Imagine (Original Soundtrack)
It's virtually impossible to sum up John Lennon's entire career in 21 tracks, but thisYoko-approved soundtrack to Andrew Solt's 1988 documentary makes a fairly impressive try. Evenly split between hisBeatlesand solo periods, this collection paints a complex picture of a man whose music was by turns reflective ("In My Life," "Strawberry Fields Forever"), political ("Revolution, "Give Peace a Chance"), and harrowingly emotional ("Mother," "Jealous Guy"), but who also occasionally enjoyed a good old rock & roll rave-up ("Twist and Shout"). Of special interest to Lennon fans are a short rehearsal snippet from theImaginesessions and a tentative acoustic demo of "Real Love," later brought to full-color life by the surviving Beatles for the secondAnthology>collection. Most Beatlemaniacs will find the rest of the stuff almost annoyingly familiar, but the compilation still makes a solid crash course for newcomers.--Dan Epstein