New book to explore the creation of John Lennon’s Imagine album

A new hardback book documenting the creation of John Lennon’s landmark 1971 album Imagine is to be published on 9 October 2018.

The book is officially titled Imagine, although the front cover and spine both display the words “Imagine John Yoko”. The cover also states: “With contributions from the people who were there”.

The deluxe 320-page hardcover book will be published by Grand Central Publishing, and is priced at $50.

A newly-remixed version of the Imagine album is also thought to be due out this year, along with a reissue of the Imagine film. More information is expected soon.

Here’s the press release for the book:

A lot has been written about the creation of the song, the album and the film of Imagine, mainly by people who weren’t there, so I’m very pleased and grateful that now, for the first time, so many of the participants have kindly given their time to “‘Gimme Some Truth’” in their own words and pictures.” – Yoko Ono

In 1971, John Lennon and Yoko Ono conceived and recorded the critically acclaimed album Imagine at their Georgian country home, Tittenhurst Park, in Berkshire, England, and in the state-of-the-art studio they built in the grounds and at the Record Plant in New York. The lyrics of its title track were inspired by Yoko Ono’s ‘event scores’ in her 1964 book Grapefruit, and she was officially co-credited as writer in June 2017.

Imagine tells the story of John & Yoko’s life, work and relationship during this intensely creative period. It transports readers to home and working environments through artfully compiled narrative film stills, Yoko’s closely guarded archive photos and artefacts, and stitched-together panoramas taken from outtake film footage that recreate the interiors in evocative detail. Each chapter and song is introduced with text by John & Yoko compiled from published and unpublished sources and complemented by comments from Yoko today. Fresh insights are provided by musicians, engineers and staff who took part, many of whom feature on the inner sleeve’s enigmatic picture wheel, in which the identities are finally revealed. All the minutiae is examined: the locations, the key players, the music and lyrics, the production techniques and the artworks – including the creative process behind the double exposure polaroids used on the album cover.

With a message as universal and pertinent today as it was when the album was created, Imagine cements John and Yoko’s place in cultural history.