactly forty years, from the beginning of one decade to the end of another.

Forty years is not nearly long enough. And yet, for John Lennon, it was sufficient time to change the world. That sounds like hyperbole, but it isn't.


 
John's blood-
stained glasses, from the cover of Yoko's disc, Season of Glass.
 
 
 
Dec. 8, 1980 — the day John Lennon was murdered — remains one of the saddest days of my life. Strange, that:  that the death of someone I never knew could affect me so deeply.

The next day, most of my high school classmates seemed more titillated than grief-stricken. Not me; I found it extremely difficult to make it through that day. The event still has the power to reduce me to tears, if I dwell on it too long.

"We all shine on," Lennon sang. I don't know about the rest of us, but surely John shines on. He's one of the immortals.



Lennon is better known for his Beatles songs than for his solo work, of course. The outstanding exception is "Imagine", arguably the greatest of the many great songs he wrote, not excluding the Beatles catalogue.

Even the lesser work of a genius is liable to be superior to the efforts of mere mortals. So it is with Lennon's solo work. "Cold Turkey", "Instant Karma", "Working Class Hero", "Gimme Some Truth", "#9 Dream", "I'm Losing You", "Nobody Told Me" — this legacy would make a worthy "Greatest Hits" package for a lesser songwriter. But if you happen to be John Lennon, those songs are forever overshadowed by "Help", "Day Tripper", "A Day In The Life", "All You Need Is Love", "Come Together", and the many other extraordinary songs he wrote for the Beatles.

Lennon developed a social conscience toward the end of his Beatles years, and it deeply influenced all of his solo LPs. (The message was usually delivered with Lennon's characteristic humour. For example, one of the tracks on Mind Games is the "Nutopian National Anthem" — 3 seconds of silence in honour of a "conceptual country" which lives up to Lennon's utopian ideals.)

And so it was that, in 2007, Amnesty International utilized John's solo material as the centrepiece of a human rights campaign:

The conflict in Darfur, Sudan, has led to some of the worst human rights abuses imaginable, including systematic and widespread murder, rape, abduction and displacement. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed by deliberate and indiscriminate attacks, and over 2.5 million civilians have been displaced. Help Amnesty International end the atrocities. www.instantkarma.org

Amnesty released a two-CD set of Lennon's solo material, performed by artists including U2, R.E.M., Christina Aguilera, Aerosmith, Jackson Browne, Avril Lavigne, Youssou N'Dour, and The Flaming Lips.

It's a good disc. As with all tribute discs, some tracks are more successful than others:

• U2 kicks off the disc with a solid, straight-ahead take on the title track, "Instant Karma".


• Christina Aguilera tackles one of John's more daring songs, "Mother", from his primal scream era. She isn't able to replicate Lennon's anguished, throat-shredding vocal, but the song retains more than a little of its original power.


• Aerosmith, performing with Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, recorded a reggae version of the iconic protest song, "Give Peace A Chance". The vocals are hilarious at certain points, which is consistent with Lennon's humour.


• Jackson Browne isn't able to recapture the sublime magic of "Oh, My Love", but this is a passable version of a great song (from Lennon's Imagine CD).


• Something about Lennon's last LP, Double Fantasy, brings out the worst in the artists attempting to pay tribute to him. I would be happy if I never again hear Corinne Bailey Rae's recording of "I'm Losing You", Ben Harper's version of "Beautiful Boy", Matisyahu's "Watching The Wheels", or The Flaming Lips' overblown performance of "(Just Like) Starting Over".


• There are two versions of "Imagine" on the disc. Avril Lavigne's attempt is strictly dreck; Jack Johnson's version would be OK, but only if you had never heard Lennon's original.


• On the other hand, there are solid interpretations of "Whatever Gets You Through The Night" by Los Lonely Boys; "Nobody Told Me" by Big & Rich; and "Isolation" by Snow Patrol. And there are two fine takes on "Gimme Some Truth, one by Jakob Dylan with Dhani Harrison (an acoustic interpretation); the other by Jaguares (a hard rock interpretation).


• Three of the clear highlights of the compilation:  "Jealous Guy" by Youssou N'Dour; "Working Class Hero" by Green Day; and "Real Love" by Regina Spektor.


• Plus there are five more tracks I haven't mentioned.

In sum:  a worthy tribute CD, and a worthy cause.

Songwriting:  ★★★★☆
Performance:  ★★★☆☆
Sound quality:  ★★★★☆
In a word:  Good (even Exceptional, at times).