John Lennon released his seventh album today in 1980.  “Double Fantasy” was his first record since “Rock ‘n’ Roll” in 1975 and would prove to be his last. Twenty one days after it was released Lennon was murdered in New York City.

“Double Fantasy” employs an interesting approach in alternating tracks between Lennon songs and Yoko Ono songs. Interesting, however, does not mean good as the Yoko Ono songs are garbage.  How you feel about Lennon’s efforts will probably depend on how much of fan of his you are.

Despite this being the highly anticipated return of John Lennon, the initial commercial reception to “Double Fantasy” was muted at first and there was a slew of unflattering reviews. That changed after Lennon’s death and the album shot to #1 and stayed there for two months. “Double Fantasy” would eventually sell over three million copies and win the Grammy for Album of the Year.

“Watching the Wheels” track one, side two:

Full album: