Isn't it time to give the real Lennon a chance

John Lennon would have been 70 last weekend and - for those who find that a bit hard to take - more rock legend septuagenarians are right behind. Next year, it's Bob Dylan's turn. Paul McCartney turns 70 in 2012 and Mick Jagger in 2013. It prompts thoughts of whether it's an age that will put paid to performing for the Sixties rock stars.
But what is certain is that 70th birthdays are an enticing thought for record companies as they scour and repackage lucrative back catalogues.
In Lennon's case, last weekend marked the first of two anniversaries this year. In December, it will be 30 years since he was murdered and that will provoke another rash of articles and albums, if there is anything left to be repackaged and remastered.
Lennon's solo albums were remastered for his 70th birthday by his widow, Yoko Ono, not known as an expert record producer or engineer. But then she seems to be in charge of much of the celebrations involving Lennon, which perhaps is why they only seem to concern one section of his life and why only his (extremely variable) solo albums are being re-released with not one single picture of that not insignificant band he once played in.
What would he be like if he were alive now, she was asked at the weekend.
"He would have been very, very angry that violence and war were still going on," she replied. Well, yeah. But I suspect he'd also have something funny to say about The X Factor and Lady Gaga.
Will the only Lennon that future generations are going to see and hear about be the solemn, bearded peace campaigner (even his first wife, Cynthia, and son, Julian, opened a peace memorial in Liverpool at the weekend)? Is the only period of his life and his music sanctioned for discussion and memorabilia that of his second marriage?
Certainly this sombre version of Lennon, and indeed the serious, embittered bloke played by Christopher Eccleston in a recent TV biopic, are unrecognisable to friends of the man, who have told me that the Lennon they knew, even during his campaigning period, was a constant joker and wit.
He also needs to be remembered for that rather important body of work he helped make before his solo career; the body of work that invented and then transformed modern pop.
So if you want to have a blast of the real John Lennon to mark this anniversary, find some old Beatles records, listen to songs like Any Time at All, I Feel Fine or No Reply from the early mop-top days for raw-edged, melodic pop, then see how pop was redefined to include lyrical introspection and musical experimentation with the likes of Happiness Is a Warm Gun, Strawberry Fields Forever and I Am the Walrus from the middle period.
I'm not a great fan of celebrating pop anniversaries. They are usually an excuse for fans to be relieved of their money for a set of albums they already own with some imperceptible, small differences and superfluous packaging. I'm even less of a fan of anniversaries when they offer a biased tribute that does pop history no favours whatsoever. - Independent