Imagine
The enduring legacy of John Lennon's best album has overshadowed a glaring historical irony: theBeatles' original architect was also responsible for some of the Fab Four's most erratic solo albums. His recording projects all too often held hostage to polemics both personal and political, Lennon's conflicting artistic sensibilities arguably reached perfect balance just once. Coproduced with an uncharacteristically subtle touch byPhil Spector(a stark contrast to his dense aural constructions forGeorge Harrison'sAll Things Must Passfrom the same period), this is Lennon as whole man. Here he exhibits childlike utopian optimism (the title track), extends romantic paeans to the love of his life ("Oh Yoko!" "Oh My Love," and "Jealous Guy," the latter two begun asWhite Albumdemos) and spews bitter, petty acrimony toward his formersongwriting partner("How Do You Sleep?"). Set against such expressions, Lennon's fervent antiestablishment tirades ("I Don't Want to Be a Soldier," "Gimme Some Truth") took on some real weight and perspective, while his dollops of introspection ("How?" "Crippled Inside") have an air of resignation missing from the vitriol of his personal exorcism,Plastic Ono Band. This digitally remixed/remastered redux of the album may invoke the ire of the historically retentive, but it was accomplished under the aegis ofYoko Onowith an ear for clarity and a little more of John Lennon's complex, but always gratifying, soul.--Jerry McCulley