by Heather Huff



Many will probably dismiss the latest John Lennon release, Acoustic, as another batch of songs yanked out of the vault and thrown together by Yoko to ad to her billions. Half of the songs on this release are clearly demos and half of those are poor quality, so unfortunately that belief may resonate. I don't know the woman, so although I find her vilification unwarranted; I'm not going to pretend to know her motivations. But that's all irrelevant. This album should be recognized for its enormous value. It is a gift to John Lennon diehards, singer-song writers, and fledgling guitarists.

As the title suggests, all of the songs are performed by Lennon alone with his acoustic guitar. "Watching the Wheels" is the clear standout and reason enough to give this album 4 stars. It is simply song writing at its best and should be studied by every aspiring song writer. This stripped down acoustic version also seems like a more appropriate canvas for his feelings of leaving his Beatles super-stardom and the machine of the music industry for a life of domesticity with his family. There was definitely something lost between the recording of this version and the version on Double Fantasy.

Rough around the edges demos, such as "God," give us invaluable insight into his song writing process. There are a few live songs on this release as well, including a beautiful version of "Imagine," thrown in to hook those casual listeners who know little of his post-Beatles work. Hopefully along the way they will discover other greats such as a soulful, stirring version of the proletariat anthem, "Working Class Hero."

No, Acoustic is not perfect, but to listen to this album is to eavesdrop on a studio session with one of the greatest song writers of the century. This is what his Unplugged might sound like; or, rather, this is what his rehearsal for Unplugged might sound like. Despite it's rough edges, or maybe because of them, Acoustic is still greater than 95 percent of what MTV tries to package as brilliant song writing.

Now, I have saved the really incredible thing about Acoustic for last: Yoko dedicates it to "the future guitarists," saying, "John always played from his heart. I hope you will learn to do the same." Then she does something amazing and, as far as I know, unprecedented: she included the chords along with the lyrics for all of the songs, with chord diagrams in the back! What a beautiful, generous woman. We can only hope she starts a trend.