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  1. TRACKLIST:

    CD1 / BR1
    HYBRID ‘BEST OF’ SHOW
    1. Power To The People (intro) †
    2. New York City*
    3. It’s So Hard*
    4. Move On Fast* †
    5. Well Well Well †
    6. Born In A Prison* †
    7. Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)*
    8. Mother*
    9. We’re All Water †
    10. Come Together †
    11. Imagine*
    12. Open Your Box* †
    13. Cold Turkey* †
    14. Don’t Worry Kyoko* †
    15. Hound Dog
    16. Law And Order
    17. Give Peace A Chance
    * denotes afternoon show, otherwise the performance is from the evening show

    CD2 / BR1
    AFTERNOON SHOW
    1. Power To The People (intro) †
    2. New York City
    3. It’s So Hard
    4. Move On Fast †
    5. Well Well Well
    6. Born In A Prison †
    7. Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)
    8. Mother
    9. We’re All Water †
    10. Come Together
    11. Imagine
    12. Open Your Box †
    13. Cold Turkey †
    14. Don’t Worry Kyoko †
    15. Hound Dog †

    CD3 / BR1
    EVENING SHOW
    1. Power To The People (intro) †
    2. New York City †
    3. It’s So Hard †
    4. Move On Fast †
    5. Well Well Well †
    6. Instant Karma! (We All Shine On) †
    7. Mother †
    8. We’re All Water †
    9. Born In A Prison †
    10. Come Together
    12. Open Your Box †
    13. Cold Turkey
    14. Hound Dog
    15. Law And Order
    16. Give Peace A Chance

    CD4 / BR2
    NEW YORK CITY (THE ULTIMATE MIXES)
    John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band with Elephant’s Memory plus Invisible Strings
    1. New York City (Ultimate Mix)
    2. Sisters, O Sisters (Ultimate Mix)
    3. Attica State (Ultimate Mix)
    4. Born In A Prison (Ultimate Mix)
    5. Sunday Bloody Sunday (Ultimate Mix, extended)
    6. The Luck Of The Irish (Ultimate Mix)
    7. John Sinclair (Ultimate Mix, extended)
    8. Angela (Ultimate Mix)
    9. We’re All Water (Ultimate Mix)

    CD5 / BR2
    NEW YORK CITY (THE EVOLUTION DOCUMENTARY)
    John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band with Elephant’s Memory plus Invisible Strings
    1. New York City (Evolution Documentary) †
    2. Sisters, O Sisters (Evolution Documentary) †
    3. Attica State (Evolution Documentary) †
    4. Born In A Prison (Evolution Documentary) †
    5. Sunday Bloody Sunday (Evolution Documentary) †
    6. The Luck Of The Irish (Evolution Documentary) †
    7. John Sinclair (Evolution Documentary) †
    8. Angela (Evolution Documentary) †
    9. We’re All Water (Evolution Documentary) †

    CD6 / BR2
    NEW YORK CITY (STUDIO JAM)
    John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band with Elephant’s Memory
    1. Jazz Freakout †
    2. You Can’t Sit Down †
    3. Roll Over Beethoven †
    4. Honey, Don’t †
    5. Ain’t That A Shame †
    6. My Babe †
    7. Send Me Some Lovin’ †
    8. Fools Like Me †
    9. Down In The Caribbean †
    10. Happy Birthday Yoko Ono †
    11. That’s Right †
    12. Don’t Be Cruel / Hound Dog †
    13. Yoko’s Rhythm †
    14. Whole Lotta Shakin’ / It’ll Be Me †
    15. Yakety Yak †
    16. Road Runner †

    CD7 / BR3
    LIVE JAM 1
    John & Yoko / Plastic Ono Band and A Star Studded Cast of Thousands
    Peace and Love for Christmas, in aid of UNICEF
    Live at the Lyceum Ballroom, The Strand, London
    15 December 1969
    1. Cold Turkey (live)
    2. Don’t Worry Kyoko (live)
    John & Yoko / Plastic Ono Band with Frank Zappa and The Mothers
    Fillmore East, New York
    6 June 1971
    3. Well (Baby Please Don’t Go) (live)
    4. Jamrag [Say Please / King Kong / Aawk] (live)
    5. Scumbag (live)
    6. Aü (live)

    CD8 / BR3
    LIVE JAM 2
    John & Yoko / Plastic Ono Band with David Peel and The Lower East Side
    Live at the John Sinclair Freedom Rally, Crisler Arena, Ann Arbor, Michigan
    10 December 1971
    1. Attica State (live) †
    2. The Luck Of The Irish (live)
    3. Sisters, O Sisters (live) †
    4. John Sinclair (live)
    John & Yoko / Plastic Ono Band
    Live at the Benefit for the families of the victims of the riot at Attica State Correctional Facility
    Apollo Theater, Harlem, NYC
    17 December 1971
    5. Attica State (live)
    6. Sisters, O Sisters (live) †
    7. Imagine (live)
    John & Yoko / Plastic Ono Band
    Live on the David Frost TV Show, The Little Theatre, 240 West 44th Street, NYC
    16 December 1971
    8. Attica State (live) †
    9. Sisters, O Sisters (live) †
    10. John Sinclair (live) †
    John & Yoko / Plastic Ono Elephant’s Memory Band
    Live at the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon, Americana Hotel, NYC
    4 September 1972
    11. Imagine (live) †
    12. Now Or Never (live) †
    13. Give Peace A Chance (live) †

    CD9 / BR3
    HOME JAM
    John Lennon
    Home Recordings at the St. Regis Hotel, New York
    10 September 1971
    1. Shazam †
    2. Honey, Don’t †
    3. Glad All Over †
    4. Lend Me Your Comb †
    5. Wake Up Little Susie †
    6. New York City †
    7. Wake Up Little Susie †
    8. ‘Hey, que pasa?’ †
    9. You’re So Square (Baby I Don’t Care) †
    10. Vacation Time †
    11. Heartbeat †
    12. Peggy Sue Got Married †
    13. Peggy Sue †
    14. ‘Phone call from Henry Gotsello’ †
    15. Peggy Sue †
    16. ‘Now we’d like to change the mood a little…’ †
    17. Maybe Baby †
    18. Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues †
    19. Rave On! †
    20. Twelve Bar Blues †
    John Lennon
    Home Recordings at the St. Regis Hotel, New York
    27 October 1971
    21. I Got You †
    22. Hi-Heel Sneakers †
    23. Slippin’ And Slidin’ †
    24. Gone From This Place †
    John Lennon
    Home Recordings at Campus Inn, Ann Arbor, Michigan
    10 December 1971
    25. Send Me Some Lovin’ †
    26. He Got The Blues †
    27. When The Teacher †
    28. Pill †
    29. It’s Real
    John Lennon and Phil Ochs
    Home Recordings at Campus Inn, Ann Arbor, Michigan
    10 December 1971
    30. I Ain’t Marching Anymore †
    31. Joe Hill †
    32. Chords Of Fame †
    33. Ringing Of Revolution

    † denotes never-before-heard, previously unreleased tracks

  4. Presumably Sean backed down on ‘that’ track this time.

    Think I saw it priced about £170, which isn’t bad for 12 discs in this day and age….not that I will be buying it. I assume there will be a 2CD version or suchlike – I have the original issue, so will have to see what is on that.

  5. I’m probably the only person who wishes Sean would do more of his own albums, although he does a fine job trying to breathe life into his Dad’s stuff. Into The Sun is a great album, I’ve loved it since accidentally hearing it in a shop in 1998.

        • As kind of a victim of racism himself regarding his choice of partner he would probably have a degree of sympathy, but hopefully expressed in a less clumsy way.

          • »Woman is the Person Of Colour Of The World«
            Surely they could have fixed his vocal with AI…?

            But seriously – the song was always meant as a provocation, and everyone who spends 200 bucks on a box set would be able to get this. And if – as some people expect – the offending tracks (they also cut if from the various »complete« concert recordings in the box) are included as secret tracks, that makes it even sillier.

            What next – deleting »I Saw Her Standing There« from the first Beatle album?

            • There are a lot of tracks from that time which wouldn’t get written or recorded now for various reasons – Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, Only Sixteen both now sound distinctly dodgy….A Quick One…Stray Cat Blues. Of course Oliver’s Army is the classic – the N word being deleted for radio play.

              • How strange. Make’s me stick even more to my ‘don’t get rid of anything’ assertion, because I do think such things are going to be tampered with more and more in the future.

                Five years ago, ‘woke’, following the death of George Floyd, was linked to Black Civil Rights, in 2025 if you asked 100 people in the U.K. what it means, at least 95 wouldn’t even mention Black Civil Rights.
                A fantastic effort by the right-wing press… I find that far more distressing than this song… and it’s happening now!

                • @deramdaze

                  The rise of Black Lives Matter following Floyd’s murder had nothing in common with the largely peaceful black civil rights movement of the 60s.

                  Born out of African Americans’ justifiable anger about how little had changed since that time, BLM ultimately owed more to black radicals like Malcolm X, Eldridge Cleaver and Huey Newton and the Black Panthers than it did to MLK.

                  • I know all that, my point is that the word ‘woke’ has completely changed definition in five years.

                    Lennon saying another word in an obscure song, on an obscure release, on a riotously expensive box set, won’t amount to a hill of beans. Why not include it?

                    • A guess. Its inclusion would generate a shitstorm of social media cancellation “JOHN LENNON WAS A RACIST”, media gleefully stoking the flames “BEATLE IN N-WORD DEBACLE” cancellation by self proclaimed guardians of the universe snd and a general hoo-ha.

                    • They’d quickly be raking up and filling their “sidebars of shame” with all of the other vaguely controversial/ scandalous stuff, too…

                      The Jesus quote, Kotexgate, the rumours about his “gay fling” with Brian E, etc, etc

                  • BLM was largely non violent and non destructive – 93% according to a report. Authorities responded more often and more aggressively compared to other protests, such as covid (9% v 3%). There were also bad actors from out of area and counter protests from the likes of Proud Boys and KKK increasing tensions, including the armed teenager who shot dead two people in Wisconsin.

                    There was plenty of violence during the sixties civil rights marches, despite MLK’s efforts to keep them peaceful.

                    By the way, I think it ridiculous that Woman Is… is missing.

                    • Interesting that the missing track controversy has gained more traction on this thread than the actual album release. I wonder if that will be repeated elsewhere (lots of nice publicity on social media).

                      I continue to manage quite nicely with just POB and Shaved Fish…

                    • John Lennon albums I actually play?

                      Rock ‘N’ Roll.

                      Erm…

                      I have a playlist of the Lennon songs from Milk & Honey and Double Fantasy, leaning towards the stripped down versions, that I listen to quite often.

                      POB gets the occasional spin. Imagine less often. Mind Games and Walls And Bridges hardly ever.

                      Sometime In New York City pretty much never. However, As Fatima says, its whole point was to deliberately provoke controversy. With every single studio track. They are all objectionable or offensive in one way or another, though We’re All Water is rather lovely. To get cold feet and cancel the opener and single is just nonesense in the context of the album and its time.

                    • Publish and be damned, Tiggs…

                      …but seriously: if you care to share that late playlist – I’m always happy to test my prejudices!

                    • I use Tidal

                      https://tidal.com/playlist/cfed0d56-d8db-422d-9081-c3043cca3743

                      This captures a very content Lennon, comfortable with his place in the world, happily domesticated. His vocals are outstanding, relaxed, playful, self-deprecating and self-aware. It’s lovely to hear.

                      From Double Fantasy stripped down if not otherwise stated:

                      Starting over
                      I dont wanna face it (milk & honey)
                      Watching the wheels
                      Every man has a woman who loves him (Gimme Some Truth)
                      Im losing you
                      Im stepping out (M&H)
                      Woman
                      Nobody told me (M&H)
                      Clean up time
                      Borrowed time (M&H)
                      Beautiful boy (darling boy)
                      (Forgive me) my little flower princess (M&H)

      • I have no great interest in this recording or even his solo career to be honest, but it feels like the suppression of “that” song seems to be about keeping up the posthumous public image of Lennon as a saintly, man for all seasons ( “Imagine” etc.), rather than an artist of his time, writing a poorly-worded, clumsy song. As others have said, in 2025 this box set is of historical interest only to dedicatees, and judicious asterisks would have sufficed.

        • I don’t know for sure, but from memory it was Universal Music who were the issue when Sean prepared the Some Time In New York City box set. I don’t think they were worried about Lennon’s image, more likely their own.

          However, the track is on the Gimme Some Truth set and myriad other compilations, as well as Some Time in New York City, which are all still being produced and sold, so it is a bit ridiculous.

          • There are 2 GST compilations, it’s on the first one from 2010, the more recent one that shares its name has only Angela from the Some Time album

            • This from the SDE website…

              Now retitled as simply New York City, the studio tracks from Some Time In New York City were co-produced by Lennon and Ono with Phil Spector. The new edition has omits the controversial ‘Woman Is The N****r Of The World’, which, don’t forget, was actually a single in some territories including North America (although not the UK) – the only one to be released from the album. The last official release of this song was 2010 when it was included in the Signature Box and on the reissued Some Time in New York City album. It wasn’t included on 2020’s Gimme Some Truth compilation and so it was always going to be an issue if John’s Estate wanted to reissue the 1972 album.

  7. I enjoyed the ‘One to One’ documentary at the cinema and probably should have gone to see it a second time, but I can’t think I’d play even the 1CD version more than twice. If I catch it for a fiver, not an impossibility with my… erm… ‘dealer’, I ‘might’ buy it.

  9. I’m looking forward to seeing the cover of Two Virgins reimagined for the modern world- with all the pubes removed (as is the style these days, or so I heard…) Perhaps there could be some pube stickers for those who like it furry.

  10. Regarding above comments about his post Beatles stuff in general I tend to agree that you could get by with Plastic Ono Band and a decent compilation. However Imagine is pretty great, Rock n Roll is half good, half awful to my ears. I really like Walls and Bridges though, top drawer songwriting and singing. Mind Games is a bit flat, but has a number of fine songs that are improved by recent remix. Double Fantasy etc is what it is, for me a couple of great tracks, but I still remember my disappointment when I first heard it. Best one from that era being Yoko’s masterpiece Walking on Thin Ice which John was also working on the night he died.

    STINYC has always been the runt of the litter and whatever they do here won’t change that. The live concerts have more historical relevance being the only complete concerts he played after 1966 so I understand why they concentrated on that as a lead selling point. And if you want to hear the offending track you can fairly easily buy the album and it is still available on all major streaming services.

    • I think his “protest” songs are better when they are non-specific or nebulous. Think of Imagine, Give Peace A Chance, Instant Karma, Revolution, Power To The People at a push. When he tries to tell someone’s story or address a particular issue, he tends to get clunky. Dylan can do that but Lennon can’t.

      Borrowed Time reflects on this and is remarkably self aware. “I can dish it out but can’t take it.”

      • I think he also said his heart wasn’t really in it at that time. He moved to the US and was heavily influenced by various political groups and mediocre musicians. You could add Happy Xmas (War is Over) to the good “protest” list. Don’t really think of Instant Karma as a protest song, but for me it is the best single he released after The Beatles. Power to the People is awful and I think does indeed fit in with this era even if it preceded it somewhat

        • To the point his heart wasn’t really in it – to me this was the fascinating subtext to the recent One to One: John & Yoko doc. The rush of information contained within the first half’s collage of contemporaneous interviews, phone calls etc gave the impression he was giddy with excitement at NY and eager to distance himself from the Fabs as much as possible.

          Ingratiating himself into the NY subculture, the charity gigs, the endorsing of various rabble rousers, campaigning for John Sinclair, feting Angela Davis, Attica State, etc etc – all served that purpose. Making Beatle-quality music clearly wasn’t the agenda – STINYC wasn’t meant to be Revolver, it was a quick, functional, polemic, shooting from a bunker.

          In the doc, you can tell when the boredom starts to set in. He starts moving back, thinking about the future, thinking what it would be like to just be a musician again and not a figurehead for a movement thats clearly getting deeper and darker than he’d imagined. His music post ’72 was never as brilliant again IMO – some really good stuff, but nothing to touch what came before.

          • He didn’t like being challenged. Was it the David Frost show when the audience responded to a performance of Attica State by heckling that they were in prison for a reason? Lennon refused to participate in the second half.

  11. You surely have been waiting for my usual nit-picking, and the Lennon camp doesn’t disappoint here.

    For all that talk about »archival research«, years of preparation and documentation, it’s still impressive that they couldn’t identify the correct »Glad All Over« song – Lennon doesn’t cover the Dave Clark Five hit single here: it’s the old Carl Perkins chestnut that the Beatles used to play in Hamburg and at the BBC!

    And the »offensive« N-word song appears several times in the book, but someone still took the time to photoshop the word from the pictures of the »original« tape boxes… it’s all a bit irritating. (And no, the song isn’t included as a secret or hidden track).

    Worst of all is the mysterious case of the vanishing saxophone – no-one probably likes Elephants Memory nowadays, but their defining sound was that annoyingly honking sax everywhere. Well, Sean obviously doesn’t like that either, and put it way back in the mix. Or deleted it entirely on some songs. Nevermind, he kept their questionable sense of rhythm: there are times when they sound as if the drummer and his kit is falling down some staircase. Where’s Jim Keltner & Ringo when you need them?

    All in all – you do get a lot of stuff to marvel at for 200 euros here, and if you don’t care for historical accuracy and the original artist’s intention, it’s pretty enjoyable. Not bad for a this’ll-do, self-indulgent Beatle solo album.

  12. I’m not enticed by vanishing parts, nor in other cases (e.g. ‘Break on Through’ by the Doors) enhanced parts. I don’t want to hear what the group sounded like in the studio, I want to hear what the group sounded like on the radio at the time.

    And I’m still perplexed by the omission of you-know-what, especially if you actually read the lyric.

    Anyway, as I’m never going to be in the market for this, the new 9-track Mojo CD suits me just fine. That, and the film at the flicks earlier this year.

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