Walls and Bridges was recorded during John Lennon's infamous "lost weekend," as he exiled himself in California during a separation from Yoko Ono. Lennon's personal life was scattered, so it isn't surprising that Walls and Bridges is a mess itself, containing equal amounts of brilliance and nonsense. Falling between the two extremes was the bouncy Elton John duet "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night," which was Lennon's first solo number one hit. Its bright, sunny surface was replicated throughout the record, particularly on middling rockers like "What You Got" but also on enjoyable pop songs like "Old Dirt Road." However, the best moments on Walls and Bridges come when Lennon is more open with his emotions, like on "Going Down on Love," "Steel and Glass," and the beautiful, soaring "#9 Dream." Even with such fine moments, the album is decidedly uneven, containing too much mediocre material like "Beef Jerky" and "Ya Ya," which are weighed down by weak melodies and heavy over-production. It wasn't a particularly graceful way to enter retirement. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Look at this LP... Two good, decent songs and ten 'fodder' material. Seems like this was John's unwitting attempt to be like the average pop-star.
And baselitch... you are correct in your observation. McCartney is often chided for producing crappy solo material, but none of his offerings even come close to the low level of this LP.
Brutus... best solo Beatle? I don't think there's an argument for that opinion. One might say John was the best Beatle but you could never say he was the best solo.
John was the best of all the Beatles solo.But the central fact is they all lost far more power than they thought when they split.One of the more bonehead decisions in history is when the Beatles started bickering in 67' and 68'.They should have taken a break instead.
The problem with the ex-Beatles is they had a tough act to follow. The Beatles were greater than the sum of their parts. Nevertheless, Lennon did some fine solo work, better than Paul IMO.
Finally, an honest and truthful Lennon review. Mr Erlewine makes no attempt at painting Lennon as the godlike figure who does no wrong which so many others believe. Still, the album does have some good to it and even compares closely to some of McCartney's and Harrison's lesser solo work.