David Fricke managed to reveal some of the man behind the Prince Lennon of yore mask and dilettante pop savant that is Sean Lennon and Lennon comes across as a pleasant enough guy though it is hard to really believe he is balancing the books on his record label Chimera through the dreadful new album, or, for that matter, ” this gorgeous, 3-LP deluxe edition of the 2012 YokoKimThurston album (that) offers a complete account of the historic collaboration, as recorded at Sear Sound in New York City on February 26, 2011.”
The story writer David Fricke, a man whose opinion about music has been battered into shape by Rolling Stone and is not trustworthy, tells a Sean Lennon story tracing his career, so let’s dumb it down for you.
1. Great family life.
2. Dad murdered.
3. Followed into the family business in search of an extended family.
Plus, smart or lucky enough to never get caught up in drugs and and wide eyed enough to have hook up with model Charlotte Muehl and media savvy enough to present a type of Sean Lennon to the public, this is like Plato’s cave in action: for instance, for Sean to present himself as just a trust fund baby and not as rich as people think is a little self-serving. Last I looked his Mom had a bob or two as well.
The problem with Chimera is Lennon apparently doesn’t believe in A&R -working with friends and family only. Working with your friends is all ell and good but there are some gifted musicians who could use a real independent record label to take care of them, the way Paul Finn does at Odessa , and Joe Steinhardt does at Don Giovanni and Tomas Doncker does at True Groove. Slim profit margins but the joy of introducing the world to great music. Lennon is putting the court before the horse, first find the music and then make the friends and family, if you trust your ears and trust your instincts, the music will follow. And if you don’t then wht exactly are you doing?
And while the pull quote “I have no right to play music as John Lennon’s son and just wing it” is bullshit, he has the right to do whatever he wants, what he shouldn’t do is release albums as overwhelming self-indulgent and just plain naff as Midnight Sun. Lennon’s right, if he has one, is to be given every benefit of the doubt (I felt much the same about JFK Jr) because society stole his father from him when he was 5 years old. Now, at the age of 40, does he still have that right?
My dislike for his band Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger is in strict contradistinction to Alyson Camus’s here but let’s see what we think a year from now, alright? As for the interview, that Flaming Lips guy Coyne needs to stop fellating pop stars, it is getting embarrassing. Muehl says “Sean is super-intelligent but lacking in self awareness.” No, I don’t even know the guy and I can tell you self-aware is what he does.
