Behka’s Secret Stash: Sean Lennon

Kids, this week has admittedly been Lennon heavy.  But that's a good kinda heavy, I think. 

Kids, not a lot of you may be too cognizant of the work of the Beatle Children.  Ringo has several children (his son Zak is now drumming for The Who), George Harrison has one son (that was the driving design force behind The Beatles Rock Band game), Paul McCartney has five kids - four girls and one boy (Stella is a famous designer).   John Lennon had two sons by his two marriages, and both are musicians.

Julian Lennon was very popular in pop music in the '80s.  You probably remember the hit "It's Much Too Late (for Goodbyes)."   He came on strong and went pop, and it fizzled out for him.  Now he's a painter and photographer, but occasionally still makes music.  But today I'd like to focus on the younger son: Sean.

Sean grew up in very good boarding schools.  His mother, Yoko Ono, was very concerned about his safety (having watched his father get shot in front of her will do that).  She wanted to be certain that he'd be out of the public eye in security and relatively safe from bullying, so he went to some good schools in Europe where other kids like him go.   It's hard to make fun of someone for being the son of a Beatle when you're Paul Simon's son, for example.  He went to the same school that several members of The Strokes went to, as well as Harper Simon.  He learned  a few languages and initially was going to go to college, but dropped out of Brown University after about a semester to do music.  But, he had seen how his brother had a hard road, being constantly compared to their famous father.  So Sean decided to go a different route.  At first, he did small New York bands that didn't even try to record.  Then, he joined the alternative rap group Cibo Matto as their bass player.  After some convincing from the band, he made a solo album.

Now, Sean could have done what Julian did.  Capitol records was John's home label in the States for The Beatles and his solo work.  He could have walked into the Capitol offices, said, "Hey, I'm John Lennon's son," and they would have handed him a contract.   But what he did instead was he went with a smaller label - Grand Royal records.  That name may not sound familiar  but it was a label started by The Beastie Boys to sign unknown artists and alternative projects.   Sean had the direct guidance of Mike Diamond, aka Mike D, for his first album 'Into The Sun.'  It's a strange album with lots of different styles, and it actually has everything from grunge rock to bossa nova.  It's a pleasant listen but nothing to get too into.

What I wanted to talk about today was his second solo album,' Friendly Fire.'  This came out a few years ago.  It was a vast improvement to the first, very introspective and angry while also trying to be optimistic.   The songs are catchier, the instrumentation is more complex, and the general product is more unique.    This was also an album born out of heartache.  Sean had a long term girlfriend, and she cheated on him with his best friend.  Then, before they could reconcile, his best friend died in an auto accident.  So this entire album is about the people involved in this triangle - loving,  being deceived, being hurt, and trying to move on.

Accompanying the album is a sort of short film.  Each song is made into a little video, sometimes with the theme of the song in the visual, sometimes not.  It's often got the trademark Lennon sense of humor, with some animation and some downright action and adventure.   It accompanied the CD with a DVD release.   Today on The Stash, I'm not going to share my favorite song from 'Friendly Fire,' but rather, my favorite video from the DVD.

A serious song - with a somewhat magical, often silly, and self deprecating video.  If that doesn't prove that some things are genetic, I don't know what does.  I really like this album in general, and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to try something different.   Especially if you like this song, check it out.

Spectacularly yours,
Behka