Double Fantasy and what might have been

John Lennon would have turned 70 yesterday. 30 years ago around this day he was recording Double Fantasy. The album was released days before his death. In many ways it was his best.

Lennon had just come out of retirement and wasn't about to dish out the old same old. Double Fantasty was a fresh sound , every inch 1980 and New Wave with its synths and drum machines. I saw an interview on You Tube where he was calling disco the most exciting new genre at the time. All the stuff that had been brewing outside while he was baking bread and changing nappies at home , stuff like punk and disco and technology , all that had been absorbed and then put to their considered use , just so , by a master magician on this album.

The songs / vocals on the album are divided alternately between John and Yoko. The Yoko numbers are clearly hard-punk influenced. Those vocals takes some getting used to ( i never could !) and all things considered kinda weird ! Though stuff like Yes,I'm Your Angel is very good. John's are masterpieces all. I believe pretty much all of them make it to all the Best Of collections i've seen.

Double Fantasy turned out to be Lennon's last album but it could so easily have been the start of something new and exciting. What might Mr. Lennon have come up with in the 1980's , 90's , 00's, 10's ....? Sadly , we'll never know.

Here's the superb , very funky Cleanup Time - the one number that inexplicably did not make it to any of those Best Of compilations.