Walls and Bridges

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Walls and Bridges
Studio album by John Lennon
Released 26 September 1974 (US)
4 October 1974 (UK)
Recorded June–July 1974
Genre Rock, pop rock
Length 46:02
Label Apple/EMI
Producer John Lennon
John Lennon chronology
Mind Games
(1973)		 Walls and Bridges
(1974)		 Rock 'n' Roll
(1975)
Singles from Walls and Bridges
  1. "Whatever Gets You thru the Night"
    Released: 4 October 1974
  2. "#9 Dream"
    Released: 31 January 1975

Walls and Bridges is the fifth album by John Lennon, issued on 26 September 1974 in the United States and on 4 October in the United Kingdom. Written, recorded and released during his 18-month separation from Yoko Ono (June 1973-January 1975), the album captures Lennon in the midst of The Lost Weekend. Walls and Bridges was an American Billboard number 1 album and featured Lennon's only number 1 single as a solo artist during his lifetime, "Whatever Gets You thru the Night".

The album was a commercial success and went Gold in the United States.

Contents

[edit] Background

In June 1973, as Lennon was about to record Mind Games, Ono decided that she and Lennon should separate. Ono suggested that he take their personal assistant, May Pang, as a companion [1]. Lennon soon moved to California with Pang, and embarked upon an eighteen-month relationship with Pang he would later refer to as his "Lost Weekend". [2] While Lennon and Pang were living in Los Angeles, John took the opportunity to get reacquainted with his son, Julian, whom he had not seen in four years.[3] Lennon had planned to record an album of rock 'n' roll oldies with producer Phil Spector,[4] but these sessions became legendary not for the music produced but for the chaotic antics fuelled by alcohol. Lennon and Pang returned to New York and Spector disappeared with these session tapes. Still in the mood to make music, Lennon decided to record a new album of original material.

[edit] Recording

Recording sessions for Walls and Bridges began in June 1974 at Record Plant East in New York City. Musicians included Jim Keltner on drums, Klaus Voormann on bass, Jesse Ed Davis on guitar, and Arthur Jenkins on percussion.

Walls and Bridges has a variety of musical stylings and many of the lyrics make it clear that Lennon both enjoyed his new-found freedom and also missed Ono. "Going Down On Love", "What You Got" and "Bless You" address his feelings toward Ono, while the first track written for the record, "Surprise Surprise (Sweet Bird of Paradox)" was written for Pang. "Steel and Glass" included a sinister riff reminiscent of "How Do You Sleep?", Lennon's audio argument with Paul McCartney from the Imagine album, though the digs this time were directed at former Beatles manager Allen Klein.[5] "Scared" is a haunting track exploring Lennon's fear of ageing, loneliness and the emptiness of success. It also included the seemingly prophetic lyric: "Hatred and jealousy gonna be the death of me."

The album also includes some of Lennon's most uplifting songs, namely its two singles "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night" (which features Elton John on piano and harmony vocals) and "#9 Dream" (the instrumentation literally evokes a dream). Another is "Beef Jerky", a funky Stax-inspired instrumental (the only instrumental to appear on a Lennon solo album).

Recalling the recording of the album, in an interview with Pete Hamill in Rolling Stone (5 June 1975), Lennon recalled: "Elton sort of popped in on the sessions for 'Walls and Bridges' and sort of zapped in and played the piano and ended up singing 'Whatever Gets You Thru the Night' with me. Which was a great shot in the arm. I'd done three quarters of it, 'Now what do we do?' Should we put a camel on it or a xylophone? That sort of thing. And he came in and said, 'Hey, I'll play some piano!'"

Another notable track is "Nobody Loves You (When You're Down and Out)", although written in 1973[6] was remembered by Lennon in an interview for Playboy magazine as expressing his feeling for the whole [lost weekend] period. Lennon "always imagined Sinatra singing that one. I don't know why. It's kind of a Sinatraesque song, really. He would do a perfect job with it. Are you listening Frank? You need one song that isn't a piece of nothing. Here's one for you, the horn arrangement and everything's made for you. But don't ask me to produce it".[7]

The final track is a casual cover of the Lee Dorsey oldie "Ya Ya", which Lennon tacked onto the end of the album with the credit: "Starring Julian Lennon on drums and Dad on piano and vocals". During one of his frequent visits from England to see his father during this period, eleven-year-old Julian attended the recording sessions. Lennon surprised Julian by including the track on the album. Pang recalled the younger Lennon's response, telling his father "If I'd known, I would have played better". Lennon also sends a message to publisher Morris Levy who was expecting this Lennon release to be the oldies album (see Rock 'n' Roll) at the beginning of the track: "OK we'll do sitting in the lala. That'll get rid of that!" which infuriated Levy.

Cut from the album at the last minute was a track called "Move Over Ms. L", one of Lennon's harder rockers, which would eventually appear as the B-side to the single "Stand By Me" the following year – the only example of a Lennon B-side not already available on an album.

[edit] Reception and Promotion

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 3.5/5 stars[8]
Robert Christgau (B-)[9]
Rolling Stone 3/5 stars[10]
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2011)

Walls and Bridges has received mixed reviews over the years. When originally released a review from Rolling Stone noted that Lennon was making "progress".[10] In later years Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic felt that the album was "decidedly uneven".[8]

Both the album and the single, "Whatever Gets You thru the Night", reached nnumber 1 on the American charts the same week (16 November), and number 6 in the United Kingdom.

During the recording of "Whatever Gets You," Elton John bet Lennon that it would top the charts. Never believing it would, Lennon agreed to perform live with John if it did. Having lost the wager, Lennon appeared at John's Madison Square Garden show on 28 November, performing Lennon's current number 1 hit together as well as The Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", (which was Elton John's new single with Lennon on backing vocals). This was Lennon's last major live performance.

In addition to reestablishing a relationship with Julian, Lennon mended fences with the other Beatles during this period and Walls and Bridges is filled with musical nods to the group. In the opening track, Lennon sings "somebody please, please help me". On "Surprise Surprise", Lennon utilises the coda of "Drive My Car" substituting the "beep beep yeahs" with "sweet sweet love". In response to McCartney's Lennon-esque track, Let Me Roll It on the Band on the Run album, Lennon took the guitar riff note for note and incorporated it into "Beef Jerky".

The album's elaborate jacket featured childhood drawings done by Lennon and a series of interchangeable faces. Walls and Bridges also had a popular ad campaign (created by Lennon) called "Listen To This..." (button, photo, sticker, ad, poster, t-shirt and, in New York City, a huge poster plastered on the rear of 2,000 city buses).

Television and radio commercials featuring a voiceover from Ringo Starr depicted the album jacket in its many 'photo flap' faces. Lennon would return the favour and do the voiceover for the commercials for Starr's Goodnight Vienna album.

Shortly after its release, Lennon personally mixed a true quadrophonic version of the album ("for the 20 people who buy quad", he joked in his infamous 1974 WNEW radio interview in New York). These mixes highlight many of the percussive and orchestrative textures that were not as prominent on the stereo version.

[edit] Remix/Remaster

Walls and Bridges was released in a remixed and remastered form in November 2005 (though four of the original tracks: "Old Dirt Road", "Bless You", "Scared" and "Nobody Loves You" were not remixed). The remastered version featured an alternative cover. This new cover retained Lennon's signature and hand-written title, but used one of the portraits Bob Gruen took for the album instead of Lennon's childhood drawing. The bonus tracks for the reissue include "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night" performed live with Elton John, a previously unreleased acoustic version of "Nobody Loves You (When You're Down And Out)" and a promotional interview with Lennon.

Capitol Records again reissued the album on 5 Oct. 2010. This version was a remaster of the original album mixes and cover art.

[edit] Track listing

All songs written and composed by John Lennon, except "Old Dirt Road", by John Lennon and Harry Nilsson and "Ya Ya", by Lee Dorsey/Morris Levy/Clarence Lewis/Morgan Robinson

[edit] Side One

  1. "Going Down on Love" – 3:54
  2. "Whatever Gets You thru the Night" – 3:28
  3. "Old Dirt Road" – 4:11
  4. "What You Got" – 3:09
  5. "Bless You" – 4:38
  6. "Scared" – 4:36

[edit] Side Two

  1. "#9 Dream" – 4:47
  2. "Surprise, Surprise (Sweet Bird of Paradox)" – 2:55
  3. "Steel and Glass" – 4:37
  4. "Beef Jerky" – 3:26
  5. "Nobody Loves You (When You're Down and Out)" – 5:08
  6. "Ya Ya" – 1:06

[edit] 2005 reissue bonus tracks

  1. "Whatever Gets You thru the Night" - 4:23
    • Live with the Elton John band
  2. "Nobody Loves You (When You're Down and Out)" – 5:07
    • Alternative version
  3. "John Interview (by Bob Mercer)" - 3:47

[edit] Credits and personnel

Arranged and produced by John Lennon.

Performed by:

Plus:

  • Strings and brass musicians from the New York Philharmonic Orchestrange: arranged and conducted by Ken Ascher.
  • Little Big Horns: brass section, arranged and conducted by Bobby Keys.

Special guest:

  • Julian Lennon: drums on "Ya-ya"
  • Elton John: piano and harmony vocals on "Whatever Gets you thru the Night" and hammond organ and background vocals on "Surprise, Surprise (Sweet Bird of Paradox)".
  • Joey Dambra, Lori Burton and May Pang: background vocals on "9 Dream".

[edit] Charts

[edit] Chart positions

Chart (1974/75) Position
Australian Kent Music Report Chart[11] 4
Canadian RPM Albums Chart[12][13] 1
Dutch Mega Albums Chart[14] 16
Italian Albums Chart[15] 11
Japanese Oricon LP Chart[16] 14
Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart[17] 3
UK Albums Chart [18] 6
U.S. Billboard 200 [19] 1
West German Media Control Albums Chart [20] 41

[edit] Year-end charts

Chart (1974) Position
Canadian Albums Chart[21] 17
Chart (1975) Position
Canadian Albums Chart[22] 44
Italian Albums Chart[15] 40
U.S. Billboard Year-End[23][24] 84

[edit] Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
United Kingdom (BPI)[25] Silver 60,000^
United States (RIAA)[26] Gold $1,000,000^

^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

[edit] Citations

 This section's citation style may be unclear. The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking. (August 2010)
  1. ^ lennonrevealed.com 2007.
  2. ^ Williams 2002.
  3. ^ Pang 2008.
  4. ^ "John Lennon Interview: Rolling Stone, 6/5/1975 - Beatles Interviews Database". Beatlesinterviews.org. http://www.beatlesinterviews.org/db1975.0605.beatles.html. Retrieved 17 August 2010. 
  5. ^ sfn|Madinger|2000
  6. ^ "WebVoyage Record View 1". Cocatalog.loc.gov. http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=5&ti=1,5&Search%5FArg=nobody%20loves%20you%20%28when%20you%27re%20down%20and%20out%29&Search%5FCode=TALL&CNT=25&PID=Ch_QbzpfeAc21uizaktZ6lLF6Vyu&SEQ=20100214182234&SID=2. Retrieved 17 August 2010. 
  7. ^ "1980 Playboy Interview With John Lennon And Yoko Ono by David Sheff". John-Lennon.com. http://www.john-lennon.com/playboyinterviewwithjohnlennonandyokoono.htm. Retrieved 17 August 2010. 
  8. ^ a b Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "Walls and Bridges > Review". Allmusic Guide.
  9. ^ Robert Christgau review
  10. ^ a b Ben Gerson. "Walls and Bridges Review". Rolling Stone.
  11. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0646119176. 
  12. ^ "Top Albums/CDs - Volume 22, No. 15, November 30, 1974". RPM. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.3888a&type=1&interval=30&PHPSESSID=c6btf3r8hs459qqt5ln3o3dcv5. Retrieved 7 February 2011. 
  13. ^ "Top Albums/CDs - Volume 23, No. 4, March 22, 1975". RPM. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.3921b&type=1&interval=30&PHPSESSID=c6btf3r8hs459qqt5ln3o3dcv5. Retrieved 7 February 2011. 
  14. ^ "dutchcharts.nl John Lennon - Walls And Bridges" (in Dutch). Hung Medien, dutchcharts.nl. MegaCharts. http://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=John+Lennon&titel=Walls+And+Bridges&cat=a. Retrieved 2011-09-12. 
  15. ^ a b "Hit Parade Italia - Gli album più venduti del 1975" (in Italian). hitparadeitalia.it. http://www.hitparadeitalia.it/hp_yenda/lpe1975.htm. Retrieved 2011-10-03. 
  16. ^ a-ビートルズ "- Yamachan Land (Archives of the Japanese record charts) - Albums Chart Daijiten - The Beatles" (in Japanese). 2007-12-30. http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~yamag/album/al_beatles.html a-ビートルズ. Retrieved 2011-09-14. 
  17. ^ "norwegiancharts.com John Lennon - Walls And Bridges". VG-lista. http://norwegiancharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=John+Lennon&titel=Walls+And+Bridges&cat=a. Retrieved 2011-09-12. 
  18. ^ "Chart Stats - John Lennon - Walls And Bridges". UK Albums Chart. http://www.chartstats.com/release.php?release=37778. Retrieved 2011-10-03. 
  19. ^ "allmusic ((( Walls and Bridges > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r11533/charts-awards. Retrieved 2011-10-03. 
  20. ^ "Album Search: John Lennon" (in German). Media Control. http://www.charts.de/search.asp?search=john+Lennon&x=0&y=0&cat=a&country=de. Retrieved 2011-10-03. 
  21. ^ "RPM Top 100 Albums of 1974". RPM. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.3891&type=1&interval=20&PHPSESSID=c6btf3r8hs459qqt5ln3o3dcv5. Retrieved 2011-10-03. 
  22. ^ "RPM Top 100 Albums of 1975". RPM. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?file_num=nlc008388.6489a&brws_s=&type=1&interval=20&PHPSESSID=c6btf3r8hs459qqt5ln3o3dcv5. Retrieved 2011-10-03. 
  23. ^ "1975 Year-end Albums - The Billboard 200". http://www.classof76.bt75.com/1975bb.html. Retrieved 2011-09-08. 
  24. ^ "1975 Year-end Albums - The Billboard 200". http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/others/top-pop-albums-of-1975-855857.story. Retrieved 2009-12-30. 
  25. ^ "British album certifications – John Lennon – Walls And Bridges". British Phonographic Industry. http://www.bpi.co.uk/certifiedawards/search.aspx.  Enter Walls And Bridges in the field Search. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Click Go
  26. ^ "American album certifications – John Lennon – Walls And Bridges". Recording Industry Association of America. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?artist=%22Walls+And+Bridges%22.  If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH

[edit] References

Preceded by
Wrap Around Joy by Carole King		 Billboard 200 number-one album
16–22 November 1974		 Succeeded by
It's Only Rock 'n' Roll by The Rolling Stones
Preceded by
Not Fragile by Bachman–Turner Overdrive		 Canadian RPM Chart number-one album
30 November 1974		 Succeeded by
Photographs & Memories by Jim Croce
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