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John Lennon / 9LP vinyl box set

By Paul Sinclair

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lennon_vinyl_box

Capitol/UMe will release a 9LP John Lennon vinyl box set in June.

Lennon, to give it its actual title, echoes the Japanese SHM-SACD releases from early this year in that it focuses on the solo studio albums recorded in the 1970s (and the very beginning of the 1980s) including the classics John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Imagine as well as ‘comeback’ album Double Fantasy. In fact, you get one extra with the vinyl reissues since this includes 1984’s posthumous Milk and Honey (not issued as an SHM-SACD).

As you might expect, everything is pressed on black 180-gram vinyl and these LPs have been newly cut to vinyl (by Sean Magee at Abbey Road Studios) from the 96k digital remasters that were created back in 2010 (from the original analogue tapes). So these are the John’s original mixes rather than the Yoko Ono remixes from a decade or so earlier. These new pressings are being manufactured for the world by Optimal Media in Germany.

This new vinyl collection offers an authentic reproduction of the UK originals. This means that Imagine comes with the postcards and poster, the Walls and Bridges has the sleeve with two fold-over flaps (and an eight-page booklet) and all inner sleeves on all albums are correct.

The Lennon vinyl box is issued on 8 June 2015. Incidentally, the albums will be issued individually on 180g vinyl, but you’ll have to wait until late August for that (see individual pre-order links below).

Albums in the box:

  • • John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970)
  • • Imagine (1971)
  • • Some Time In New York City (1972)
  • • Mind Games (1973)
  • • Walls and Bridges (1974)
  • • Rock ‘n’ Roll (1975)
  • • Double Fantasy (1980)
  • • Milk and Honey (1984)

Individual Vinyl Releases:

John Lennon / High Resolution Japanese SHM-SACDs to be issued

John Lennon / High Resolution Japanese SHM-SACDs to be issued

John Lennon / High Resolution Japanese SHM-SACDs to be issued

John Lennon / High Resolution Japanese SHM-SACDs to be issued

John Lennon / High Resolution Japanese SHM-SACDs to be issued

John Lennon / High Resolution Japanese SHM-SACDs to be issued

John Lennon / High Resolution Japanese SHM-SACDs to be issued

milkandhoney

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19 Comments

19 thoughts on “John Lennon / 9LP vinyl box set”

  4. Was it not John Lennon’s purpose to move away from the ‘polished’ production of the Beatles albums to a rough and ready, live feel?
    Am not sure a polished sound of something that was meant to be raw is going to live up to its hype.

    Also, ‘Commercial Marketing’ is a distribution arm of Universal that they use when they want to maintain some distance from the product. So that in itself is a warning.

  5. Would have been far more enticing with the pre-1970s albums, especially as these eight or nine albums are easily obtainable in second hand shops.

  6. Bruce – that’s a fair point, but it does not change the fact that the vinyl is being pressed from digital sources. So in this case, the vinyl is going to have the same digital sound as the CDs, only with the added noise / potential distortion introduced with the analog playback.

    Given that the digital downloads and CDs are much cheaper than the vinyl, it’s hard to argue for buying the LPs. What’s the selling point – “These records take up more storage space and will sound almost exactly like the CDs you probaby already have!”

    Whereas if the entire production chain was analog, then at least you’d have what most vinyl lovers want – an all-analog chain of non-digital sound.
    I suppose this is just capitalising on the vinyl bandwagon. For myself, I’m happy with the CDs, but I hope they come out with an all-analog vinyl set for enthusiasts at some point.

  7. Andrea and Phil, the actual analog mastertapes may be in fragile condition, thus necessitating the usage of those digital files. Irregardless, many believe that digital conversions from analog carry their own particular artifacts which a skilled engineer can compensate for when mastering for vinyl. And not all vinyl is overly noisy or warped.

    Given Mr. Magee’s track record (no pun intended), the Lennon solo catalogue is in very good hands. But the proof will be in the listening.

  8. Did John and Yoko each release an lp with the same title, namely, Plastic Ono Band? Or did the Plastic Ono Band release two lps, one entitled John Lennon and the other entitled Yoko Ono? I think it might be the latter.

  9. Phil is right on target. Cutting vinyl from a digital source is completely pointless: there’s no way vinyl sourced from digital files can sound better than the 2010 CDs sourced from the very same files. It’s physics. This is just a very expensive money-grab

  10. Long overdue and a must have box set of vinyl. I’m in. Would have been nice to include Live Peace In Toronto as J Carsell indicates above and also Shaved Fish would have been a worthy addition to round it out given it was re-released in 2014 on vinyl and it includes the great singles not on the studio albums such as Cold Turkey and Instant Karma. Anyway I will be happy to get this.

  12. What on earth is the point of mastering vinyl LPs from digital sources? From the perspective of a vinyl lover, that defeats the (digitization avoidance) purpose of vinyl. And from the perspective of a high-resolution digital lover, that forces the high-res file to be played on equipment that introduces the very things that the digital domain was created to avoid: surface noise, warp-related distortion, etc.

  13. Why isn’t Live Peace In Toronto 1969 included like it was on the early 80’s Lennon vinyl box? It’s missing on the SACD releases too.

  15. I was given the cd version for christmas a couple years back and it’s my sunday monrning wake and …..breakfast music. A must for any music fan.

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