John Lennon expanded reissues and box set planned in 2010

I have to say that "Plastic Ono Band", & "Imagine" are certainly givens.
I don't know how they'll deal with "Double Fantasy" and/or "Milk And Honey"- a John Lennon 1980 set of just his songs off those two album would be nice to see. But I'd assume something from the 1980 sessions will be released on a single expanded edition, and would say that that's as much of a give as the '70 & '71 material. Personally I'd love to see all Lennon's 1980 tracks finally complied on one CD, and then all the '75-'80 unreleased completed songs demos on a second CD.
I think that "Mind Games" & "Walls And Bridges" are the other two likely candidates, as I share your doubt that"Sometime In New York City" will be there...though maybe this is still in the works & we'll get all the main albums included eventually.
My bet on the Box Set is a combo of unreleased tracks (whether or not this duplicates exactly what's on the expanded editions) & a selection of studio tracks. Of course the Box Set could just be those 5 expanded edition albums in a box, or it could be them plus the tracks from the other albums that weren't on the expanded editions- that'd be a real nice option!

 

The reason I suspect Duble Fantasy will be included is because this year is it's 30th anniversary, and it was the last Lennon album released in his lifetime.

Ten years ago, I remember EMI promoting the reissues of Plastic Ono Band and Double Fantasy by saying they were reissuing his 'first' and 'last' solo albums to commemorate his 60th birthday (both albums were reissued on October 9). It wouldn't surprise me if EMI were planning a similar campaign this year, 10 years on!

 

You may be right. Well "Milk And Honey" certainly did well sales & reviews wise, but it is still, sadly, not thought of as much of as a proper album like "Double Fantasy".
I just hope this isn't a slipshod version of all this...wherein we get just a few "expanded" things (singles & the like, maybe a stray demo or alternate take), and a box set that is more like an expanded best of.
I really hope they do this right. I wish "expanded" meant a 2 CD version. And I hope the Box Set is complete & definitive as far as Lennon material is concerned- who cares how many boxes that takes...well I'm sure marketing folks do & there lies the problem here. So one can hope & we shall see...& hear...but not for many months though...

 

I agree completely: Double Fantasy is so iconic - Grammy for Album of the Year, the last album in his lifetime, etc, and I think Mind Games will get the nod over the (imho) far-superior Walls and Bridges because the latter is the result and emblem of the "lost weekend" and tends to get short shrift in the (re)-construction of Lennon's legacy . . .

 

That "Acoustic" project was a disgrace. They were so many completer and better sounding demos to choose from, even on bootleg! A 70 second snippet of "Well, Well, Well" with a flanger/chorus-effect...really?

Wow, I rather never hear those awful original mixes again. I can argue over the remixed "Plastic Ono Band", but the other remixes are definitive IMHO, although I prefer the MFSL Ultradisc II for "Double Fantasy".

Enough 'new' demo songs, never released before. But I suppose that's not very marketable as stand-alone release.

 

Enough 'new' demo songs, never released before. But I suppose that's not very marketable as stand-alone release.[/QUOTE]

What I'd hope for, in relation to this, would be...that this is still a project in progress, and that like "Wonsaponatime" from "Anthology" that, if the Box Set was both traditional material & outtakes, or if the expanded editions were really big time expanded with unreleased original demos & alternate studio outtakes, that they'd end up adding some kind of sampler, or even, better yet, an album with all of those original unreleased demos either interspersed with alternate studio outtakes, or a CD of the demos & a CD of the alternate studio outtakes on a 2-CD set. Hey a guy can dream, can't he?
All of this really depends on the, probably will still be unknown for sometime to come, nature of the Box Set & expanded editions and what they will entail. Until then it's dreams, hopes, speculation, & eventually as we get closer to the release date, rumors...

 

I guess a high-resolution release is asking too much...

 

I think it would be great if they included the original mixes, but I'm actually completely happy with the way the remixes sound. Everything from Mind Games through R'n'R sounded a heck of a lot better remixed than the original mxies did, as they all seemed terribly thin and somehow a bit muddy.

A lot of people here say that the gold mind has been tapped, but I for one haven't yet gotten a hold of the many dozens of Lennon boots out there that have a lot of these tracks people talk about. It would be nice to have the best of these unreleased treasures out there and hopefully in a little higher quality.

 

The acoustic album was flawed (for me) because it contained so many previously released tracks. It could have easily contained only previously unavailable tracks.

The "Jesse Ed Davis Tape" of Walls And Bridges rehearsals should be released in it's entirety. A few of the tracks were on Menlove Ave, but a lot of reverb was added. The whole rehearsal tape stands on it's own.

There are a bunch of rehearsals with Elephants Memory that would be good extras on Sometime In New York City. They did a bunch of oldies, the usual suspects, but it was good stuff. I don't know if those recordings exist in better quality than what was booted though.

 

Did John record a complete studio version of San Francisco Bay Blues during Imagine?

 

Didn't that already happen in 1993 under Macca's supervision? Not his whole catalog, but a huge chunk of it.

 

Too much no noise for my liking on the Plastic Ono Band and Imagine remixes, especially the latter, not a hint of tape hiss to be found.

I don't object to the notion of remixing this material, I just wish they let would them breathe a little.

 

I'm taking the 'glass half full' approach to this news as I'd be shocked if the bootleggers (even in their glorious quest to throw everything out) are the only ones to have access to every unreleased gem.

I'd say The Dakota has more to say before John's legacy is cemented.

T.

 

I'll buy them again if they will be remastered to sound more like vinyl.

 

That can only happen if they'd use the ORIGINAL tapes, not the "Yokoized" versions of the albums. Some(Mind Games) needed an upgrade, overall, the others are horrid sounding.

 

Really?? Horrid??!?? I agree the no-noise is bad but nowhere near horrid, IMO.

And the new Mind Games mix is awesome except for the limiting/compression!

 

I recall (although can't remember the source) that McCartney HAS taken his back catalogue off EMI and given it to One Little Indian, following their handling of Electric Arguments.

To those who responded to my comment regarding "Acoustic": I quite agree. It was very poorly handled. But I don't believe it was that that lead to such poor sales. I just think that there's a very limited market for Lennon's demos. Amazing as it sounds, I think that Lennon's rise to iconic/messianic status has been to the detriment of his catalogue. Certainly in the UK, the feeling I get is that there seems to be no end to the number of times his "classic" tracks can be recycled (Lennon Collection/Lennon Legend/Working Class Hero) but that apathy reins when it comes to deeper tracks.

Certainly, Wonsaponatime failed to garner any interest beyond those who bought the Anthology and neither did Acoustic.

 

I have to disagree! All of the Lennon remixes/remasters blew me away, more than any other catalog revamp I have come accross.

I gave away all my old Lennon 80's CD's, because I knew I would never listen to them again.

 

Any reason I'm still watching "Live in NYC" on VHS?

The DVD/Blu could have footage from the matinee and evening show.

 

I don't understand why that isn't on a definitive DVD yet either.

I do have a DVD of the show I bought from Amazon, but the quality isn't good.

 

Rather than a straight reissue of the 1986 direct to video release with a mere 330 lines of u-matic videotape legacy NTSC visual information, they need to scan the 16mm camera negatives at 4k resolution, re-edit both shows from scratch digitally and then downsample them to a 1080p Blu Ray master. Also needs a remix as well.

This would be a quality Blu Ray worth buying.

 

I agree. I thought we were done with anything unreleased with the release of ACOUSTIC and that CD released only in Asia in '05 or so:

 

Does "Wons..." have anything not in the four-CD "Anthology"? I thought it was just a sampler of "Anthology" tracks...

 

Do fans have any theories as to why Yoko has dragger her feet on the live NYC DVD?

 

No it doesn't, and yes it was. You are right on both points.