John Lennon Songs

The Waiting Trophy Man

lolobugg said:

The Waiting Trophy Man said:

By the way, some of the songs aren't studio versions. I have the John Lennon Anthology box set from 1998, as well as the Lennon Signature Box (Remastered) so lots of different versions of songs. Also, Double Fantasy Stripped Down and John Lennon - Acoustic. Yeah, I'm kind of a big fan . I also own a 4 disc box set from 1990 that they stopped selling when the Anthology set was released. Plus the John Lennon Collection, as well as studio albums.

Some examples from the playlist:

'Remember' is a studio outtake from the Signature set.
Whatever Gets You Through the a night is an early studio version from Anthology. It's very "poppy" and minus the saxophone. Very cool version.
'Dear Yoko' is an acoustic version from the 'John Lennon - Acoustic' album. Such a cool song.
(Just Like) Starting Over and Watching the Wheels are stripped down versions from - you guessed it - Double Fantasy a stripped Down.
'Grow Old With Me' is from Anthology and has strings added by George Martin, the Beatles' producer.

That 1990 4 disc box is awesome. got it as a trade in when I worked at a record store in college. that is basically my bible. it's got almost everything from the solo years. The 1998 anthology got me thru some tough times. l love hearing his voice stripped of all the reverb/delay in the demo forms. so raw and powerful.

Lennon is basically my religion. I used to listen to him or the Beatles every Sunday.

Very cool. And I agree with the religion comment. I've listened to the Beatles/John Lennon since I was 15, so more than half my life. Pearl Jam came along when I was 16, so......

This is the time of year I listen to John the most. Every year. October to December. It's just tradition, like Christmas music. I'm listening to him right now

PJ_Soul

The Waiting Trophy Man said:

PJ_Soul said:

My personal faves are Imagine, Watching the Wheels, and Gimme Some Truth (coming from someone who definitely could not be classified as a Lennon "fan".... I'm generally fairly indifferent about his work. I like him (who doesn't?), but don't particularly care much (so far... maybe sometime down the road I'll finally hit my Lennon phase, lol. I already started and ended my Beatles phase years ago, but Lennon still hasn't hit, lol). But i love those 3 songs in particular a lot).

Just start from the beginning and make your way through his catalogue. Start with Plastic Ono Band and go from there. Instant Karma! and Cold Turkey, too. All I am saying is give John a chance!

Well i picked up an original copy of Imagine at the record store today (mint poster inside! - $7.99!), so there's a start. Probably wouldn't have decided to buy it if not for this thread, so thanks everyone - I'm spinning it right now and really enjoying it

MedozK

PJ_Soul said:

The Waiting Trophy Man said:

PJ_Soul said:

My personal faves are Imagine, Watching the Wheels, and Gimme Some Truth (coming from someone who definitely could not be classified as a Lennon "fan".... I'm generally fairly indifferent about his work. I like him (who doesn't?), but don't particularly care much (so far... maybe sometime down the road I'll finally hit my Lennon phase, lol. I already started and ended my Beatles phase years ago, but Lennon still hasn't hit, lol). But i love those 3 songs in particular a lot).

Just start from the beginning and make your way through his catalogue. Start with Plastic Ono Band and go from there. Instant Karma! and Cold Turkey, too. All I am saying is give John a chance!

Well i picked up an original copy of Imagine at the record store today (mint poster inside! - $7.99!), so there's a start. Probably wouldn't have decided to buy it if not for this thread, so thanks everyone - I'm spinning it right now and really enjoying it

Great album. Now go find you a copy of Plastic Ono Band

PJ_Soul

MedozK said:

PJ_Soul said:

The Waiting Trophy Man said:

PJ_Soul said:

My personal faves are Imagine, Watching the Wheels, and Gimme Some Truth (coming from someone who definitely could not be classified as a Lennon "fan".... I'm generally fairly indifferent about his work. I like him (who doesn't?), but don't particularly care much (so far... maybe sometime down the road I'll finally hit my Lennon phase, lol. I already started and ended my Beatles phase years ago, but Lennon still hasn't hit, lol). But i love those 3 songs in particular a lot).

Just start from the beginning and make your way through his catalogue. Start with Plastic Ono Band and go from there. Instant Karma! and Cold Turkey, too. All I am saying is give John a chance!

Well i picked up an original copy of Imagine at the record store today (mint poster inside! - $7.99!), so there's a start. Probably wouldn't have decided to buy it if not for this thread, so thanks everyone - I'm spinning it right now and really enjoying it

Great album. Now go find you a copy of Plastic Ono Band

Baby steps! .... just dipping my toe in to test the water right now, lol!

The Waiting Trophy Man

I concur - get Plastic Ono Band. It's much darker than 'Imagine' and you need to be in the right mood for it. Alone, with headphones and your eyes closed is the best way to listen to it.

Like anyone who knows this album will tell you - it's very stripped down and basic. Most tracks are 3 instruments: Piano(either John, or Billy Preston), bass(Klaus Voorman) and drums(Ringo!). Sometimes it's even simpler than that, like just acoustic guitar(Working Class Hero) or acoustic guitar and piano(Love), which Phil Spector plays beautifully(piano).

The vocals are raw and powerful. No studio trickery, as he liked to do with the Beatles - Just straight from the back-of-the-throat vocals. And no one sings like Lennon. Before or since. No one could write like him, either.

You'll hear early hints of punk rock on this record, too(I Found Out and Well, Well, Well).

'God' is one of the most mind-blowing songs you will ever hear. It's even more powerful than 'Imagine,' in my opinion. In 'Imagine' he sings "imagine there's no heaven," and here he just comes out and says he doesn't believe in God. I imagine it was pretty shocking stuff to hear back in 1970.

I have the Classic Albums DVD for this album and just watched it again over the weekend. Brilliant. And of course I recommend it too, lol.

Keep us posted! : )

lolobugg

The Waiting Trophy Man said:

I concur - get Plastic Ono Band. It's much darker than 'Imagine' and you need to be in the right mood for it. Alone, with headphones and your eyes closed is the best way to listen to it.

Like anyone who knows this album will tell you - it's very stripped down and basic. Most tracks are 3 instruments: Piano(either John, or Billy Preston), bass(Klaus Voorman) and drums(Ringo!). Sometimes it's even simpler than that, like just acoustic guitar(Working Class Hero) or acoustic guitar and piano(Love), which Phil Spector plays beautifully(piano).

The vocals are raw and powerful. No studio trickery, as he liked to do with the Beatles - Just straight from the back-of-the-throat vocals. And no one sings like Lennon. Before or since. No one could write like him, either.

You'll hear early hints of punk rock on this record, too(I Found Out and Well, Well, Well).

'God' is one of the most mind-blowing songs you will ever hear. It's even more powerful than 'Imagine,' in my opinion. In 'Imagine' he sings "imagine there's no heaven," and here he just comes out and says he doesn't believe in God. I imagine it was pretty shocking stuff to hear back in 1970.

I have the Classic Albums DVD for this album and just watched it again over the weekend. Brilliant. And of course I recommend it too, lol.

Keep us posted! : )

^ could not have said it any better than this.....
probably my favorite album of all time.....
one of the most honest things ever committed to tape...
the blueprint for a lot of "grunge"/heart on your sleeve lyricists like Vedder/Kobain/Corgan

PJ_Soul

Okay, okay!! )
Listening to Plastic Ono Band right now on YouTube. So far so good. Very nice - so far love it .... The intro reminds me of The Exorcist, haha.

lolobugg

PJ_Soul said:

Okay, okay!! )
Listening to Plastic Ono Band right now on YouTube. So far so good. Very nice - so far love it .... The intro reminds me of The Exorcist, haha.

hey, hope you are listening thru some good speakers.
you'll enjoy it even more. I recommend vinyl. (of course)
sorry for coming across like some zealous missionary.

PJ_Soul

lolobugg said:

PJ_Soul said:

Okay, okay!! )
Listening to Plastic Ono Band right now on YouTube. So far so good. Very nice - so far love it .... The intro reminds me of The Exorcist, haha.

hey, hope you are listening thru some good speakers.
you'll enjoy it even more. I recommend vinyl. (of course)
sorry for coming across like some zealous missionary.

Lol. Well of course vinyl is best, but I need to just give it a listen to make sure I even want it before getting the record (now having listened to half of it, I do plan on getting the record once I find one for cheap). For consumer testing purposes, youtube through earbuds on my computer in my office will do the trick, lol. The great sound comes later.

lolobugg

PJ_Soul said:

lolobugg said:

PJ_Soul said:

Okay, okay!! )
Listening to Plastic Ono Band right now on YouTube. So far so good. Very nice - so far love it .... The intro reminds me of The Exorcist, haha.

hey, hope you are listening thru some good speakers.
you'll enjoy it even more. I recommend vinyl. (of course)
sorry for coming across like some zealous missionary.

Lol. Well of course vinyl is best, but I need to just give it a listen to make sure I even want it before getting the record (now having listened to half of it, I do plan on getting the record once I find one for cheap). For consumer testing purposes, youtube through earbuds on my computer in my office will do the trick, lol. The great sound comes later.

I dig it.
Lennon sounds good on anything really. >-

The Waiting Trophy Man

lolobugg said:

^ could not have said it any better than this.....
probably my favorite album of all time.....
one of the most honest things ever committed to tape...
the blueprint for a lot of "grunge"/heart on your sleeve lyricists like Vedder/Kobain/Corgan

There's no album like it. And you're right, it's a very honest record - brutally honest. According to Lennon himself it was the most real thing he'd ever done(up to that point). He even said he liked it because "it's me."

And I like it for that exact same reason.

Funny you mention grunge - on the DVD there's a sound tech guy or engineer or something and he's talking about the guitar sound in 'Well, Well, Well' and he mentioned how that sound was the sound that bands like Nirvana and Arctic Monkeys were going for. Some of this stuff was ahead of it's time. Like I mentioned, you hear early punk-rock influences here. I even think Give Peace a Chance(I know it's not on this record) is Lennon rapping - long before there was any such thing as rap. He's rapping on that track(in the verses).

POB stands up to anything he did in the Beatles. Absolute must-have for any music fan.

The Waiting Trophy Man

PJ_Soul said:

Okay, okay!! )
Listening to Plastic Ono Band right now on YouTube. So far so good. Very nice - so far love it .... The intro reminds me of The Exorcist, haha.

HaHa, awesome! It will not disappoint. I'm excited for you : )