John Lennon – Imagine

Can anyone tell me why these blu-ray discs are still being produced at all - they're really old news! Why don't they burn the sound on SACDs or similar? It's also out, but so what? To be honest, I don't even have a Blu-ray player, and now to buy a device that is actually no longer produced... Come on! I don't get it...

With the variety of reissues, remasters and tweaking that’s been going on in music as of late, especially with the brilliant work done by Steve Hoffman on the Steely Dan albums, methinks it might be better to begin with the negative aspects first. Those aspects would revolve around the amount of material delivered here, where what I was hoping for was simply an actual ‘better’ mix of the songs, not nearly five versions of each track, totally around sixty-one in all.

Granted, most listens today weren’t around nearly fifty years ago when this Lennon’s album Imagine was released, meaning that those of us who were will probably hear the difference in quality immediately. Yet the powers that be have loaded an over abundance of material on the world, everything from the original mono recordings, to outtakes, to explorative recordings. The question that keeps circling in my head is ”Why?” Of course this additional material is fun, perhaps once, leaving me to feel that someone somewhere is trying to convince me of the brilliance and value for owning this collection, though I tell you, as Lennon himself sings, ”Just give me the truth …,” just give me the album, allow me to be the judge. And for those of you who weren’t there then, that material is all easy enough to find if you wish to make side by side comparisons.

The hype goes as such: A truly unique expanded edition of one of the most iconic albums of all time. This new edition takes us on incredibly personal journey through the entire songwriting and recording process - from the very first writing and demo sessions at John's home studio at Tittenhurst Park through to the final co-production with Phil Spector - providing a remarkable testament of the lives of John Lennon and Yoko Ono in their own words. Super Deluxe version includes 4 CDs (new stereo mix, outtakes, raw studio recordings, track-by-track) and 2 Blu-rays (5.1 surround mixes, HD audio, Elements mixes, Elliot Minz audio documentary). Imagine: The Ultimate Collection (CD) (Includes Blu-ray)

There’s absolutely no way to enjoy these new mixes without dropping the old material and burning your own disc of the Ultimate Mixes only. There are a number of things that could have been done … the Ultimate Mixes could have been packaged and housed in a lovingly created small box (about the size of a CD case) laced with super images, liner notes, lyrics and filled treats that would actually make the outing a sparkling listening experience. Now that’s something I cold get behind. Instead we’re given a vinyl album size collection filled with six compact discs and a large book (which is cool), though the issue is, most people have no where to store such collections, nor for the most part do they want them, with large box-like things always getting trampled and crushed underfoot or while storing. Of course there’s the ultimate ultimate box set that includes much of this on black and clear vinyl. So, you’re going to have to decide how happy or how sad you are with the package. Me? I would have been delighted with the aforementioned box I described, or perhaps simply a reissue of the LP as a gatefold on light blue vinyl with a full sized booklet; after all, at the end of the day its all about the music.

Now the good news, and it’s sad that good news doesn’t take up as much space. The new mixes sound great, every fan should take a listen as I’m hearing instruments I’d not heard on the original release, though if these are newly added or simply brought front and center I can not attest to, yet they do sound great, with the entire remix of the formal album sounding more vast, spacious and unrestricted. I imagine that sooner or later I’ll be afforded the opportunity of these new mixes as a vinyl package only, and that I’m sure most people like myself, those of us who were there then, will I’ll jump on.

Please, music is supposed to be fun, it’s not a history lesson of the times, I’ll give that to you in reviews, where as I’ve suggested, in reality one doesn’t want a massive collection such as this … as good as it is, it’s for the hardcore collector only, I’m not shelling out nearly $100 (my copy slid under the door as a promotional item) when all I actually wish is the original album cleaned up and tweaked to perfection. Truth be told, there’s something about the original album that has stood the test of time for me. I can remember when stereo sound stepped front and center, when mono was consider irrelevant, when Elvis Presley’s original mono recordings were converted to stereo and they tossed out with the trash, only to be saved from the dumpster, and now stand as a shining light for the brilliance of setting up a mono studio recoding space and the resolve of that sound, an art that has nearly been forgotten.

So yes, this is a huge boxed set, an yes, the new sound quality is sensational, and it’s not that outrageously priced, yet in the end, when all is said and done, there are but ten songs that I want out of the sixty-one, from this Lennon’s second album originally released in September of 1971, an album that was already more heavily produced and raw than John’s initial outing, one where his old bandmate George Harrison joins him, where at the time of the original release, Rolling Stone magazine suggested that the album was overly produced, yet sparse, infused with some good material, though Lennon’s posturing would soon make him irrelevant.

There’s a lot here, a lot to love, a lot to dislike and mistrust. It’s going to take me several weeks to shake it all out, though most likely, it’s only those ten remastered tracks that will hold my attention, meaning, the remastered songs rate 5 Stars, the entire package merely 3.

Review by Jenell Kesler