SHAVED FISH (LP)

Personnel includes: John Lennon (vocals, guitar, piano); Geroge Harrison (guitar, piano); Eddie Mottau, Hugh McCracken (acoustic guitar); Eric Clapton, Wayne "Tex" Gabriel, Jesse Ed Davis. David Spinozza (guitar); Yoko Ono (winds, drums, background vocals); Bobby Keys (tenor saxophone); Stan Bronstein (saxophone); Ken Ascher (piano, organ, Mellotron); Elton John (piano, organ, background vocals); Klaus Voorman (piano, bass); Alan White (piano, drums); Nicky Hopkins (electric piano); Billy Preston (organ); Gary Van Scyoc, Gordon Edwards (bass); Richard Frank, Jr. (drums, percussion); Ringo Starr, Jim Keltner (drums); Tommy Smothers, Timothy Leary, Murry The K., Stevie Wonder, Sha-Na-Na, Roberta Flack (background vocals). Producers: John Lennon, Phil Spector, Yoko Ono. Recorded between 1969 & 1974. Recorded in Montreal, Canada. Although there have been subsequent Lennon compilations as well as 1990's formidable LENNON box set, SHAVED FISH is the granddaddy of all such collections highlighting the singer's solo career. SHAVED FISH spanned a spectrum of the ex-Beatle's singles and B-sides through 1974's WALLS AND BRIDGES. Although SHAVED FISH eschews some of Lennon's edgier, more controversial tracks like "Working Class Hero," "God" or "Gimme Some Truth," the collection still acknowledges some of the riskier chances Lennon took in his tumultuous solo forays. The full range of his political, spiritual and social restlessness is represented--from the enraged "Woman Is The Nigger of the World" to the heartbreaking beauty of "Happy Xmas (Give Peace a Chance)" SHAVED FISH also mirrors Lennon's complicated creative relationship with Ono, from the primal shriek of "Mother" to the mesmerizing murmur of "#9 Dream," recorded during Lennon's "lost years" of the mid-'70s during the couple's temporary separation. Unlike later collections which usually feature work from DOUBLE FANTASY and the posthumous MILK AND HONEY, SHAVED FISH doesn't carry the same weight of tragic consequence (nor of domestic bliss) as those retrospectives. Rather, it celebrates the singer at the living, breathing and still defiant apex of his solo career.