Imagine
John Lennon
George Harrison, King Curtis, Ringo Starr
Producer: Phil Spector, John Lennon, Yoko Ono
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, 2003
1 CD
Catalogue #: 759
EAN: 0821797075923
UPC: 821797075923
You save: 20%
Personnel: John Lennon (vocals, guitar, piano); Yoko Ono (vocals); Joey Molland, Tom Evans, Rod Linton, Andy Cresswell-Davis (acoustic guitar); George Harrison (slide guitar, dobro); King Curtis (saxophone); Nicky Hopkins (piano); John Barham (vibraphone); Klaus Voormann, Steve Brendell (bass instrument); Jim Gordon, Jim Keltner, Alan White (drums); Mike Pinder (tambourine).
Recording information: Ascot Sound Studios, Ascot, England.
Considered together, IMAGINE and its startling predecessor, PLASTIC ONO BAND, paint a vivid picture of the state of John Lennon immediately post-Beatles. If PLASTIC ONO BAND found John working out his hitherto repressed feelings about childhood and stardom, then the abiding impression of IMAGINE is John's one certainty in this storm of doubts and recrimination: his love for Yoko. "Jealous Guy," with its peerless vocal and a spot-on arrangement for strings, is sublime. "Oh My Love" is all delicacy and melodiousness. "Oh Yoko!" is a celebratory finale with none of the cloying self-obsession of John and Yoko's home movies.
On two other songs where Yoko is not the dominant theme, she is nevertheless invoked through the "oh no, oh no" refrain. That's not to say that love songs predominate. Half of the material covers similar terrain to PLASTIC ONO BAND, but the themes are balanced by hope and even light-heartedness. "Crippled Inside" is leavened by its country stylings including Dobro, courtesy of George Harrison, who also spices up two of the album's pivotal tracks, "Gimme Some Truth" and "How Do You Sleep?" (the latter is a vitriolic attack on Paul McCartney). Outside of PLASTIC ONO BAND, this may be Lennon's finest solo album.
Tracklist
John Lennon
After exiting the Beatles, John Lennon cast off all artistic shackles and explored his muse fervently. Employing everything from primal screams to hard-rock minimalism, 1950s rock & roll, and plaintive balladry, Lennon simultaneously exorcised his personal demons and promoted a vision of utopian possibilities for the world's future. After a five-year retreat from the spotlight, during which he concentrated on raising his son Sean, John re-emerged with the striking comeback album DOUBLE FANTASY, on which he was aided, as ever, by his constant life/art companion Yoko Ono. Lennon's newly re-energized progress was tragically halted shortly after the album's release by the bullets of a crazed assassin's gun.
George Harrison
George Harrison was always a fluid guitarist, but his voice and his skills as a songwriter came to full flower in the post-touring years of the Beatles. He became the first from that defunct band to release a work that was justifiably hailed as a masterpiece, the epic ALL THINGS MUST PASS. With his passing in 2001, the rock world lost one of its most deeply spiritual voices, whose signature slide-guitar style and early experiments with incorporating Eastern influences into rock were enormously influential.
King Curtis
After cutting his teeth with Lionel Hampton's band, and lending his talents to various R&B sessions, sax player and band leader King Curtis hooked up with Atlantic Records, released his own excellent recordings, and became the leader of Aretha Franklin's backing band, producing and co-producing several of her finest albums. Playing buoyant, soulful instrumental versions of popular rock and soul tracks, Curtis was one of the few straight instrumentalists to find great success in the worlds of rock and R&B rather than jazz. One of the most influential sax players in rock history, Curtis was tragically murdered in New York City in 1971.
