Imagine - The Ultimate Collection (2 LP)

A wonderful version of a wonderful album, and the vinyl pressing sounds superb. Stayed up for a few hours listening and enjoying the new details provided by this mix. And as ever the packing and delivery of the vinyl was first rate, Amazon are great at this.The mix really shines on vinyl. The string section on Imagine is wonderful and comes through much cleaner and smoother than ever before. It's a transformation of an already beautiful song into something almost other ethereal. 'Crippled Inside' is crisper and the tragi-comic nature of the track is brought out even more, the rickety rim-shots and honky tony piano breaks really make me smile in spite of the lyrics. Jealous Guy is outstanding in this release, and the wonderful piano work of Nicky Hopkins and the gentle strings section combine beautifully to bring out the bittersweet vocals of Lennon. The separation of the elements on the vinyl is wonderful, you can really pick out the instruments on this mix. It pushes hard to be my favourite track on the album. Other stand outs for me are 'Gimme Some Truth' as this mix and the vinyl really bring out the acid in the chorus, and the nasty one, as Lennon called it - 'How Do You Sleep' - sounds amazing on this mix. The vinyl really lets you hear the moving parts of what is a really good song often overlooked because of the subject matter. 'How?' is another track where the strings arrangement shines brighter than ever before and I love this version. Yes, as an album there are a couple of duds in my view - 'Oh Yoko' is a bit twee and 'It's So Hard' isn't the best but even on those this mix and the quality of the vinyl give them more depth than I've ever heard in them.However, there is an issue with the Amazon listing at present and that is that the track listing for the second disc is wrong. I bought this specifically because the second disc was listed as having the Elements mixes of Imagine, Jealous Guy, Oh My Love and How? - it does not! Please see my uploaded photo for correct track listings for the second disc - basically outakes which are very interesting but not as exciting as the Elements mixes to me.I’ve contacted Amazon to ask them to update their listing but I’m kicking myself for not checking more carefully and simply trusting Amazon. For me, having heard clips of the elements mixes I was excited to get these on vinyl. The piano track of Nicky Hopkins on Jealous Guy is beautiful as are the strings arrangement on Imagine, and it would have been wonderful to enjoy these on vinyl. A very obvious missed opportunity for me.A wonderful version of a wonderful album but just pay close attention to what you are getting with the vinyl.UPDATE - Amazon customer service contacted me pretty much instantly to say thanks for highlighting the issue with track listing. They should update it ASAP and I’ll then edit my review. And they even refunded me the cost of the album for highlighting the issue! Completely unexpected and not asked for but exactly the reason I use Amazon pretty much all the time. They might be huge but they do get customer service right!

this edition just did not like the simple cover, that could have a double cover, the disc 2 brings the outtakes and demos of the songs of the vinyl ImagineFirst Vinyl is beautifully remastered.the second one has very good audio, are demos demos and outtakes of the main songs of the vinyl Imagine

The product description does not match what is delivered. The second LP contains outtakes (see pictures of the track listing from other customers) the track listing in the product description shows songs that are not included. In the text of the product description it describes 140 tracks which are obviously not contained on 2 LP’s. This is a sloppy listing.

51 years old ..loved the beatles since I was a sniper.. never checked out solo stuff until now...w.t.f was I thinking ?! ..Absolutely fantastic album..love the outtakes..'How do you sleep' still makes me wince to this day..such a shame that the two greatest ever songwriters/band members felt so hurt by each other for John to pen that song...

Great remastering of what is an iconic album. The outtakes area glimpse into history and well worth a listen. If you like John then buy, if you don’t why are you reading this anyway. Well pleased with the purchase.