John Lennon-"Do the Oz" Bonus from the 2000 remastered version of "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band"

This is my favorite album...ever. God is my favorite song...ever.

John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band is the debut solo album by John Lennon. It was released in 1970 after Lennon issued three experimental albums with Yoko Ono and Live Peace in Toronto 1969, a live performance in Toronto credited to The Plastic Ono Band. The album was recorded simultaneously with Yoko Ono's debut avant garde solo album Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band at Ascot Sound Studios and Abbey Road Studios using the same musicians and production team, and featured nearly identical cover artwork. John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band is generally considered one of Lennon's finest solo albums and a landmark recording. Rolling Stone named it the twenty-second greatest album of all time.

"Plastic Ono Band" refers to the conceptual band Lennon and Ono had formed in 1969 of various supporting musicians they would use on their various solo albums.

After the Beatles' break-up in April 1970, both Lennon and Ono undertook primal therapy with the guidance of Arthur Janov for four months in Los Angeles. Janov's therapy technique emphasized emotionally reliving repressed childhood traumas rather than analytical discussion. Lennon's experience in primal therapy strongly influenced both the lyrical content of the album, pushing Lennon towards themes of child-parent relationships and psychological suffering, and the simple but intense style of the album's music.

Returning to England that September, Lennon and Ono called upon Phil Spector, who had produced Lennon's hit "Instant Karma!" earlier that year, to co-produce both the albums with them at Abbey Road Studios.

Throughout the album, Lennon touches upon many personal issues: his abandonment by his parents in "Mother"; the castigation of class issues in "Working Class Hero"; a reminder that despite his rage and pain, Lennon still embraces "Love"; and "God", a renouncement of external saviours. Here Lennon states that he believes only in himself, and his wife Yoko.

Phil Spector, a co-producer on this album, played piano on "Love". Lennon and Ono produced the album largely on their own, as Spector was unavailable during most of the recording sessions. Lennon even went so far as to post an ad in Billboard magazine inviting Phil to come visit him for the weekend.

"Look at Me" dates from The Beatles period, and is built on a finger-picking guitar pattern very similar to the one Lennon used in "Dear Prudence", "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" and "Julia". Lennon learned this guitar technique from Donovan while the two were in Rishikesh. The album was released in Japan under the title ジョンの魂 (John no Tamashii?), which translates as "John's Soul".

In 2000, Yoko Ono supervised a remixing of John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band for its remastered CD reissue, including two bonus tracks: Lennon's 1971 hit "Power to the People" and "Do the Oz

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Music

Tags:

• John Lennon
• Plastic Ono Band
• Do the Oz
• Klaus Voormann
• Ringo Starr
• Phil Spector
• Billy Preston
• Yoko Ono
• Beatles
• Paul McCartney
• George Harrison