[..] even without context I think everyone can instantly understand why this documentary technically is a masterpiece, but also a treasure trove for us hardcore fans.
There's a wealth of unknown material included in the documentary, from which some footage or even events (!) were unknown to even the most die-hard collectors. Remind me to share an extensive overview I made, but I won't do it until everyone had a chance to see the documentary in its full glory. The documentary is so much more than a list of tapes. [..]
Thanks for the reminder
This is what I wrote down elsewhere in August 2024 (edited now with some new facts), assuming the final cut on streaming contains the exact same bits:
Audio / phone calls / interviews:
Many personal recordings of phone calls from and to Lennon. This is Lennon off the record, though heās recording himself, he probably wouldnāt ever thought someone would hear these tapes. The people involved are David Peel, Dan Richter, Iain MacMillan, Allen Klein, Tom Bartelli, Jim Keltner, AJ Weberman, Howard Smith and May Pang.
A few of the most notable fragments are Allen Klein in conversation with John Lennon and trying to advise him while their concerns are obviously completely different. Jim Keltner trying to speak his worries on Lennon being involved with politics without security. Lennon trying to reach Howard Smith and the woman on the line asking if heās one of the Beatles, after Lennon spells out his name.
Yoko Ono and John Lennon calling AJ Weberman, trying to get him to apologise to Dylan so he will join them for the One On One concerts. Later on Lennon excitedly reading an apology letter Weberman allegedly sent out to Dylan. Funny moments between Dan Richter of āYoko Ono Catalogsā and many people including May Pang to fix flies for Yoko Onoās exhibition, which is the running gag of the documentary.
There are parts where obvious interview segments are masquerading as private phone calls, and at rare points conversations are being reconstructed with phrases from other points. Surely for the continuity of the movie, and this is in no way misleading or out of context.
Thereās a lot of fragments from (radio) interviews, some unknown. For example the documentary starts with a radio interview from I believe WPLJ-FM in August 1971 with telephone questions of listeners:
āI canāt believe Iām speaking to a mythā. Thereās an audio interview fragment by Elliot Mintz with John and Yoko on how do they want to be remembered.
āJust as two lovers, you knowā. In the trailer masquerading as a phone call.
More to me unknown quotes from various interviews:
āI went through the whole sort of working class dream [..] Iām happy as Larryā. And talking about their apartment:
āthis bed we inherited from the previous ownerā.
Also:
āā73 is probably the final year. I probably might be a whole human being next year.ā Or on feminism:
āI fell in love with an independent, eloquent, outspoken, creative, genius, for me, I started waking up.ā
There are lots of bits and pieces of speech in audio, Iām sure some new stuff.
One To One concert:
From the One To One concert the songs New York City, Come Together, Donāt Worry Kyoko, Instant Karma!, Hound Dog, Cold Turkey, Mother, Imagine and Give Peace A Chance are included. Itās no concert movie. Most are short edits, many are for the sake of the documentary often interspersed by footage of the subjects, like Nixon, demonstrations, the Vietnam War.
If youāre used to the hollow and clinical 80s mix with typical gated drums of its era of the concerts, this will be a revelation. And even in comparison with the rough 1998 Anthology tape of the evening concert, there's a big difference. It turns out the band doesnāt sound half as bad, and Lennon sounds incredible. Unfortunately there's pitch correcting on the vocals. And not in a subtle Melodyne note-for-note approach, but heavy-handed automatic Auto-Tune style with notes going loose every now and then, like in the breakdown of 'Imagine'. While the background choir in the beginning of Give Peace A Chance couldāve actually used some pitch correction, ha haā¦
Also certain angles of the footage look oversaturated and green-blue instead of the natural colours. On 'Well Well Well' (on YouTube, not included in the documentary), you can see a bit of that green-blue hue but not a tiny bit as bad as on 'Imagine' or 'Mother' in the documentary, and it seems this mostly applies to very specific angles. Most specifically, the very tight close-ups during the piano songs appear to have lost much of the magenta and yellow dyes. Itās especially evident alternated with shots (possibly from the other performance?) from the same angle for 'Imagine' and 'Mother', which look fine.
So those negatives may have deteriorated badly by now. But the original reels were obviously still there. Come Together for example got one and the same camera angle focused solely on Lennon for almost a full minute. Some edits for the songs are hybrids of the afternoon and evening performance as well. For that song for example both the afternoon show with the, eh, more family-friendly first verse is being used, but the evening show with āstop the warā as well. A continuity nightmare for those with an eagle eye, with the pop filter suddenly disappearing near the end of the fragment. Same happens during the rapid montage of the shouting at the end of Cold Turkey from all different angles. Pop filter off and on, off and on. But what can you do?!
On the 80ās video release of the concert Lennonās suddenly on stage. Here, thereās a long walk from the backstage area to stage, surrounded by people. Also, thereās a fantastic colour footage fragment of the One To One soundcheck at MSG, discussing the Power To The People tape at the start and testing the Wurlitzer.
TV talkshows:
Thereās of course a bit of the familiar footage from The Mike Douglas Show and The Dick Cavett Show. Thereās a fragment from Parkinson from 17 July 1971, actually the same bit as used in the LennoNYC documentary. The full show got recovered and got broadcast on the BBC in 2020. Itās still from a Kinescope source, and couldāve really used some simple stabilisation.
Apart from what we've already previously seen, thereās also The Irv Kupcinet Show from 11 May 1972 in colour! This is not circulating, though the full audio is available and a few seconds were used prior in the 2016 āEight Days A Weekā documentary. Here, a short fragment on the missing of Kyoko and another fragment on not condoning violence.
Unknown footage:
A big find is the stunning looking colour (!) footage of the This Is Not Here exhibition, filmed on October 9 1971 for Carousel. Besides that it never circulated, itās as said in colour, while the known documentation only mentions black and white footage for this TV program. And itās definitely not colourised either. You can see Lennon and Ono at various places of the exhibition and talking to the press. Also behind the scenes, without an audience, Allen Ginsberg recites a poem with Phil Spector present.
Another big surprise comes from an unexpected corner, with the black and white 1973 Portapak home movies with sound. Itās the longest segment of the movie, near the end. John and Yoko visiting Cambridge, MA in June 1973. It starts with the couple posing for the camera, and Lennon talking to the camera. Later on heās filming the city and giving commentary. A short fragment of meeting with fans outside. Them walking around the city.
The visit was because of their invitation to the The First International Feminist Conference and thereās a lot of footage of that. You see them in the crowd, Yoko Ono later on doing a speech. In audio, an edit of the āI Started To Stutterā speech from that day can be heard, previously released officially as bonus track to the 1997 CD issue of āFeeling The Spaceā. Then, on that CD issue āCoffin Carā follows, but in the documentary it goes straight into a live performance of āLooking Over From My Hotel Windowā with Yoko Ono solo on piano. That last song never circulated, I believe. Unfortunately thereās no footage of this, even though thereās a photo of someone filming in the background during this performance. One of the musical highlights of the documentary.
Meanwhile thereās minutes and minutes of mainly Lennon filming Yoko while theyāre presumably traveling home to New York City. Thereās lots of filming from inside the car, capturing the scenery and skylines outside. From the same tapes thereās a bit of the Dakota, Lennonās guitar case on the ground, Lennon watching television. Partly used for the new Aisumasen promo video, here (at parts) with audio.
The other concerts:
Music-wise thereās fragments of all political music performances (for TV or in concert) from that era, interesting enough apart from the Apollo performance.
Ten For Two, the John Sinclair Freedom Rally, December 10 1971. The familiar colour footage, here obviously AI upscaled. A part of the John Sinclair song is being shown, with the announcement by Jerry Rubin before that. There are some different angles from the version we know, meaning the non-edited tapes exist or some alternative edit survives. Thereās a splice or two (what else can the judges do?) where the footage suddenly has a different colour and gets shakey for a split second. Whatās new to me is pre-show crowd footage, with Allen Ginsberg in the audience and of course some naked hippie (a guy, pipe down).
The Irish Tapes, November 12 1971. Thereās a short fragment of The Luck Of The Irish. Itās in black and white, with great sound quality. The thrill here itās from pristine looking tape. Itās a bit upscaled/smoothened but still definitely from a much higher source than even the most recent official publishing which was on YouTube in 2020. Thereās no tape damage and no constant interference as all those sources. This isnāt solely the result of digital restoration, especially since much of the other footage in the documentary show analogue artifacts that are not present in this fragment.
Pop 2, December 3 1971. A fragment of Attica State on dobro in colour. Then, from another source, in black and white, Lennon addresses the viewers. This all circulates in that way (partial colour, partial black and white).
News agencies:
From the news agencies there are new fragments of colour footage of a peace rally at April 22 1972. A colour fragment of AJ Weberman demonstrating outside Capitol Records, with possibly John and Yoko in black bags, as they had discussed days prior through the telephone. Colour fragments from CBS News at March 16 1972, with John & Yoko arriving at a deportation hearing in New York, and later leaving as well. A bit of ABC news at the end, and possibly the NBC news footage from that day as well. David Peel is being shown playing outside the building. Most if not all is new.
Thereās a fragment of August 5 1972, which is great looking colour footage of Geraldo Riviera interviewing them in San Francisco for WABC Ch 7, talking about the Willowbrook children.
Besides the mentioned This Is Not Here exhibition, from the other avant garde related videos thereās a bit of Freetime from October 14, 1971. Also the known colour footage of Yoko Onoās 1970ās āFlyā movie, but with Ono and Lennon in audio talking in the background (not sure about the origin), which is being used in connection with the prior audio of May Pang trying to fix the flies for the December 1971 exhibition at MoMA.
1969 flashback:
There's a flashback to 1969 with a lot of different colour footage from the Lennon/Ono couple together with Kyoko. Because of the wealth of non-music related footage from them in this era and Lennon often wearing white, I'm not sure exactly what's circulating and what not. There's the familiar footage of them watching the Niagra Falls waterfall. But also a long close-up of Kyoko in front of the camera. The family in the limousine, all 3 of them in white, I believe that's from Canada in late May 1969. Close-ups of Lennon sleeping, Ono sleeping.
Footage of the family getting into a car in a city, Allen Klein present, which looks more unfamiliar since Lennon got a green-blue ish suit on, not in white. Shots of them in the car. Yoko with white hat. Then, Yoko still with the same hat, but Lennon in a white suit. Footage with lots of press present, them at an airport, on the plane. Them in bed. Kyoko on the beach, playing around with Lennon. Them in big crowd being driven off. Hare Krishna or some kind of other hippies in a room. Them being driven around again. Knowing how deeply they went into the archives, I'm sure a lot of this footage never circulated before.
Miscellaneous bits:
Just like in the trailer/teaser you can see a rapid compilation of footage with Andy Warhol, Allen Ginsberg, the 1971-1972 era New York City footage, with home videos and professional shoots, known and unknown footage, during the first minutes of the movie for the One To One New York City live song.
Other miscellaneous bits are for example pristine looking colour footage of Arthur Janov being interviewed on his primal scream therapy. And thereās footage of John Sinclair being freed and reunited with his family, with after that, footage from him presumably at home while on the phone to Lennon and Ono. Synced to their telephone tape recordings of the same moment!
At the very end of the documentary it features lots of footage of Sean Lennon with his father from early 1976. Itās familiar footage, featured in the promo video for "Watching The Wheels" that was released on the Lennon Legend DVD in 2003, bits were used in the rough cut of Imagine John Lennon from the late 80ās and the recent āNow & Thenā making of. But I believe there are some new snippets.
The documentary ends with a completely out of balance #9 Dream remix during the final credits, but just the first verse, ending on an echoed āhereā. After that, a part of a similar weirdly mixed āBring On the Lucie (Freda Peeple)ā, without choir, but it's a very suitable mood.
And I repeat: this post is one for the collectors, the documentary is so much more than a list of tapes.
