Julian Lennon's first album in seven years is dedicated to the memory of the man he considers to be his real father.
His name was Roberto Bassanini. He married Lennon's mother, Cynthia, shortly after John Lennon divorced her to marry Yoko Ono.
"Roberto was incredibly important in my life," said Lennon in a recent telephone interview from London. "He was the guy who took me to school, picked me up from school, took me on holidays. He was the guy who made me laugh.
"It was very bizarre relationship flying up to America once in a blue moon to see my real father, who was very odd, very distant. Dad was more like an uncle than a real father to me. It was very strange. John Lennon was my father. But Roberto was the guy who was around all the time. To me, he will always be my father."
Julian Lennon will always live in the shadow of John. But on his new album, "Photograph Smile," which arrives in record stores tomorrow, he makes it clear that his life and music today have very little to do with the legacy of his biological father or of his dad's old band, the Beatles. It is a strong collection of traditional, melodic pop-rock, with soul-searching songs that trace Lennon's quest to carve out his own space in the world.
"For a long time, I let other people tell a story about me that wasn't true," said Lennon. "When I first started making records in the 1980s, I allowed myself to be exploited. The truth is, I had very little contact with dad. The reasons I got involved in music had very little to do with what he had done. But I was placed in an awkward position when I released my first album. I was pretty ignorant and naive at that point in time."
Julian Lennon made his recording debut in 1984 with "Valotte," which spawned the hit single "Too Late for Goodbyes." If he had any illusions that he would be treated as anything other than "John Lennon's son," they were quickly dispelled.
Critics focused on the striking similarities between father and son's singing voices, to the exclusion of the music. When they did comment on the song writing, it was usually to say that it did not measure up to the dad's high standards.
"A lot of then actually made comparisons between my album and the entire Beatles' catalog," says Lennon. "I was saying, ‘For God's sake, that's not really fair.' I was in my early 20s. They are criticizing the songs I was writing then, and saying, ‘Well, it's not "Imagine," is it?'"
Lennon admits that he exacerbated the problem by allowing himself to be "schlepped around to speaking engagements and celebrity appearances.
"I found myself in God knows how many rock ‘n' roll one-hour specials," he says. "I felt that was part of the deal. But it got to the point where I was doing more celebrity work than musical work. It really took a toll."
Lennon released three more albums between 1986 and 1991 — "Secret Value of Daydreaming," "Mr. Jordan" and "Help Yourself." None of them sold well. Lennon's record company and advisors insisted on promoting him as the "son of the 60s legend." But the novelty was wearing off with the public. By 1992, after 10 years of recording and touring, Lennon was fed up with the music industry and quit.
"I was totally frustrated," he says. "For me, it felt like it had been over 10 years doing the same old thing with not much control over the situation, if any at all. It wasn't going the way I felt it should or could. I felt the only way I was going to be able to cope with being involved in this industry was to just get the hell out of there."
So, he "disappeared," spent the next five years traveling, sailing, dabbling in painting and photography. He moved to northern Italy, took up cooking. He wrote a lot, too — not songs, at first, but essays and poems.
Lennon contemplated a total career change. He thought seriously about becoming an architect or interior designer. But in the end, the music called him back. He began writing songs and recording in earnest about two years ago.
Lennon decided to scale things back for his comeback. He started his own, independent record label and released the album in Europe last year. U.S. distribution is being handled by Fuel 2000/Universal Music, with low key promotion.
"I didn't want to sell my soul again for another five to 10 years or however long recording contracts are nowadays," he said. "The only way I saw to move forward was to keep control of everything. I didn't want people knocking on the door every day saying, ‘This isn't commercial enough. This isn't uptempo enough.'
"It was a big challenge to do the record myself. But at the end of the day, it's much more satisfying, even if the sales numbers aren't as big because it's a small label."
The album received extremely positive reviews in Europe. The German edition of Rolling Stone went so far as to call "Photograph Smile" "a mature work of genius."
"I've been dumbfounded by the reviews so far," said Lennon. "They've been the best things I've ever read about myself, which obviously puts a smile on my face. For me, it's about the music."
The album includes one, very upfront embrace of his father's memory and of the Beatles. The song is titled "I Don't Want to Know."
"I would always shy away from trying to sound like dad or the Beatles. But finally, I just decided to sit down and write something that sounded mid-'60s Beatlesque and sing it as close to Dad's sort of nasal tone, and slightly screaming raw vocal.
"It was sort of like, ‘Here you go. If that's what you want to hear, now you have it.' I had a lot of fun doing it."
Lennon, who still lives in Italy, says he is "not married in the religious sense, written sense" but feels so in every other way. He keeps in regular touch with his mother Cynthia, and sees his half brother, Sean, "a few times a year."
Lennon is on a two-month promotional tour of the United States, doing radio, television and newspaper interviews and performing acoustic sets and signing autographs at record stores.
He is taking time out of his schedule to attend the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in New York.
The draw?
His dad's old friend, Paul McCartney is being inducted as a solo artist.
"I want to be there to support him," said Lennon. "He's always been very supportive of me, very kind. He always sends me cards at Christmas and birthday.
"If there are comparisons made toward me and the Beatles, I think the writing and the stuff I do is much closer to Paul's stuff than Dad's work. Paul was always much more melodious. Dad was more the raw, in-your-face style. I've always had a thing for melody."
*Pictures 1 of Julian Lennon from this aritcle
*Pictures 2 of Julian Lennon from this aritcle
This article is taken from the Plain Dealer, the main newspaper for the city of Cleveland. I do not own this article or the related pictures and do not profit from this website.
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