Record Boy Ink:

Can a guy like Record Boy, who still makes use of his vinyl LP collection, actually write a review about a DVD? Well, yeah!

I don’t know if this was shown on VH1 or not but even if you’ve seen it, it’s worth owning the DVD of Gimme Some Truth the making of John Lennon’s Imagine album (Capitol).

Imagine is a classic album. I don’t think I’d get much argument to that statement. John and Yoko rolled film during the sessions for the album and I gotta tell you, the session clips used for this collection are riveting. Unlike the Imagine movie, which utilized much of the same John and Yoko footage, as well as John singing the title track, this collection, among other things, actually has John doing a vocal take for “Jealous Guy”. If you are a fan of the man’s music and you’ve heard the song hundreds of times, it makes the experience of watching him sing the song, cans on his head, into the microphone mesmerizing.

But wait…that’s not all (I’ve been watching too much TV lately). This collection contains John doing a vocal take of “How?” and “Give Me Some Truth” as well as a clip of John and Phil Spector recording the harmony vocals on “Oh Yoko!” (credited on the album as the J&P Duo).

If that’s not enough for you, how about John running through “How Do You Sleep” on the piano for George Harrison who is hearing it for the first time. The wicked smile on John’s face is priceless. There is also full band, live in the studio takes of “How Do You Sleep” and “Oh My Love” (the interplay of Harrison’s guitar, John’s acoustic piano and Nicky Hopkins electric piano on this song is wondrous to behold)

This collection got old Record Boy to thinking… it’s too bad that more classic album studio sessions weren’t filmed. Music can be enjoyed on so many levels and while MTV lovers these days are being shown the making of made up bands, I’d prefer to see more artists in the process of creating their music. Gimme Some Truth is an especially poignant project because almost thirty years after this album was recorded and released, it allows us a more intimate view of the work behind it. Gimme some Truth puts into context where the recording was done, the times in which the album was recorded, and John’s incredible creative outpouring.

Imagine this DVD…dig a hole in your collection to put it in…

(Click Gimme Some Truth if you wanna buy this DVD online.