Friday, October 09, 2015

Imagin'

Hey there and welcome to a Fab Friday! I am dropping by off the disabled list whilst my eye heals to pay tribute to the forever-tremendous John Lennon, who'd have been 75 today.
There will be a flood of tributes far more eloquent than I could hope to be, so I'll spare the hyperbole. Surely John would be deeply disturbed at what this world has become since some lunatic got hold of a gun -- they're easier to get in America than BBQ Pringles potato chips, you know -- and took him from us at the age of just 40 in 1980. What he'd say about the conditions of today can only be speculated upon, but I'm sure it would have spared no syllable.
Instead of going on and on deconstructing the obvious, I'm going to go right for the share. How this has never been reissued on DVD escapes basic logic, as ahead of its time as it was and is. I mean, who makes a video LP of their new record... in 1971? Just the "chess" sequence in this film -- with Yoko Ono quietly whispering "don't go away" (or is it "Don't Count the Waves"?) over and over and things getting more and more surreal and symbolic every moment -- is worth the entire, 34-year history of MTV.
So here we have it, digitally translated from a vintage 1986 laserdisc and bestowed with 16/48 LPCM stereo sound. This looks and sounds phenomenal and features almost all the tunes from his chart-topping, world-changing 1971 Imagine opus, all set to crazy home movie super-8 footage -- some conceptual, some less obviously so -- and featuring guest stars from Miles Davis to Fred Astaire.
John Lennon
Imagine
a made-for-TV video album
1972

01 Imagine
02 Crippled Inside
03 Jealous Guy
04 Don't Count the Waves
 05 It's So Hard
06 Mrs. Lennon
07 I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier Mama (I Don't Want to Die)
08 Power to the People
09 Gimme Some Truth
10 Oh My Love
11 How Do You Sleep?
12 How?
13 Oh Yoko!

Total time: 55:55

PAL DVD, with 16/48 LPCM sound, from the 1986 laserdisc
I'll be back as soon as my eye is better, but until then enjoy this little film, somehow unissued in 30 years. And I know you won't forget its author anytime soon, among the most beloved artists in human history as he is, and born as he was this day in 1940.--J.
10.9.1940 - 12.8.1980