http://www.cyber-beatles.com/legend.htm“Lennon Legend” DVD
On November 4th, the “Lennon Legend” DVD was released in Canada (on November 18th in the US.) The most obvious 1st impression is the great audio quality, most notable on “Instant Karama”, a track known for its cluttered mix. The clarity here gives “Instant Karma” its best ever audio release. The audio quality is consistent throughout the disc - with only “#9 Dream” lacking the dynamics that I had expected or hoped for. Many of the songs have extended fades (“Instant Karma” ; “Power To The People” ; “Whatever Gets You Through The Night” ; Stand By Me”- which is allowed to end at a full stop ; “Nobody Told Me” - with a new “drop in” intro ; “Borrowed Time” ; “Give Peace A Chance”) giving a fresh sound to these familiar tracks.
Without doing a “side by side” comparison with “The John Lennon Video Collection,” many of the videos are new or have been “recut” for the DVD. The videos for “Imagine”, “Instant Karma” ; “Power To The People” ; “Whatever Gets You Through The Night” and “Woman” (which still includes the tasteless morgue shot) are either exactly the same or very familiar to what I’ve seen in the past.
The obvious differences:
“Mother” - a new video with a moving theme interconnecting the various separations in John’s life - his mother; father; Julian; Brian Epstein (a ‘daddy’ figure); Yoko (‘long weekend’) and the ultimate separation - John’s separation from Sean, after December 1980. A moving video - my personal favourite.
“Jealous Guy” - newly compiled from “Imagine” film and “Gimme Some Truth” DVD footage. This version omits John’s Phil Spector comment at the end .
“Cold Turkey” - in this new version, the studio version audio is synched with the live video footage from the “One to One” concert at Madison Square Garden. Very well done.
“Love” - a new video compiled from the footage taken at the Sperone Gallery in New York in September 1980 (first used in the original “(Just Like) Starting Over” video) .
“Mind Games” - new footage of Lennon in Central Park circa 1974 coinciding with the opening of the “Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road” play.
“#9 Dream” is compiled with footage from the “Imagine”, “Smile” and “Two Virgins” films.
“Stand By Me” - the performance from “Old Grey Whistle Test” is recut with 1969 ‘wedding’ footage.
“(Just Like) Starting Over” - a new video by Joe Pytka using a similar technique that he used for the “Free As A Bird” video. This video is based on the “scrapbook of madness” quote from “Lennon Remembers”. The “scrapbook of madness” comes to life when newspaper clipping, photos and lyric sheets are airborne. Includes the now overused “breaking glasses” symbolism first used on the 1988 “Imagine: John Lennon” film.
“Beautiful Boy” - a new video taken from home movie quality footage of John, Yoko and Sean at a lakeside setting.
“Watching The Wheels” features home movie quality footage of John and Sean in the Cayman Islands, Florida, Japan and New York .
“Nobody Told Me” has a new intro and additional footage taken from “Imagine” film footage.
“Borrowed Time” - a new video with animated childhood photos; Frazier Gallery footage and “Imagine” footage of John and George, among others.
“Working Class Hero” shows fame from different stages of John’s life shown on an old television set (in John’s childhood home) leading to the “price of fame”: John’s murder (pictured is a “Catcher in the Rye” book with a blood stain) .
“Working Class Hero” - a completely different video with images of war, mainly with displaced children. The video includes the Ghandi quote used by Yoko in recent interviews: "An eye for an eye will make us all blind".
“Give Peace A Chance” is recut, with the live performance interrupted by student demonstration footage.
Bonus Features:
“Working Class Hero (Anthology version) - the promotional video used for the "Lennon Anthology" with various biographical clips and sound bites.
“Slippin’ and Sliddin’” the complete live performance from “Old Grey Whistle Test”.
“Imagine” the live performance from 1975's “Salute to Sir Lew Grade” with significant lyric changes (‘imagine if we can’ ; ‘no immigration too”) .
“Hair Peace” and “Everybody Had A Hard Year” are incidental at best
A animation and photo gallery are included.
Most obvious omission:
“I’m Losing You" (Anthology version) with Cheap Trick .
Note: You’ll still need “The John Lennon Video Collection” to see the original versions of many of the videos listed above, particularly “Give Peace A Chance” and “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” - which I prefer in their original context. For completists - and for historic purposes, these videos should have been included as bonus features, especially since many DVDs include alternate videos.
“I’m Steppin’ Out” and “Grow Old With Me” were included in “The John Lennon Video Collection” but were omitted for the “Legend” DVD.
The companion CD for “Lennon Legend” was reissued with a new slipcover tying it in with the new DVD release.