Lennon’s Best Album: If Double Fantasy & Milk and Honey Were One

In 1980 Lennon returned to the studio for the first time in almost 6 years and recorded enough material for a complete solo album. But eventually he and Yoko Ono decided to release an album comprised of half Lennon tracks and half Ono tracks. Some biographers have speculated that Ono was getting restless in their relationship and perhaps even cheating on him, so Lennon offered her half the space as a way to revive their marriage, resulting in the LP Double Fantasy.

Thus when Lennon was murdered in December 1980, he had another half of an album left in the vaults. In 1984 the sequel Milk and Honey emerged, again consisting of half Lennon, half Ono songs. Many of the Lennon songs were superior to those that had ended up on Double Fantasy. They had only been passed over because they did not fit the earlier album’s theme of a “heart talk” between husband and wife. Thus they now poignantly served as unknowing final statements.

Had all of Lennon’s songs formed one record, it might have been his greatest solo album. In marked contrast to the angst of parental abandonment chronicled in his debut solo album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, his final songs were mostly happy tracks about the home he had built with his wife and son and his peaceful acceptance of middle age.

See the tunes below or play them continuously at:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA798FF33C92509CE&feature=plcp