In addition to the well-known Lennon trio of classics, there's also "Cleanup Time", a great bath time song for kids that begins with Lennon mumbling about bubbles before the jazzy horns and fairy tale lyrics kick in, and "Beautiful Boy", a song used to contrivance in Mr. Holland's Opus. On the Ono side there's her orgasmic groans on "Kiss Kiss Kiss", a barely post-disco "Give Me Something", and her strongest track, the palatable vaudevillian "I'm Your Angel." I had forgotten the two-song cycle of "I'm Losing You" and "I'm Moving On" which uses the same instrumentation and similar musical ideas to effectively contrast the two sides of a deteriorating relationship… fun for the whole family!
The first bonus track is a roughly recorded Lennon demo of piano and vocals, framed by humorous Lennon chatter. "Walking on Thin Ice" is the Ono track that was completed on December 8, 1980 just hours before Lennon was assassinated. There are quite a few interesting timbres but again, the classic Ono monkey-wails detract more than they add. The final bonus "track" is a mere seventeen seconds of dialogue between Lennon and Ono. Despite the fact that I find nearly half the tracks unlistenable except with a morbid curiosity, Double Fantasy stands as a classic album with many songs worthy of your time.
This review first appeared in WhatzUp, January 2002.
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