Ascot Sound Studios
Producers: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Phil Spector
Engineers: Phil McDonald, Eddie Klein
The ninth recording session for John Lennon’s second solo album Imagine took place on 29 May 1971.
The main album sessions were held at Ascot Sound Studios, Lennon’s recording studio at his Tittenhurst Park home. Three songs were worked on during this session: ‘Jealous Guy’, ‘How?’, and ‘Oh Yoko!’.
A three-man film crew were also present in the studio on this day. They were working on a project with the working title Your Show, which was intended for release with Lennon and Yoko Ono’s forthcoming albums.
The backing tracks for the Imagine songs were complete, and only overdubs remained. Lennon began by recording his lead vocals for ‘Jealous Guy’ onto take 29 from 24 May.
‘How?’ had been recorded on 25 May. Lennon re-recorded his lead vocals during this session onto track 7 of take 40. The song was completed in New York on 4 July 1971 with a strings overdub.
The backing track for ‘Oh Yoko!’ had been taped in a single take on 27 May. Lennon added vocal overdubs on this day.
He added harmonica onto track three, as well as backing vocals by him and Phil Spector (known as The J&P Duo). Lennon also added lead vocals onto track 6, and more vocals and harmonica onto track 8.
During this session, Lennon also played an impromptu version of ‘San Francisco Bay Blues’ on acoustic guitar.
This was the final Imagine recording session at Tittenhurst Park. Final overdubs were taped in New York on 4 and 5 July 1972.