Los Angeles - 4. March 2021 - It was clear that John Lennon's first studio album as a solo artist could not be compared with his previous work from the urgent sound of the funeral bells and the emotional woe to the opener “Mother”. John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band was recorded in 1970, shortly after the end of the Beatles. John got rid of all accessories on the album and created space for a kind of creative exorcism, an almost unbearably honest soul striptease that had more than just a revelation. Inspiration served the primeval shot therapy that John and his wife Yoko Ono with Dr. Arthur Janov carried out. With the minimalist Plastic Ono Band - with Ringo Starr on the drums, Klaus Vooran on the bass and the producer Phil Spector - John stood his demons on the most personal album of his career, announced his love for his wife, went to court with false role models and buried a dream. Today the album is considered an absolute crowning glory of its solo career, the moment when the largest rock star in the world opened his soul and put Allen at your feet - honest and revolutionary, as it was essentially.
Now Yoko Ono Lennon and Capitol/Ume celebrate the 50th anniversary of John Lennon's groundbreaking and influential masterpiece with the 8-DISC Super Deluxe BoxSet John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band-The Ultimate Collection. It is a really intensive listening experience and a detailed journey of discovery through an album that John himself described as "the best I have ever done". The project is authorized by Yoko Ono Lennon, who also accompanied production and creative process. The responsible audio team was the same, which was also published on 2018 and worked by the criticism-The Ultimate Collection, including triple Grammy winner, Engineer Paul Hicks and the Mixer/Engineers Rob Stevens and Sam Gannon. The Ultimate Collection can take the listener directly into the studio, where he can track the recordings that took place in the Emi Studios 2 & 3 in Abbey Road in 1970. Lennons also created after the end of the Beatles singles “Give Peace a Chance”, “Cold Turkey” and “Instant Karma! (We all shine on) ”are presented here again. From the first idea to the final master, unpublished and rare demos, rehearsals, outtakes, jams and conversations in the studio show the origin of these unforgettable songs. Overall, the set contains fabulous 35 unpublished demos and outtakes.
On six CDs and two Blu-ray audios, this historical, coated and newly mastered collection contains a total of 159 tracks, ie eleven hours of music; There are also two postcards (“Who Are The Plastic Ono Band?” And “You Are The Plastic Ono Band”), a “War is Over!” Poster and an extensive, 132-page hardcover book with lyrics, rare photos, memorabilia and detailed notes. The book was designed and edited by Simon Hilton, the Compilation Producer and Production Manager of the Ultimate Collection series. It tells the story behind every single song and describes the process of creating the album based on older and brand new interviews in the words of John & Yoko and some other participants.
In the foreword, Yoko writes: “What John and I particularly liked the albums with the plastic ono band was that we offered the world an unadorned, fundamental and absolutely sincere reality. We influenced other artists, gave them courage and made this combination of vulnerability and strength, which at the time did not encounter a lot of understanding, to something that could be proud of. For a beatle it was almost revolutionary to say: 'See, I'm a person, I'm real'. That cost John a lot of overcoming. "
The loose Jams, who developed between John and the band between the individual recordings, form a striking counterweight on the serious themes of the album. In addition, the complete session for Yoko Ono's Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band is included in the collection, with the uncut songs in full length and original speed, as well as three unpublished improvisations.
Similar to the previous editions of Ultimate Collection, this set also offers several different, very intensive listening experiences - from the brand new Ultimate Mixes, the focus of which is the focus of John's voice; the Elements Mixes, which isolate and highlight individual elements of multi -track recordings, in order to show the whole depth and the richness of detail; The Raw Studio Mixes, which give the listener the opportunity to experience the exact moment live, in which John and the Plastic Ono Band record the songs-unprocessed and without effects, delays or reverbs-to the Evolutionary Documentary, a unique track-by-track audiomontage that traces the development of the individual songs-from the first demo to the final MASTER- Instructions, rehearsals, recordings, multi-track experiments and studio talks. The Blu-ray audios offer different audio qualities such as B. HD, Studio Quality 192KHz/24bit Audio in Stereo and 5.1 surround and Dolby Atmos Mixes.
In addition, Plastic Ono Band will be available in other physical and digital configurations, including the 1CD version with the Ultimate Mixes of the original album and three on any album, as well as an extended 2CD or 2LP version with an additional CD/LP with outtakes from Allen songs.
Ultimate Mixes
Paul Hicks already mentioned has opened the original album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band with the supervision of Yoko Ono Lennon in the Abbey Road Studios and mixed up again. He used high definition 24 Bit-192KHz audio transfers of the original multi-track recordings of the first generation and the result is outstanding. Especially in 5.1 surround sound and Dolby Atmos these new Ultimate Mixes offer tonal depth, sharpness and purity on an impressive level. “With the Ultimate Mixes series, Yoko primarily wanted to achieve three things: respectful handling of the originals, an overall clearer sound and that John's voice in particular comes to the fore. 'It's about John,' she says. And with that she is right. It is his voice that touches particularly deep on the album. ”
Outtakes
The collection contains unpublished stereo outtakes from every single song. Balance and EQ were adapted to the original Albummixen when mixing; With subtle additional effects in the style of a “Rough Listening Mix”, as John & Yoko and Phil Spector also used to listen to in Abbey Road. The highlights include “Mother” (Take 61) without a bell and with a monomix for the drums, “Love” (Take 6) played by Lennon on the acoustic guitar without a spector on the piano, the first sample of “Remember” (Rehearsal 1), which was originally slower and quiet Completion, “Look at Me” (Take 2) with Clawhammer Technique and “Cold Turkey” (Take 1) with a funky guitar sound by John and Eric Clapton.
Demos
In addition to the outtakes, there are original recordings of each song, from a cassette or a tape, or from the very first sample or studies. It is astonishing how close to completion some of the songs were before it even went to the studio and what ultimately became of them. Most of these recordings are still unpublished.
Elements Mixes
The Elements Mixes from Hicks get some hidden elements that are otherwise slightly ignored or that were not used at all, and offers them a larger and lighter stage to enable more detail and a pure sound. The idea behind the mixing is that when the listeners have discovered these elements in this way, they will also hear them in the original Albumixes and can enjoy a completely new listening experience. These elements include z. B. Johns isolated vocal track for “Mother”, the Conga on “I Found Out”, the additional vocals on “Hold on”, the deviating organ recording on “Isolation”, unused maracas on “Well Well” and the original Guide Vocal for “God”.
Raw Studio Mixes + Outtakes
The RAW Studio Mixes were mixed by Rob Stevens and they take the listener to the middle of the Abbey Road in the middle of the studio to feel my own body as it was to attend studiosessions. The songs were mixed without effects, delays or reverbs so that the sound is as close as possible to the original performance - live and genuine. The RAW Studio Mixes offer a completely different listening experience, free from sound -changing techniques and decorations that were used in the production of the original album in 1970, and reveal further subtleties and depth in these studio recordings.
The Evolution Documentary
The Evolution Mixes are mini-documentaries that trace the development of each song about their individual elements, arrangements and the musicians involved. Samm Gannon pulled the material from the original 8-track recordings, live tape recordings and mixes and a few demo cassettes. Each Evolution Mix goes through the session of the respective song in chronological order - starting from the demos and/ or early recordings to the final - and thus documents the creative path from the idea to the perfect work, illuminates different, sometimes hidden parts of the multitrack with all of the magic, craft recipes and conversations that accompany the development of the song drive forward. The sessions are characterized by a feeling of lightness and happiness that faces the oppressive topics that pull through the album. The mixes are a window into this world and bring the listener into the studio - to John, Yoko, Phil and the Plastic Ono Band.
The Jams
Despite the serious tone of the album, John and the Plastic Ono Band, which sometimes also belonged to Yoko, Billy Preston and Phil Spector, had a lot of fun between the Takes, jammed spontaneously, played rock'n'roll classics, improvised and experimented in early versions of some of John's other songs. These 22 Jams were ordered in the order of the recording date and are available for the very first time. Among the numerous jewels are spontaneous performances by Chuck Berry's “Johnny B. Goode”, Fats Dominos “Ain't that a shame”, Little Richards “Send Me Some Lovin '” and a funny parody of Elvis Presley, which underlines John's enthusiasm for early rock'n'roll. Other highlights are playful versions of “Hold on” and a few early attempts by “I Don't Want to Be a Soldier Mama, I Don't Want To Die”, which landed on his next album Imagine.
Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band - The Live Sessions
On 10. October, the day after Lennons 30. Birthday, Yoko, John, Klaus and Ringo recorded an experimental Freeform jam session that came out on Yoko's album Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band. The complete session is more than three times as long as the original album and can be heard in full length on this Blu-ray audio for the first time. The recording was newly mixed by Sam Gannon and can be found here in high-res audio, original speed and without edits. The track “Why” takes 18 minutes and “Why not” more than 21 minutes. The live session is rounded off with three previously unpublished improvisations: “Life”, “Grandmae No Okaa Wa” and “I Lost Myself Somewhere in the Sky”.
LP 1: The Ultimate Mixes
LP 2: The Ultimate Mixes / Out-Takes