John Lennon & Yoko Ono Books 2 Items

The definitive inside story – told in revelatory detail – of the making of the legendary album and all that surrounded it: the locations, the artworks, the film, the documentary and the people who were there.

In 1971, John Lennon & Yoko Ono conceived and recorded the critically acclaimed album Imagine at their Georgian country home, Tittenhurst Park, in Berkshire, England, in the state-of-the-art studio they built in the grounds, and at the Record Plant in New York. The lyrics of the title track were inspired by Yoko Ono’s ‘event scores’ in her 1964 book Grapefruit, and she was officially co-credited as writer in June 2017.

Imagine John Yoko tells the story of John & Yoko’s life, work and relationship during this intensely creative period, featuring 80% exclusive, hitherto-unpublished archive photos and footage sequences of all the key players in situ, together with lyric sheets, Yoko’s art installations, and exclusive new insights and personal testimonies from Yoko and over 40 of the musicians, engineers, staff, celebrities, artists and photographers who were there – including Julian Lennon, Klaus Voormann, Alan White, Jim Keltner, David Bailey, Dick Cavett and Sir Michael Parkinson. It transports readers to home and working environments showcasing Yoko’s closely guarded archive of photos and artefacts, using artfully compiled narrative film stills, and featuring digitally rendered maps, floorplans and panoramas that recreate the interiors in evocative detail. John & Yoko introduce each chapter and song; Yoko also provides invaluable additional commentary and a preface.

All the minutiae is examined: the locations, the key players, the music and lyrics, the production techniques and the artworks – including the creative process behind the double exposure polaroids used on the album cover.

With a message as universal and pertinent today as it was when the album was created, this landmark publication is a fitting tribute to John & Yoko and their place in cultural history.

'Tells their love story like never before' Rolling Stone

'A luxurious scrapbook … Beatles geeks will salivate over it' Observer

'Deeply desirable … especially for [those] who covet the rare and beautiful … to see how this avant-garde duo lived and created art is powerfully inspiring' Harper's Bazaar Australia

'A Lennon fan could hardly ask for more' Washington Post

'Fans will be particularly enchanted' USA Today

'This book is near perfect' Spill

'Here, in a new book of interviews past and present, we see how their love affair, the making of the album and their pacifism intertwined' Financial Times

About the Author: John Lennon (1940–1980) was an English singer, songwriter and peace activist who co-founded the Beatles, the most commercially successful band in the history of popular music.

Yoko Ono is a globally renowned multimedia artist, singer, songwriter and activist. She married John Lennon in 1969 and became his creative partner and muse. She continues to work to preserve his legacy, funding, among other projects, Strawberry Fields in Manhattan’s Central Park, the Imagine Peace Tower in Iceland and the ‘Imagine There’s No Hunger’ campaign.

Format:PLC (no jacket) Size:30.8 x 24.0 cm Extent:320 pp Illustrations:1362 Publication date:9 October 2018 ISBN:9780500021842

The definitive exploration of John Lennon’s first major solo album after the break-up of the Beatles.

Described by Lennon as ‘the best thing I’ve ever done’, and widely regarded by critics as his best solo album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band was released alongside the remarkable Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band on 11 December 1970. With first-hand commentary by John & Yoko, members of the Plastic Ono Band and other key figures in their lives, and packed with evocative and revealing letters, artworks and photographs, this incisive volume offers new insights into the raw emotions and open mindset of Lennon after marriage to Ono and the break-up of the Beatles.

Following their wedding in March 1969, Lennon and Ono decided that their future musical endeavours should be credited to a conceptual vehicle, the Plastic Ono Band. The band featured an ever-changing line-up of musicians, including Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann, Ringo Starr, Alan White, George Harrison, Billy Preston and Jim Keltner, all of whom played live with Lennon and Ono, and contributed to their recordings. The fearless honesty that John & Yoko inspired in one another in their search for truth, meaning and peace had a huge impact on Lennon’s song writing, resulting in the creation of tracks that are intensely personal and unlike anything previously heard in popular music, including ‘Mother’, ‘Working Class Hero’ and ‘God’. This book takes those lyrics as a starting point and explores Lennon’s life, relationships and world view during this transformative period.

'A comprehensive, fascinating, well-produced, and finely printed publication that captures a moment of contemporary culture with breadth and depth. It brings then into now – and shows how similar and different life is today' Will Gompertz

'A handsome tome… never less than fascinating… The album was a high point in an astonishing career and the book does it justice' The Sun

'A hardback compendium of first-hand accounts about the band drawn from interviews over the years… It contains photos, lyrics, drawings and letters, and will be as interesting to Lennon completists as The Beatles Anthology was to general fans 20 years ago' Daily Telegraph

'A fine tribute to this intensely creative time in the couple’s joined-at-the-hip lives… A sumptuous and lovingly created example of the bookmakers’ art, an encyclopaedic extravaganza of reminiscences and memorabilia' The Budapest Times

About the Author: John Lennon (1940–1980) was an English singer, songwriter and peace activist who co-founded the Beatles, the most commercially successful band in the history of popular music. Yoko Ono is a globally renowned multimedia artist, singer, songwriter and activist. She married John Lennon in 1969 and became his creative partner and muse. She continues to work to preserve his legacy, funding, among other projects, Strawberry Fields in Manhattan’s Central Park, the Imagine Peace Tower in Iceland and the ‘Imagine There’s No Hunger’ campaign.

Format:PLC Size:30.8 x 24.0 cm Extent:288 pp Publication date:29 October 2020 ISBN:9780500023433