John Lennon - Imagine: John Lennon (OST) (1988)

John Lennon - Imagine: John Lennon (OST) (1988)

Tracklist front / back album covers

Imagine: John Lennon is a soundtrack album of popular music compiled for the 1988 documentary film Imagine: John Lennon from songs written or co-written by John Lennon. Originally released that year as a double album, it now remains available on one CD.

Bridging his two musical phases together, as a member of the Beatles and a solo artist (similar to George Harrison's earlier The Best of George Harrison), Imagine: John Lennon is a career-spanning collection of Lennon's many musical highlights. In addition there are a couple of heretofore unreleased recordings: an acoustic demo of "Real Love" taped in 1979 (an alternative recording of which would be finished by The Beatles for 1996's Anthology 2) and a rehearsal take of "Imagine" in mid-1971 before the final take was captured. It also features for the first time a clean-intro version of "A Day in the Life", that would appear later on the CD release of The Beatles' 1967–1970 compilation.

Imagine: John Lennon, with its wealth of stock Lennon footage and self-narration, proved to be a well-received film and its soundtrack sold well in the United States, reaching No. 31 and going gold. In the United Kingdom, the album peaked at No. 64.

The project arrived at a timely juncture and was successful in thwarting the then-released The Lives of John Lennon by Albert Goldman, a controversial and reputation-tarnishing book which many dismissed as fiction, including Ono and Lennon's close friends, as well as the surviving Beatles.