John Lennon - Lennon Legend: The Very Best Of John Lennon
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Free Music Notes for Lennon Legend: The Very Best Of John Lennon
Free Music Review: This CD "Passed the Audition"
Hit: 5 Stars
I know! You've heard these songs before. and are probably tired of all the "remastered" Greatest hits collections floating around. Frankly speaking, so am I. However, this CD is different, and here's why. "Shaved Fish" was the first (or, should I say, Apple) greatest hits package. This was released in 1975. Needless to say, "Shaved Fish" is outdated and terribly incomplete. Next we have the "Imagine" sound track collection which ventures back into John's Beatle days and includes songs like Revolution, Help, The Ballad of John and Yoko, etc. This Imagine sound track collection falls into the same trap that hurt the George Harrison Greatest hits collection back in 1976 -- It included too many Beatle numbers.
Well, the Lennon Legend avoids all the pitfalls of the past. For openers, it is timely. This CD covers John's Apple years as well as the Dakota period. This CD includes the very best John has to offer as a solo artist. No, you are not going to be treated to any of John's Beatle numbers on this CD.
The sound quality on these "remastered" tunes are absolutely outstanding. John's voice and the instrumentation never sounded better. Those of us who still have vinyl immediately notice the difference in sound quality.
I do have one complaint about this CD. The Imagine Sound Track collection included John's version of Real Love. Listening to John's version of Real Love, you would immediately notice that the version the "reunited" Beatles included in Anthology 2 is different then the direction John was going with this tune. The Lennon Legend CD should have included John's version of Real Love to make this collection truly complete.
As it stands, this CD is definitely a plus for any collection.
Free Music Review: "So long ago/Was it in a dream, was it just a dream..."
Hit: 5 Stars
If you ask me, the golden age of rock and roll started in 1965 when Bob Dylan went electric on Bringing It All Back Home and the Beatles expanded their sound on Rubber Soul and ended in 1980, when Led Zeppelin broke-up and John Lennon passed on. While Zeppelin kept hard rock ablaze after Cream, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and the Doors all became history, Mr. Lennon kept rock's intellectual nature alive after the burnout or shift in focus of various 60s songwriters. Mr. Lennon's solo songs meant so much to rock music. He was the first songwriter to so fearlessly dive into the grimiest of social and personal issues on tracks like "Mother," "Working Class Hero" and "Cold Turkey." With songs such as "Imagine," "Instant Karma," "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" and "Power to the People" he set the tone for the genre's sense of idealism after the dissolution of the hippie dream. Latter classics such as "(Just Like) Starting Over," "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" and "Nobody Told Me" showed that rock could settle into middle age with dignity and vitality. When Mr. Lennon was tragically murdered in December of 1980, the very soul of rock music was lost forever just as its sparkling fierceness never fully survived Led Zeppelin's break up in the same month (Listen to a majority of 80s metal for confirmation). There have been enjoyable moments since (I thoroughly enjoyed the rise of alternative rock and the reformation of the careers of Leonard Cohen, Neil Young and Bob Dylan), yet the fire of rock and roll was never more alive and the possibilities never seemed as endless as they did during those glorious sixteen years. Lennon Legend is an excellent collection of some of the most wonderful contributions John Lennon, as a solo artist, added to that magical era.Free Music Review: A Great Sampler
Hit: 5 Stars
"Lennon Legend" replaces the now out-of-print "John Lennon Collection," making a few improvements over the latter. "Collection" took most of the material from John's first compilation, "Shaved Fish," and added nearly all of John's material from "Double Fantasy" (mercifully leaving out the Yoko Ono noise, as does "Legend"). It left out the relatively non-essential "Woman Is The Nigger Of The World" from "Shaved Fish," but unfortunately had the glaring omission of "Mother" from John's first solo album, "Plastic Ono Band.""Lennon Legend" partly remedies this by adding an abbreviated version of "Mother". It leaves out two tracks from "Double Fantasy," "I'm Losing You" and "Dear Yoko." It also omits the rare B-side "Move Over Ms. L," which was included on the CD version of "Collection" but not on the original LP release. Thus, if you have or can find "Collection," it's worth keeping.
"Legend" also adds two numbers from the now out-of-print "Milk And Honey," the hit "Nobody Told Me" and "Borrowed Time," plus "Working Class Hero" from "Plastic Ono Band."
Basically, "Legend" is a great introduction to John Lennon's solo career, and is the best compilation by far. Any but the most casual Lennon fan should own "Plastic Ono Band" and "Imagine," and of course his work with the Beatles, but only the more hard-core fan would need any of his solo work that's not included in one of those two or "Legend."
Free Music Review: Fine collection omits key tracks
Hit: 5 Stars
This is probably the best place to become acquainted with Lennon's solo work. His recording career after the Beatles was uneven and had more than its share of poorly realized or average songs. Yoko Ono doesn't strip Lennon's career to the bare bones of singles; instead she also concentrates on key album tracks from each of his strongest albums. While in theory that makes for a great collection, a better collection would also have included a couple of Lennon's b sides or even some of the tracks from Menlove Ave (the Walls & Bridges stuff from Menlove are superior to some of the over orchestrated stuff on that album).One quibble with Yoko and the credits. It's true Paul McCartney had nothing to do with writing Give Peace A Chance but it's petty to remove his name. McCartney wanted to have his name before John's on Yesterday and one or two other key songs that Lennon had nothing to do with. He sought Yoko's permission to do this (and note he wasn't going to have John's name removed). She said no which ticked off McCartney who, in turn, ticked off Yoko by not inviting her to Linda's church memorial. The result probably was that Yoko elected to remove Paul's from GPAC. Again, it's truthful but petty and it would have been only fair to agree to Paul's request as well. It seems the pettiness goes on within the Beatles camp. One good thing at least they talk to each other (even if it is to disagree).
Regardless, this doesn't influence the enjoyment of this fine CD. I'd recommend this along with Wonsaponatime (the single disc anthology outtakes compilation). It gives a better overview of Lennon than either disc by itself does.
Free Music Review: not all his best but his most pop
Hit: 5 Stars
ok heres yet another lennon best of.his best of albums are way better than the other 3 beatles solo stuff.not that thiers is bad,his is just better.starting out is "imagine".the song that crystalizes johns dream for the world.40,000 radio stations across america play this song all at once on his birthday,october 9th.2nd theres "instant karma".you might remember it from a shoe commercial.the harrowing and heart wreanching "mother" is next.a very emotional song,the kind lennon was a master at writing.then theres "jealous guy".another pretty song.it was on "look whos talking 2".then theres the hippie rant "power to the people".another unrelenting sad song in "cold turkey" comes on next.its about his battle with heroin.i heard he had yoko tie him to a chair for 3 days to beat the addiction.nexy is one of the all time prettiest love songs in history called simply "love"."mind games" is a silly love song for yoko.a coiple of fillers then a cover of "stand by me".he does it better than the original i think.but with him being a musical genius and all you can get those kind of effects.a couple more ditties for yoko come and go."woman" is good from his last album.then one for his baby boy sean called "beautiful boy".its quite endearing and special.yet another song about karma comes up on "watching the wheels"."nobody told me" is funny.filler then "working class hero",very hurt on this one,its sad.ozzy osbourne ,also a musical genius,covered it.then one of my top 10 favorite xmas songs with"happy xmas war is over".then the last song is fittingly enough,"give peace a chance".