John Lennon Album: «John Lennon Anthology»

Album information

Customers rating: (4.7 of 5)
Title:John Lennon Anthology
Release date:1998-11-03
Type:Audio CD
Label:Capitol
UPC:724383061426

Customers rating

Average (4.7 of 5)(102 votes)
.82 votes
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Track listing

1 - 1 Working Class Heroimg 3:48
1 - 2 Godimg 4:12
1 - 3 I Found Outimg 3:38
1 - 4 Hold Onimg 1:53
1 - 5 Isolationimg 2:53
1 - 6 Loveimg 3:21
1 - 7 Motherimg 5:38
1 - 8 Rememberimg 4:37
1 - 9 Imagineimg 3:54
1 - 10'Fortunately'
1 - 11Baby Please Don't Go
1 - 12 Oh My Loveimg 2:47
1 - 13 Jealous Guy John Lennon and Plastic Ono Bandimg 4:16
1 - 14Maggie Mae
1 - 15 How Do You Sleep?img 5:40
1 - 16God Save Oz
1 - 17Do The Oz
1 - 18I DonÃt Want To Be A Soldier
1 - 19 Give Peace a Chance John Lennon and Plastic Ono Bandimg 4:56
1 - 20 Look At Meimg 3:02
1 - 21Long Lost John
2 - 1 New York City John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Plastic Ono Bandimg 4:32
2 - 2 Attica State John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Plastic Ono Bandimg 2:57
2 - 3 Imagineimg 3:54
2 - 4Bring On The Lucie (Explicit)
2 - 5 Woman is the Nigger of the Worldimg 6:02
2 - 6Geraldo Rivera - One To One Concert
2 - 7 Woman is the Nigger of the Worldimg 6:02
2 - 8 It's So Hardimg 2:30
2 - 9 Come Togetherimg 4:01
2 - 10 Happy Xmas John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Plastic Ono Band and The Harlem Community Choir3:30
2 - 11 Luck Of The Irishimg 3:42
2 - 12 John Sinclair John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Plastic Ono Bandimg 3:32
2 - 13The David Frost Show
2 - 14Mind Games (I Promise)
2 - 15Mind Games (Make Love, Not War)
2 - 16 One Day (At A Time)img 3:11
2 - 17I Know (Explicit)
2 - 18I'm The Greatest
2 - 19Goodnight Vienna
2 - 20Jerry Lewis Telethon
2 - 21A Kiss Is Just A Kiss
2 - 22 Real Loveimg 4:57
2 - 23 You Are Hereimg 4:02
3 - 1 What You Gotimg 3:09
3 - 2 Nobody Loves You (When You're Down And Out)img 5:12
3 - 3Whatever Gets You Through The Night (Home) (Explicit)
3 - 4Whatever Gets You Through The Night (Studio) (Explicit)
3 - 5Yesterday (Parody)
3 - 6 Be Bop A Lula2:38
3 - 7Rip It Up / Ready Teddy
3 - 8 Scared John Lennon and Little Big Hornsimg 4:42
3 - 9 Steel And Glass John Lennon and Little Big Hornsimg 4:40
3 - 10 Surprise, Surprise (Sweet Bird Of Paradox) Elton John, John Lennon, Little Big Horns and Lolly & Stanimg 2:56
3 - 11 Bless Youimg 4:40
3 - 12 Going Down On Love John Lennon and Little Big Hornsimg 3:58
3 - 13 Move Over Ms. L2:53
3 - 14AinÃt She Sweet
3 - 15SlippinÃ And Slidin'
3 - 16 Peggy Sueimg 2:06
3 - 17Bring It On Home To Me / Send Me Some Lovin'
3 - 18Phil And John 1
3 - 19Phil And John 2
3 - 20Phil And John 3
3 - 21'When In Doubt, Fuck It'
3 - 22Be My Baby
3 - 23Stranger's Room
3 - 24 Old Dirt Roadimg 4:12
4 - 1 I'm Losing You John Lennon and Yoko Onoimg 3:56
4 - 2Sean's 'Little Help'
4 - 3Serve Yourself
4 - 4My Life
4 - 5 Nobody Told Me John Lennon and Yoko Onoimg 3:35
4 - 6Life Begins At 40
4 - 7 I Don't Wanna Face It John Lennon and Yoko Onoimg 3:22
4 - 8 Womanimg 3:34
4 - 9 Dear Yokoimg 2:35
4 - 10 Watching The Wheels John Lennon and Yoko Onoimg 3:32
4 - 11 I'm Stepping Out John Lennon and Yoko Onoimg 4:08
4 - 12 Borrowed Time John Lennon and Yoko Onoimg 4:32
4 - 13The Rishi Kesh Song
4 - 14Sean's 'Loud'
4 - 15Beautiful Boy
4 - 16Mr. Hyde's Gone (Don't Be Afraid)
4 - 17 Only Youimg 3:27
4 - 18 Grow Old With Me John Lennon and Yoko Onoimg 3:10
4 - 19Dear John
4 - 20The Great Wok
4 - 21Mucho Mungo
4 - 22Satire 1
4 - 23Satire 2
4 - 24Satire 3
4 - 25Sean's "In The Sky"
4 - 26It's Real (Explicit)1:02

Review - Product Description

Imagine 100 unreleased tracks by John Lennon! Compiled by Yoko Ono, the set also includes a 60-page booklet full of previously unpublished photos and drawings by John. The first CD, "Ascot," looks at the British solo days of the Plastic Ono Band and Imagine . Disc two, "New York City," covers the early Gotham days and includes unreleased songs like I'm the Greatest and Luck of the Irish . "The Lost Weekend" documents John's dissolute, late-'70s years in LA with a demo of Whatever Gets You Through the Night ; and unreleased tunes like Move Over Ms. L . And "Dakota," the fourth disc, includes juicy bits like John's parodies of Bob Dylan ( Serve Yourself ) and George Harrison ( The Rishi Kesh Song ). The musical diary of an extraordinary man.

Review - Amazon.com

The story The John Lennon Anthology tells--that of the questing former Beatle who took five years off to raise his son before returning with an album of peaceful reflections on the househusband life--isn't new, but for all its monumental status, it does help bring Lennon into focus again as a person and a musician. Since his murder in 1980, Lennon-the-man-of-peace has too often obscured the rocker, the dad, the flawed human being in the public consciousness. While this massive stock of odds and ends--studio outtakes and chatter, live and alternate versions, demos--is necessarily diffuse, it does a great service. It restores the iconic Lennon to normal size.

Some of the set's most striking moments come at its beginning, in eight previously unreleased takes of songs that filled most of 1970's Plastic Ono Band. One of rock's most uncompromised albums, it found him angry, sad, and reflective to bursting. The tapes included on Anthology, though, feature a Lennon who, if not happy, is fully in his element--making rock & roll. Even as he's making dry runs for exorcising demons, he's still the guy who fell for the music as a Liverpool teenager; on an early, shuffling version of "Hold On," he leads his guitar line into the main riff of Bill Doggett's "Honky Tonk."

Elsewhere, we get long looks at the fits and starts of Lennon's years as a solo artist and as part of a duo with Yoko Ono. He slips from the grace of "Imagine" and "It's So Hard" into the raw polemics and lousy rhymes of "John Sinclair" and "Attica State." (Contrary to a stage announcement preceding the latter, it's not this failed anthem that has ensured the ongoing memory of the prison massacre.)

The honesty of Lennon's vocals throughout his career is often commented on, and they provide some of the greatest treasure here. Whether an alternate of the pained 1974 "Nobody Loves You When You're Down and Out," the joyfully full-on rocking of "Be Bop a Lula" and "Move Over Ms. L," or a gorgeous "Be My Baby," it's the voice that's the window to this man's soul. We also see how pained he was at his temporary separation from Yoko, as he even inserts a line of "Jealous Guy" into the demo for the rollicking "Whatever Gets You Through the Night" and abashed pleads for "one more chance" on a similar tape of "Mind Games."

Finally, there are the many moments of good humor--the outlines of "I'm the Greatest" and "Goodnight Vienna" for Ringo, the loose-as-a-goose "Be Bop a Lula"--and pleasingly bad, like "Serve Yourself," a snipe at Dylan's born-again phase, or some battling studio exchanges with a Phil Spector crazed enough to drive anyone out of the business for half a decade. Anthology is flawed, but its wide-ranging picture of Lennon's post-Beatles years is that of someone you'd love to have spent some time with. --Rickey Wright

Customer review

Thomas Magnum (NJ, USA)

April 10, 2001

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

- The Other Side Of John Lennon

At first glance, The John Lennon Anthology appears to be another box set with hit best known songs along with a few live performances and outtakes. But the set is actually made up entirely of alternate versions of his best known songs with some live songs and outtakes sprinkled in. The results are interesting and intriguing. Many of the songs are featured in stripped down, bare-bones forms, with just a piano or guitar and you get an inside look at the creative process of a legend. The Plastic Ono Band songs like "Working Class Hero", "God" and "Mother" are even starker and rawer than their released versions. You get to hear some of his highly politically charged live concerts from the early 70's like the Free John Sinclair shows. Some of the more interesting songs include his original demo of "Real Love" which later was re-recorded by the three remaining Beatles for the Anthology series, songs from the Mind Game sessions and his later Double Fantasy work like "Nobody Told Me" and a stripped down, guitar and drum machine take of "Woman" which is absolutely breathtaking. The last disk contains some great moments like Mr. Lennon goofing around with Beatles songs (lightly mocking Paul McCartney in some) and his young son Sean is featured singing as well. The four cd's are broken up in chronological order and the entire package is well done. Each cd is encased in a beautiful package containing artwork by Mr. Lennon and the set's booklet contains more art and great photos. This set is for John Lennon fanatics of every age and well worth the price.

Customer review

Annie Van Auken (Planet Earth)

February 17, 2007

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

- Hold that line... hold that line... hold that line....

This album presents the potential purchaser with an imaginary line. Whether or not you should buy ANTHOLOGY really depends upon which side of that line you're on. For completists, LENNON * ANTHOLOGY is a godsend or revelation; for the casual fan, this collection is a jumbled rough-cut head-scratcher. If you don't own all of John's solo albums, you probably won't want this one.

More so than the BEATLES ANTHOLOGY series, this set is replete with fragments, false starts, incomplete demos, slight or off-key vocals and silly chatter. If John was still alive, he never would have released most of this stuff, and with good reason. There's something to be said for specifically detailed Last Wills.

TOTAL RUNNING TIMES --

DISC ONE (Astor) -- 65:41

DISC TWO (New York City) -- 65:01

DISC THREE (The Lost Weekend) -- 63:25

DISC 4 (Dakota) -- 72:52

Customer review

Fred Wemyss (Actual Name) (Huntington, NY United States)

January 28, 2003

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

- The Secure Lennon

John Lennon said in one or two interviews that the best performances the Beatles ever gave went unrecorded. By the same token, the outtakes, rehearsals and demos which make up most of the JOHN LENNON ANTHOLOGY are more to the point than almost any of the official solo recordings released during his lifetime.

This four-disc powerhouse set demonstrates what John Lennon could do when he didn't have to polish his work. When he was laying down a rehearsal track or a demo he was singing for himself. The horn-section which drowns the ROCK 'N' ROLL album is not heard on the outtakes of "Bring It On Home To Me" and "Rip It Up." They rock, and that's something the finished ROCK 'N' ROLL album did not.

"I'm Losing You," in its rehearsal stage, with guitars and drums tuned to a high temperature, blows away the timorous version which made it onto DOUBLE FANTASY.

The JOHN LENNON ANTHOLOGY is not merely better than the so-called finished product; it's more sincere. The best moment might be a live performance of "Imagine" at the Apollo. It's with a guitar instead of a piano and it's in front of an audience Lennon couldn't help but respect. There's not a hint of disappointment in his voice.

I think Lennon hated a finished product. In rehearsal he could be boisterous, humorous and impassioned. He could gauge a live audience instantly. He could be himself in rehearsal and he was in command in front of an audience. Because this boxed set is made up of live performances and unvarnished tracks, an unusually relaxed and confident Lennon is revealed.

Customer review

Amazon user

October 09, 1999

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

- Happy 59th, John!

As the title reads, today would've been John's 59th birthday. This CD set is more for the diehard Lennon fans than casual ones (I'm a diehard fan, which is why I gave this one 5 stars). It starts out with "Working Class Hero" (which seems to ring true even now). It's a treat to hear the members of Cheap Trick backing John up on "I'm Losing You". John was always known for his sense of humor, sometimes gentle like on "In The Sky", sometimes silly like on "The Great Wok" and "Life Begins at 40", and often cruel, like on "Serve Yourself", "Satires 1-3", (both slam Dylan)"Yesterday Parody", and "Rishikesh" (the last 2 slam Paul and George. Ringo is the only Beatle not slammed on this set!). "I'm the Greatest" sounds great, too bad Paul was missing! George Martin does a beautiful job with his one-of-a-kind orchestration on "Grow Old with Me" (I'm sure Mr. Lennon would be honored!). It's funny hearing John and Phil at each other's throats! Finally, if you're curious as to how "Real Love" sounded without overdubs, it's on here, too. I know Yoko Ono takes a lot of heat, but I'd like to offer her some well-deserved thanks for approving this set!

Customer review

J. L. Cook "jcook1702" (Johnstown, NY USA)

January 21, 2007

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

- Why did I wait so long?

I've looked at this set for many years, but never could bring myself to pay the premium price for it. I finally gave in and bought it and I'm really glad I did.

It's a fantastic set, both in content and packaging. It's refreshing to hear different versions of the songs we're all used to hearing. And there's plenty of music that I had not heard previously.

Overall, the sound quality is very good, but some songs do suffer the limitation of being home recordings but are still very listenable. I actually prefer John's solo "Real Love" over the doctored up Beatles version.

I could have done without Sean's contributions, but as he was an important part of John's life, I can accept them.

Like Johnny Cash's "Personal File" this is an intimate look at the performer; kind of like having him sitting in your living room and playing a private concert just for you.

Yoko often gets criticized for her handling of John's material, but this is a quality offering in every respect and shows us John the Man vs. John the Beatle.

Highly recommended.