BIBO99
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After thinking about it for three months, I initially decided NOT to buy the CD box set. I am boycotting a product that censors John (and also Yoko, as far as the One-To-One concerts are concerned, as well as the beginning of her song “Don’t Worry Kyoko” from the London concert in December 1969). The new edition of the Disney series BEATLES ANTHOLOGY will also NEVER find its way into my collection once it is available on Blu-ray: here, too, John was censored or cut out at one point. That is unacceptable. It makes me sick. Being politically correct and not stepping on anyone’s toes just because you are oversensitive and paranoid makes me extremely nauseous. What kind of messed-up times are we living in?
But in the end, I clicked the “Buy” button on Amazon and just a few hours later I was able to call a copy of the fabulous CD and Blu-ray box set POWER TO THE PEOPLE my own. And of course I didn’t regret it; the original double album SOME TIME IN NEW YORK CITY has been with me since my childhood and I have always enjoyed listening to it in the past. I must have been about 9 or 10 years old when I bought the double LP at Radio Diehl, a store on Frankfurt’s Zeil shopping street.
However, if we disregard the fact that Lennon was censored, we are dealing with a 9-CD and BluRay box set that—as always from LenOno in recent years—is of a high standard: we get an opulent book with photos, documents, and rich and in-depth background information on all songs and recordings. In addition, fellow members of the band Elephants Memory and other musicians also have their say. As a bonus, we receive a poster, postcards, stickers, and a special envelope containing concert tickets for the One To One concert at that time, among other things. Regarding the music, the main focus is on the recordings made around the double album SOME TIME IN NEW YORK 1971/1972.
CD 1 comprises a “best of” selection from the two One To One concerts held in August 1972 at Madison Square Garden in NYC. The new mix, produced by John and Yoko’s son Sean, completely eclipses the album released in 1986 (JOHN LENNON LIVE IN NEW YORK CITY) in terms of sound quality. It’s nice that Yoko’s songs were also included this time.
The 1986 album.
CD 2 The afternoon concert. Most of the songs used for the 1986 album come from this concert. Two songs fell victim to current censorship: “Woman Is The N****r Of The World” and “Sisters, O Sisters". On stage, John & Yoko were accompanied by the New York band Elephant’s Memory and Jim Keltner as second drummer.
CD 3 The evening concert, which has a little more power. The two songs mentioned above are also missing here.
CD 4 The Ultimate Mixes of the studio songs from SOME TIME IN NEW YORK CITY. These new mixes give the impression of being right there in the studio, as some of the effects (reverb and echo) have been reduced. The songs “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “John Sinclair” have a longer playing time and are not faded out. On “New York City” you can now hear a different piano solo. The centerpiece of the original double album, “Woman Is The N****r Of The World,” is completely missing.
CD 6 Studio Jam. During the recording sessions at the Record Plant in New York, which took place between February 13 and March 10, 1972, John and Elephants Memory repeatedly fell back on old rock ‘n’ roll classics. Some of these were part of the Beatles‘ early set list when they were still playing at the Cavern Club. A special track was recorded for Yoko’s birthday on February 18. Towards the end of the CD, we hear four Elements mixes, the strings for the songs “Sisters, O Sisters,” “Born In A Prison,” “The Luck Of The Irish,” and “Angela.”
CD 7 Live Jam. The live portion of SOME TIME IN NEW YORK CITY. Surprisingly, John’s “Cold Turkey” is much less spectacular here, considering that he was accompanied by about a dozen musicians (at the Lyceum Ballroom in London in December 1969). Yoko’s subsequent “Don’t Worry Kyoko” was cut at the beginning. The jam with Frank Zappa and the Mothers from June 1971 at the Filmore East, NY, is reproduced in its entirety. While the mix was heavily reworked for the double album at the time, with lots of reverb, echo, and the voices of the Mothers members Flo & Eddie mixed out, everything can now be heard. Frank Zappa, incidentally, released his mix in 1992 on the double CD PLAYGROUND PSYCHOTICS. Another remix followed in 2022 for the small CD box set THE MOTHERS 1971, which means that we now have four different mixes to choose from. (My personal favorite is the one from the MOTHERS 1971 box set.)
CD 8 Live Jam 2. Various performances by John & Yoko from 1971 and 1972, for example on David Frost’s television show. Some of the material already appeared on the CD box set LENNON ANTHOLOGY in 1998, but in a different mix or with slightly poorer sound quality.
CD 9 Home Jam. John & Yoko at home or elsewhere, accompanied by a cassette recorder that mainly captured John’s voice and guitar. Here, too, there are plenty of rock ‘n’ roll classics. Of particular interest are Lennon’s own compositions (“Pill,” “He Got The Blues,” and “Gone From This Place”), which have not yet been officially released. “It’s Real,” on which John plays acoustic guitar and whistles, first appeared on LENNON ANTHOLOGY, albeit in an abridged version.
All in all, this is yet another premium release from LenOno. Despite everything, there is still a slightly bitter aftertaste: we are actually living in times when John Lennon is being censored. It’s hard to believe. Yes, I can't get over it...
P.S.: As an Easter egg, you can discover John’s logo, which he came up with in 1980: the British and Japanese flags in one, with the words “LenOno Music” underneath.
Something More
In 2017, I wrote some notes about the original double album SOME TIME IN NEW YORK CITY:
My second record from LenOno, which I bought when I was nine years old (on Frankfurt’s Zeil at Radio Diehl), is still considered the weakest that John Lennon released after the Beatles split up: the 1972 double album SOME TIME IN NEW YORK CITY It is a mixture of politically motivated songs, all written between 1971 and 1972, and live recordings from 1969 and 1971. But is this work really an “artistic suicide in the making", as one critic once described it?
If you scratch the surface a little, the year 1972 in the lives of John & Yoko is more interesting and exciting than you might initially think, both musically and personally. The two traveled to America in ’71, initially with the intention of locating Yoko’s “lost” daughter. By 1972, they had no intention of leaving the country. They had come to stay. And soon John would run into problems with the immigration authorities because of an old, insignificant drug case (he would not receive his green card until 1976). In New York City, they moved into a small apartment on Bank Street and made the acquaintance of young radicals, some of whom were of dubious character. They also got to know the street band Elephant’s Memory, who played hard rock. John & Yoko became friends with them and were to record two albums together in 1972. The band also accompanied them on several American television appearances and concerts. Their first major project was the album Some Time In New York City, which was recorded between February and March 1972 at the Record Plant in NYC. Producer Phil Spector, with whom the couple had been working successfully since 1970, and session drummer Jim Keltner were also involved.
- John & Yoko in 1972
THE STUDIO ALBUM
Side two starts with “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” a collaboration between John & Yoko, and deals with the unrest in Ireland in January 1972. They donated the royalties from this song to the Civil Rights Movement. ‘The Luck Of The Irish’, composed in the fall of 1971 in the style of a folk song, was initially intended to be released as a single, but this idea was ultimately abandoned. ‘John Sinclair’ draws attention to his fate – Sinclair was sentenced to ten years in prison for selling two joints to an undercover cop. When the Lennons heard about this questionable verdict, they organized a benefit concert in December 1971 – shortly afterwards, Sinclair was pardoned. While this song clearly bears John’s signature, Yoko seems to be the main lyricist of the following song, “Angela.” Lines like “Angela, there’s a wind that never dies” suggest this.
She also sings the lead vocals. The song is about Angela Davis, a black academic and Black Panther supporter who was banned from teaching because of her strong social activism. “We’re All Water,” the last track, is entirely Ono’s, both lyrically and musically. The second half of this hectic recording is devoted to her screams and howls. After just under eight minutes, the band runs out of steam and the song breaks off.
THE LIVE ALBUM
At the time, many buyers considered the live album to be the better of the two. It’s a matter of taste. In any case, it’s interesting. Side one reproduces John and Yoko’s performance at the Lyceum Ballroom in London, which they gave on December 15, 1969, with the Plastic Ono Supergroup. The aim was to promote the big “War Is Over!” poster campaign. The supergroup consisted of a total of 14 musicians, including two drummers (Keith Moon and Jim Keltner) and four guitarists (John, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and Delaney Bramlett). The four-track recording machine had problems capturing all the musicians. Billy Preston’s keyboard playing was thus lost. Session musician Nicky Hopkins replaced it in 1971 when John mixed the recordings in NYC. That night in December, they performed the then-current Plastic Ono Band singles “Cold Turkey” (John) and “Don’t Worry Kyoko (Mummy’s Only Looking For Her Hand In The Snow)” (Yoko), both very expressive and powerful numbers. The live performance was extremely powerful and remarkable, considering that the musicians had hardly had any opportunity to rehearse. The audience was quite small. The ballroom had a capacity of 2,000 people, but there were only about 1,000 in attendance, most of whom sat on the floor.
The performance was filmed. A one-minute compilation can be found on YouTube.
Side Two covers John and Yoko’s surprise appearance on June 6, 1971, when they came on stage towards the end of a show by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention at the Fillmore East in New York. They kicked off with the old “Well (Baby, Please Don’t Go),” which John said he had last played “at the Cavern in Liverpool” – which is not entirely true, as he had recorded it just weeks earlier during the studio recordings for the album “Imagine.” They then launched into a Zappa instrumental called “King Kong,” intoned ‘Scumbag’ several times, and ended the evening with guitar feedback and Yoko singing, which consisted, as usual, of howling, screaming, and shrieking. Significantly, this long passage was listed on the record label as “AÜ.” When the recordings of the concert were released a year later on SOME TIME IN NEW YORK CITY Frank Zappa was displeased. The entire Zappa concert was recorded at his behest, and shortly thereafter he gave John a copy of the part with John & Yoko, as they had agreed beforehand. With Phil Spector at his side, John mixed the vocals of Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan (better known as Flo & Eddie) from the 16-track tapes and added reverb to the recording. Zappa’s “King Kong” was retitled (“Jamrag”) and the credits were attributed to Lennon and Ono. Zappa never received any royalties. Frank Zappa later complained, not without reason: “It was obviously not a jam session song. It has a melody, a bassline, it’s obviously a structured song – that was a bit of a disappointment.” Zappa’s mix with the part of the John & Yoko performance was not released until 1992 and actually sounds like it’s from a completely different concert.
The performance with John & Yoko was secretly filmed by young filmmaker Amalie Rothschild and can now be admired on YouTube in very poor sound and image quality. This is how we learn that “Well (Baby, Please Don’t Go)” is over seven minutes long. On SOME TIME IN NEW YORK CITY the song fades out after four and a half minutes.
COVER DESIGN
The front and back of the gatefold cover imitate the New York Times, with the lyrics mimicking newspaper columns. When you open the cover, you see the faces of John & Yoko, the Elephant’s Memory band, and session drummer Jim Keltner on the left. Three photos are shown on the right-hand side. The top one was taken during the performance with Frank Zappa, and the bottom two were taken in December 1969 with the Plastic Ono Soupergroup. A postcard with the Statue of Liberty (slightly altered by John) and an army recruiting poster, which John also redesigned with minimal effort, were also included. The inner sleeve of the live LP corresponds to the cover of Zappa’s release FILMORE EAST, JUNE 1971. John “embellished” the artwork with a red felt-tip pen, crossing out song titles and credits and adding his own.
CHART POSITIONS AND SIDE NOTES
SOME TIME IN NEW YORK CITY was first released in America on June 12, 1972, reaching number 48. In England, buyers were more gracious, catapulting the double LP to number 11. It was released there on September 15, 1972. The reviews were lukewarm to poor. This affected John so much that he didn’t set foot in a recording studio for a year. Some record covers in America were covered with a gold sticker, obscuring Yoko’s collage of Nixon and Mao dancing naked together.
RE-ISSUES
SOME TIME IN NEW YORK CITY was first released in 1987 as a double CD, but the sound quality left something to be desired. In November 2005, a newly remixed version was released as a single CD. Some songs were shortened and, with the exception of “Well (Baby, Please Don’t Go”), the Zappa recordings were omitted. Instead, two bonus tracks were added, the single “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” and “Listen, The Snow Is Falling,” also in a newly remixed sound. John’s 70th birthday saw the re-release of SOME TIME this time as a double CD and without bonus tracks. John’s original 1972 mix was remastered. The concert with Zappa is also included again.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I can’t confirm whether SOME TIME IN NEW YORK CITY is really as bad as it was rated when it was released. It must have been hard for many John and Beatles fans to stomach the fact that Yoko contributed to a large part of the recordings. In addition, some people didn’t like having Lennon’s political opinions forced on them. His and Yoko’s lyrics on this record have journalistic qualities, coupled with their personal attitudes toward the respective topics. You have to like it. I like it. And after all, this record has been with me for 29 years—almost my entire life. Whenever I go on a John & Yoko trip, I unpack this record. Again and again, with pleasure. AÜ!
- John & Yoko, One To One concert, August 1972. Photo: Michael Negrin © Yoko Ono Lennon
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