Roots: John Lennon Sings the Great Rock & Roll Hits is a rare mail-order album issued by Adam VIII consisting of rough mixes of John Lennon's Rock 'n' Roll album. It was available through television sale for three days in January 1975 before Lennon and Apple/EMI pulled it off the market. Lennon then rush-released his "official" version in February 1975.
In 1969, Lennon composed the song "Come Together"[1] for the Beatles' album Abbey Road. Inspired by the Chuck Berry tune "You Can't Catch Me", it bore too much of a melodic resemblance to the original—and Lennon took the third line of the second verse ("Here come old flat-top") for the new lyric.[1] Publisher Morris Levy brought a lawsuit for infringement,[2] and the case was due to be heard in a New York court in December 1973.
In the meanwhile, Lennon had split with Yoko Ono and was living in Los Angeles with his personal assistant, May Pang. To avoid returning to New York for the court case, Lennon agreed to record at least three songs from Levy's catalogue on his next album (after Mind Games) and Levy dropped the suit. Browsing Levy's music publishing catalogue, Lennon found so many of his old favourites that he decided to do a full album of cover songs, by Levy's artists and others.
Lennon initially teamed up with producer Phil Spector to record the album, but the sessions quickly fell into disarray with alcohol. Spector then disappeared with the session tapes and would not be heard from for several months. Spector made one cryptic call to Lennon, claiming to have the "John Dean tapes" from the recent Watergate scandal; Lennon deduced that Spector meant he had the album's master tapes.[3][4] When an auto accident on 31 March 1974 allegedly left Spector in a coma, the project was put on indefinite hold.
In May 1974, Lennon returned to New York with Pang and began writing and recording a new album of original material, Walls and Bridges. Just as these sessions began, Al Coury, A&R and vice-president of promotion of Capitol Records, retrieved the Spector tapes for $90,000. Not wanting to break stride, Lennon shelved the tapes and completed work on Walls and Bridges.[5]
With Walls and Bridges coming out first, Lennon had reneged on his deal with Levy. To add insult to injury, Lennon included a snippet of the Levy-published "Ya Ya" on Walls and Bridges (featuring son Julian on drums) with the snide remark "O.K, we'll do sitting in the la la, that'll get rid of that!" in the song's intro. This infuriated Levy who threatened to refile his lawsuit. Lennon explained to Levy what had happened and assured him that the covers album was indeed in the works. Lennon then recalled the session musicians from Walls and Bridges to complete the oldies tracks. Levy offered the use of his farm in upstate New York for the band to rehearse.[6]
In a show of good faith, Lennon gave Levy a rough copy of the tracks to review. Levy offered to directly market the album via television mail order, through his own Adam VIII record label, bypassing Capitol and EMI, giving both Lennon and Levy a larger share of the album's profits. Lennon gave his assent, and even considered appearing in a TV commercial to promote the album, but knew he would need the approval of EMI, Capitol and Apple Corps for the deal.[citation needed]
With so much money and time invested in the sessions, neither Capitol, EMI nor Apple wanted to give it up, insisting Lennon release it according to his recording contract and turn Levy's proposal down. Feeling betrayed, Levy pressed an album from the rough tape Lennon had provided, then proceeded to sue Lennon, EMI and Capitol for $42 million for breach of contract. Lennon and Capitol/EMI countersued.
Lennon finished work on his version of the album, omitting two songs from the final selection. In February 1975, Capitol Records rush-released the officialRock 'n' Roll, and Lennon also reconciled with Yoko Ono.
In February 1976, the case was heard in New York District Court. Lennon (sporting a crewcut) and Ono attended the proceedings, which were at times amusing. When asked by Levy's attorney if he had cut his hair as to not resemble the cover photo of Roots, Lennon replied, "Rubbish! I cut it every 18 months." Later on in the trial, the same lawyer asked Lennon to autograph a copy of his Mind Games album "for my daughter, I can't account for her taste."[7]
By June, Lennon and Capitol/EMI had prevailed. Though Levy was awarded a token payment for the infringement on "You Can't Catch Me", he had to pay EMI $109,700 in lost revenue and $42,000 to Lennon for "damages to his reputation"—due to the poor sound quality (besides the rough mixes, some of the songs were sped up to fit in more tracks) and the "horrible album cover".
Production and distribution of Roots was halted and the albums were ordered destroyed. With only 3,000 copies of Roots reportedly pressed, original copies are rare and sought-after collector's items. Copies in mint condition have sold for US$2,000.[8] Lennon was disappointed at how poorly the mail order setup had actually worked, having ordered his own copy as a follow-up and had to wait almost a month to receive it.[citation needed]
Track listing
All tracks produced by John Lennon, except † by Phil Spector.
Apple Records is a British record label founded by the Beatles in 1968 as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists including Mary Hopkin, James Taylor, Badfinger and Billy Preston. In practice, the roster had become dominated by the mid-1970s with releases of the former Beatles as solo artists. Allen Klein managed the label from 1969 to 1973, then it was managed by Neil Aspinall on behalf of the Beatles and their heirs. Aspinall retired in 2007 and was replaced by Jeff Jones.
Imagine is the second solo studio album by English musician John Lennon, released on 9 September 1971 by Apple Records. Co-produced by Lennon, his wife Yoko Ono and Phil Spector, the album's elaborate sound contrasts the basic, small-group arrangements of his first album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970), while the opening title track is widely considered to be his signature song.
Mind Games is the fourth solo studio album by English musician John Lennon. It was recorded at Record Plant Studios in New York in summer 1973. The album was released in the US on 29 October 1973 and in the UK on 16 November 1973. It was Lennon's first self-produced recording without help from Phil Spector. Like his previous album, the politically topical and somewhat abrasive Some Time in New York City, Mind Games received mixed reviews upon release. It reached number 13 in the UK and number 9 in the US, where it was certified gold.
Rock 'n' Roll is the sixth solo studio album by English musician John Lennon. Released in February 1975, it is an album of late 1950s and early 1960s songs as covered by Lennon. Recording the album was problematic and spanned an entire year: Phil Spector produced sessions in October 1973 at A&M Studios, and Lennon produced sessions in October 1974 at the Record Plant (East). Lennon was being sued by Morris Levy over copyright infringement of one line in his Beatles song "Come Together". As part of an agreement, Lennon had to include three Levy-owned songs on Rock 'n' Roll. Spector disappeared with the session recordings and was subsequently involved in a motor accident, leaving the album's tracks unrecoverable until the beginning of the Walls and Bridges sessions. With Walls and Bridges coming out first, featuring one Levy-owned song, Levy sued Lennon expecting to see Lennon's Rock 'n' Roll album.
Shaved Fish is a compilation album by English rock musician John Lennon with the Plastic Ono Band, issued in October 1975 on Apple Records. It contains all of the singles that he had issued up to that point in the United States as a solo artist, with the exception of "Stand by Me", which had been released earlier that year. The only compilation of Lennon's non-Beatles recordings released during his lifetime, the album peaked at number 8 in the UK and number 12 in the US. It was also Lennon's final album released on Apple Records before it was shut down in 1975, to be revived in the 1990s.
Walls and Bridges is the fifth solo studio album by English musician John Lennon. It was issued by Apple Records on 26 September 1974 in the United States and on 4 October in the United Kingdom. Written, recorded and released during his 18-month separation from Yoko Ono, the album captured Lennon in the midst of his "Lost Weekend". Walls and Bridges was an American number-one album on both the Billboard and Record World charts and included two hit singles, "Whatever Gets You thru the Night" and "#9 Dream". The first of these was Lennon's first number-one hit in the United States as a solo artist, and his only solo chart-topping single in either the US or Britain during his lifetime.
Live Peace in Toronto 1969 is a live album by the Plastic Ono Band, released in December 1969 on Apple Records. Recorded at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival, it was the first live album released by any member of the Beatles separately or together. John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono received a phone call from the festival's promoters John Brower and Kenny Walker, and then assembled a band on very short notice for the festival, which was due to start the following day. The band included Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann, and drummer Alan White. The group flew from London, and had brief unamplified rehearsals on the plane before appearing on the stage to perform several songs; one of which, "Cold Turkey", was first performed live at the festival. After returning home, Lennon mixed the album in a day.
Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins is the first of three experimental albums released by John Lennon and Yoko Ono on Apple Records. It was the result of an all-night session of musical experimentation with Yoko in John's home studio at Kenwood, while his wife, Cynthia Lennon, was on holiday in Greece. Lennon and Ono's 1968 debut recording is known not only for its avant-garde content, but also for its cover, which shows the couple naked. This made the album controversial to both the public and the parent record company EMI, which refused to distribute it. In an attempt to avoid controversy, the LP record was sold in a brown paper bag, and distributed by Track and Tetragrammaton in the United Kingdom and the United States respectively. Two Virgins, while failing to chart in the UK, reached number 124 in the US. The album was followed six months later by Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions.
May Fung Yee Pang is an American former music executive. She worked for John Lennon and Yoko Ono as a personal assistant and production coordinator. When Lennon and Ono separated in 1973, Pang and Lennon began a relationship that lasted more than 18 months. Lennon later referred to this time as his "Lost Weekend". Pang published two books about her relationship with Lennon: a memoir, Loving John ; and a book of photographs, Instamatic Karma. A documentary about their relationship, The Lost Weekend: A Love Story, was produced in 2022.
John Lennon Anthology is a four-CD box set of home demos, studio outtakes and other previously unreleased material recorded by John Lennon over the course of his solo career from "Give Peace a Chance" in 1969 up until the 1980 sessions for Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey.
The Plastic Ono Band was a rock band formed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1969 for their collaborative and solo projects based on their 1968 Fluxus conceptual art project of the same name.
"Instant Karma!" is a song by English rock musician John Lennon, released as a single on Apple Records in February 1970. The lyrics focus on a concept in which the consequences of one's actions are immediate rather than borne out over a lifetime. The single was credited to "Lennon/Ono with the Plastic Ono Band", apart from in the US, where the credit was "John Ono Lennon". The song reached the top five in the British and American charts, competing with the Beatles' "Let It Be" in the US, where it became the first solo single by a member of the band to sell a million copies.
"Come Together" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song is the opening track on the band's 1969 album Abbey Road and was also released as a double A-side single with "Something". The song reached the top of the charts in the United States and Australia but peaked at No. 4 in the United Kingdom.
Menlove Ave. is a 1986 compilation album by English rock musician John Lennon. It is the second posthumous release of Lennon's music, having been recorded during the sessions for his albums Walls and Bridges and Rock 'n' Roll. Menlove Ave. was released under the supervision of Yoko Ono, Lennon's widow.
Adam VIII Limited was a record label founded by music publisher Morris Levy, and named after his son Adam. It operated in the late 1960s through the early 1980s.
"Nobody Told Me" is a song by John Lennon. The B-side features Yoko Ono's "O' Sanity"; both are on the Milk and Honey album. The promo video for the single was made up of clips of footage from Lennon's other videos, as are most posthumous Lennon videos.
Instant Karma: All-Time Greatest Hits, a three-disc compilation album of music recorded by John Lennon, is a budget release targeted for sale at warehouse-type stores such as Sam's Club and Costco. The album was released in 2002 by Timeless/Traditions Alive Music under license from Capitol/EMI Special Projects.
Gimme Some Truth is a box set by English musician John Lennon, released in 2010 by EMI. It contains four themed discs of remastered songs. The box set was released along with John Lennon Signature Box box set and Power to the People: The Hits compilation in conjunction with what would have been Lennon's 70th birthday.
S.I.R. John Winston Ono Lennon is a bootleg album of rehearsals before a concert of British musician John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono, recorded in studio in late August 1972.
"Move Over Ms. L" is a song written by John Lennon. It was originally intended to be released on his 1974 album Walls and Bridges but was left off shortly before the album release, and was eventually released as the b-side to Lennon's "Stand by Me" single. In the interim it was released by Keith Moon on his album Two Sides of the Moon. Moon also released it as the B-side of his "Solid Gold" single.
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