Rediscovered Lennon demo launches Imagine campaign
While sifting through boxes upon boxes of the original tapes, engineer Rob Stevens discovered something truly remarkable that had gone unnoticed all these years. “Early 2016, during the gestation period of this project, I’m in the Lenono archives with my people going through tape boxes that have labeling that’s unclear, misleading, or missing entirely”, says Stevens. “There’s a 1″ 8-track that says nothing more on the Ascot Sound label than John Lennon, the date, and the engineer (Phil McDonald), with DEMO on the spine. No indication of what material was on the tape. One delicate transfer to digital later, the “Imagine” demo, subsequently enhanced superbly by Paul Hicks, appears within this comprehensive set. It was true serendipity.”
This completely never-before heard original demo, a sparse home recording of Lennon on piano and vocal playing one of his most famous songs, globally launches Imagine – The Ultimate Collection today and is available for streaming and for immediate download with all digital album pre-orders.
Link: imaginejohnyoko.com
Excellent
This is wonderful. Shouldn't the Lennon family have someone to preserve and digitise these recordings before all of the people involved are gone and the accurate information on them is lost with them? Not to mention the possibility that these priceless records will degrade and be lost also. I look at it like leaving an original Mozart manuscript lying around. John is gone, let his music live on for future generations.
Nice, but please someone clarify. Does the 2 BDs contain the Imagine and Give Me Some Truth films beside the audio? Or is the boxset audio only and the films will come out separately, just like the book? Thanks
Audio only.
About time that they did compete against the bootlegs again, great stuff, can't wait