Working Class Hero: The Definitive Lennon

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
On October 9, 2005, John Lennon would have turned 65, if only...

Instead, the former Beatles leader and endlessly complex rock icon remains forever frozen in time, basking in the warm reception of his 1980 return to recording after a long, self-imposed exile from the music business. But this two-disc, 38-track collection does more than merely commemorate the landmark birthday Lennon tragically never celebrated; it's arguably the best compact overview of his often conflicted post-Fabs career. Considering he spent fully half the decade chronicled here in semi-retirement, it's a remarkably robust and diverse body of work, whether focused on sloganeering agit-prop ("Power to the People," "Woman is the Nigger of the World," "Give Peace a Chance," "Working Class Hero"), semi-autobiographical musings that ranged from the harrowing ("Cold Turkey," "Mother") to the unabashedly sentimental ("Oh Yoko!," "Watching the Wheels," "Starting Over"). "Imagine" and "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" may showcase one of the era's most wide-eyed idealists, but the range of emotions cataloged in much of his other work argue that John Lennon was a bundle of emotional and philosophical complexities. As Yoko One once noted, "People have wanted to box him in..But he was a very human, three-dimensional person... Sometimes he was angry, sometimes he was sad, sometimes he was very vulnerable and sweet. All of that was going on in every period of his life." This set never sidesteps those complications; indeed, the songs collected here thrive on them. --Jerry McCulley

Tracks:

(Just Like) Starting Over
Imagine
Watching The Wheels
Jealous Guy
Instant Karma!
Stand By Me
Working Class Hero
Power To The People
Oh My Love
Oh Yoko
Nobody Loves You When You're Down And Out
Nobody Told Me
Bless You
Come Together (Live)
New York City
I'm Stepping Out
You Are Here
Borrowed Time
Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

Tracks:

Woman
Mind Games
Out Of The Blue
Whatever Gets You Thru The Night
Love
Mother
Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)
Woman Is The Nigger Of The World
God
Scared
#9 Dream
I'm Losing You (Anthology Version)
Isolation
Cold Turkey
Intuition
Gimme Some Truth
Give Peace A Chance
Real Love
Grow Old With Me

Amazon.com

On October 9, 2005, John Lennon would have turned 65, if only...

Amazon.com

John Lennon Photos

More from John Lennon

Imagine
Lennon Legend
The U.S. vs. John Lennon

Mind Games
Working Class Hero
John Lennon Anthology

Customer Reviews:

Working Class Hero: The Definitive Lennon.......2007-01-20

This was given as a gift...they are tremendously enjoying this CD!

finally the singles package awaited arrives.......2007-01-19

After the break-up, both McCartney and Lennon went on to do what everyone had more or less predicted: McCartney racked up the sales with catchy pop that often spent a bit too much time in the shallow end of the pool, while Lennon achieved lesser (but still quite acceptable) sales and greater expressivity. That said, arguably Lennon had but two truly fabulous LPs in his catalogue post-Fab Four: 1971's Imagine, and one of the most direct, and brutally honest, artistic statements ever fashioned by any rock and roller, Plastic Ono Band from 1970.

This is the fourth major career overview for Lennon, after Shaved Fish, the John Lennon Collection, and the embarrassingly named Legend, a title which Lennon himself would have undoubtedly forbade. With thirty-eight tracks on two discs, it surpasses the latter two in comprehensiveness, and benefits from better remastering detail to any of the earlier sets.

George Harrison has stated that he thought Lennon's writing went a bit off in his later years. His melodic sense resurfaced by the Double Fantasy sessions, perhaps recharged by his five-year hiatus from recording. Given the lackluster songs populating much of his album output from 1972 to 1975, however, Harrison's assessment is quite apt. If Lennon's struggles to compose enough good material to fill up an entire record made his post-Imagine albums rather spotty, his singles certainly were not. Having grown up and worked with the Beatles during a time when the single ruled rock and roll, like his colleagues Lennon always paid special attention to their quality. Working Class Hero collects every non-Beatles 45 that Lennon issued in his lifetime for the first time since the 1970s singles compilation Shaved Fish. Including five of the six posthumous singles (not counting reissues), this is welcome indeed.

"Greatest Hits" packages often get short shrift from some quarters. In what was for a long time one of the main alternatives to [...] for on-line pop music album review sites, Wilson & Alroy refuse to even consider reviewing compilations, greatest hits or otherwise. Trapped in an album-oriented classic rock mentality, this only displays the depth of their ignorance regarding the history of the music about which they issue authoritative pronouncements. Many greatest hits comps might indeed be superfluous, but singles packages are another story altogether. Some of the greatest work by many artists, such as those affiliated with the Motown or Stax labels in the 1960s for instance, came in the form of singles. You'd be far better off with a good Supremes hits collection than any one of their albums issued during the group's operational life.

Similarly, Lennon's singles are the best items in his solo catalogue, Plastic Ono Band and Imagine aside. This package includes them generously, making up about half of the total number of tracks. For instance, it's good to see "Woman Is the Nigger of the World" return to an official Lennon comp, a jarringly effective feminist anthem of which the title alone probably gives most people hives, which is precisely the point. Lennon wasn't driven solely by a need to make his audience comfortable, the desire to make a statement politically or socially often a main source of his vitality as an artist.

Interestingly, the Wingspan compilation by his ex-partner from five years earlier, also a double-disc overview with an equivalent number of tracks, covers roughly the same period of time. They make an intriguing comparison of the duo's accomplishments from the 1970s while both were still very much in the commercial spotlight. Whether this set is an answer to that one is known only to EMI, Yoko, and the Apple front office.

Of the flaws in Working Class Hero, one is presented in contrast to Wingspan. It would have been better had the producers echoed the format from the McCartney comp, placing the hit singles on one disc, and the assembled album cuts and lesser hits on the second. Also, some non-singles cuts were poorly selected: while still a good balladeer, Lennon's solo strengths were often in other areas. We don't necessarily need "Love", and "Oh My Love," *and* "Oh Yoko!" here, as all are from the two must-have albums. Better cuts from the Lennon Anthology, such as the superior "I'm Losing You" backed up by Cheap Trick that *is* included, the non-album b-side "Move Over Ms. L," and excerpts from the live material with Frank Zappa no longer available on the Some Time in New York City reissue would have been preferable to "Intuition," "Out the Blue," and "You Are Here."

These minor caveats aside, this is the best career retrospective for one of the best rock and roll artists of any era. The assembly of all those great Lennon singles is easily worth the purchase price. Thank you, John.

Enjoy what we were given.......2006-09-28

My mom was a big Beatles fan so I am familiar to a degree with his music and the distinctive sound of his voice. I think this album sounds very good and I like the choice of songs. You enjoy John or you don't for one reason or another. I like his sound and listen to it and that's very satisfying for me. Always enjoy what we were given and what remains.

The Lennon Anthology That Says It All.......2006-09-02

John Lennon was the first musician in modern times to have a keen understanding of his own iconic status and he used it to build an international political community for world peace. Even those who have political differences will Lennon, agree that his intellect, political savvy had tremendous impact on an entire generation of young people. Lennon told us that the movement we need for international peace was on our shoulders and came up with the audacious idea that war is over, if we want it.

Even in hindsight, I don't even think most of us who lived through Beatles era completely appreciate the impact that John Lennon had on their own lives. Richard Nixon understood Lennon's impact on the peace movement. Nixon lived in fear of Lennon and fought a long battle in court to have him deported as an undesirable alien.

After the breakup of the Beatles, Paul, and Ringo retreated into the cocoon of domestic bliss and the bland irrelevance of by-the-numbers rock stardom. George became a devotee of Krishna Consciousness and had a fleeting moment of social consciousness when he put together two benefit concerts for the refugees of war torn Bangladesh in 1971.

John was the keeper of the flame and the unapologetic activist, and despite all of his personal flaws John was indeed the "brilliant Beatle."

The two CD, 38 song anthology, "Working Class Hero" demonstrates how profoundly relevant Lennon's music remains to our own lives in 2006, three decades after his death.

John was the visionary and the dreamer, even as he told us that "the dream was over." John's music embraced existential ambiguity and contradiction. Lennon's exploration of the human condition was uncharted territory for a pop musician to explore the "boggie down" climate of the American music business in the early Seventies. Not even Dylan was writting songs that were as emotionally resonant and flat-out honest as John's "Mother", "Imagine", or "God."

No other musician has significantly changed the lives of those who heard his message, as John Lennon has. John's message was simple: no matter how long you live, or how dire the world appears to be, never give up on your dreams. To his critics who called him naieve John said, "You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one." John was right. Without our dreams we might as well be dead.

"Working Class Hero" is sole anthology of Lennon's work that defines Lennon the artist, the man, the philosopher and charismatic leader of a movement for world peace. Lennon's magnificent story is embedded in the content of the 38 songs in "Working Class Hero."

Pay no attention to the naysayers who have various hairs-splitting complaints about "Working Class Hero." One reviewer complains the album has been "remixed" but it's a specious claim because the pristine digital sound quality is actually far better than the early 1970s state of the art studio mixes. The biggest improvements are on the Phil Specter produced tracks in which Mr. Specter, for the first time in his career, seemed oddly disengaged from the artist he was producing.

As far selection of the 38 songs that comprise this anthology, they couldn't be better. If there was an important song from Lennon's legacy left out of this collection, nobody has pointed it out to me. These are the exact songs I would select if I were burning my own CD of John Lennon's songs. All previous Lennon collections have significant omissions of some of John's best songs. This anthology does justice to the complete trajectory of John Lennon's solo career from "Live Peace in Toronto 1969" to "Live in New York City" his posthumous live release in 1986. There isn't a single song that is filler here.

The presentation of the songs isn't in any rigid chronological order but there is a pattern of presenting the songs in reverse chronology. It benins with "Starting Over" in a journey backwards in time end up with John's earliest Plastic Ono Band recordings, like "Cold Turkey" and "Give Peace a Chance". The reason why some songs are presented out of order is, perhaps, an effort to equitably distribute Lennon's best music over the run length of both CDs.

If you are a causal fan of John Lennon's the only other way you'll get a more complete profile of John's career is to purchase the 4 CD box set "Anthology" (1998) which is grossly overpriced at $67.49. "Anthology" is more complete but not better than "Working Class Hero", because "Anthology degrades the quality of selections by including outtakes, alternative takes, studio chatter, home recording sessions and rarities that weren't good enough to be included in any of John's catalog of releases.

By contrast, "Working Class Hero" is Lennon's top-shelf material and you don't have to suffer through the 2 hours of filler cuts to harvest the bounty of these essential 38 songs that defined Lennon as an artist. The price of "Working Class Hero" is $22.99, which is a steal by comparison

Exclamation Point!.......2006-07-25

As I listened to this set the first time, I was struck by the clarity and quality of the remixes. Every track sounds better than ever! Next - the selection and sequence began to remind me of Paul McCartney's "Wingspan" (will the parallels between these two men ever end?). Even though Yoko was responsible for this, you had a sense of it being a near mirror-image of Paul's effort. One big similarity stands out: the self-indulgence of some of the deep-cut selections. As Paul includes a lot of his cutesy album cuts ("Bip-bop", "Waterfalls", "Tomorrow", "Backseat of my Car",) that only he would like, so Yoko selects the most gag-me Yoko this, Yoko that cuts. "You Are Here", and "Oh Yoko" for instance, could have given way to "How Do You Sleep", "Crippled Inside", "Old Dirt Road", "Remember", and "You Can't Catch Me". But really, I'm not complaining - I'm pretty sure John would have wanted the Yoko cuts in there. As a fan of both John and Paul, I have to say that hearing their selections does tell us a little more about them (in this case Yoko), and either way. I enjoy it.

But CD2 . . . oh baby! First we get this delicious alternate cut of "I'm Losing You". That alone makes this "yet another" greatest hots package worth it. But as I progressed further down the track list on CD2, I wondered what I was going to get when "Real Love" played (I do not have the John Lennon Anthology). Would it be the home-made scratch demo of the Imagine soundtrack? NO - it was the final arrangement of the song, a wonderful, beautiful rendition featuring John and the piano. I was thrilled to hear that the Beatles Anothology version was not the Threetles spinning of John's concept. All they did was layer instruments and background vocals onto a completed product. What a thrill to learn that the introduction and breaks are all John. John writes beautiful melodies with massive hooks, without Paul - and sometimes it is so good that even Paul will not mess with it!

But that's not all . . .

Again, with "Grow Old With Me", I wondered what I would be getting. The version that I know already, is the scratch demo from Milk and Honey, a syrupy, almost affected sappy thing that I thought John wrote to show how timeless and classic his love for Yoko was (more John and Yoko blah blah blah). I could picture John quickly writing it at the Dakota some afternoon, in between folding laundry and watching soaps.

But wait! Produced by George Martin? I dared to hope that it would sound good! And indeed - like "Good Night" on the White Album, this is definitely a Beatles-era George Martin production. And what a way to end this mega-set!

Did I sense some ice thawing? A George Martin production on a John Lennon album? A first-time (almost) release of essentially a Beatles song, on a Lennon album? Folks, this arrangement is so beautiful musically, that when you realize that Yoko is tipping her hat to the Beatles and Martin, with the closing song of this set, it almost seems like a missing track from the Anthology. And it shows what can happen to a John Lennon composition when someone other than himself or Phil Spector gets a ahold of it!

Grow Old With Me is like a little Beatles reunion, in a sense. I just love the way it closes out this anthology!

These three tracks gave me my money's worth.

And now - I am wondering how many other Beatles or near-Beatles songs are STILL hidden away down in some vault?

Working Class Hero: The Definitive Lennon

Average customer rating:

A flawed but still excellent Lennon collection

Working Class Hero: The Definitive Lennon
John Lennon
Manufacturer: Toshiba EMI
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000B2UPFC
Release Date: 2005-10-10

Tracks:

(Just Like) Starting Over - John Lennon
Imagine - Flux Fiddlers, John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band
Watching the Wheels - John Lennon
Jealous Guy - Flux Fiddlers, John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band
Instant Karma! (We All Shine On) - John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Plastic Ono Band
Stand by Me - John Lennon
Working Class Hero - John Lennon
Power to the People - John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band
Oh My Love - Flux Fiddlers, John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band
Oh Yoko! - Flux Fiddlers, John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band
Nobody Loves You (When You're Down and Out) - John Lennon, John Lennon & the Plastic Ono Band,
Nobody Told Me - John Lennon
Bless You - John Lennon, John Lennon & the Plastic Ono Band,
Come Together [Live] - John Lennon
New York City - Elephant's Memory, Invisible Strings, John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band
I'm Stepping Out - John Lennon
You Are Here - John Lennon, Plastic U.F.Ono Band
Borrowed Time - John Lennon
Happy Xmas (War Is Over) - Harlem Community Choir, John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band

Tracks:

Woman - John Lennon
Mind Games - John Lennon, Plastic U.F.Ono Band
Out the Blue - John Lennon, Plastic U.F.Ono Band
Whatever Gets You Thru the Night - John Lennon, John Lennon & the Plastic Ono Band, Little Big Horns, , Philharmonic Orchestrange,
Love - John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band
Mother - John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band
Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) - John Lennon
Woman Is the Nigger of the World - Elephant's Memory, Invisible Strings, John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band
God - John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band
Scared - John Lennon, John Lennon & the Plastic Ono Band, Little Big Horns, , Philharmonic Orchestrange,
#9 Dream - John Lennon, John Lennon & the Plastic Ono Band, Little Big Horns, , Philharmonic Orchestrange,
I'm Losing You - John Lennon
Isolation - John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band
Cold Turkey - Plastic Ono Band
Intuition - John Lennon, Plastic U.F.Ono Band
Gimme Some Truth - Flux Fiddlers, John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band
Give Peace a Chance - Plastic Ono Band
Real Love - John Lennon
Grow Old With Me - John Lennon

Customer Reviews:

A flawed but still excellent Lennon collection.......2005-10-10

Working Class Hero - The Definitive Collection (2005.) A John Lennon hits compilation.

INTRODUCTION:
The disbanding of the Beatles was a heartbreaking moment for many of their fans, or so it seemed. What seemed like the end of something great was actually the beginning of a new era - one that saw all the former members of the group going onward to solo careers. And John Lennon, the innovative genius who had been so instrumental in the success of the Beatles, remained wildly popular following the Beatles split, right up to his unfortunate assassination in December of 1980. Even long after his death, various recordings, old and new alike, have been surfacing. Many a Lennon hits compilation has been released over the years. And in October of 2005, to celebrate what would have been Lennon's sixty-fifth birthday, a dual-disc compilation of his material has been released! Read on for my review of Working Class Hero, which claims to be the definitive John Lennon compilation.

OVERVIEW:
Working Class Hero - The Definitive Collection was released on October 11, 2005. The compilation consists of two compact discs, and thirty-nine classic Lennon tunes spanning his solo career. Normally this is the part of the review where I say which compilation of the artist's this is (first, second, third, etc.), but since Lennon has had so many compilations released over the years, it's impossible for me to say.

REVIEW:
Two discs of Lennon classics. Thirty-nine classic cuts. And yet, the final result falls below my expectations. It's not a bad compilation at all, though. Let's look at what this compilation does right, and where it fails.

-THE GOOD:
This compilation is the most expansive, career-spanning Lennon compilation on the market other than the box set, which most casual fans are going to find restrictively expensive anyway. The casual crowd, potential new fans, or those old Beatles fans who just want an introduction to the stuff Lennon did after his better-known years - if you fall into one of those categories, this package is for you. There is no better existing anthology of Lennon's solo work on the market. Pretty much every big hit is here, including classics like Just Like Starting Over, Imagine, Watching The Wheels, Jealous Guy, Instant Karma!, the classic cover of Ben E. King's Stand By Me, Working Class Hero, Power To The People, Nobody Told Me, Happy X-Mas (War Is Over), Woman, Mind Games, Whatever Gets You Through The Night (a collaboration with Elton John), Mother, Beautiful Boy, Woman Is The N*gger of the world, God, Number Nine Dream, Cold Turkey, Gimme Some Truth, and Give Peace A Chance. And you get a ton of underrated songs, too. The set is also a GREAT value for the sheer number of tracks you get in it. Casual fans - bother with no other Lennon compilation. This is the one for you!

-THE BAD:
Good as this set is, the fact of the matter is it just didn't meet the high expectations I had for it. Is it a bad compilation? No way. But there are some flaws I just felt were unforgivable. The first and most obvious one is the fact that the songs are not in chronological order. For musical purists like myself, this flaw is extremely annoying. And in the case of John Lennon, doing a compilation in non-chronological order just doesn't work. His solo career had so many unique and interesting phases to it, that a chronological set would have given a better all-around overview (hearing the posthumous number one hit Just Like Starting Over right BEFORE the classic Imagine, which came ten years earlier, is just a little too weird for me!) Another big flaw is one I bash many a hits compilation for - the tracklist could have been better. I looked over the tracklist once. And then again. And one more time, to make sure I wasn't seeing things. And then I realized that my worst fears had become a reality - How Do You Sleep was not included in this collection. Utter blasphemy! A "definitive" John Lennon collection would not exclude this song. What's even more ridiculous is that the questionable Oh Yoko got chosen in favor of it! My last complaint is that, even though this set is a pretty good value, it costs a little too much when compared to other two compact disc sets on the market other artists have.

OVERALL:
We didn't really need another John Lennon compilation in the market, but the fact of the matter is that this one is very good. Sure, the set isn't perfect, but where many another John Lennon compilation failed, this one succeeds. If you're only going to get one Lennon release and you're not sure what you should buy, this compilation would actually be a very good choice - just be aware of the flaws before you purchase it. Final verdict? For any casual fan, potential fan, or someone who is just curious about Lennon's post-Beatles work, this set is for you!

EDITION NOTES:
This is a fairly-recent release, meaning you're not likely to have a whole lot of trouble finding it in any mass retailer of music compact discs. If you want to get the compilation, more likely than not you'll find it in the first major store you look.

Average customer rating:

Working Class Hero - The Definitive Collection
John Lennon
Manufacturer: EMI
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) | Classic Rock | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000ASTEC2

Average customer rating:

A flawed but still good retrospective

Working Class Hero: The Definitive Lennon
John Lennon
Manufacturer: Toshiba EMI
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Pop | Styles | Music

Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Singer-Songwriters | Rock | Styles | Music

Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) | Classic Rock | Styles | Music

General | Classic Rock | Styles | Music

Classic Rock | Imports | Stores | Music

Rock | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000B2UPG6

Tracks:

(Just Like) Starting Over - John Lennon
Imagine - Flux Fiddlers, John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band
Watching the Wheels - John Lennon
Jealous Guy - Flux Fiddlers, John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band
Instant Karma! (We All Shine On) - John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Plastic Ono Band
Stand by Me - John Lennon
Working Class Hero - John Lennon
Power to the People - John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band
Oh My Love - Flux Fiddlers, John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band
Oh Yoko! - Flux Fiddlers, John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band
Nobody Loves You (When You're Down and Out) - John Lennon, John Lennon & the Plastic Ono Band,
Nobody Told Me - John Lennon
Bless You - John Lennon, John Lennon & the Plastic Ono Band,
Come Together [Live] - John Lennon
New York City - Elephant's Memory, Invisible Strings, John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band
I'm Stepping Out - John Lennon
You Are Here - John Lennon, Plastic U.F.Ono Band
Borrowed Time - John Lennon
Happy Xmas (War Is Over) - Harlem Community Choir, John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band

Tracks:

Woman - John Lennon
Mind Games - John Lennon, Plastic U.F.Ono Band
Out the Blue - John Lennon, Plastic U.F.Ono Band
Whatever Gets You Thru the Night - John Lennon, John Lennon & the Plastic Ono Band, Little Big Horns, , Philharmonic Orchestrange,
Love - John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band
Mother - John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band
Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) - John Lennon
Woman Is the Nigger of the World - Elephant's Memory, Invisible Strings, John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band
God - John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band
Scared - John Lennon, John Lennon & the Plastic Ono Band, Little Big Horns, , Philharmonic Orchestrange,
#9 Dream - John Lennon, John Lennon & the Plastic Ono Band, Little Big Horns, , Philharmonic Orchestrange,
I'm Losing You - John Lennon
Isolation - John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band
Cold Turkey - Plastic Ono Band
Intuition - John Lennon, Plastic U.F.Ono Band
Gimme Some Truth - Flux Fiddlers, John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band
Give Peace a Chance - Plastic Ono Band
Real Love - John Lennon
Grow Old With Me - John Lennon

Customer Reviews:

A flawed but still good retrospective.......2005-10-10

Music Review:

Music Review

Music Review

Imagine	Lennon Legend	The U.S. vs. John Lennon
Mind Games	Working Class Hero	John Lennon Anthology