Album Reviews

At a time when “all you can eat” music almost force feeds us with more content than any of us can possibly consume, and “table hopping” seems to be the order of the day, it may seem counterintuitive to serve up a multi-course meal like John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band The Ultimate Collection— a 6 CD, 2 Blu-Ray deep dive remixed set that explores the deepest recesses of John Lennon’s pivotal and most consequential album.

For those wanting a tasting meal rather than a banquet, there are less ambitious editions including a two LP vinyl set the gives listeners the remixed original album cut from a high resolution file on one record and a second one that duplicates the album as a compilation of outtakes.

If any album from the rock era deserves this kind of microscopic/obsessive treatment, it’s 1970’s Plastic Ono Band in which an unbound John Lennon threw off the chains of Beatlemania while simultaneously advising his most ardent fans to take a Beatles cold shower because “the dream is over” and even more startlingly that he no longer “believed in Beatles”, he just believed in “me”, and just to be certain that everyone got the message, in “Yoko and me”.

For Beatles fans who could not deal with the rawness and especially the rejection, there was always (and still is) Paul’s more tuneful, eponymous, self-recorded debut on which he played all of the instruments and features gatefold photos of wife Linda, the kids and some cute animals. A photo of Paul with a finger up his nose is about as rough as it got. Still, there’s no denying the melodic brilliance of “That Would Be Something”, “Every Night”, “Junk” and especially “Maybe I’m Amazed”.

50 years later though, Plastic Ono Band still packs a powerful gut punch. For oldsters who lifted the stylus and got no further than “Mother, you had me, but I never had you” or who made it through to “God”, the final kiss-off where Lennon tells fans to grow up and get a life and then put the album back on the shelf or sold it, now’s the time to listen again to hear how right Lennon was and how wrong and selfish most fans were.

But this album, in whichever version you choose is especially important for younger Beatles fans who are clearly in love with the “Here Comes the Sun” Beatles. Perhaps it’s a bit of hyperbole, but QRP’s Chad Kassem has told me that he’s got one press still devoted to pressing Abbey Road ! The youngsters need a good dose of Lennon to the face.

Before going further, here’s what’s in the “Super Deluxe Box Set”: 6 CDs containing 102 new stereo mixes (6+ hour’s worth—including the three post-Beatles singles “Give Peace a Chance”, “Cold Turkey” and “Instant Karma [We All Shine On] ), 2 Blu-Ray Audio discs containing 159 new stereo mixes (11+ hours) in Hi-Res 192/24 stereo, 5.1 Surround and Dolby Atmos mixes, a 132 page hardcovered book containing rare photos, memorabilia and notes, plus a ‘WAR IS OVER’ Poster (as ridiculous an assertion now as it was then) and 2 Postcards. Whew!

The production began with 192/24 bit multitrack tape transfers of everything in the vaults associated with the project including 87 never before heard recordings. That’s a lot to cover and honestly, I’ve not yet heard it all. The box includes the original album remixed plus the three singles on both CD and Blu-Ray (in stereo and 5.1 surround 24-192 Dolby Digital and Dolby Atmos (Blu-ray1, CD1), plus the same song selection mixed from out-takes (Blu-ray1, CD2), plus “The Elements Mixes” of the same tracks that isolates on each track certain elements (like an excruciating version of “Mother”, featuring just Lennon’s isolated vocal, which already is difficult to listen to in the final mix) and other such spotlit elements (Blu-ray1, CD3).

Next comes “The Demos New Mixes” and Remasters of the same original program in stereo and mono hi-res plus Dolby Digital (Blu-ray1 and CD6), followed by “The Raw Studio Mixes stereo 24-192 and Dolby Digital (Blu-ray2, CD4) and then “The Raw Studio Mixes” sourced from out-takes hi-res stereo and DD (Blu-ray2, CD4). That’s followed by “The Evolution Mixes” which documents the construction of each song. You hear Lennon deciding to add the bell at the beginning of “Mother” for instance but forget the little details: what you really hear listening to this absolutely fascinating disc is that despite the “raw” basic quality of the final record, these tracks were not haphazardly produced! Instead you hear Lennon in the studio chatter meticulously constructing and assembling the building blocks—simple as they seemed—almost phrase by phrase. Lennon at one point says “Klaus you are the Plastic Ono Band” (Blu-ray2, CD5). Most incredibly, you hear that those excruciating screams on “Mother” that sound as if Lennon’s voice cracks uncontrollably are actually carefully considered and repeatedly produced during the rehearsals.

Finally (Blu-ray2,CD6) there are jams including classics Lennon liked, like “Johnny B. Goode”, “Ain’t That a Shame”, “Good Night Irene” and even “Glad All Over”. There’s also a hilarious Elvis parody. On Blu-ray disc2 only you get Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band “Live Sessions”, which as with most things Yoko, become both more accessible and even prescient and predictive of future musical trends. It’s an unedited version of jam sessions she eventually edited down to become her “Plastic Ono Band” album with John, Ringo and Voorman behind Yoko’s truly astounding (or repellent depending upon your P.O.V.) vocal gymnastics. Speaking of Yoko, Lennon leans on her guidance throughout the “studio chatter” tracks.

The Album Remix

Can an original U.K. early pressing (first lacquer, first mother 5th stamper) possibly be beat by a digital remix on vinyl? Lennon did not like his voice and so it’s both attenuated in the mix relative to the instruments and it’s both thin-sounding (to better hide it) and “crowded”. The remix gives space to the vocals but more importantly restores the midrange clearly captured to tape but diminished with equalization in the final original mix. Here you hear way more of Lennon’s vocal textures and the work he put in expressing himself. For those who have these tracks embedded in their memory banks, these new mixes won’t be jarring but they will be illuminating and in a sense liberating. Where and why was this guy hiding?

As with many previous remixed and reimagined albums, the bass has been somewhat pumped up and not because it was attenuated on the original for technical reasons. The mixes by Paul Hicks at Abbey Road Studios under Yoko Ono Lennon’s supervision are deft and respectful of the original while opening up the vocal expanse. The top end is somewhat more reserved compared to the “lifted” highs on the original (yes, they are still there after 50 years of play), but that also serves to bring forward Lennon’s vocals and it adds some weight to the drum kit. The guitar on “Working Class Hero” is mixed to give the tune more of a “folkie” vibe than on the original. The subtle mixing shifts produce some interesting insights (at least for me). Listening to “Well Well Well” had me thinking Marc Bolan and/or Tony Visconti heard it and invented Electric Warrior (or maybe not).

So many credits missing here: the multiple mixers, box designer etc. all well done. You'll have to get it yourself for all of that, but they kept it authentic down to the misspelling of engineer John Leckie's name ("Lickie").

The perfectly pressed at GZ Media double vinyl EQ sounds ideal at least on my system. It’s warm and intimate, while still sufficiently raw, though it's a bit over-compressed compared to the original vinyl . For me, between this and the original U.K. pressing this will be the one most worth listening to overall, though as the time travel artifact the original holds sway.

Double vinyl or super deluxe box set, John Lennon’s best album by far belongs in every Beatle fan’s collection. I hope the youngsters grooving on Abbey Road take this plunge into the painful abyss of where Lennon’s 60s success and stardom eventually took him. And kudos to the entire production team that created and assembled this worthy tribute to our “working class hero”.