uring the vulnerability of adolescence, a young music fan's love for a musician can quickly transpire into idolatry. Jobless, hormonal lives allot the time and impressionability necessary for rock idols to speak to the pubescent population with an unprecedented conviction. Hanging bedroom posters of these artists and writing their lyrics on journal covers and backpacks knowingly aren't adequate measure of the adoration felt by these teens. They are, however, the only outlets that can begin to reflect their gratitude for musicians whose music makes them feel they are "just like me".

A demo or live performance can make this type of idolization come full circle. When only exposed to an artist's perfected albums, the listener can cleave to polished products; recordings that present an infallible musician. The album captures the artist as a demigod, presenting the best, while filtering out the imperfections.

But a demo or live show takes the musician out of the safety net of retakes and production trickery that a recording studio provides. They reveal a person that is capable of fumbling over a bar chord, telling a bad joke or sliding into a vocal note. The listener gets a bitter taste of the artist's human limitations, potentially making them second guess their rock and roll iconography.

But realizing the humanness of music gods makes their work all the more amazing. We see that it is not divine, heavenly gifts that enabled them to perform at such unreachable levels, but the sheer ingenuity and talent within their earthly qualities. Sure, uninspiring live recordings and demos can be a waste of MB's on your hard drive, but they can also offer a clear, beneficial perspective on the world's favorite artists.

In this collection of skeletal songs and live performances, we get a glimpse of this alternate, more realistic side of one of our most beloved artists. John Lennon, the intellect and, arguably, the most integral member of history's most important band, had the most substantive solo career of all the Beatle's. Acoustic features unfinished and live songs from his solo career, compiled by his wife, Yoko Ono.

Ono undoubtedly wanted to reveal the beneficial aspects of unplugged performance that Lennon would have most likely thrived within. And this collection of songs does a decent job capturing that directness through its nakedness. With only his beautiful, endearingly nasal vocals and jumbo Gibson acoustic at the helm, Lennon's pleas for equality, action and peace stand without dilution from a backing band. "Woman Is The Nigger of the World", "John Sinclair" and "Cold Turkey" all work well within their intimate arrangements and through their message-bearing lyrics.

But when it comes to the alternate Plastic Ono Band tracks, it is hard not to miss the crisp Ringo drumming, thumping Voorman basslines, and slick Preston piano playing. Plastic Ono Band does such excellent job of harnessing the backing band into a minimal yet essential backdrop, that it is impossible for the music to upstage Lennon's lyricism—his message is clear and striking throughout POB, full band and all. The exception to this rule might be "God", whose deliberate, piano-driven Plastic Ono Band format is presented subtly in Acoustic. More light-hearted and energized than the album version, this acousticized version of "God" steers clear from the verging melodrama of its album counterpart, offering a more light-hearted look at Lennon's self-assurance.

Acoustic is a pleasurable listen and will inspire you to dust off your solo Lennon LPs, but it would be a stretch to say it offered something more pivotal than simply a new perspective on his previous work. With so many non-album releases to Lennon's credit, one would hate to see releases such as Acoustic—as pleasant as it is—further dampen the effect of Lennon's catalogue. But being a fan of John Lennon has always had its share of drawbacks: wasting money on Army surplus jackets that don't look nearly as cool on suburban teens as they did on the man himself, having to accept that Lennon's stubbornness contributed to the death of the Beatles and the inevitability that you will come across the naked Double Fantasy shots at some point are all part of the territory.

But then again, so is brilliance. And while Acoustic doesn’t always reach those heights, it acts as a reminder of when he reached them and will hopefully cause further evaluation of the music that earned him that title.