Albums Review: Sounds of Yesterday, Society of Tomorrow
Mental Health — John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band vs. Kids See Ghosts
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In these pandemic times, we were and are being faced with several adversities that affect the lives of each and every one of us, from economic difficulties, loneliness, isolation, need for affection, and socialization, among others.
These will leave scars and repercussions on how we view and experience the world, however, there is no more significant effect than mental health woes.
Through a study conducted by Our World in Data in 2017, approximately 792 million people (10.7% of the world’s population) were estimated to suffer from some kind of mental illness, where substance use disorder, anxiety disorder, and depression were highlighted as the most common.
Several specialists have already noted the need to take precautions and mentally stimulate ourselves in order to lead a full and healthy life, so those who still doubt and underestimate it, should weigh their consciences and empathise with those who suffer from it every day.
Despite being an often omitted subject, we shouldn’t dismiss people when they are experiencing such suffering, as it is invisible and any one of us can experience it. So the best we can do is to help and encourage them to seek clinical follow-up, in order to prevent worse outcomes from happening.
Therefore, the two albums, under analysis, portray the different phases that these experiences can trigger in human beings, with moments of suffering, pain, catharsis, and healing.
John Lennon — John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
Genre (s): singer-songwriter, rock, blues rock, avant-pop
Tracklist: Here
The first album, under review, is entitled John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, by the iconic English musician John Lennon, released in 1970 by Apple Records (a record label founded by The Beatles in 1968, as a division of Apple Corps Ltd.).
By being one, of the four members, of the most influential and successful band ever in the history of popular music, Lennon already had his status well assured, in cultural royalty, through his iconic partnership with Paul McCartney, songwriting classics like “In My Life, “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “A Day in the Life,” as well as his pioneering recording collaboration and artistic development of albums (not wanting to extend my Beatles fandom, I recommend all the post-65 ones because any of them are spectacular honestly), like Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966), Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) and Abbey Road (1969).
After years of glory and fame experienced by the group, Lennon demonstrated his desire to leave in 1969, stemming from symptoms of fatigue, insecurity and need for artistic release with his new supergroup Plastic Ono Band (formed in 1969 by Lennon and Ono) and his newlywed Yoko Ono (with whom he had released three experimental/avant-garde albums to date, entitled Unfinished Music №1: Two Virgins, Unfinished Music №2: Life with the Lions and Wedding Album; I warn you they are difficult to listen to and enjoy, but interesting to know).
Despite his wish having been fulfilled after the litigious agreement of the group’s dissolution in December 1970, Lennon was deeply affected emotionally, both by the end of his highly artistic remarkable stage, as well as interpersonal problems between the members of the group (especially with McCartney), generating insecurity and a new beginning for the artist.
After moments of psychological fragility following The Beatles’ breakup, Lennon and Ono began a four-month psychotherapy treatment in Los Angeles called “primal scream therapy,” developed by psychotherapist Arthur Janov, which consists of reliving repressed childhood traumas (in Lennon’s case, child-parent complex abandonment) from screams and hysteria, in order to overcome neurosis.
That said, these factors proved crucial to the production and recording of his solo debut album, resulting from a miscellany of psychological, emotional traumas and cathartic artistic expressiveness.
Production and arranging wise, the project was recorded and developed over a period of almost a month ( 26th September to 23rd October 1970) at the iconic Abbey Road Studios in London, UK and Ascot Sound Studios in Tittenhurst Park, Ascot, Berkshire, UK (property owned by Lennon, from 1969 until 1971).
Co-produced by John Lennon, Yoko Ono and the legendary Phil Spector (also the mixer), it had the cooperation of several instrumentalists such as Lennon himself (vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, tack piano and Hammond organ), Klaus Voormann (bass guitar), Ringo Starr (drums), Phil Spector (piano on “Love”) and Billy Preston (grand piano on “God”).
Featuring diverse experimentation influenced by avant-garde, Bulgarian modal choirs, blues and rock’n’roll, the outcome was marked by high-pitched and ethereal vocal harmonies, sizzling and distorted guitars, noisy electronic elements, reverb and echoish driven sounds and on-beat cadenced drums.
These fostered a clear production driven by the artist’s post-therapy emotional stages, who would sometimes start screaming and crying during the recordings (“The old John was gone; it was a different John. It wasn’t the one he was used to”, according to what Ringo Starr shared with Voormann), noting a clearly more intrinsic creative approach from Lennon, apart from his The Beatles’ Years.
This influence was prominent in the sonic outcome. However, it is no more strikingly felt than in its lyrical character.
In this regard, Lennon articulated numerous personal issues and reflections that shaped his psychological suffering throughout his life:
· Child-parent loss/abandonment (on “Mother,” the most heart-crushing song on the record, in which inspired by “primal scream therapy”, Lennon expresses his grief at being reincarnated in his youngself, starting with a bell symbolizing the death of his mother, calling and shouting to his childhood insecurities and parents’ neglect; on “My Mummy’s Dead,” the second heartbreaking track and last one on the album, in which through a nursery rhyme-inspired lament, Lennon speaks of the psychological scars left by the tragic death of his mother Julia, who was run over by a drunk off-duty constable driver when he was just 17);
· Freedom/Socio-cultural reflection (on “I Found Out,” an anti-religion track, which regards the delusional empty words and promises of religious leaders and their followers; on “Working Class Hero,” a protest driven acoustic guitar song and best known of the album, in which Lennon reflects on the need to focus upon the disadvantaged and aggrieved working-class society, oppressed by the most powerful and not nurtured by their own);
· Juvenile catharsis (on “Remember,” in which he recalls and encourages to dream and believe when you’re a kid, because no matter how much they want to shape you “Don’t feel sorry/About the way it’s gone/Don’t you worry/About what you’ve done”);
· Love/Affection deprivation (on “Love,” a track made for Yoko Ono, which embodies the spirit of love and all the good it has to offer; on “Look at Me,” another song directed to Ono, in which Lennon asks her for help in rediscovering himself by her side);
· Emotional fragility (on “Hold On,” in which searching for strength and perseverance in order to overcome this post-Beatles breakup troubled era, he motivates himself and all those who are alone in the world, stating that “it’s gonna be alright”; on “Isolation,” in which Lennon refers to the consequences of his political activism and fame-enhanced egocentrism, which delude us into not realising who we can trust, leading to refuge; on “Well Well Well,” in which using a phrase often used to reprove someone for something they’ve done wrong, Lennon emphasises his indifference to what people think of him).
Nevertheless, the lyrical pinnacle is evidenced in “God,” my favourite and penultimate song of the album.
On this controversial track, as he demonstrates the results of his painful and cathartic therapy, Lennon frees himself from his fears by embracing his own convictions, artistic and personal identity (“I just believe in me/Yoko and me”), distancing himself from cultural idols worshiped by the masses (examples such as Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, John F. Kennedy, and even his own former group, The Beatles), more curiously, Jesus Christ and God (“God is a concept by which we measure our pain”), where he questions the role of religion in life, which sometimes provides more suffering than comfort to its devout followers.
Drawn from his “primal scream therapy,” Lennon enhanced an honesty, openness, vulnerability and rawness never seen before from the artist, who challenged himself by facing his own mental demons in order to find inner peace and evolve as a human being.
To have influenced me throughout my life, John (more clearly The Beatles, my favorite band ever) is one of my idols and favorite songwriters of all time.
He is one of the cultural figures who most accompanied me growing up (even though I never met him, yes, for some, it’s ridiculous, but that’s how I feel), and I thank him for everything he did for me.
Thus, I recommend the listening of this musical endeavour to all appreciators of psychology, The Beatles’ more experimental catalogue, rock, folk-rock, pop-rock and avant-garde (Link here).
Kids See Ghosts — Kids See Ghosts
Genre (s): hip hop, experimental hip hop, pop rap, psychedelic
Tracklist: Here
The second album, under review, is called Kids See Ghosts by the duo formed by African-American artists Kanye West and Kid Cudi, released in 2018 by Wicked Awesome Records and GOOD Music (record label founded by West in 2004), and distributed by Def Jam Recordings (which is currently owned by Universal Music Group).
After going from a mentor-protégé relationship, through collaboration on various musical projects (such as Cudi’s Man on the Moon series and West’s highly influential 808’s and Heartbreak), to adversaries during a period of estrangement (after Cudi distanced himself from West for his public support of Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election), the duo decided to embark on a work that would put their creativity, friendship and such turbulent mental state to the test.
In late 2016, while West checked into a terrifying psychiatric hospitalisation, at the start of the Saint Pablo tour (in support of his album Life of Pablo, released that same year), due to a long battle with depression (since the death of his mother in 2007), opioid addiction and bipolar disorder, Cudi entered a rehab centre for his long inner-conflict with depression, drug use, self-harm and suicidal thoughts.
Out of these personal challenges faced came Kids See Ghosts’s central theme (its cover art was made by contemporary Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, in which he drew inspiration from Hokusai’s landscape print series, Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji), where mental illness and drug use are the infamous protagonists.
By expressing their issues distinctly, West and Cudi enhance a paradoxical relationship by various sentimental and psychic approaches, be it despair/hope, madness/serenity, among others, something that was central to their outcome and is felt in both its sonic and lyrical character.
Production and arranging wise, the record was recorded and conceptually developed in West’s personal studio, built on one of his properties called West Lake Ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
It had the collaboration of various producers, arrangers, composers and instrumentalists, such as Kanye West (executive producer and composer), Kid Cudi (executive producer and composer), André Benjamin a.k.a. André 3000 (co-producer and co-composer on “Fire”), Mike Dean (co-executive producer, co-composer, mixing and mastering), Andre Dawson (engineering on several tracks, co-composer on “Kids See Ghosts” and mixing on “Feel The Love” and “Reborn”), Terrence Thornton a.k.a. Pusha T (vocals on “Feel The Love”), Tyrone Griffin, Jr. a.k.a. Ty Dolla Sign (vocals and co-composer on “Freeee (Ghost Town, Pt. 2)”)), Yasiin Bey a.k.a. Mos Def (vocals and co-composer on “Kids See Ghosts”), Zack Djurich (engineering and acoustic guitar on “Freeee (Ghost Town, Pt. 2)”)), among others.
Each collaborated for an extremely interesting production, characterized by exploration of musical genres such as 60’s & 70’s psychedelic rock, additive synthesis, frequency modulation, programming, interpolation, sampling (from Jerry Samuels’ “They’re Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!” on “Fire,” Louis Prima’s “What Will Santa Claus Say (When He Finds Everybody Swingin’)” and Shirley Ann Lee’s “Someday” on “4th Dimension”, Coz Littler’s “Stark” and Jamaican politician Marcus Garvey’s speech on “Freeee (Ghost Town, Pt.2)”, and Kurt Cobain’s “Burn the Rain” on “Cudi Montage”)), highly expressive and penetrating rhythm section, psychedelic crescendos, fuzzed and wide guitars, dreamy and contemplative dissonances over minor scales, and sound processing around compression, track overdubbing, resulting in some of the best sonic and acoustic music work I’ve heard in the hip hop genre in more recent years.
Putting this into perspective, we have to refer as much or more the lyric-compositional impetus, which empowered by mental illness and self-overcoming, were evidenced as the central themes of this musical work:
· Sense of liberation and protection through religion (mostly references of God) — present in all tracks, except on “Feel The Love”; on “Reborn,” a mantric spiritual session about self-overcoming dark moments in life;
· Criticism and backlash from the public and industry — on “Feel The Love,” the best known and one of my favourites from the album; while Cudi expresses his desire to be able to “feel the love” and achieve it, West intones his despair and chaotic feeling towards it, with audible gunshot sounds; on “Freeee (Ghost Town, Pt. 2)”, which refers to the openness, mastery and mind transcendence of alienating oneself, from society’s imposed criticisms; on “Kids See Ghosts,” while Cudi moves to a level of introspection, Kanye confronts his expectations and social pressures driven by fame, professional competition and media relationship;
· Self-consciousness and awareness — on “Fire,” in which allied to their mental problems, the artists discuss the mistakes they’ve made and the consequent judgement by the public, wishing the public would forgive them; on “Cudi Montage,” one of my favourites, which depicts the duo’s reflection on the cyclical nature of mental illness, more specifically, Cudi’s earned mental stability and West’s description of environments marked by a cycle of violence/conflict and its negative effects on youth growth;
· Exploration of mental illness effects — on “4th Dimension”, serving as an example of the thoughts of someone with bipolar disorder, the duo avoid being suffocated by feelings and thoughts by expressing random topics at play; on “Reborn,” which linked to the mental lows brought on by depression and drug use, the duo discuss the self overcome of their personal problems, in order to move on from previous mistakes.
Despite Kanye West being as well known for his musical genius as his controversial and provocative persona, he is one of my favourite producers and rappers of all time due to his innovation and creative versatility (personally, I recommend the listening of his The College Dropout, Late Registration, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Yeezus albums).
Regarding Cudi and although he was never an influence, I do have fond memories of listening in the car to his Man on the Moon: The End of Day album in my pre-teen years while falling asleep, more specifically its leading single “Day ’N’ Nite,” so thanks for those soothing dreams Cudi.
Kids See Ghosts is the product of a musical project highly cathartic, idiosyncratic, contemplative and influential for these times in modern music, so therefore, I recommend its listening to all enthusiasts of visual art, flawless production, hip hop, alternative hip hop, psychedelic music and concept albums (Link here).
Clash of Times (John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band vs. Kids See Ghosts)
Since the mid-19th century, human beings have tirelessly searched for answers to explain the origin and solutions of mental illness disorders, both by controversial and unorthodox methods such as lobotomy (developed in 1935 by Portuguese neurologist Egas Moniz), as well as by some more common and scientifically proven ones, such as psychiatry and psychotherapy.
In the 1970s, there was an increased focus on the negative effects of numerous treatments in order to appeal to their improvements, such as deinstitutionalisation, treatment of somatic symptoms, behavioural techniques, recommendation of appropriate antidepressants, among others, enhancing a greater understanding of the human brain, something that was not much publicised and prioritised by the media.
Nonetheless, John Lennon opened our horizons to this battle and reality.
With John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, the artist challenged his own strengths by chronicling his mental illness and emotional traumas.
By creating a magnificent project as only a former Beatle can, he made us realise how vital it can be to a human being’s creative output, well-being and happiness, because if we seek professional help, we will find ways to overcome it and excel.
In contrast to the 70’s era, the 2010s were demonstrative of a greater openness to discussions and revelations on this topic.
Through the digital revolution of the last 20 years, we have been able to create platforms to drive dialogue and the deconstruction of sceptical mindsets that call into question the credibility and competence, of those who suffer from them.
However, certain cultural trends such as the rise of social media, have provided the stage for all sorts of unfounded and malicious judgements, which in the last 10 years, have resulted in more cases of mental illness in the younger generations compared to the older ones, giving rise to larger mood disorders, fears and anxieties, which sometimes lead to suicide-related outcomes.
We have a long way to go and through Kids See Ghosts, we got an idea of what it is like to live in a world dominated by the digital age with this condition.
From a “fragmented, fragile brand of hip-hop” that Kanye and Cudi “helped to shape,” this musical work showed the influence and representative dignity in mental illness and its stages, coming from adversity, turbulence and challenges overcome, which led to a greater awareness, seriousness and understanding of an entire generation for these issues.
We all deserve to be understood and heard, because it is not a behavioural disorder that defines us, either personally or professionally, so if you need support, don’t be ashamed to consult a close relative, friend or a professional.
We all have the right to rediscover ourselves, we all deserve to be well and happy.
“Nobody can save you but yourself, and you’re worth saving. It’s a war not easily won, but if anything is worth winning then this is it” — Charles Bukowski
Thank you to everyone who read the article, be free to share it with everyone and leave a comment below, of what did you think about it, if that’s your wish 😊.
