JOHN AND YOKO’S “POWER TO THE PEOPLE” GIVES THEIR EARLY SEVENTIES POLITICAL PHASE THE DELUXE TREATMENT

Although my expectations for John and Yoko’s “Power To The People” deluxe box set were rather low, I surprisingly found much to enjoy throughout its 9 CDs, 3 Blu-Ray discs, and 204-page hardcover book. I was certainly skeptical about giving such lavish treatment to recordings from John & Yoko’s political phase that included one of my least-favorite post-Beatles albums, “Sometime In New York City.” I also had mixed emotions about the new deluxe release failing to include that album’s most well-known song. But after spending a bit more than sometime with these “Sometime In New York City”-period recordings, I was glad that I took a deep dive into this interesting and controversial time in John’s life.

Fifty-six years ago, in October 1969, John & Yoko issued a self-indulgent souvenir of their own wedding titled “Wedding Album.” The deluxe (for the time) package came in a album-sized, 3/4″ white box containing the usual wedding pictures one would expect to find in a wedding album, plus other goodies.

And, since the bride and groom were musicians, it also came with a record titled “Wedding Album,” which consisted of avant-garde experimental recordings similar to the pair’s first two LPs, “Two Virgins” and “Life With The Lions.” The record was housed in a gatefold cover. The package included a book of press clippings and cartoons, a photo strip of John & Yoko, a postcard of their post-wedding Amsterdam Bed-In, two 2-sided posters, a photo of a slice of wedding cake, and a copy of their wedding license. Although charted by Billboard at 178 and Record World at 108, the album was ignored by Cash Box, all of the British LP charts, and nearly all Beatles fans and record buyers.

As a concept, Universal Music’s “Power To The People” deluxe box set might seem to be another self-indulgent souvenir package, this time focusing on John & Yoko’s early 1970’s political phase. Like “Wedding Album,” it contains goodies such as post cards, a poster, stickers, and a clear envelope containing a ticket to the pair’s One To One benefit concert, a card for the sponsor party, and a back stage identification badge complete with string to hang around your neck. Also included is a 204-page hardcover book full of pictures of John & Yoko. The orange background box housing the package has a linticular photo that switches between John and Yoko depending upon the angle it is viewed at. Rather than having a single vinyl record, the set has nine CDs and three Blu-ray discs. As for the music, one might feel a bit of trepidation since the set’s recordings come from the time period that produced John & Yoko’s “Sometime In New York City” album, which was not well received at the time.

No doubt, the “Power To The People” deluxe set could be viewed as another “Wedding Album,” but on steroids. However, such a rush to judgment would be a mistake considering what the set actually has to offer for those interested in taking a deep dive into a controversial and interesting time in John’s life.   

Perhaps recognizing that “Sometime In New York City” is considered by many to be a low point in John’s career, “Power To The People” makes John & Yoko’s One To One charity concert its focal point, devoting the first three CDs to the event. The first disc contains a hybrid show, pulling the best performances from the afternoon and evening concerts. For completists, the second and third discs have the afternoon and evening concerts in their entirety–well, almost. None of the three discs contain John’s controversial song “Woman Is The [N-word] Of The World” (more on that decision later) and “Sisters, O Sisters.” The concerts sound fantastic. And while the performances aren’t always perfect, they have a high energy level and sense of enthusiasm that covers up any weaknesses. The music comes across as a bar band being led by John Lennon–and that ain’t a bad thing. Yoko’s performances, for the most part, actually fit in well, meaning even her detractors may not feel the need to hit the advance-to-the-next-selection button on the remote every time her voice is heard.

The fourth disc, titled “New York City/The Ultimate Mixes,” has created a bit of controversy by presenting the entire “Sometime In New York City” studio disc save for its most well-known and controversial track, the afore-mentioned song with the N-word. It’s strange in that not only is the song missing from the concert CDs and the studio album CD, but it is also not mentioned in the text of the accompanying book. It’s as if it never happened–that is, until you look at the images in the book of the original album cover’s artwork where the song’s title is clearly visible. Perhaps Universal viewed song as the “elephant in the room” and decided that John’s backing group, Elephant’s Memory, was the only elephant safe for inclusion. While many fans have made a big deal of the song’s exclusion, these same individuals almost certainly have the track on other CDs in their collection. Although I think the song should have been included for historical reasons (with a brief explanation of how it was based on a feminist quote from Yoko and was not intended to be racist in any manner), I did not let that decision ruin the box set for me.

Instead of the album opening with the song with the N-word, it starts out rocking with one of the album’s best tracks, “New York City,” which sums up John & Yoko’s adventures in the city, serving, in effect, as a “Ballad Of John & Yoko, Part II.” Once again, the recordings on the disc sound fantastic. Listeners are treated to two extended selections, “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “John Sinclair.” The latter track gives us more of John’s slide playing on his National dobro steel guitar. If you are not turned off by the heavy-handed political lyrics, the CD actually comes across better than you would expect.

The fifth CD is “The Evolution Documentary” covering how each song was built, often starting with a demo version. The sixth disc is a real treat, containing studio jams of oldies such as “Roll Over Beethoven,” “Ain’t That A Shame,” “My Babe,” “Send Me Some Lovin’,” “Don’t Be Cruel”/”Hound Dog,” and “Whole Lotta Shakin'”/”It’ll Be Me.” Although the track titled “Yakety Yak” is credited to songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, it is not the classic Coasters song. And while these tracks are mainly brief run-throughs, they are a worthy inclusion. Some listeners may even find them more satisfying than the more polished performances on John’s 1975 “Rock ‘N’ Roll” album. The disc ends with “Element Mixes” of four of the original album’s songs focusing on the string arrangements.

The seventh CD contains the “FREE LIVE JAM LP” that was included with the original “Sometime In New York City” album. The first two selections, which were on Side One of the vinyl disc, are from John & Yoko’s performance at a UNICEF benefit concert held on December 15, 1969, at the Lyceum Ballroom in London. They are backed by what John dubbed the Plastic Ono Supergroup as it featured Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Billy Preston, Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, Klaus Voormann and Jim Gordon. After John announces, “This song’s about pain,” the band performs a near eight-minute long version of “Cold Turkey.” The theme of pain continues with the group’s other selection, a 17-minute version of Yoko’s “Don’t Worry Kyoko.”

The remainder of the disc is taken from Side Two of the “Live Jam LP,” which features John & Yoko at the Fillmore East in New York City making a guest appearance at a Frank Zappa concert. The concert starts off strong with John leading the way on a song from his old Cavern days, “Well (Baby Please Don’t Go),” but the remaining three performances are a tough listen. The box set seems to recognize this by expanding the title of the album’s final song, “Au,” to “Au [A Small Eternity with Yoko Ono].”

Disc 8, titled “Live Jam 2,” contains more conventional live performances by John & Yoko. The first four songs are from the John Sinclair Freedom Rally held on December 10, 1971. In addition to “John Sinclair,” John & Yoko, joined by another version of the Plastic Ono Band and David Peel, perform “Attica State,” “The Luck Of The Irish” and “Sisters, O Sisters.” The four songs would be recorded for the album “Sometime In New York City” a few months later. This is followed by three songs taped on December 17, 1971, at a benefit held at Harlem’s Apollo Theater for the families of the prisoners killed at the Attica State Correction Facility riot: “Attica State,” “Sisters, O Sisters” and “Imagine.” The latter is performed by John on acoustic guitar. Next up are performances taped for the David Frost TV show on December 16, 1971: “Attica State,” “Sisters, O Sisters” and “John Sinclair.” The disc concludes with John & Yoko backed by Elephant’s Memory at the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon broadcast live on September 4, 1972. They perform “Imagine” (this time with John on piano), Yoko’s “Now Or Never” and “Give Peace A Chance.” The last song is done in a reggae arrangement, with chants of “No More War!” and requests for viewers to send in money. It features Jerry Lewis on trumpet. The sound quality on the disc is excellent.    

The Ninth disc, titled “Home Jam,” contains songs recorded in hotel rooms on a cassette player/recorder. The first 20 selections were taped with John on acoustic guitar at the St. Regis Hotel in New York on September 10, 1971. Many of the songs were performed by the Beatles during their Cavern Club days, including “Honey Don’t,” “Glad All Over” and “Lend Me Your Comb.” John also does his “New York City,” the Everly Brothers’ “Wake Up Little Susie,”  Elvis’ “You’re So Square (Baby I Don’t Care),” the Chuck Berry 1958 B-side “Vacation Time” and a batch of Buddy Holly tunes, including “Heartbeat,” “Peggy Sue Got Married,” “Peggy Sue,” “Maybe Baby,” “Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues” and “Rave On!” The tape also contains bits of a few phone calls that apparently came in while John was casually playing guitar and singing. The sound quality is adequate considering the taping took place with the hotel room window being open. The next four tracks were recorded at the same hotel on October 21, 1971, and include more impromptu acoustic guitar and vocal performances. There are bluesy renditions of John’s “I Got You” and the R&B classics “Hi-Heel Sneakers” and “Slippin’ And Slidin.'” Yoko can be heard talking in the background during the first two songs. The last track is John’s ballad “Gone From This Place.”  

The next batch of songs were recorded at the Campus Inn in Ann Arbor, Michigan on December 10, 1971, during John’s stay there for the John Sinclair Freedom Rally. The first five are John solo performances of Little Richard’s “Send Me Some Lovin'” followed by four John compositions: “He Got The Blues,” “When The Teacher,” “Pill” and “It’s Real.” The disc’s final four songs were written by Phil Ochs, who sings and preforms them on acoustic guitar while John adds some lower volume blues fills on his National dobro. They are titled “I Ain’t Marching Anymore,” “Joe Hill,” “Chords of Fame” and “Ringing Of Revolution.” The sound quality of the Ann Arbor songs is better than those taped at the St. Regis Hotel.   

The same material on the CDs is repeated on three Blu-Ray discs, including the One To One concerts in HD Stereo, 5.1 Surround & Dolby Atmos. Overall, all of the recordings in the box set sound better on the Blu-Ray discs. However, one has to wonder why the box set did not include any video of the One To One concerts. That most likely will be issued later. Also, the recent film “One To One: John & Yoko” would have been a nice addition.

The accompanying hardcover book does an excellent job of detailing this phase of John & Yoko’s lives. It contains numerous photographs and images to augment the text, which primarily consists of quotes from John & Yoko, along with others who joined them at the concerts and in the studio.

Bruce goes into detail about the original Wedding Album in his Apple Solo book.