Beautiful

This 4 CD boxed sets gives one a behind the scenes into one of rock's legends. Covering a ten year period in his life, we can follow the progression of songs from mere doodlings to professional finished. Fascinating.

The box set contains the 4 CD's and a color booklet of liner notes and photos. Each CD chronicles a major portion of John's life, and are entitled appropirately:

Ascot (primal scream years)
Disc: 1

1. Working Class Hero
2. God
3. I Found Out
4. Hold On
5. Isolation
6. Love
7. Mother
8. Remember
9. Imagine
10. "Fortunately"
11. Baby Please Don't Go
12. Oh My Love
13. Jealous Guy
14. Maggie Mae
15. How Do You Sleep
16. God Save Oz
17. Do The Oz
18. I Donít Want To Be A Soldier
19. Give Peace A Chance
20. Look At Me
21. Long Lost John

New York
Disc: 2

1. New York City
2. Attica State (live)
3. Imagine (live)
4. Bring On The Lucie
5. Woman Is The N. of The World
6. Geraldo Rivera - One to One Concert
7. Woman Is The N. of The World (live)
8. It's So Hard (live)
9. Come Together (live)
10. Happy Xmas
11. Luck of the Irish (live)
12. John Sinclair (live)
13. The David Frost Show
14. Mind Games (I Promise)
15. Mind Games (Make Love, Not War)
16. One Day At A Time
17. I Know
18. I'm The Greatest
19. Goodnight Vienna
20. Jerry Lewis Telethon
21. "A Kiss Is Just A Kiss"
22. Real Love
23. You Are Here


Lost Weekend (seperation from Yoko)

Disc: 3
1. What You Got
2. Nobody Loves You When You're Down And Out
3. Whatever Gets You Through the Night (home)
4. Whatever Gets You Through the Night (studio)
5. Yesterday (parody)
6. Be Bop A Lula
7. Rip It Up/Ready Teddy
8. Scared
9. Steel And Glass
10. Surprise, Surprise (Sweet Bird of Paradox)
11. Bless You
12. Going Down On Love
13. Move Over Ms. L
14. Ainít She Sweet
15. Slippiní And Slidin'
16. Peggy Sue
17. Bring It On Home To Me/ Send Me Some Lovin'
18. Phil and John 1
19. Phil and John 2
20. Phil and John 3
21. "When In Doubt, F. It"
22. Be My Baby
23. Stranger's Room
24. Old Dirt Road

Dakota (House Husband years)

Disc: 4
1. I'm Losing You
2. Seans "Little Help"
3. Serve Yourself
4. My Life
5. Nobody Told Me
6. Life Begins At 40
7. I Don't Wanna Face It
8. Woman
9. Dear Yoko
10. Watching the Wheels
11. I'm Stepping Out
12. Borrowed Time
13. The Rishi Kesh Song
14. Sean's "Loud"
15. Beautiful Boy
16. Mr. Hyde's Gone (Don't Be Afraid)
17. Only You
18. Grow Old With Me
19. Dear John
20. The Great Wok
21. Mucho Mungo
22. Satire 1
23. Satire 2
24. Satire 3
25. Sean's "In The Sky"
26. It's Real


There are other outtakes of songs, John hitting wrong notes, the band making mistakes, bickering, all of the joy of recording. Nothing is left out.

There were many songs that I had never heard before or had not made it onto any of his albums. I enjoyed those tremdously.

This box set represents a great insight into Lennon's creative juices. A must for any Beatles fan. Throughly recommend this one. In fact, I enjoy some of the outtakes more than the "professional" version. Funny how that works. I have had this set in my car and have listened to it over many many hours. It is truly worth listening to repeatedly.

The only negative thing I could say about this is that unless one is a Bealtes or Lennon fan, they would not be into grubbing around listening to his audio "trash".