John Lennon vinyl box set announced

A box set containing eight of John Lennon’s studio albums has been announced for release on 8 June by Universal Music.

The eight-LP box set, titled Lennon, comprises remastered editions from Lennon’s back catalogue on 180-gram vinyl with replica artwork, housed in a slip case.

The albums are John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970), Imagine (1971), Some Time In New York City (1972), Mind Games (1973), Walls And Bridges (1974), Rock ‘N’ Roll (1975), Double Fantasy (1980) and Milk And Honey (1984).

The eight albums were remastered in 2010 from the original analogue masters by studios engineers led by Allan Rouse at Abbey Road in London, and George Marino at Avatar Studios in New York. The remasters were cut to vinyl from 96k digital files by Optimal Media in Germany.

Each album contains authentic reproductions of the original UK editions, with assorted extras including reproduction inner sleeves, Imagine’s postcards and poster, Some Time In New York City’s postcard, and Walls And Bridges’ fold-over cover and eight-page booklet.

The eight albums will be released individually in August 2015.

The remasters were released on CD and for digital download in 2010 individually, and together in the John Lennon Signature Box along with rarities, previously unreleased recordings and non-album singles.

The vinyl box set contains no singles compilation such as Shaved Fish, which was reissued on vinyl in 2014, meaning it omits several key singles. It also excludes Lennon’s three experimental albums with Yoko Ono – Two Virgins, Life With The Lions and Wedding Album, as well as Live Peace In Toronto 1969.

There is also no room for Menlove Ave, the 1986 collection of studio outtakes, the 2004 collection Acoustic or any other posthumous release aside from Milk And Honey.