Culture
27 Aug 20

John Lennon box set announced

The box set will feature 36 solo Lennon songs, hand-picked by Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon and remastered from scratch.

A brand new box set of 36 John Lennon tracks, called Gimme Some Truth. The Ultimate Mixes. has been announced. The set has been curated and executive produced by Yoko Ono and Sean Ono Lennon, who hand-selected each song. Gimme Some Truth is slated for release on October 9.

Mixed by Paul Hicks with an assist from engineer Sam Gannon, the final mixes were completed at L.A.'s Henson Recording Studio, on vintage analog equipment. The tracks were mastered at Abbey Road Studios by Alex Wharton, and the box set will be available in digital, vinyl, and CD editions. There is also a deluxe edition available, which will include a 124 page book of interviews, previously unreleased photographs, letters, lyric sheets, and more from the Lennon/Ono archives.

In the book's preface, Yoko Ono writes: “John was a brilliant man with a great sense of humour and understanding. He believed in being truthful and that the power of the people will change the world. And it will. All of us have the responsibility to visualize a better world for ourselves and our children. The truth is what we create. It’s in our hands.”

Yesterday, it was reported that John Lennon's killer, Mark Chapman, would be denied parole for the 11th time, and that he would be in prison for another two years at least. Further details on the verdict have not yet been disclosed, but when Chapman was last up for parole in 2018, the parole board said of their decision:

"You admittedly carefully planned and executed the murder of a world-famous person for no reason other than to gain notoriety. While no one person’s life is any more valuable than another’s life, the fact that you chose someone who was not only a world-renown person and beloved by millions, regardless of the pain and suffering you would cause to his family, friends and so many others, you demonstrated a callous disregard for the sanctity of human life and the pain and suffering of others.”

Chapman fatally shot the Beatles singer-songwriter at the entrance to his New York City apartment in December 1980, after Lennon returned home from a recording session with his wife, Yoko Ono.