Word: albums
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Welcome to the bittersweet world of Sean Lennon. With the release of his first full-length album, Into the Sun (Grand Royal), inevitably the spotlights have turned to probe (Sean) Lennon's music, his philosophy and his beginnings without regard to the fragility of his blossoming status as an artist. Veteran reviewers are quick to judge based on genetics--they are naively searching out a tangible father-son musical bond when there is no reason for correlation. Newbie writers jump the bandwagon and want a piece of the hype. The blame cannot be wholly reserved for the press; listeners...
...middle of his first headlining tour and with Into the Sun behind him, Lennon is acquiring a real taste for what it is like to be a "life-minded" musician. The album is a beginner's triumph whereas the live performance ends up being a muddled, lusterless array. While a concert portrays the band in constant, labored transition without a coherent identity, Into the Sun represents an entertaining range of rock styles from contained experimentation to guitar pop. Although there are shades of the recognizable John voice in Sean, he never fully appropriates his father's style...
Lennon carried out the process of releasing an album with a dissociation from the opportunities the Lennon name has offered him. Along the way, he has been self-conscious without compromising his position or artistic mettle, fully aware of the advantages at his fingertips without ever abusing them...
...result was Into the Sun, a polished albumful of tunes that doesn't suffer from overproduction or banality. Tracks range from a jazzy instrumental ("Photosynthesis"), swooning vocals cum lethargic guitar slosh ("Spaceship") and a toned-down big band Wild West chronicle ("Part One of the Cowboy Trilogy"), all mixed up with love songs galore. Many guests play on the record with Cibo Matto's Yuka Honda, Sean's partner, figuring in significantly on most of Into the Sun's material. She is the emotional, reflective centerpiece, an instrumentalist and the producer, contributing so much that the album should be accredited...
What makes the album uniquely Lennon's, though, is his penchant for enigmatic lyrics. His messages verge on the opaque, although the main theme almost always becomes salient by a song's last note. On "Home," a meld of late-era Beatles and guitar-heavy modern rock, "The broken glass that fades/The past is a parade of countless days/Painting patterns in the sand" vaults Sean out of escapism into confronting his legacy in order to move on. "Mystery Juice" is an exception to the rule as Sean makes himself completely indiscernible: "They stole the show and towed the rowboat/Though slow/We...