John Lennon - The Very Best Of John Lennon Reviews

The Very Best Of John Lennon

The sound on this DVD is excellent throughout, but most of the videos are dissapointing.

Track by track ;

Imagine : very good, you've probably seen this one - John singing & playing at the white baby grand.

Jealous Guy : again excellent, from the original Imagine film.

Instant Karma : John on TOTP with Mal evans, Yoko & others. Only four of the other video clips actually feature any footage of John singing.

Mother : photo collage

Cold Turkey : quite good - the single dubbed onto an early 70s performance interspersed with newsreel clips of John being arrested in 1969.

Love & Mind Games : film clips from 1980 & mid 70s.

Whatever Gets You Through The Night: - cartoon.

No.9 Dream : John's face, Yoko's face, slo mo, collage etc.

Stand By me : John's OGWT performance mixed with those same film clips.

Just Like Starting Over : Free As A Bird style computerised video.

Woman : photo collage + John and Yoko walking together.

Beautiful Boy : weird looking computerised home video.

Watching The Wheels : very fuzzy home videos.

Nobody Told Me : more of those film clips.

Working Class Hero : photo collage & computer effects.

Happy Xmas War Is Over : newsreel footage of the type used in telethons to make you pick up the phone and donate.

Give Peace A Chance : this one's got John Performing ! in the right place at the right time ! ...for about a minute - then its back to the newsreels of demos & rallies.

Its obvious that a lot of these videos where made recently, but I can't believe that there isn't more footage of John performing these songs that could have been used instead of all the collages and computer effects that have been used to fill out this DVD.

A comprehensive collection

This collection of Lennon's best-known songs has been put together with more care than most of its kind, with some videos being specially prepared for this compilation. Ranging from the simplicity of IMAGINE and MOTHER to the more ambitious STARTING OVER, this DVD covers the full range of Lennon's solo career. Especially moving is the montage for HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER).

The only downside is that many of the film clips are repeated in more than one video. However, this is a minor quibble and both casual fans and more serious Lennonites should find plenty on this disc to enjoy.

[Highly rated reviewer]

The Most Disappointing Video Ever

For some reason I love John Lennon & all the arty pretensions he & Yoko proclaimed throughout the late 60's & 70's. I was even a member of the John & Yoko Peace Club. So I was looking forward to seeing some of the vintage footage I can only vaguely remember from the time i.e. the original 'Cold Turkey' video.

Unfortunately this has very little original footage just a mountain of stuff Yoko has added later to deify them both. John was no God he was very flawed but that is what made him John Lennon this is just a sugary rewriting of the past. John Lennon was long gone when Tiananmen Square happened so why the clip?

Maybe 1 star is too many...

A comprehensive collection

This collection of Lennon's best-known songs has been put together with more care than most of its kind, with some videos being specially prepared for this compilation. Ranging from the simplicity of IMAGINE and MOTHER to the more ambitious STARTING OVER, this DVD covers the full range of Lennon's solo career. Especially moving is the montage for HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER).

The only downside is that many of the film clips are repeated in more than one video. However, this is a minor quibble and both casual fans and more serious Lennonites should find plenty on this disc to enjoy.

[Highly rated reviewer]

The Most Disappointing Video Ever

For some reason I love John Lennon & all the arty pretensions he & Yoko proclaimed throughout the late 60's & 70's. I was even a member of the John & Yoko Peace Club. So I was looking forward to seeing some of the vintage footage I can only vaguely remember from the time i.e. the original 'Cold Turkey' video.

Unfortunately this has very little original footage just a mountain of stuff Yoko has added later to deify them both. John was no God he was very flawed but that is what made him John Lennon this is just a sugary rewriting of the past. John Lennon was long gone when Tiananmen Square happened so why the clip?

Maybe 1 star is too many...