One to One concert film reworked
Fake poster made after the fact.
The Record Store Day EP with music from John and Yoko’s “One to One” concerts for the children of Willowbrook has reached some of the “unboxing” YouTubers and the likes (we didn’t get one), with an accompanying card from Sean Lennon.
Record Store Day EP 2025
In the text, Sean describes the problems they had with the audio recordings (microphone changes between the first and second concerts etc.), but is pleased with the outcome, which is going to be a collection of both concerts in a boxed set as well as on LPs,CDs and streaming. This is coming out in conjunction with John Lennon’s 85th birthday (and Sean’s 50th) in October.
Mixing the concert recordings was really fun, mainly because there was a lot of work to do. For whatever reason, the technical side of the One to One concerts seemed a bit haphazard and disorganized.
Between the matine and the evening shows, there were microphone changes and stage layout changes that seemed to be last minute decisions. This all made for some compromised recordings in terms of leaks and lack of coverage. So it was a lot of work. But that makes it more rewarding from my experience.
It gave us a chance to really put our heads together and find solutions. Paul Hicks and Simon Hilton and I spent a lot of time finding the best possible balance to keep the feeling of the live show while refining the overall sound as much as possible, and Sam Gannon did some meticulous and miraculous work with audio restoration. I won’t disclose all our techiques, but there was some «movie magic» required, and I think in the end the two shows sound better than ever.
Sean Ono Lennon
The film will follow, Sean continues, and has been completely re-edited from scratch in comparison to the two concert films we got in the eighties and nineties, on video cassettes and laser discs. As followers of the blog will remember, producer Jack Douglas was given the task of re-doing both the sound and the film back in 2013, but his versions were never released.
A 1992 Laser Disc from the ABC TV Special
Our source: Beatley Tone’s Beatles Channel (YouTube)
Looking forward to what is to come, and early reviews of the Record Store EP have been good. As these are Lennon’s only full solo concerts there is a definite need for them to be out there in the best quality, both visually and in sound. I am very happy with how Sean has handled his father’s catalog so far. I am sure these will be great packages.
I think we’re all waiting on the track listing of the concerts, regarding the in-or-exclusion of the Song That Dare Not Speak Its Name. The contentious nature of the title is generally given as the reason for the non-arrival of the “Some Time In New York City” 50th. Althoughm given that the main selling point of that box would have been these MSG concerts, one assumes said box is very unlikely to make an appearance now, at least until its 60th. Unless the bootleggers have gotten hold of a working copy. Either way, this is a far more sensible, and sellable, proposition. On a side, grizzly, note, are we going to be sticking with all these ’53rd Anniversary Editions’ from now on? Covid has gone. We should all be holding the “Rock N’ Roll” box set in our hands by now, to say nothing of several Bowie and Bob Dylan boxes.
the rumor is there is going to be a 9 CD box set comprising the Some Time In New York City album and these One to One concerts
While I love John, that sounds like a lot to endure.
well i would guess 1 cd each for the 2 shows. 2 cd’s for the album. maybe an expanded version of the show with Zappa – so thats 5. Then 3 cds for out takes and the immersive stuff. How many is that? 8? cd 9 the blu-ray(?). I mean – to me that would be great but i appreciate to others it would be an expensive set of coasters haha
I was half joking. I wasn’t a big fan of Sometime In New York. I sold my copy to the Half Price Bookstore years ago. And I haven’t listened to Live In New York in decades. Although it was a more enjoyable listen than side two of Live Peace In Toronto.
I knew if I lived long enough I’d come across someone who has listened to side 2 of “Live Peace In Toronto”… and if the rumours are true, I’ll need to live another 63 years to find someone who will have listened to 9 discs of “SINYC” (see what I did there?)
Having just viewed the first song, ‘Well Well Well’, on the John Lennon YouTube channel, it does sound, and look, fantastic. The blurry wide shots show the issues Sean has talked about – what was it with ABKCO and Madisono Square Garden filming, did they learn nothing from the ‘Bangladesh’ footage debacle – but it’s pretty hard to take your eyes off of John. To think we’d never heard that wonderful full-throated voice again, only a few dozen antiseptic echo’d-up studio recordings to follow, save maybe the outtake of ‘I’m Losing You’.
Also, we now know there is no 9-Disc ‘Sometime In New York City’ coming, but a ‘box set’ of the audio of the 2 shows, titled ‘Power To The People’. Considering that phrase was passe when it came out, it might be deemed a very poor choice in 2025. Unless the LPs are in the box as well as CDs, it will be a small box to open. 2CDs will cover the show. Hopefully some rehearsals will be there, failing that presumably ‘Ultimate’ ‘Immersive’ ‘Anything But Live’ mixes CDs to pad it out.
Hard to believe, but Paul’s Glastonbury set was almost as long as John’s entire solo concert career.