I was always a fan of John Lennon. I started off with the Beatles but then I started listening to John Lennon alone. I realized that when he's alone he gets to express himself more. The genious behing this album is pure greatness. "Imagine" the song is probably the greatest song of all time.

Everyday I have to listen to atleast one or two songs on this CD so then I'm ready for the day. When I have a bad day, I have to listen to Imagine because it makes me think how if none of the things in the world existed there may be peace.

I everyone in the world listened to Imagine everyday, there would be peace in the world. They should get rid of rap because it talks about killing people. John Lennon really makes you think with the songs. He's better without The Beatles because Paul McCartney just wrote songs people would like, not to make people think. The inteligence behind John's songs are remarkable. I give this CD a perfect score.

John Lennon wasn't the greatest producer of rock 'n' roll. That title belongs to George Martin. Here Lennon comes up with some outstanding material only to be ripped to shreds by Phil Spector. You would think Lennon would have learned his lesson after "Let It Be." Instead he used Spector to oversee some great songs, which was a big mistake.

The title track is a Lennon classic sung in his child's voice which he used in a lot of his songs. It's not smothered by Spector and it works great. The next song, "Crippled Inside" has some great piano work, but Lennon's voice is so crippled by Spector, which is how he ruined a lot of Lennon's songs. George Martin would just use Lennon's natural voice and only when Lennon would ask for something different, he would experiment with it. Spector has a knack of throwing Lennon's voice almost in the background so you don't get the full effect. Whereas "Plastic Ono Band" had Lennon howling and tearing up the vocals, here he sounds like a much lesser singer because of Spector. The song that suffers the most from Spector is "Jealous Guy." This was a great song similar to "Dear Prudence" initially titled "Child Of Nature." In this song, which is a song about regrets, Lennon sounds so weak from overproduction. It's almost as if Spector turns off Lennon's microphone and just mikes up the instruments. A fine rock 'n' roll number is "It's So Hard." Again, smothered by Spector, but the song is strong enough on its own. "I Don't Want To Be A Soldier" would have been a Lennon classic, but it isn't because of Phil Spector. A year earlier Lennon would have made this a funky tune with some howling vocals, but again, Spector chooses to concentrate his sounds on tambourines.

"Gimme Some Truth"...wow, what a classic!!! However, it isn't a classic and it is obvious from Harrison's overblairing guitar and bass guitar that Spector didn't know what he was doing as a producer. "Oh, My Love" Oh, my what a waste of space this boring song was! It was a great song, but what was the deal with that abysmal piano? Again, some bad production. "How Do You Sleep" is a song that could have been great, but it lacked any tenacity from Lennon. Sure, it was overproduced by Spector, but Lennon can't seem to turn this into a rocker. It's almost more apologetic than angry. Another song completely destroyed by Spector is "How." Lennon's supposed to sound fragile in this song, but was he supposed to sound like a poor singer as well? This is what Phil Spector's artsy production did to all of Lennon's songs was made him sound like a lesser singer. One song not too affected by Phil was "Oh, Yoko." This is a fun, but not great song with good harmonica and piano.

The reason I gave four stars is because the songs are so strong by themselves. If Lennon had given this album to George Martin to produce it would have been 20 times the album we listen to today. Spector is an overrated producer that relied too heavily on tambourines and high treble. "Imagine" suffers almost in the same way that "Instant Karma" did. In that song Lennon's voice was altered again unnecessarily by Spector for a more powerful effect. The outcome wasn't impressive. The same person that brought you "Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me And My Monkey" and "Revolution" would have no problem tackling this song witout any sound effects.

In short, Lennon should have never split from George Martin and because he did, much of his solo work was worse than it should have been. Even worse, he joined up with Phil Spector.

If we want to hear a great Lennon album without too much of Spector's touch, look no further than "Plastic Ono Band." This is a great album where Lennon shouts and howls some great rock 'n' roll tunes. There's some great unplugged ballads like "Love." The worst song is "Look At Me", but even that is a good song very similar to "Julia." It's not an album you want to listen to all the time because of its negativity, but it is overall better than "Abbey Road", "Sgt. Pepper", or "Magical Mystery Tour." There are no weak points on this concept album and it's the best solo effort by any Beatle.

I just bought this album and expected a good album, but not as good as the Plastic Ono Band. Well, the album was every bit as good as it. Here's a track by track review-

Imagine- 10/10 - I can't say much about this song that hasn't already been said. It is just one of the most beautiful songs ever written and about that utopian world. Lennon's voice is in top form.

Crippled Inside- 8/10- A catccy tune, with great lyrics by John. Has kind of a country feel.

Jealous Guy- 10/10- A beautiful song about his love with Yoko. Often overlooked because of Imagine, but it is one of John's best songs ever.

It's So Hard- 10/10- The first real rocker on this album.

I Don't Wanna Be A Soldier Mama- 10/10- One of Lennon's most famous protest songs. It has some great slide guitar by Harrison. It has a similar feel to Come Together.

Gimme Some Truth- 10/10- Lennon's best protest song. Harrison also plays guitar on this. It has a lot of the emotion that was evident on songs like I Found Out on Plastic Ono Band.

Oh My Love- 6/10- a nice song written by both John and Yoko Ono. I personally don't love it. Harrison takes guitar again.

How Do You Sleep?- 10/10- An amazing angry song directed at Paul McCartney. This might be my favorite song on the album. More slide guitar from Harrison.

Oh Yoko- 5/10- A catchy, upbeat song about John's love for Yoko, not one of my favorite Lennon songs, though many seem to love it.

Most of the songs are obviously stand-outs, and I think the presence of the song imagine overshadowed these songs and stopped them from becoming more popular. This is a must-have CD along with Plastic Ono Band.

After 1970's Plastic Ono Band, people weren't sure what to expect from John Lennon. Spare, raw, and naked both instrumentally and emotionally, this didn't sound like the man behind Strawberry Fields Forever or All You Need Is Love. Imagine, released the following year and featuring George Harrison's guitar, Phil Spector's beefed-up production, and Lennon's songwriting and vocal prowess, is a much more Beatlesesque affair, and overall more satisfying - arguably the most satisfying of all John's records. In fact, it's generally vaunted as his best post-Beatles work, and I'm in no position to argue. This really is a splendid album and belongs in the collection of any music fan, not just Beatles and Lennon followers.

The bulk of the material here is the work of a genuine pop genius. The title track needs no description - you know and love it, and if you don't, well, I don't know where you've been exactly, but I suggest you return to earth. From there Imagine is a contrast between the two faces of John Lennon: the sarcastic, cynical social commentator and the soft, vulnerable human being. The scathing Gimme Some Truth and jaunty Crippled Inside demonstrate the former; Jealous Guy, How?, and Oh My Love, all overwhelmingly poignant and beautiful, without the shadow of the doubt, are the latter. I prefer the emotional ballads, personally, as they reveal that John was a person after all and not the god that posthumous burnishing has made him out to be.

In addition to those afore-mentioned we get some searing blues in It's so Hard, the absolutely giddy folk-rocker Oh, Yoko! (my personal favourite apart from the title track) and the infamous How Do You Sleep? This bristling rocker is a vicious attack on Paul McCartney, and while I love Paul, the song is so good that you end up getting drawn into John's anger and spewing venom right along with him. Paul took it (more or less) in stride back in the day in any case, so it's all cool. The only downer and this disc is the mantra-like I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier Mama. Essentially tuneless and repetitive, this one place where Imagine could have used a bit of the editing John's former partner's albums have so often been accused of warranting.

In the years following his death John has been elevated to something close to musical sainthood, pushing his equally talented partners Paul and George into the background - an unfortunate circumstance, and not one that he would have liked. But no matter how much praise is given him at the expense of his bandmates, the fact remains that John Lennon was truly one of the greatest artistic minds of our time. Imagine is testament to that.

... who don't like this album. I don't know how anyone could give this a low rating. It's only 4.5/5.0 in the average custopmer rating? How-come? Any way, I'd liek to tell you this album features some excellent rock n roll numbers that have a high level of originality. They are long songs but they're infectious grooves hold you for the full 5 to 6 minutes. Then on the other side fo the coin are some heartmoving ballads, Oh my lover, which has a gorgeous melody, Jealous guy and the famous title track. I can't help but feel that the arrangements for those three songs might have been inspired by 'Your Song' but I don't have proof. Then to throw in diversity, John throws in a hillbilly number, 'Crippled inside' and an underproduced, introspective song, 'how?'. That last one is too depressing for my tastes but you might like it. The rockers feature a mini-wall of sound which is used to wonderful effect. For exmaple, the social statment 'How do you sleep?' features the wall of sound complete with a dramatic string arrangement, a blistering slide guitar and a roaring rhythm guitar. But it's not as overproduced as say 'The long and winding road' and trust me, it sounds great. The ballads are very underproduced and sound very sincere. Oh Yoko is a lighter song that is a folky piano rock n roll song that has great harmonica at the end. My favourite sogns are: I don't wanna be a solider [cause it rock's and it's got such a great groove], Imagine, Oh my love, Oh Yoko and Gimme some truth.