The John Lennon Anthology

The first CD offers alternate versions of what was on his first two solo albums. Other than sound quality, there isn't a whole lot of difference in the "Plastic Ono Band" tracks. It's basically "Lennon Unplugged". However, the sound quality is stunning. It's a very intimate performance with Lennon's vocals brought up front in the mix. It showcases what a good singer he was. The "Imagine" tracks are gratifying because I personally feel that the Imagine album was unnecessarily drenched in strings and orchestration. Orchestration is often used to embellish weak material but in the case of "Imagine", it's clearly not needed. The lack of strings give "Oh, My Love" and "Jealous Guy" a more intimate feel - and "Jealous Guy" especially benefits from this treatment. A harmonium was used on (the song) "Imagine (take 1)" which gives it an otherworldly feeling. Other than the harmonium and a different drum pattern, this song was fully mature at this stage. An amazing performance. Other highlights include Lennon gently forgiving Ringo for blowing the drums on "Isolation", Harrison's ascending slide guitar work on "How Do You Sleep?" and  Lennon arranging the participants of "Give Peace a Chance".

The second disc includes the afternoon performance of 1972's "One to One" concert. For some reason, the much weaker evening performance was used for the "Live in New York" CD issued in 1986. Finally the afternoon concert is given a much deserved official release. Included here is a riveting performance of "Come Together" which was first televised by ABC television in 1972 and then never again used. Lennon basically chews up and spits out the lyrics on this track. It's nice to hear this again after a 26 year wait!

The Anthology continues with demos from "Mind Games" and Walls and Bridges". By this point in his career, Lennon was self producing his albums. Since he hated his own voice(!), he tended to bury his voice in the mix, double track his vocals, add echo, or in the case of "Mind Games", add orchestration and / or layers of back up singers where they were (once again) not needed. Presented here in demo form, the "Mind Games" tracks sound much better to my ears than the officially released versions. "You Are Here", "I Know" and "One Day At A Time" (sung more effectively in a lower key) come from this period. These demos are "clean", Lennon's vocals remain dry and unprocessed and right up front in the mix. The way they should have been released in the first place. The "Walls and Bridges" demos offer similar benefits with "Whatever Gets You Through the Night" and "Nobody Loves You When You're Down and Out" sounding better in production and in performance that the official releases.

The few tracks from the "Rock and Roll" sessions benefit mainly from better production. Phil Spector smothered "Rock and Roll" with his "wall of sound" style production resulting in a muddied sound where the details and vocals are often lost in the mix. On the Anthology, these tracks are cleaned up to the point where they could have been recorded a few weeks ago!

Included throughout the set are spoken parts where Lennon instructs the session musicians, showing himself to be in his element in the studio. There are lots of examples of his wit and humour, as well as some touching exchanges with his son, Sean, as a small child. However, these verbal bits do not distract from the music itself and bear up quite well to repeat listening.

For anyone who felt that his "Double Fantasy" tracks were a bit too polished and slickly produced,  included here are acoustic demos of "Woman" and "Watching the Wheels".  A collector's highlight is the much anticipated version of "I'm Losing You" in which Lennon is backed by members of Cheap Trick. There a very touching version of "Beautiful Boy" which was written for Sean and it displays all the warmth and affection that it's intended to. The "Milk and Honey" tracks ("Nobody Told Me" "I'm Stepping Out", "I Don't Want To Face It") are presented as harder edged versions of what was first released in 1984. As anticipated, George Martin reworks "Grow Old With Me" and scores a nicely understated but effective orchestral backing. This song can still make me cry especially now after hearing it (finally) completed after 18 years.

The Anthology also serves to showcase Lennon as a three dimensional person. Anyone who has a cursory knowledge of Lennon's solo career or has come to view him as an icon of global peace and harmony are in for a shock. Some of Lennon's more abrasive moments are included here and they're certainly not for the weak of stomach (or the politically correct). "Serve Yourself" in it's nastiest known form is included here. This track is a send up of Bob Dylan and there are much tamer versions on the bootleg market. The fact that this version is included makes a brave statement and avoids the tendency to further whitewash Lennon's image. This is the Lennon that I recall from the '70's - warts and all. Certainly a much more fascinating and appealing characterization that the "spin doctoring" that's been done since December 1980. Conversations with Phil Spector during the "Rock and Roll" sessions are equally illuminating and funny once you get used to hearing them. Dylan gets parodied a lot in this set (especially his "born again" phase). Paul McCartney and George Harrison are also targets - although these shots can be taken in a more humorous context. The only ex-Beatle which is completely spared is Ringo. The four demos included here which were intended for Ringo's use and the studio exchange during "Isolation" suggests that Lennon had a soft spot for at least one of his former band members.

Considering the volume of a 4 CD set, the Anthology is sequenced very well. There is a healthy mix of live cuts, studio demos and home recordings. The tendency of bootleggers to present an endless string of repetitive home demos is avoided here. The compilers of this set have done a very good job keeping the non obsessive listener in mind while also pandering to collectors such as myself .

The Anthology is packaged with a 60 page book which includes personal recollections from Yoko and an essay piece by Anthony DeCurtis of Rolling Stone magazine. While these are nicely done, I miss the type of detailed track listing and session notes that Mark Lewisohn supplied for the Beatles Anthology. In my opinion, the inclusion of more detailed liner notes would have been the icing on the cake and would have scored this set a perfect "10".

Dan Van Vugt
copyright December 1998