Julian Lennon does it again with a well-produced and delivered seventh album, but sonically lacking in personality.
Posted at 11:00 a.m.
On save me, which launched the album, the influences are clear (from Elton John to Radiohead). The piece feels like a pastiche rather than a work in its own right. Lennon’s personality does not show itself at any time. And the more the listening advances, the more the impression is maintained that the tunes are borrowings rather than a reflection of an identity.
References to Radiohead continue while other songs bring back rather to Oasis or even… to Beatles. It’s not even that listening to this seventh album by Julian Lennon displeases, it’s rather that it doesn’t bring much material to discover.
The texts, written over several decades, are fortunately the window we were waiting for. While the lyrics aren’t the most elaborate, they make Lennon’s pains, accomplishments, and claims clear.
He recently said in an interview that he has a love-hate relationship with the song. Hey Jude, since she always reminded him of the fact that his father left him and his mother for another relationship. He still titled his album Jude. A clear reference to this hymn originally titled Hey Jules. But, above all, a way of proclaiming himself, of affirming that he has become someone outside of this Jude.
The bar is unfortunately higher when you make music with this surname. It can’t be easy to get rid of the label of “someone else’s son” and something in this album seems to show that it haunted him for a long time.
It’s unfair to fall into the comparison — especially since Lennon has already proven himself with previous releases. But beyond the inevitable parallels, even when we only dwell on the product without its context, we are not entirely convinced. Both in the words and in the compositions, Lennon sometimes falls into an ease that borders on the syrupy (Love Don’t Let Me Down and Breathe are supreme examples). One thing catches it all (besides a skillful production): the emotion, as vibrant in Lennon’s voice as some melodies are tasteless. These chronicles, resulting from several years of writing, are dear to the artist, it is obvious. It conveys that feeling nicely.
Rock
Jude
Julian Lennon
Music From Another Room