... LP, Vinyl record album

The earliest incarnation of the Plastic Ono band, and more or less a one off, with an all-star line up that included Eric Clapton and Klaus Voorman alongside Lennon and Ono. One side of the rootsy rock that was the old school Beatles stock in trade, and one side of Yoko Ono doing her thing on the mic. Titles include "Blue Suede Shoes", "Money", "Dizzy Miss Lizzy", "Yer Blues", "Cold Turkey", "Give Peace A Chance", "Don't Worry Kyoko" and "John, John". LP, Vinyl record album

Yoko shows her Fluxus roots on this album of trippy experimental stuff. Side one is a live piece called "Cambridge 1969", which is performed by John and Yoko, with the help of avant jazzmen John Tchicai and John Stevens. Lots of noisy guitar on that one. Side 2 features a number of spare tracks recorded on a cassette at Queen Charlotte Hospital, in 1968. Cuts include "No Bed For Beatle John" (as pictured on the cover), "Baby's Heartbeat", and "Two Minutes Silence". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Pretty wild work from Yoko Ono – a mixture of straight rock tunes and some very experimental numbers, a few of which sound so much like New York No Wave tunes from a decade later that we have to admit we're pretty darn shocked! In fact, we'd dare say the record's better than anything recorded around 1980 by artists like DNA or Lydia Lunch – or 2 decades later by the Boredoms or Deerhoof – and a bit more challenging, too! Titles include "Telephone Piece", "Fly", "Mind Holes", "Don't Worry Kyoko", "Mrs Lennon", "Toilet Piece", and "Mindtrain". CD

... CD

Maybe one of the greatest moments from the early solo years of John Lennon – an upbeat, joyous tune that really expresses the new energy he'd found in the company of Yoko – and a different sort of social message than his work with the Fab Four! And Yoko is pretty great on the flipside, too! 7-inch, Vinyl record

Maybe one of the first truly tuneful moments from Yoko Ono – working here with backing from the Elephants Memory group – on a double-length set that shows a really great range from the singer! Yoko's vocals are fragile and sometimes a bit strained in the traditionally structured song mode –but so were Nico's and Marianne Faithful's – both artists we'd almost reference for the nature of this work! The set's a surprisingly pleasant effort from a misunderstood artist who just 2 years earlier was shrieking like a feral beast – and titles include "Yang Yang", "Death Of Samantha", "I Want My Love To Rest Tonight", "What Did I Do", "What A Bastard The World Is", "I Felt Like Smashing My Face In A Clear Glass Window", and "Is Winter Here To Stay". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

The most polarizing of John Lennon's post Beatles ouvre – the strident, Spector-produced, sprawling mess that is Some Time In New York City – a record that has too much of every idea John & Yoko had at the time, which makes it all the more fascinating after all these years! Angry, self-righteous and quite often brilliant – feminist anthems backed by Wall Of Sound pop, an ode to John Sinclair in the mold of a country rock tune – wild stuff from a superstar! Frank Zappa and the Mothers on side four! Include "Woman Is The Ni**** Of The World", "Sister, Oh Sister", "Sunday Bloody Sunday", "Attica State", "New York City" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

The first true proper solo album by John Lennon – recorded after a few non-Beatles records with Yoko Ono, and at the same time as Yoko's much wilder album with a similar title! This one, though, is John at his best – very personal and exposed, in similar territory to Paul McCartney on his first solo record – and the whole thing is a fantastic testament to the humanity that Lennon always brought to his music, even at a time when some might have accused him of going off the deep end with some of his more experimental music. The record's got a relatively stripped-down vibe, although isn't entirely just voice and guitar – as other elements are brought in at just the right level to expand the sound without losing the Lennon at the core. Titles include "Mother", "Hold On", "I Found Out", "Working Class Hero", "Isolation", "Remember", "Love", "Well Well Well", "Look At Me", "God", and "My Mummy's Dead". LP, Vinyl record album

The first true proper solo album by John Lennon – recorded after a few non-Beatles records with Yoko Ono, and at the same time as Yoko's much wilder album with a similar title! This one, though, is John at his best – very personal and exposed, in similar territory to Paul McCartney on his first solo record – and the whole thing is a fantastic testament to the humanity that Lennon always brought to his music, even at a time when some might have accused him of going off the deep end with some of his more experimental music. The record's got a relatively stripped-down vibe, although isn't entirely just voice and guitar – as other elements are brought in at just the right level to expand the sound without losing the Lennon at the core. Titles include "Mother", "Hold On", "I Found Out", "Working Class Hero", "Isolation", "Remember", "Love", "Well Well Well", "Look At Me", "God", and "My Mummy's Dead". CD

A great audio documentary of a really mindblowing film – one that captures the Rolling Stones at that key late 60s point when they were stepping into really sinister territory – playing in a very vivid setting, along with some of their key up-and-coming contemporaries on the scene! The whole thing builds up with the energy of a circus – the Stones are last, and there's a growing mix of performers introduced by various members of the band – really presented in a carnivalesque array, before the lead act comes in and knocks it out of the park. The set features a killer early version of "A Quick One While He's Away" by The Who – maybe one of the high points of the set – plus "Song For Jeffrey" by Jethro Tull, Whole Lotta Yoko" by Yoko Ono & The Dirty Mac (John Lennon), "Ain't That A Lot Of Love" by Taj Mahal, and "Something Better" by Marianne Faithfull. The Rolling Stones round things out with performances of "Sympathy For The Devil", "Parachute Woman", "Jumpin Jack Flash", "Salt Of The Earth", "No Expectations", and "You Can't Always Get What You Want". CD

A posthumous album, put together by Yoko Ono – featuring unreleased John Lennon material, including some produced by Phil Spector! Titles include "Here We Go Again", "Rock & Roll People", "Angel Baby", "Steel & Glass", "Scared", "Old Dirt Road", and "Bless You". (Cassettes, Rock) Cassette

Writer Jon Savage is maybe best known for his work on the early years of punk in England – and here, Savage steps back just a bit – to contextualize the rise of the new music in all sorts of other styles that were bubbling up in the mid 70s! Part of the set is a pathway to punk – especially on some of the glam and power pop cuts that clearly point the way ahead – but there's also a nice mix of hard rock, a bit of prog, and even some catchier numbers that really fit the feel of the package – and show what a wonderful mix of modes was taking place in the mid 70s – a great wake up call to anyone who thinks that things were dead until punk came along! The 2CD package is overflowing with surprises – 44 tracks, with notes from Savage as well – for titles that include "So Far" by Faust, "Hey Joe (version)" by Patti Smith, "Kings Of Speed" by Hawkwind, "Third Uncle" by Brian Eno, "After Eight" by Neu, "Easy To Slip" by Little Feat, "Girl From Germany" by Sparks, "End Unkind" by Grin, "Andy Warhol" by Dana Gillespie, "Yang Yang" by Yoko Ono, "Vicious" by Lou Reed, "She Means A Lot To Me" by Smyle, "When My Baby's Beside Me" by Big Star, "One Of The Boys" by Mott The Hoople, "Max's Kansas City 76 (part 1)" by Wayne County, "Cherry Bomb" by The Runaways, "Train Train" by Count Bishops, "I Don't Mind" by Dr Feelgood, "Slow Death" by Flamin Groovies, and "You Really Got Me" by Hammersmith Gorillas. CD

Supreme masters of 33 Beatles classics – presented here with a few rare tracks too – in a package that fills in lots of holes as the group's catalog was returned to the structuring of the original UK albums, which left out lots of extra bits from additional US releases! Titles include "Love Me Do (original mono single version)", "Sie Liebt Dich", "This Boy", "I'll Get You (mono)", "From Me To You", "Thank You Girl", "She Loves You (mono)", "Komm Gib Mir Diene Hand", "Bad Boy", "I'm Down", "I Feel Fine", "She's A Woman", "Day Tripper", "Paperback Writer", "Revolution", "Inner Light", "Rain", "Ballad Of John & Yoko", "Across The Universe", "You Know My Name (mono)", and "We Can Work It Out". CD

Mad sounds from the late 60s world of Japanese pop – a mindblowing, ear-opening batch of singles we never would have gotten our hands on otherwise! The music here feels like sounds coming out of some backroom jukebox in a Nikkatsu "new action" film – or maybe the kind of offbeat pop that Quentin Tarantino might throw into a soundtrack – but there's also a much deeper range of sounds going on than you might expect, with wonderfully clever instrumentation, and lots of surprisingly heartfelt passages in the vocals! And sure, the language might be a barrier – but there's a really universal sense of appeal to this music – a variant of 60s soul and pop, focused through a different sort of lense – and the instrumentation alone is great – with wicked guitars, Hammond, and other garagey touches! As usual with Ace, the whole thing's supported with nicely detailed notes that tell the whole story behind these wonderful lost gems (we like this one even better than the fab first volume) – and titles include "Namida No Go Go" by Emy Jackson & Blue Comets, "Koi Gurui" by Chiyo Okumura, "Tokyo No Hito" by The Peanuts, "Warui Kuse" by Kazumi Yasui, "Boy & Girl" by Akiko Wada, "Namida No Mori No Monogatari" by Akiko Nakamura, "Saike Na Machi" by Reiko Mari, "Bazazz No 1" by Kayoko Ishuu, and "Furi Furi 5" by Linda Yamamoto. (Japanese, Rock) CD