Most
days still come and go and some days I can’t remember what happened
yesterday, but I can’t and won’t ever forget the entire
sequence of tragic events that happened December 8th, 1980. I mean,
30 years on and I still remember everything about that day. I mean
little things that you'd never remember! Living and working myself
a few short blocks from where John Lennon lived and worked
his final few years in Manhattan, I have to still remember the rude
awakening and tragic reality that day and night brought to my world.
By the end of that day, it seemed like time stood still yet something
was truly over and a new page was being turned as the world struggled
to accept what happened. That sense of finality and the new era that
emerged with the dawn on December 9th, 1980 is still with us and everyday
that passes is another day without John Lennon’s earthly presence.
We all live in hope that there is a heaven, even though it was John
who taught us to try and forget birth and death and to try and imagine
a heaven on earth. On September 9th, 2009, EMI Records unveiled their
classic, ground-breaking Beatles In Mono box set and a year
later, John Lennon is paid the ultimate music honors with a sweeping
catalog initiative of his short but sweet solo career as overseen
by 
Yoko
Ono and EMI Music, as the music universe celebrates John’s
70th birthday on October 9, 2010. While it’s been 30 years since
John’s final album, Double Fantasy was released
in the Fall of 1980, 2010 sees a number of Lennon remasters brought
to light again, including eight of John’s classic solo albums
that have been digitally remastered from his own original mixes. Highlights
of the remaster series include Double Fantasy - Stripped Down.
Commenting on this new release Yoko adds, ‘Double Fantasy
Stripped Down really allows us to focus our attention on John’s
amazing vocals. Technology has advanced so much that, conversely,
I wanted to use new techniques to really frame these amazing songs
and John’s voice as simply as possible.’ Of course, this
2010 Double Fantasy Stripped Down comes as a two CD set that
is paired with the original Double Fantasy album as
it first appeared in November 1980. After an open minded spin, one
can only surmise that Yoko has succeeded with her remake / remodel
of Double Fantasy - Stripped Down and one need only give a
listen to the rich sonic detail of the newly reconstructed Stripped
Down version of what was to become the album's haunting epitaph,
"Everyman Has A Woman Who Loves Him" which, in this new
vocal duet version between John and Yoko is simply breathtaking. Also
of note on Stripped Down is the incredibly designed, new b&w
cover artwork created by Sean Lennon. In addition to the final
1980 album, this new reissue / remastering program features all of
John’s other solo albums, newly remastered at Abbey Road by mastering
wizard Allan Rouse, one of the engineers responsible for the
great sound behind the Beatles In Mono box set from ‘09.
Included in the 2010 album remastering series are all the albums John
Lennon fans grew up with following the Beatles’ breakup including,
John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band (1970), Imagine
(1971), Sometime In New York City (1972), Mind
Games (1973), Walls And Bridges (1974), Rock
‘n’ Roll (1975) Double Fantasy Stripped Down
(2010) / Double Fantasy (1980) and lastly, the
posthumously released Milk And Honey (1984). Also released
to tie into the individual album releases is a hits compilation, released
in two editions entitled Power To 
The
People: The Hits, a four CD set of non-chronological
themed discs titled Gimme Some Truth and a deluxe 11
CD collectors box containing the remastered albums, rarities and non-album
singles titled The John Lennon Signature Box. Further
commenting on the series, Yoko adds ‘In this very special year,
which would have seen my husband and life partner John reach the age
of 70, I hope that this remastering / reissue program will help bring
his incredible music to a whole new audience. By remastering 121 tracks
spanning his solo career, I hope that those who are already familiar
with John’s work will find renewed inspiration from his incredible
gifts as a songwriter, musician and vocalist and from his power as
a commentator on the human condition. His lyrics are as relevant today
as they were when they were first written and I can think of no more
apposite title for this campaign than those simple yet direct words,
‘Gimme Some Truth.’ www.JohnLennon.com
