Personnel: John Lennon (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Yoko Ono (vocals); Earl Slick, Hugh McCracken (guitar); Matthew Cunningham (dulcimer); Randy Stein (English concertina); Howard Johnson, Grant Hungerford, John Parran, Seldon Powell, George "Young" Opalisky, Roger Rosenberg, David Tofani, Ronald Tooley (horns); George Small (keyboards); Ed Walsh (Oberheim synthesizer); Tony Levin (bass); Andy Newmark (drums); Robert Greenidge (steel drums); Arthur Jenkins, Jr. (percussion); Michelle Simpson, Cassandra Wooten, Cheryl Mason Jacks, Eric Troyer, Benny Cummings Singers, The Kings Temple Choir (background vocals).
Recorded at The Hit Factory, NYC 4 August 1980 – late September 1980.
Produced by John Lennon, Yoko Ono & Jack Douglas.
Track Listing:
1. (Just Like) Starting Over - 3:56 2. Kiss, Kiss, Kiss - 2:41 3. Cleanup Time - 2:58 4. Give Me Something - 1:35 5. I'm Losing You - 3:57 6. I'm Moving On - 2:20 7. Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) - 4:04 8. Watching the Wheels - 3:59 9. Yes, I'm Your Angel - 3:09 10. Woman - 3:31 11. Beautiful Boys - 2:55 12. Dear Yoko - 2:34 13. Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him - 4:02 14. Hard Times Are Over - 3:22 15. Help Me to Help Myself - 2:37 16. Walking on Thin Ice - 6:00 17. Central Park Stroll (Dialogue) - :17
Double Fantasy (2000) (RMST) (CAPITOL RECORDS) (17 TRACKS) John Lennon & Yoko Ono
Album Description:
DOUBLE FANTASY is the comeback album by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, released in 1980 initially on the newly-formed Geffen Records, and then from 1989 onwards through EMI. It is notable for being John Lennon's final release during his lifetime, released only three weeks before his murder. The album won the 1981 Grammy Award for Album of the Year and is Lennon's best-selling studio album at three million shipments in the U.S.
Recording:
Following the birth of his son Sean in 1975, Lennon put his career on hold to raise the boy. In the summer of 1980, both Lennon and Ono felt ready to resume work and began composing. After five years of little musical activity aside from recording the occasional demo in his apartment at The Dakota, Lennon was absolutely bursting with creativity. He had fulfilled a lifelong ambition of learning how to sail in early 1980 and had been given fresh creative impetus in June of that year following his life-affirming experiences sailing a 43-foot sloop to Bermuda, accompanied by a small crew. Once in Bermuda, he started writing songs for a new album, sometimes writing about new experiences and occasionally reworking the half finished demos that he had recorded in the Dakota building. He was also, he claimed, the most content he had ever felt in all his years, even writing a song called "Life Begins at 40" to commemorate that milestone in his life. His assuredness and love for his family came through on the retro "(Just Like) Starting Over", as well as "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" and "Woman". Yoko Ono approached producer Jack Douglas, with whom both Lennon and Ono had worked before, giving him John's demos to listen to. “My immediate impressions were that I was going to have a hard time making it better than the demos because there was such intimacy in the demos,” Douglas told Uncut's Chris Hunt in 2005. Lennon, Ono and Douglas produced dozens of songs beginning that August, enough to fill DOUBLE FANTASY and beyond. A projected second album, MILK AND HONEY, was well into the rehearsal phase when work was halted following Lennon's murder that December. Ono was currently being regarded with fresh perspective after the onslaught of the late 1970's punk movement which bore similarities to her earlier work. As such, with renewed confidence, she produced many songs. Lennon's specific reference to the B-52's "Rock Lobster" was evidence that popular music had caught up with Ono's vision. Lennon and Ono made the decision to release their impending songs together on the same album, the first time they had done so since 1972's controversial SOME TIME IN NEW YORK CITY. Subtitled "A Heart Play", DOUBLE FANTASY would be a collection of songs wherein John and Yoko would be singing to each other. Signed by David Geffen, alongside Elton John and Donna Summer, for his new label, Geffen, DOUBLE FANTASY was preceded by Lennon's "(Just Like) Starting Over", which became a U.S. and U.K. #1 hit in the aftermath of John's murder. The album itself was received with much interest, coming after such an extended break. The album debuted at #27 in the U.K. and the following week reached #14, but then it fell down very quickly to #25 and then #46, making #14 its peak position. In the U.S., the situation was different. There, the album debuted at #25 and then rose to #12 and then #11. Douglas brought Rick Nielsen and Bun E. Carlos of the band Cheap Trick to play on "I'm Losing You", but it was eventually re-recorded with the studio musicians. The Cheap Trick version was included on the John Lennon Anthology collection released in 1998. The cover of the album is said to be inspired by a photograph of Astrid Kirchherr and Stuart Sutcliffe, the first bassist of The Beatles and one of John's best friends, who died in 1962.
Personnel: John Lennon (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Yoko Ono (vocals); Earl Slick, Hugh McCracken (guitar); Matthew Cunningham (dulcimer); Randy Stein (English concertina); Howard Johnson, Grant Hungerford, John Parran, Seldon Powell, George "Young" Opalisky, Roger Rosenberg, David Tofani, Ronald Tooley (horns); George Small (keyboards); Ed Walsh (Oberheim synthesizer); Tony Levin (bass); Andy Newmark (drums); Robert Greenidge (steel drums); Arthur Jenkins, Jr. (percussion); Michelle Simpson, Cassandra Wooten, Cheryl Mason Jacks, Eric Troyer, Benny Cummings Singers, The Kings Temple Choir (background vocals).
ReplyDeleteRecorded at The Hit Factory, NYC 4 August 1980 – late September 1980.
Produced by John Lennon, Yoko Ono & Jack Douglas.
Track Listing:
1. (Just Like) Starting Over - 3:56
2. Kiss, Kiss, Kiss - 2:41
3. Cleanup Time - 2:58
4. Give Me Something - 1:35
5. I'm Losing You - 3:57
6. I'm Moving On - 2:20
7. Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) - 4:04
8. Watching the Wheels - 3:59
9. Yes, I'm Your Angel - 3:09
10. Woman - 3:31
11. Beautiful Boys - 2:55
12. Dear Yoko - 2:34
13. Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him - 4:02
14. Hard Times Are Over - 3:22
15. Help Me to Help Myself - 2:37
16. Walking on Thin Ice - 6:00
17. Central Park Stroll (Dialogue) - :17
Double Fantasy (2000) (RMST) (CAPITOL RECORDS) (17 TRACKS)
ReplyDeleteJohn Lennon & Yoko Ono
Album Description:
DOUBLE FANTASY is the comeback album by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, released in 1980 initially on the newly-formed Geffen Records, and then from 1989 onwards through EMI. It is notable for being John Lennon's final release during his lifetime, released only three weeks before his murder. The album won the 1981 Grammy Award for Album of the Year and is Lennon's best-selling studio album at three million shipments in the U.S.
Recording:
Following the birth of his son Sean in 1975, Lennon put his career on hold to raise the boy. In the summer of 1980, both Lennon and Ono felt ready to resume work and began composing. After five years of little musical activity aside from recording the occasional demo in his apartment at The Dakota, Lennon was absolutely bursting with creativity. He had fulfilled a lifelong ambition of learning how to sail in early 1980 and had been given fresh creative impetus in June of that year following his life-affirming experiences sailing a 43-foot sloop to Bermuda, accompanied by a small crew. Once in Bermuda, he started writing songs for a new album, sometimes writing about new experiences and occasionally reworking the half finished demos that he had recorded in the Dakota building. He was also, he claimed, the most content he had ever felt in all his years, even writing a song called "Life Begins at 40" to commemorate that milestone in his life. His assuredness and love for his family came through on the retro "(Just Like) Starting Over", as well as "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" and "Woman". Yoko Ono approached producer Jack Douglas, with whom both Lennon and Ono had worked before, giving him John's demos to listen to. “My immediate impressions were that I was going to have a hard time making it better than the demos because there was such intimacy in the demos,” Douglas told Uncut's Chris Hunt in 2005. Lennon, Ono and Douglas produced dozens of songs beginning that August, enough to fill DOUBLE FANTASY and beyond. A projected second album, MILK AND HONEY, was well into the rehearsal phase when work was halted following Lennon's murder that December. Ono was currently being regarded with fresh perspective after the onslaught of the late 1970's punk movement which bore similarities to her earlier work. As such, with renewed confidence, she produced many songs. Lennon's specific reference to the B-52's "Rock Lobster" was evidence that popular music had caught up with Ono's vision. Lennon and Ono made the decision to release their impending songs together on the same album, the first time they had done so since 1972's controversial SOME TIME IN NEW YORK CITY. Subtitled "A Heart Play", DOUBLE FANTASY would be a collection of songs wherein John and Yoko would be singing to each other. Signed by David Geffen, alongside Elton John and Donna Summer, for his new label, Geffen, DOUBLE FANTASY was preceded by Lennon's "(Just Like) Starting Over", which became a U.S. and U.K. #1 hit in the aftermath of John's murder. The album itself was received with much interest, coming after such an extended break. The album debuted at #27 in the U.K. and the following week reached #14, but then it fell down very quickly to #25 and then #46, making #14 its peak position. In the U.S., the situation was different. There, the album debuted at #25 and then rose to #12 and then #11. Douglas brought Rick Nielsen and Bun E. Carlos of the band Cheap Trick to play on "I'm Losing You", but it was eventually re-recorded with the studio musicians. The Cheap Trick version was included on the John Lennon Anthology collection released in 1998. The cover of the album is said to be inspired by a photograph of Astrid Kirchherr and Stuart Sutcliffe, the first bassist of The Beatles and one of John's best friends, who died in 1962.