John Lennon Remixed and Remastered

John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band's 1971 album Imagine has now been remixed and remastered at Abbey Road Studios in London, supervised by Yoko Ono, and will be reissued in a new version on vinyl, CD, and cassette by Capitol Records on March 28. The re-release precedes the April 11 release of a behind-the-scenes DVD documentary, Gimme Some Truth—The Making of John Lennon's Imagine Album, which attempts to examine the creative process that took place at Lennon's home recording studio during the legendary 1971 sessions.

At the beginning of Gimme Some Truth, Yoko Ono explains that "it was Ascot, England, early summer, and we just kind of said, 'Why not, okay, let's do it,' and we invited some friends and we had breakfast, and then we'd just go right into the studio. So it was really like home-cooking, and that's how Imagine was made. But we didn't know it was going to be that big."

The Imagine album, which went to #1 on the Billboard charts, is still considered by many to be the ultimate representation of John Lennon's talents as an artist, singer, songwriter, musician, and producer. The reissue retains the album's original track listing: "Imagine," "Crippled Inside," "Jealous Guy," "It's So Hard," "I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier Mamma I Don't Wanna Die," "Gimme Some Truth," "Oh My Love," "How Do You Sleep?," "How?," and "Oh Yoko!" Also included is a 16-page booklet with full lyrics (including Lennon's handwritten lyrics to "How Do You Sleep?") and rare photographs from the Lennon-Ono archives.

Musicians for the Imagine sessions included: John Lennon on piano, guitar, and vocals; George Harrison on guitar; Nicky Hopkins on piano; Klaus Voorman on bass and guitar; and Jim Keltner and Alan White on drums. Numerous other musicians are listed in the album track credits, including: King Curtis on saxophone; Mike Pinder (Moody Blues) on tambourine; Jim Gordon on drums; Joey Molland and Tommy Evans (Badfinger) on guitars; and, of course, the ubiquitous Phil Spector.

The 63-minute film, produced and directed by Andrew Solt and with Yoko Ono as executive producer, was edited from 16mm film footage shot by John and Yoko and hidden from public view for nearly three decades. Capitol says the DVD version will contain a stereo soundtrack and a 5.1-channel surround-sound mix plus approximately 40 minutes of unique audio/visual interview material recorded at the time of the album sessions, as well as an album discography enabling the listener to hear a sample of one track per album.

"The film covers a lot of ground," claims a press release, "from priceless demo rehearsal sessions in Ascot to a madcap bookstore autographing session for Yoko's Grapefruit; from John leading a peace march down city streets, brandishing a bullhorn beneath a poster for his and Yoko's subsequent single, "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)," to a confrontation at John's front door with a vagabond hippie who is taken in and fed; from the kitchen breakfast that started it all to a gala party at Ascot shot by noted avant-garde independent filmmaker Jonas Mekas, capturing such notables as Jack Nicholson and Andy Warhol, while John plays basketball with Miles Davis in the driveway."

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