JOHN LENNON

Gimme Some Truth

[Capitol]

BOX SET REVIEW

“Look at me,” sang John Lennon in 1970, with the Beatles’ bitter breakup just behind him and an uncertain new decade ahead. “What am I supposed to be?” Every great songwriter asks that question in one way or another, but few do so with the ruthless honesty with which Lennon pursued it through a solo career rich with contradictory impulses, wild course corrections and—of course—an abundance of terrific songs.
This four-disc box set charts Lennon’s course through his final decade by reshuffling his body of work thematically—one disc each is devoted to songs keyed off social issues (“Working Class Hero”), women (“Woman,” natch), self-examination (“Borrowed Time”) and his early influences (“Roots,” essentially an expansion of the 1975 covers album Rock ’n’ Roll).  The juxtapositions are occasionally intriguing, and lesser-known tracks like “Oh My Love” and “Steel and Glass” sound surprisingly strong interspersed with Lennon’s acknowledged classics, but anyone looking for rare or previously unreleased material will be disappointed. Never mind that—the real draw here is the jaw-droppingly lustrous sound quality. Gimme Some Truth sounds immensely richer and fuller than any previous release of these songs. The reissue campaign that brings us this set also includes a 12-CD box, a one- or two-disc hits compilation and individual rereleases of each solo album, all blessedly unaffected by the excessive loudness, needless remixing and artwork and track-list fiddling that marred the most recent round of Lennon reissues in the early 2000s. In any configuration, the music made during John Lennon’s tragically brief solo career sounds better than ever. –CN

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