Fenster writes:
Another installment: My Before and After, by Cotton Mather.
I find this one remarkable. I am simultaneously able to listen to it as a glorious John Lennon song and at the same time as a terrific work in its own right. In fact the entire album this cut if from (Kontiki) is superior in every way.
Here’s a trailer for the 2012 re-release of the 1997 album. Glad it was re-released. It was hard to find for a long time and deserves another hearing.
Blowhard, Esq.
Callowman
Sherbrooke
Eddie Pensier
Enzo Nakamura
Epaminondas
Fabrizio del Wrongo
Fenster
Brundle Guy
Glynn Marshes
Paleo Retiree
Atypical Neurotic
Question Lady
Sax von Stroheim
Sir Barken Hyena
The Mistaken
Uncouth Reflections 
Mather is fierce and intense as Lennon was, but calculating and deliberate in ways that Lennon, in his personal confusion, could never have been. Lennon’s music was not developing in this direction at after the Beatles. In fact, it pretty much pooped out after the first few post-Beatles albums. Mather gives us an un-castrated Lennon who lives into the 90s. (By the way, these “Not-the … ” posts, and the album-by-album Beach Boys posts are very much appreciated.)
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I hear Beatles somewhat, but not at all John Lennon. Who he sounds like both vocally, melodically and in terms of arraignments is Jeff Lynne of ELO…. a very underrated pop band. Take a moment and listen to a few ELO hits on youtube and then tell me I haven’t nailed him to the wall. Sure Mather’s songs are more introspective which you could Venn diagram in a Lennon/Beatles overlay, while ELO was pure pop candy goodness and seventies rides in a VW Beatle on drugs. But as I said vocally, melodically and in terms of arrangement – ELO.
It’s interesting that in the 21st century a band with the technically artistry of Cotton Mather could be heralded as one of the greatest contemporary bands of today. This tells me just exactly how unassailable the music of the 70’s was compared to today. Everything we take for granted started in the 70’s (pop, rap, punk, electro, house, ambient, glam, alternative, indie, thrash, metal, etc. ect. ect) and it was unquestionably a height from which we have been descending since.
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Your comment about not hearing Lennon reminds me of a conversation with my sister in law. She and my brother have two sons. When they were little the oldest reminded me of his dad and the youngest his mom. There seemed no question about this. When I said this to my sister in law she was very surprised, seeing it exactly the other way around. I guess that’s the thing about seeing patterns–we are built for it but we aren’t always reliable, and the conclusions not always replicable. To me, the very first phrase of the Mather song shrieks Lennon. Jeff Lynne, yes, too. And he is in my list of NOTs (though I am not an expert so any suggestion you have as highest Beatles quotient welcome).
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