John Lennon Imagine, The Ultimate Collection

John Lennon’s birthday today, October 9, is marked by the release of a new deluxe and expanded version of Imagine (The Ultimate Collection). The set is now available to stream and download, and features the entire full-length collection of tracks, some of which have previously only been available on Blu-Ray, in Hi-Res Stereo and Spatial Audio/Dolby Atmos. Yoko Ono Lennon and Sean Ono Lennon have sent a note to Lennon’s legions of fans worldwide to explain that each set of mixes from the compilation – Ultimate, Elements, Evolution, Raw Studio and Out-Takes – has been released as a separate album. This allows his songs to be enjoyed in the way that was originally intended, curated by Yoko Ono Lennon, rather than release all 78 tracks from the themed retrospective in one vast playlist.

When Imagine was released in September 1971, John Lennon finally gave Beatles fans the album they wanted. His first three solo records were recorded and released while the group was still around, but they were experimental noise collages constructed with Yoko Ono that had nothing to do with the Beatles' music (unless you consider "Revolution 9" representative of their work). And 1970's post-breakup John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, as great as it is, was a little too abrasive for folks who still had "Let It Be" and "The Long and Winding Road" ringing in their ears.

On October 5, Universal Music celebrates the apex of John Lennon’s solo career with a six-disc box set, Imagine – The Ultimate Collection. This historical, remixed and remastered 140-track collection is fully authorised by Yoko Ono Lennon who oversaw the production and creative direction. Spread across four CDs and two Blu-ray discs, this truly unique expanded edition offers a variety of listening experiences that are at once immersive and intimate, ranging from the brand new Ultimate Mixes of the iconic album, which reveal whole new levels of sonic depth, definition and clarity to these timeless songs, to the Raw Studio Mixes that allow listeners to hear Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band’s original, unadorned performances, to enveloping 5.1 surround sound mixes, and a Quadrasonic Album Mix, presenting the original four speaker mix remastered in Quadrasonic sound for the first time in nearly fifty years.

From the haunting, funereal bells and emotional wails of opening track “Mother,” it was immediate – John Lennon’s first solo studio album was unlike anything he had made before. Recorded in 1970, shortly after the demise of The Beatles, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band saw John stripping away the artifice and ornamentation for a visceral artistic exorcism that was confessional, raw, painfully honest, and revelatory. Inspired by the primal scream psychotherapy he and wife Yoko Ono had been practicing with Dr. Arthur Janov, John, joined by the minimalist Plastic Ono Band – Ringo Starr on drums and Klaus Voormann on bass, and producer Phil Spector – confronted his demons, professed his love for his wife, railed against false idols and declared the dream was over on his most personal album. Today it stands as the towering achievement of his solo career – the moment the biggest rock star in the world bared his soul for all to hear – as real as it was revolutionary.