Lennon: Article On The Making of 'Double Fantasy' In March 2008 'Record Collector'

The March 2008 issue of 'Record Collector' has part 1 of a great article about the making of 'Double Fantasy', featuring interviews with John, Yoko, Jack Douglas and many of the musicians who played on the album.

http://www.recordcollectormag.com/site/sections/this_month/default.asp

The article is an excerpt from the book 'The Lennon Sessions'. More here:

http://www.tonydavilio.com/

Part 2 of the feature is in next months issue.

 

Very cool. I was taking piano lessons from George Small when he told me that he needed to stop teaching to go to New York. A couple of years later I found his name on Double Fantasy. It turned out that he had hooked up with Jack Douglas through some jazz sessions he was doing. Tony Davilio was George's roommate at the time I met them. An incredible guitar player in his own right.

What makes it so odd is that they were living in deep southern New Jersey (Vineland) when I met them. I had purchased an electric piano from George. They had an incredible recording studio and I can only suppose that Vineland was just a good cheap rent area for them to live.

 

That, plus May Pang's new book are going to be emotional reads, for sure.

 

Does anyone else wonder what was on those DF session conversation tapes Jack Douglas ended up wiping after John's death? From what I know, Jack seemed pretty spooked by what John had said. As far as I know he still hasn't elaborated on what they contained.

 

Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm,

Hope they really dug deep to get some new info on these sessions, one of the biggest thrills for me when i visited New York was finding the correct site of the Hit Factory, if i could only figure out how to load things on Youtube i'd post a couple of short video's i made there,

Greg.

 

And he says he never will.

 

Yeah. But I'm wondering if anyone has any speculations or has heard any rumblings about it. Surely someone else had to have heard those tapes.

 

Didn't Douglas tell Albert Goldman that John was talking about divorcing Yoko during the sessions?

 

Interesting....that would be something I think Jack would feel best to be quiet about.... What else would he feel so strongly about not mentioning???

Of course, Goldman was an idiot....

 

I guess I'm thinking of the quote where Douglas says "He was starting to become independent, looking to get out of that situation in the worst way." But it's Albert Goldman so who knows whether John really felt that or Douglas really said it.

 

Hi,

By this stage of the sessions John was well aware that he was being recorded, i dont think John would say anything along the lines of divorcing Yoko, i've heard reports that John was talking about being in danger/death etc, tho until Jack clarifies this (if ever) i dont suppose we'll ever know, i'm not certain Jack did erase the tape, that hasnt been confirmed either as far as i know.

I'm hoping this article will have some nice unseen photo's to go along with it.

My Beatle blog below has quite a few in depth articles and stories on John in 1980, just search the archives.

Greg.

 

Why do you think that?

 

I don't believe his charactor trashing books... But that is IMHO of course...

 

He sure does seem to be have been very disliked. I was just reading about him on the internet. One thing in the Wikipedia article I found interesting was that he began writing both the Presley and Lennon books with admiration for both, but that soured as he researched. Perhaps he was just reporting.

 

I just checked out your site and saw the first page with this photo.

The video didn't have any audio though. I assume it's supposed to? At any rate, that picture rocks because John sort of looks like 1963 John, which you'd never otherwise know because he almost always had facial hair and/or glasses on. And oddly enough, he didn't seem to smile as much in the seventies.

 

Yeh,

Not sure i'd be laughing if i was being filmed in the bathroom by my wifes ex husband

Greg.

 

I think the Albert Goldman book has some truths in it, but I also think a good deal of it is yellow journalism at its lowest. I'm reminded of the chapter in which Goldman nonchalantly tosses out the idea that Lennon "raped" a fan backstage at a show in the early days of the Beatles. Lennon could be a rough individual, but making an allegation like that without a speck of evidence seems far outside the realm of responsible journalism.

 

Correction: Ken Sharp, who assembled the article, interviewed Tony, but the article is not an excerpt from his book.

It features all-new interviews with those involved in the making of 'Double Fantasy'.