The John Lennon Anthology [Box] - Lennon, John (CD 1998)

John Lennon is a man who has great musical talent and determination. From his peace efforts, to his beautiful songs, he has had a great impact on the entire world. This collection takes some of his best unreleased material and put it on 4 great CDs. Each one is a special "chapter" with one of Lennon s cartoons on the cover of each one. The first CD is called Ascot which is from 1969-1971, the time Lennon was living in a house in Ascot. The second CD is called New York City. It contains material from 1971-1973. The third CD is called The Lost Weekend, which has songs from 1973-1974 and one song from 1980. The material was recorded during Lennon s separation of over a year from his wife, Yoko Ono. The last CD named Dakota, contains recordings from the last years of Lennon s life, 1976-1980, during the time he was living in New York in the famous Dakota.

The collection also contains a 60 page book which contains commentary on each CD from Yoko Ono, some track information, and some great pictures of Lennon with Ono, Phil Spector, Elton John, Harry Nilsson, and his son, Sean. It s a great booklet with lots of interesting information.

Here s some highlights from each of the CDs:

~ CD 1: Ascot ~

Working Class Hero- The collection starts off with John in the studio recording the sad sounding Working Class Hero. He records it with acoustic guitar accompaniment. A plain sounding track, but very meaningful, and strong nonetheless.

Love- A home recording of the song with Lennon accompanying himself on the acoustic guitar. He flubs up at the beginning, but quickly gets back on track. The chords from the released version aren t all there yet, but Lennon s soft voice and great lyrics are all there. A beautiful, soft song.

Mother- A great song recorded in the studio with John s band. It s missing some important parts, since all we hear is drums, bass and John s guitar with vocals, but the song is still one of John s best.

Imagine (Take 1)- The collection really needs this song in order to make it a John Lennon anthology. Lennon s signature song is presented here in Take 1. Sounding much different from the original, it still needs some evolving to go through. One interesting addition is a vibraphone and an organ, playing many nice passages during the song. The song still starts with the instantly recognizable intro, with John s great vocals and meaningful lyrics. A classic.

Oh My Love- Right at the beginning, George Harrison does a count in (and messes up) to start one of my favorite Lennon songs. George is playing guitar, and John s on the piano. A beautiful, and simple melody makes this song so special.

Jealous Guy- The famous piano intro for this song starts an octave lower than normal, giving a neat feel to the song. This is a beautiful song, one of Lennon s best. His deep, expressive lyrics are great with his gentle voice. A Lennon masterpiece.

Maggie Mae- A home recording from Lennon in 1979. If you ve heard the Beatles album Let It Be this is the same song, except Lennon performs it with his acoustic guitar. A nice track.

I Don t Want To Be A Soldier- With a bit of studio chatter at the beginning, this amazing Lennon song from the album Imagine is presented here in a different kind of groove, with a more funky style than the straight-forward way presented on the album. An interesting change from the album.

Give Peace A Chance- Recorded at the same session as the released version of the song, John is here playing his acoustic guitar, and trying to teach some of the participants on the recording how to do an offbeat. A good track to show what happened before the famous song was recorded.

Ascot is a good CD to start off the anthology. The CD also contains a short dialogue called "Fortunately" in which John and Yoko have a little conversation, there s also the strong How Do You Sleep? presented in a plain, alternate version recorded in the studio, and a powerful song, Remember with Lennon pounding away at the keys on the piano.

~ CD 2: New York City ~

New York City- This home recording starts off the second CD. An interesting start, where you re not really sure where the beat starts at the beginning. Using the blues chord pattern, this is a great blues style song.

Imagine (live)- Performed live at the Apollo in 1971, this track has Lennon alone only with the accompaniment of his acoustic guitar. It s a very nice version, with some slight reverb giving a very nice feel and tone to the song. The audience enjoys this version, giving applauses from time to time. A nice change from the original.

Come Together (live)- This Beatles hit is performed live in New York s Madison Square Garden in 1972. A great and somewhat grungy style of the song, John sings it with his band (John actually accidentally sings "hairy ar**hole" by accident, it s a pretty funny mistake). This ending sounds a bit like a crash ending and Lennon s band seems to not exactly follow what he s doing, but a great live show nonetheless.

Happy Xmas- Another one of John Lennon s classics. Sung with the Harlem Community Choir, this is just a rough mix of the classic song everyone has come to know. An excellent song with a great chorus, it will instantly become a favorite.

Luck Of The Irish (live)- Performed live at Ann Harbor in 1971, this strong song about the rough life of the Irish is very impressive. Yoko Ono does sing in this song, but you are able to put up with it since she does sing in tune. A great song with a smooth, waltzing beat.

Mind Games (Make Love, Not War)- A beautiful home recording of one of Lennon s best. He is alone with his piano

Goodnight Vienna- The title track on one of Ringo Starr s album which John wrote. I like this song a lot, it has a good bumping beat, and a rocking good tempo.

Real Love- The main song from the Beatles Anthology: 2 is presented here is its full version, with Lennon, alone with his voice and the piano at home, recording this beautiful song. Lennon has not completed the second verse though. On the Beatles Anthology: 2, the Beatles reunite by means of tape, and use this song and add instruments to it. A great song.

Also on this CD is the very political Attica State performed live at the Apollo in 1971, and John Sinclair, a prisoner in isolation at the time of the song, is performed live at Ann Harbor in 1971. There is also the soft songs One Day At A Time and You Are Here. A very melodic CD filled with tons of Lennon s hits.

~ CD 3: The Lost Weekend ~

What You Got- This CD starts with John doing a soft home recording of a bluesy What You Got. A nice song, with Lennon accompanying himself on acoustic guitar.

Whatever Gets You Through The Night (home recording)- A home recording of Lennon s funky style hit. It sounds sort of like a rockabilly song, but the song goes though a whole evolution by the time of its release.

Whatever Gets You Through The Night (studio)- A huge difference from the home recording, with a cool, funky beat with John s band and a few cool bongos throughout. Unfortunately, missing the saxophone part. A nice song, even though it s a crash landing at the end with John trying to get everyone to stop after he yells it, it a great, partying track.

Be Bop A Lula- The good old classic is recorded here for Lennon s Rock n Roll album. He keeps a great amount of energy through the whole the song, and does a cool guitar solo at the same time. A cool song.

Rip it Up/ Ready Teddy- A Little Richard classic. A medley of 2 songs filled rippin fast energy and you could tell Lennon is just having fun doing one of the songs he grew up listening to. A fun, partying number.

Move Over Ms. L- A country style song, with a touch of blues in it. Lennon is having a ball with this song, doing some pretty cool solos with his guitar. It has a crash landing ending, but it doesn t matter since the stuff before it was great.

Slippin and Slidin - Another Little Richard favorite. John really gives it a ton of energy. The entire band is tight. One great part of this song is the great piano part. A

Peggy Sue- A famous Buddy Holly song. Lennon does a quick, fast version of this great fun song and as he says in the recording, "With tension, dynamics, fun and laughter for all." Which is exactly what John s band does. A rocking great cover.

This CD is great with its covers of rock n roll most famous songs. Lennon also does "Be My Baby, " Bring It On Home to Me/ Send Me Some Lovin ," and a very funny version of the classic "Ain t She Sweet." There s also 3 tracks of John having some chatter with the famous Phil Spector. It interesting, as they get into arguments sometimes, but it wasn t such a necessary part of the CD.

~ CD 4: Dakota ~

I m Losing You- The final CD starts with Lennon s blues number, I m Losing You. It presented in a somewhat plain version, but it still has a good blues feel to it. One of my favorite Lennon blues style numbers.

Nobody Told Me- A great Lennon classic. This one sounds very much like the original, except it sounds a bit more electric with its guitars which are easier to hear. A great, upbeat strong Lennon number.

Woman- Lennon is recording this song at home, with his usual guitar playing, except this time he has a rhythm box keeping a drum beat next to him. A great acoustic way of playing the song.

Dear Yoko- A fun Lennon song with a Caribbean touch to it, maybe even a bit pop. It s a nice sound, but still needs some more instruments in it. A great, fun song with John expressing his love for Yoko.

Watching The Wheels- A home recording of this Lennon song is presented here. Instead, of the usual piano intro, he sings this song with guitar. A very nice touch is added to the song with this version.

Borrowed Time- One of Lennon s most gentle and touching songs. With a funny intro dialogue, Lennon sings this home recording with his guitar once again. Even though it has a lot of material missing, it still has a great sound to it.

Beautiful Boy- A really famous Lennon song is presented here with a recording in the studio, sounding very much like the original, with a few instruments missing. A nice version, with John meaningful lyrics about his son Sean.

It s Real- The anthology ends with John whistling a nice little melody with his guitar. A nice tune, since you can imagine John walking through the park whistling a cute little tune.

The last CD is my favorite. It has several recorded touching moments of John having fun with his son Sean, showing the amount of fun he had with his son. The CD has 3 satire songs of John mimicking Bob Dylan s singing style, which is pretty amusing.

This whole collection is mainly for the person who has heard John Lennon s music. If you are not that familiar with Lennon s music, the tracks on this collection will not be that great, as there will be nothing to compare it to, and they will sound a bit plain, and boring. But there are those tracks which will get people off their seats and maybe even dancing. The sound quality on this album ranges from okay, to professional. The home recordings sound like they ve been fixed up to sound better.

Sometimes, I like to think, what would John Lennon be doing in the world if he was here today? He would continue his music for sure, his peace efforts, his message of love. It s a tremendous loss never to see the man again, this anthology shows some wonderful material he did during his unfortunate short life.