John Lennon - Lennon Legend/ Very Best of Video Collection2003(D
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- Other > Other
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- 1.04 GB
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- +0 / -3 (-3)
- Uploaded:
- Jul 11, 2010
- By:
- johnnyrep
Lennon Legend: The Very Best of John Lennon was released on DVD in November 2003 as a series of remastered, remixed & new videos. The DVD featured never-before-seen footage from the Lennon/Ono archive, rare newsreel and private footage, creating 15 new and newly-remastered music videos. Featuring 20 tracks in total, the DVD featured footage that was traced back as close to its original source as possible. In many cases this meant going back to the original film negative, which was then digitally re-transferred and remastered. With footage shot on video, it was necessary to go back to John Lennon's original camera tapes (all on long-obsolete formats) and have them re-transferred. This has been a source of contempt for Lennon fans, as the wide majority of videos on the DVD were newly made, with the exceptions of "Imagine", "Instant Karma!", and "Woman." Both "Power to the People" and "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night" are the originals, albeit in extended form, and the video for "Stand By Me" has new footage inserted. The originals can be found on the 1992 compilation The John Lennon Video Collection, which as of this writing has not been re-released. Sporting an identical cover to the 1997 compilation album of the same name, this DVD actually has more in common with the 2005 compilation Working Class Hero for it boasts re-mastered and re-mixed versions of Lennon's best known classics, some of which are slightly extended in length on the DVD (precious seconds that cannot be heard on any other official release). That was the major plus point, the negative was the problem which had beset the VHS John Lennon Video Collection, exacerbated here with further unnecessary tampering of the visuals, the most glaring example being the performance of the 1975 hit Stand By Me (a perfectly good live 1975 Lennon performance for The Old Grey Whistle Test was now inter-cut with scenes from the unrelated peace campaign period of 6 years prior). Lennon was always a contemporary artist describing what he was going through at the time and a man who went through many changes, illustrating these performances with chronologically misplaced footage rarely sits comfortably with the discerning fan and there are also moments of deja vu with the same bits of film cropping up in montages for other songs. In terms of rare material, there were rewards, but it would have been nice to see such treasures presented in their original context. Primarily aimed at the casual fan rather than the hardcore collector, Lennon Legend was first issued as a region 2 PAL DVD on 27th October 2003 by Parlophone, the region 1 NTSC DVD followed on 18th November 2003 bearing the Capitol logo. Track listing: 1. Imagine 2. Instant Karma 3. Mother 4. Jealous Guy 5. Power to the People 6. Cold Turkey 7. Mind Games 8. Whatever Gets You Thru The Night 9. #9 Dream 10. Stand By Me 11. (Just Like) Starting Over 12. Woman 13. Beautiful Boy 14. Watching The Wheels 15. Nobody Told Me 16. Borrowed Time 17. Working Class Hero 18. Happy X-Mas(War Is Over) 19. Give Peace A Chance Additional info. for tracks: 1.Imagine (original 1971 promo), 2.Instant Karma! (1970 'Top of the Pops' performance version two with Yoko knitting, version one had appeared on The John Lennon Video Collection), 3.Mother (a new photo montage), Guy (footage of John recording his vocal track merged with the sequence used in the original Imagine film, this was possibly the version that was put together in 1985 to promote the British single release & the Imagine home video), 5.Power to the People (as produced in 1992 for The John Lennon Video Collection albeit extended in length here), 6.Cold Turkey (new video combining 1972 Madison Square Garden footage with film of John and Yoko arriving at court in 1968 following the drug bust), 7.Love (new video, a mixture of Imagine film clips from 1971 and the 1980 'love making' footage), 8.Mind Games (footage of John filming a promo for Whatever Gets You Through The Night), 9.Whatever Gets You Through The Night (as produced in 1992 for The John Lennon Video Collection), 10.#9 Dream (a new video combining extracts from the Two Virgins, Smile and Imagine films, this was met with much criticism at the time as it showed Yoko on a track that John recorded during his 'lost weekend' with May Pang), 11.Stand By Me (mostly the 1975 Old Grey Whistle Test performance pointlessly intercut with 1969/71 footage), 12.(Just Like) Starting Over (a new photo and memorabilia montage, a far superior video had been produced for The John Lennon Video Collection), 13.Woman (original 1981 promo), 14 b]Beautiful Boy[/b] (Darling Boy) (new video - slow motion sequences from a home video of John, Yoko, Sean and two friends sat and playing by the sea), 15.Watching The Wheels (the highlight of the new video's - this utilized home movies from 1975-80), 16.Nobody Told Me (a new video - yet more Imagine film clips from 1971 and 1969's Apotheosis used to illustrate a track from 1980), 17.Borrowed Time (new video - another montage of clips, some rare, spanning 1968-80), 18.Working Class Hero (new video which mixed stills & Beatles footage with newly shot film of John's childhood home on Menlove Ave. & Strawberry Fields), 19.Happy Xmas (War Is Over) (new harrowing video showing scenes of war and its' inevitable consequences) and 20.Give Peace a Chance (partly the original promo mixed with contemporary late 1960's/early 1970's footage of student riots, anti war rally's, John and Yoko singing the song with a large crowd in 1972 and finally the crowd of mourners singing it outside the Dakota in 1980). Above info. taken from Lennon/Ono on Home Video http://homepage.ntlworld.com/carousel/pob/pob22.html J.L.