The solo years

The Lennon box set is now available. At ew.com, Simon Vozick-Levinson writes a summary of that solo career cut short.

Excerpt:
But what to make of the four that followed? Emboldened by these triumphs, Lennon spent the next few years indulging seemingly every nutty idea that flashed across his brain. He vented radical politics on 1972′s Some Time in New York City (co-credited to wife Yoko Ono), pursued trippy tangents on 1973′s Mind Games, flirted with disco on 1974′s Walls and Bridges, and covered his favorite oldies in a boozy howl on 1975′s Rock ‘n’ Roll. Casual listeners should stick to the highlights on the new best-ofs. But digging deeper, particularly into the lushly ­remastered Mind Games and Walls and Bridges, will yield a wealth of beautiful and bizarre obscur­ities for more advanced Lennonites. Even when he didn’t quite achieve his far-­ranging ambitions during this period, it’s fascinating to hear him try.