Lennon John: Lennon (9× LP) - LP

This box set includes the albums:
• John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970)
• Imagine (1971)
• Some Time In New York City – 2LP (1972)
• Mind Games (1973)
• Walls and Bridges (1974)
• Rock n Roll (1975)
• Double Fantasy (1980)
• Milk and Honey (1984)

He did not have an easy childhood. His father, Alfred Lennon, a merchant seaman, walked out on the family shortly after he was born, and his mother, Julia Lennon, handed young John over to her sister, Mary Elizabeth "Mimi" Smith, to raise. His mother then died tragically when he was 18, which scarred John Lennon for life. He had two half-sisters. From the age of seven, he wrote poems and short stories illustrated with his own drawings, and he was an avid reader. In 1952, John Lennon started at Quarry Bank High School, where he began playing the guitar and later formed his first skiffle group, The Quarrymen, with his friend Pete Shotton.

The story of The Beatles began in 1956 when John Lennon met Paul McCartney at a fete in Woolton, England, and invited him to join his band as a guitarist. This moment marked the birth of the most famous songwriting partnership of all time – Lennon/McCartney. Lennon and McCartney then began writing songs together, penning around 100 tracks in their first two years of collaboration.

John Lennon in 1964:
John Lennon had little interest in academic studies, so he transferred to the College of Art. There, he met Stuart Sutcliffe, whom he brought into the band. He later renamed the group Johnny and the Moondogs, then The Silver Beetles, and finally, in 1960, The Beatles. On 23 August 1962, John Lennon married his art school classmate, Cynthia Powell, and their son, John Charles Julian Lennon, was born on 8 April 1963. In March 1964, Lennon published his first book, In His Own Write, which became an overnight bestseller. A year later, he released another book, A Spaniard in the Works.

John Lennon was a lifelong rebel. On 4 March 1966, he remarked in an interview that The Beatles were more popular than Jesus Christ. This sparked a wave of outrage, and radio stations across the US boycotted playing their music. The year 1966 was also a milestone in his personal life – on 9 November, he met the love of his life, the controversial Japanese artist Yoko Ono. Two years later, he divorced his wife, Cynthia, and married Yoko Ono in Gibraltar on 20 March 1969.

1969 was a critical year for The Beatles. John Lennon began bringing Yoko Ono to recording sessions, a move that met with strong protests, particularly from Paul McCartney. John Lennon embarks on solo projects, recording the album Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins with Yoko Ono. Because they both appear naked on the cover, the vinyl record has to be sold in a brown paper bag. Lennon and Yoko form the Plastic Ono Band and begin their political activism and anti-war protests. They organise peace bed-ins, the most famous of which takes place in Montreal in May 1969. The newlyweds spend 8 days in bed, advocating for peace, hosting peace gatherings, and recording the now-iconic song Give Peace a Chance together with their friends (including Timothy Leary).

In 1970, the Beatles officially split up. A year later, the Lennons move permanently to the USA and settle in the Dakota building in New York. Lennon releases the album Imagine. In the United States, John Lennon faces difficulties with the immigration authorities due to a prior drug possession charge. In 1976, Lennon finally obtains his Green Card.

On 9 October 1975, Yoko Ono gives birth to their only child together, Sean Ono Taro Lennon. Following his son's birth, Lennon takes a break from the music industry, retreats from the public eye, and focuses solely on raising his child. In August 1980, after a six-year hiatus, he starts writing music and recording songs again. These sessions produce two albums – Double Fantasy (1980) and Milk and Honey (1984).

On 8 December 1980, Lennon is assassinated. He is shot dead outside the entrance to his New York apartment building by the mentally ill Mark David Chapman, for whom Lennon had signed a copy of his new album Double Fantasy just hours earlier. Lennon is pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. Following his death, numerous conspiracy theories emerge about a faked murder and Lennon living on a remote island in the Pacific. Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, still lives in the Dakota to this day.

Lennon's songs (such as Imagine and Strawberry Fields Forever) are frequently ranked among the greatest songs in music history. In 2002, the BBC poll ranks John Lennon among the 100 Greatest Britons of all time.

Contents: LP 1 A1. Mother A2. Hold On A3. I Found Out A4. Working Class Hero A5. Isolation B1. Remember B4. Look At Me B5. God B6. My Mummy's Dead LP 2 A1. Imagine A2. Crippled Inside A3. Jealous Guy A4.It's So Hard A5. I Don't Wanna Be A Soldier Mama I Don't Wanna Die B1. Gimme Some Truth B2. Oh My Love B3. How Do You Sleep? LP 3 A1. Woman Is the Nigger of the World A2. Sisters, O Sisters A3. Attica State A4. Born In a Prison A5. New York City B1. Sunday Bloody Sunday B2. The Luck Of the Irish B3. John Sinclair B4. Angela B5. We're All Water LP 4 C1. Cold Turkey (live) C2. Don't Worry Kyoko (live) C3. Well (Baby Please Don't Go) (live) 39 D2. Scumbag (live) D3. Au (live) LP 5 A1. Mind Games