"Rock 'N' Roll" by JOHN LENNON – February 1975 UK LP on Apple Records featuring Jesse Ed Davis, Steve Cropper and Jose Feliciano on Guitars, Leon Russell on Keyboards with Bobby Keys, Nino Tempo and Barry Mann on Horns, Klaus Voorman on Bass and Duet Vocals, Jim Keltner and Hal Blaine on Drums and Production by Phil Spector (September 2004 UK EMI/Apple/Parlophone 'Remixed & Remastered' Expanded Edition CD Reissue with Four Bonus Tracks – Peter Corbin, Mirek Stiles, Steve Rooke, Allan Rouse and Paul Hicks Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry....

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CAPT. FANTASTIC - 1975

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"...Rip It Up..."

It was always a gap-filler between real albums and its bare-bones artwork and lack of an inner sleeve to enlighten what was going on inside irritated too. And yet I've always held a candle for 1975's "Rock 'N' Roll" - John Lennon's return to the passion that ignited his soul and limbs when he was a wee nipper in Liverpool. But which digital variant do you buy? 

Fans will know there has been a further new remaster of "Rock 'N' Roll" released in 2010 under the Yoko Ono approved 'John Lennon Signature Collection' banner. That version on EMI/Apple 5099990650628 (Barcode 5099990650628) offers just the 13-Track 1975 LP (two cuts were two-song Medleys hence its sometimes listed as having 15-Tracks on CD) - but it comes 'without' the tasty Bonus Tracks presented here (the 2004 version), offered no insert of any kind and I've always felt is a useless and pointless reissue. And I just like the audio on this 'Remixed & Remastered' sucker better too. Let's rip it up (again)...

UK released 27 September 2004 - "Rock 'N' Roll" by JOHN LENNON on EMI/Apple/Parlophone 874 3292 (Barcode 724387432925) is a 'Remixed & Remastered' Expanded Edition CD Reissue with Four Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (54:22 minutes):  

1. Be-Bop-A-Lula [Side 1]

2. Stand By Me 

3. Medley: (a) Rip It Up (b) Ready Teddy 

4. You Can't Catch Me 

5. Ain't That A Shame 

6. Do You Wanna Dance 

7. Sweet Little Sixteen 

8. Slipin' And Slidin' [Side 2]

9. Peggy Sue 

10. Medley (a) Bring It On Home To Me (b) Send Me Some Lovin' 

11. Bony Moronie 

12. Ya Ya 

13. Just Because 

Tracks 1 to 13 are his sixth studio album "Rock 'N' Roll" - released February 1975 in the UK on Apple PCS 7169 and Apple SK-3419 in the USA. Produced by PHIL SPECTOR - it peaked at No. 6 in both the UK and US LP charts. 

BONUS TRACKS: 

14. Angel Baby 

15. To Know Her Is To Love Her 

16. Since My Baby Left Me 

17. Just Because (Reprise)

The first thing that hits you visually (apart from the spine CD jewel case) is the crappy gatefold slip of paper masquerading as an inlay. For sure all the credits are here (especially the reissue ones) - but there is no history - no new notes - hell we don't even know who played what on what track. There are at least some black and white photos from his Teddy Boy haircut phase on the inner gatefold - but naught else and that's disappointing. That aside, I love the muscle in the Remaster provided by the team that did all the Apple CD Reissues - Peter Corbin, Mirek Stiles, Steve Rooke, Allan Rouse and Paul Hicks. Let's get to the retro...

Dr. Winston O'Boogie opens his genre-tribute album with that great British hero of Rock 'n' Roll - Gene Vincent and his iconic 1956 winner on Capitol Records - "Be-Bop-A-Lula". And of course Lennon's fantastic sneering vocals infuse the thing with that wild-child vibe sweet Gene had all those decades ago. He then goes unexpectedly early Soul - namely Ben E. King's still moving "Stand By Me" - a bona fide classic originally issued Stateside on Atco Records in the spring of 1961. With Bobby Keys (of Rolling Stones fame), Nino Tempo and Barry Mann on Horns and Production by Phil Spector – the tune was old school but modern sounding. I can still recall Lennon doing this on 'The Old Grey Whistle Test' as a love message to his son - it was magical and a moment when the album stopped being just lusty covers and became something bigger. 

Next up is a Fifties double-header from Little Richard's Specialty days - JL tearing into "Rip It Up" and "Ready Teddy" - his throat doing justice to the Georgia Peach's vocal pyrotechnics back in the days when such behaviour was genuinely Punk. Almost certainly one of 'the' biggest influences in all their Beatle lives - Chuck Berry's Chess Records classic "You Can't Catch Me" and an underrated rocker in "Sweet Little Sixteen" (that Rod Stewart noticed too for his 1974 album "Smiler") gets dusted off - both motorvatin' once more. Amongst the players (we now know) is Guitarists Jesse Ed Davis, Steve Cropper of Booker T & The M.G.’s with Jose Feliciano while Leon Russell of Shelter Records played Keyboards. Legendary sessionmen like Hal Blaine and Jim Keltner hit the skins whilst Klaus Voorman (of "Revolver" fame) played Bass and does the call-and-response duet vocals with Lennon on their brass-busy cover of Sam Cooke's "Bring it On Home". 

My crave on Side 2 has always been the sneer his voice elicits in another Little Richard gem - "Slipin' And Slidin'" - its down and dirty vocal leanings suiting the Liverpudlian to a tee. I can't say I've ever like "Peggy Sue" - Holly original or remake by hundreds of others - but his superb combo of Sam Cooke's "Bring It On Home To Me" with Lloyd Price's "Send Me Some Lovin'" is an inspired Rock 'n' Roll-meets-Soul concoction. The fun inherent in the Larry Williams nugget "Bony Moronie" still tickles and the album romps home with some R&B tinges - Lee Dorsey's "Ya Ya" and a return to Lloyd Price for "Just Because" - ending a Rock 'n' Roll LP on a New Orleans R&B lean (from whence R&R came). And of the generally excellent extras is the 1960 Rosie & The Originals hit "Angel Baby" (clever choice) while The Teddy Bears did the Phil Spector written "To Know Him Is To Love Him". Bluesman Arthur Crudup provided "Since My Baby Left Me". 

Perhaps too many of the tracks are afflicted with that brass-busy backing – too much echo on the vocals – a sort of sledgehammer approach too. But that was his interpretation, and I for one like it. 

Is John Lennon still standing in that Hamburg doorway in his leather jacket watching the kids rush by - dashing headlong into the magic of songs and the liberation that gurgles like a cauldron of youth within them? 

I think so. Only now, John has a wider smile on his lovely face, knowing that he's passed the torch on to the next set of runners gagging to rip it up and Rock 'n' Roll all night – and on into the early hours on their bad-hair day journey...