Imagine 50th Anniversary celebrations continue this weekend
As John & Yoko Ono Lennon’s paean for peace, “Imagine,” continues to celebrate its 50th anniversary, the iconic song has just been certified triple platinum by the RIAA for selling three million units in the US. The achievement comes on the eve of what would have been John’s 81st birthday this Saturday, October 9th.
“John and I were both artists and we were living together, so we inspired each other,” Yoko Ono Lennon shares. “The song ‘Imagine’ embodied what we believed together at the time. John and I met – he comes from the West and I come from the East – and still we are together. We have this oneness and ‘the whole world would eventually become one’ is the sense that we will all be very happy together. All these instructions are for people for how to spend eternity, because we have lots of time.”
In honor of Imagine’s golden anniversary and John Lennon’s birthday, Yoko Ono Lennon and the John Lennon Estate are celebrating the legendary songwriter, musician, and peace activist with a variety of events and releases throughout the weekend.
Beginning today (Fri, Oct 8th), the much-requested three-dimensional Dolby Atmos mixes from 2018’s acclaimed Imagine – The Ultimate Collection Box Set are now available to stream digitally.
On Saturday, October 9th, the Imagine Peace Tower in Reykjavík, Iceland will be illuminated as it is annually at 1 pm PT/4 pm EDT/9 pm BST/8pm Reykjavík, following a speech from the Mayor of Reykjavík, Dagur B. Eggertsson. The installation of the Imagine Peace Tower is a collaboration of Yoko Ono, Reykjavík City, Reykjavík Art Museum, Reykjavík City Museum and Reykjavík Energy. It has been illuminated in honor of John Lennon every year since it was installed by Yoko Ono in 2007.
Also on John’s birthday, October 9th, following two hugely popular Listening Party Events for the Imagine film and John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album, the John Lennon Estate and Tim’s Twitter Listening Party team up once again for a special fan-first Listening Party for Imagine – The Ultimate Mixes encouraging fans to tweet their tributes for John Lennon and the Imagine album with their own memories and memorabilia on his birthday while watching the livestream of the Imagine Peace Tower lighting up and listening to the album.
Last month, Capitol/UMe released a Limited Collector’s Edition pressing of Imagine as a double LP on white vinyl, featuring the acclaimed 2018 Ultimate Mixes, mixed by engineer Paul Hicks and overseen by Yoko Ono Lennon on LP one and a host of outtakes on LP two. The unique, expanded edition, Imagine – The Ultimate Mixes & Out-takes, includes the original demo for “Imagine” alongside a host of outtakes that demonstrate the writing and recording process and showcase the evolution of the songs. Included are outtakes for nearly every song on the record including “Jealous Guy” (Take 9), “It’s So Hard” (Take 6), “Crippled Inside” (Take 3, Take 6), “Gimme Some Truth” (Take 4), “I Don’t Wanna Be A Soldier Mama I Don’t Wanna Die” (Take 25), “Oh My Love” (Take 6), “How Do You Sleep?” (Takes 1 & 2), and an early version of “Oh Yoko” taken from the Bed Peace rehearsal filmed in the Bahamas.
The stunning Ultimate Mixes and Out-takes included on the vinyl were originally released in 2018 on the six-disc box set, Imagine – The Ultimate Collection. The box set of the historical, remixed and remastered 140-track collection, which was fully authorized by Yoko Ono Lennon (who oversaw the production and creative direction) offers a variety of listening experiences that are at once immersive and intimate, ranging from the Ultimate Mixes of the original album, which reveal whole new levels of sonic depth, definition and clarity to these timeless songs, to the Raw Studio Mixes that allow listeners to hear Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band’s original, unadorned performances, to enveloping 5.1 surround sound mixes, and a Quadrasonic Album Mix, presenting the original four speaker mix remastered in Quadrasonic sound for the first time in nearly fifty years. This ultimate Deep Listening experience, which features scores of previously unheard demos, rare out-takes and isolated track elements, also includes The Evolution Documentary, a unique track-by-track audio montage that details the journey of each song from demo to master recording via instructions, rehearsals, recordings, multitrack exploration and studio chatter. The comprehensive nature of the full Imagine – The Ultimate Collection is the absolute best representation of a career artist working at the top of his creative game.
As part of the celebration, a new collection of Imagine merchandise has been released in the Lennon’s official webstore.
The John Lennon Estate and Song Exploder have teamed up for a special, first-of-its kind episode about John Lennon’s classic song, “God,” from his transformational and influential masterpiece, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, Lennon’s first post-Beatles solo album, released in 1970. “God” was recorded on Lennon’s 30th birthday, October 9th, 1970, 51 years ago this week.
Song Exploder was given unprecedented access to the John Lennon Estate’s extensive archive of interviews as well as the master recording, multi-tracks, original demo, outtakes, studio chatter and more to explore the creation and evolution of “God.” The podcast, which typically features host and creator Hrishikesh Hirway asking an artist to take apart their song and tell the story of its creation as they put it back together piece by piece, was accomplished through a mix of archival interviews with John Lennon (vocals/guitar), Ringo Starr (drums) and Billy Preston (piano), and a newly recorded interview with Klaus Voormann (bass), bringing together everyone who played on the song. Much of Lennon’s interview is taken from his legendary Rolling Stone interview with Jann Wenner conducted on December 8, 1970, just days before John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band was released. The episode also includes an archival interview clip from psychologist Arthur Janov, the founder of Primal Scream therapy, the intense and emotional psychotherapy that John Lennon and Yoko Ono practiced for months and which informs the artistic exorcism found on the album.
