The John Lennon Collection

The John Lennon Collection
Greatest hits album by John Lennon
Released	1 November 1982 (UK) 8 November 1982 (US)
Recorded	June 1969 – October 1980
Genre	Rock
Length	69:29
Label	Parlophone, Odeon Records (some countries), Geffen Records (US LP)
Producer	John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Phil Spector, Jack Douglas
John Lennon chronology
Double Fantasy (1980) The John Lennon Collection (1982) Milk and Honey (1984)
Singles from The John Lennon Collection
"Love" Released: 15 November 1982

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The John Lennon Collection is a retrospective compilation album of music from John Lennon's 1970s solo career. The album was released on vinyl in 1982 by Parlophone through EMI, and by Geffen Records in the United States, later being remastered and released on CD in 1989. It was the first Lennon album to be issued following the singer's death in 1980. The album includes most of Lennon's hit singles and various selections from the majority of his solo albums recorded with EMI from 1970–75, as well as all but one of his tracks from his final album Double Fantasy, which was initially distributed by Geffen Records in America and EMI in the United Kingdom.

The selections on the first half of the album are similar to those on Shaved Fish, Lennon's 1975 compilation album that the singer compiled himself, but without "Cold Turkey" and "Mother" (this was replaced with "Love", another track from the Plastic Ono Band album) and "Woman Is the Nigger of the World" from Sometime In New York City. The second half of the album includes Lennon's cover of "Stand By Me" and many of the songs from Double Fantasy.

In the US, the album was issued with a slightly different track listing, with "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" and "Stand By Me" excluded (the former possibly because unlike in the UK, this single release was not a hit in the States and did not even chart there). In 1989, after EMI acquired the rights to the Double Fantasy material, The John Lennon Collection was remastered and reissued worldwide with two bonus tracks for its CD release, "Move Over Ms. L" and "Cold Turkey" (the former being the only officially released Lennon track previously unavailable on any UK album, the latter the only UK hit single originally excluded from the compilation). "Move Over Ms. L" was the more notable inclusion – originally intended for Walls and Bridges but cut at the last minute; it was released as the B-side to "Stand by Me". Keith Moon went on to cover the song on his lone solo album Two Sides of the Moon.

In the US, the 1989 CD re-issue of The John Lennon Collection not only included the two bonus tracks but also the two songs originally excluded from the US release, "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" and "Stand By Me" (these were also thought of us as 'bonus tracks' in the US), thereby making the track-listing now identical in both countries.

As Lennon's first posthumous release, The John Lennon Collection did extremely well, reaching #1 in the UK and peaking at #33 in the US where it would eventually reach triple platinum. In the UK, "Love" was excerpted as a single (featuring a version of the song without the slow fade-ins) and managed to reach #41.

The front and back covers for The John Lennon Collection were taken by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz on 8 December 1980, the day Lennon was murdered.

Track listing

All songs by John Lennon, except where noted.

1. "Give Peace a Chance" – 4:52
   • Originally credited to Lennon–McCartney, the credit was revised in the 1990s to cite only Lennon as its composer.
2. "Instant Karma!" – 3:20
3. "Power to the People" – 3:16
4. "Whatever Gets You thru the Night" – 3:17
   • Features Elton John on backing vocals and piano; edit of 1974 full length version on Walls and Bridges.
5. "#9 Dream" – 2:46 (4:46 on 1989's CD reissue)
   • Edit of 1974 full length version on Walls and Bridges.
   • The full length version was included on 1989's CD reissue of the compilation.
6. "Mind Games" – 4:12
7. "Love" – 3:22
   • Released as a single unique to this collection. Originally released in 1970 on John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band.
8. "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" (Lennon/Yoko Ono) – 3:33
   • Originally excluded from US version of this compilation, included on 1989 re-issue.
9. "Imagine" – 3:02
10. "Jealous Guy" – 4:14
11. "Stand by Me" (Jerry Leiber/Mike Stoller/Ben E. King) – 3:25
    • Originally excluded from US version of this compilation, included on 1989 re-issue.
12. "(Just Like) Starting Over" – 3:55
13. "Woman" – 3:25
14. "I'm Losing You" – 3:57
15. "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" – 4:01
16. "Watching the Wheels" – 3:31
17. "Dear Yoko" – 2:33
18. "Move Over Ms. L." – 2:56
    • Originally released in 1975 as "Stand by Me"'s B-Side.
    • Bonus track added to the CD reissue of The John Lennon Collection in 1989.
19. "Cold Turkey" – 5:01
    • Bonus track added to the CD reissue of The John Lennon Collection in 1989.

Chart positions

Chart (1982)	Peak position
UK Albums Chart	1

Chart (1983)	Peak position
Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart	1
Billboard 200	33

Credits

• Mastering Greg Fulginiti US
• John Kalodner :John Kalodner

References

Preceded by The Singles: The First Ten Years by ABBA	UK Albums Chart number one album 4 December 1982 – 14 January 1983	Succeeded by Raiders of the Pop Charts by Various Artists
Preceded by Love over Gold by Dire Straits	Australian Kent Music Report number-one album 17 January – 20 February 1983	Succeeded by Very Best of the Carpenters by The Carpenters