Customer Reviews

Gimme Some Truth - The Making of Imagine [VHS]

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As with almost every archival Beatles-related release, this is another product that tries to straddle the line of being for the collector and the casual fan both (leaving neither really happy with the end result). Once again they have erred on the favor of the casual fan, who will not be the one buying the majority of this release. Capitol/EMI never seem to learn from the great bootlegs how to compile really good releases.

If you have Imagine (the videos film), and Imagine (the documentary film), and Yoko Ono Then and Now, and the John Lennon videos collection, then you already have more of THIS video than you SHOULD have. The NEW stuff in this video is GREAT! Where is the rest of it? I could have gone for way more recording scenes, this hardly shows George playing, no King Curtis, no Badfinger. Just enough to tease us, then back to more recycled footage. Obviously these people filmed everything they did almost all the time, so why do we have to keep seeing the same scenes over and over again in each (NEW?) product. I am all for putting things in context, but the old stuff makes the basis for this dvd, not the new stuff. Just enough is left out of each product that you have to buy all of them, but once you have them it's pretty redundant. Of course the casual fan is not going to care because they will only see one of the versions, but for the rest of us this is getting really old. They also took the cheap way out and left in all the dust, hairs, scratches, and streaks in the video too, rather than cleaning it up like Yellow Sub. And, unlike Yellow Sub, the 5.1 soundtrack is not that big of a deal musically, and not that sonically different from the cd remaster.

The extra interview is nice, since they went out of their way to make that complete. I just wish as much thought would have gone into the main feature. Do you need this? Yes. If it's the only Lennon video you have, you'll probably be pretty happy, and it's much better than the videos version Imagine. If you have all the others, you still need this because there is just enough new to re-sell you the old again.

Although this video carries much of the same information as "Imagine," it is an interesting look into the process of making a record, and also an interesting look into John and Yoko's post-Beatles life. Illuminating also is the footage of Phil "wall of sound" Spector working with John Lennon. One imagines he's about the only producer John would never try to intimidate because of his reputation for greatness (along with Sir George Martin - a completely different personality). A few things are obvious from this video: John hated Paul McCartney at that time, George Harrison, working with John, couldn't have been fond of Paul for joining John's camp, John was going through a lot of pain, Yoko continually stuck her nose in every facet of John's life (where it sometimes did not belong - she knows nothing about music), John had a warm side that came out when dealing with the downtrodden (such as the poor soul who slept in his garden one night just to meet John), and there was an enormous amount of wealth surrounding the Lennons. Big house, fancy car, rich friends, etc. John comes off looking pretty good; one has to remember how young he was and how much pressure was on him to be what others expected. All in all this is a very good video and a must for Beatles/Lennon fans to watch.

"Gimme Some Truth" is a great quality (sound and picture) DVD which will excite both die-hard and casual fans. Yoko and crew did a great job cleaning up this nearly 30 year old footage and having it sound so good on DVD as well. The tracks are first rate John Lennon from his biggest selling solo album. This is a nice companion piece to the remastered "Imagine" CD which was released at the same time. "GST" shows you up-close and personal of John at work and play in 1971. Sure some footage we have seen a million times (the "Imagine" video and the loner who "searches" for John whom the Lennons invite in for breakast)but the quality here is very high as this is John Lennon's first solo release on DVD. I only wish that the very underrated rocker "I Don't Want To Be A Soldier" was given more than just a minute clip (which was lifted from the "Power To The People" music video. These are small qualms for 1 hour of enjoyment. The bonus DVD features are nice add-on's and a nice way to look over the entire John Lennon solo catalog. Here's to more John Lennon on DVD real soon!

This is an excepectional piece of Lennon memorabilia. I was very impressed by what I saw. See and hear John at work putting the finishing touches on some of the songs that would be on the "Imagine" album. A special treat is John and George at work on "How Do You Sleep" and "Oh My Love" The respect between them as well as chemistry is still evident. Yoko did a superb remastering of this 'piece of history' that she was a part of. The soundtrack remixed in Dolby 5.1 surround sound is music to the ears, especially John singing "Gimme Some Truth" and "Jealous Guy" Enjoy. Turn it up.

Here's a bit about me: I was not a Beatle fan until I saw this DVD. Beyond thinking that 'Day Tripper' had the coolest guitar part in the world, and that whoever produced 'The Long And Winding Road' did a good job, there wasn't much there. But my parents were big Beatle fans, and they had this around. This, along with Paul's book 'Many Years From Now,' turned me into quite a Beatle person. It's an awesome DVD, music videos for 'Imagine' and 'Oh Yoko!', some romantic scenes between John & Yoko, and just great fun. You must get the thing.

Don't be fooled by reviews that you have seen this stuff before. I have personally seen only about 5% of this footage before. A small amount of the footage has been seen on the 1988 theatrical release of IMAGINE, however, those parts are greatly expanded upon in this DVD. The sound is incredible to listen to in 5.1 surround sound especially with headphones on as I am listening to it now. It truly makes you feel as if you are hearing the CD for the first time and the video only makes you appreciate the songs even more. The only negative portion is when Lennon seems extremely impatient during the background vocals of OH YOKO. His temper is soaring and Phil Spector looks as if he would rather be somewhere else. However this is important to see because it shows that creating art is not an easy task and keeping your temper intact is a tough one to master even by this master. If you don't have this DVD you are missing an important link into knowing Lennon.

This video is definitely a video every Beatle/John Lennon fan should own. I own a lot of material that Lennon has, and this video does have some new footage. However, there is also a bit of the old footage from other videos like (and I prefer this to Gimme Some Truth) Imagine, the 1988 documentary. This video has some great clips of John as funny as he is. Because anyone who knows anything about John Lennon will realize he is a really funny guy and many other videos choose to focus on his serious side. This one shows both. How he can be funny, yet also how he takes his music seriously, and knows what he wants with his music. I wish this video had a bit more new footage, as well as contained more studio takes. The video is the making of Imagine and I think that it is lacking in the sense that it doesn't show enough of the songs being made, what they do show leaves you begging for more. All in all, I definitely recommend getting this video, just for some of the unreleased stuff in it, and the footage they show of John in the studio, however, John and Yoko filmed the entire process of making the album, and a LOT more could have been included on this film.

I really loved this video. It has alot of extra rare footage that I have never seen before in other Lennon videos. I enjoyed seeing how he recorded each song. It's as if your right in the studio with him. I treasure any footage of John.I'm a huge Beatles/Lennon fan!

First I thought carefully whether or not to get the DVD since
I already had the video, the movie "Imagine" on Video as well as
the film "Imagine" with the songs to the album, but this is
something completely different again ... plus stunning bonus
material.
First of all most of the songs are - as the title suggests -
part of the making off of the album imagine, they are rough
cuts ... at one point John Lennon complaining that the
technician has to change tape in the middle of the track.
Secondly, the sequence including George Harrison is much longer
than on the other videos and one can watch him play the electric
guitar.
Furthermore we get a very short glimpse of Jack Nicholson,
Miles Davis and Andy Warhol - all pitching up at Ascot.
The Video/DVD contains a short snap of an interview sequence ...
and that's one hell of a nice Bonus track which contains the
entire interview ... partly with a black screen due to the
change of filmreels, the tape has to be changed as well, but
during the entire filming a second tape appears to be recording
so that the interview remains completely intact.
I'd say a must for any person interested in The Beatles.

J.P.Wilbrand

I really enjoyed this film, which provides a fascinating outlet into the private world of John and Yoko in 1971 during the making of one of his most famous solo albums (and which is probably tied with W&B as my second-favorite solo album of his, second only to POB). However, it is disappointing to find out that a lot of the footage actually came from other videos which have already been released. For people who don't know that or who haven't seen these other films yet, that's not going to be a really big or important concern, but for those who do know better, it is somewhat misleading and deceptive. What's the point in taking a bunch of recycled footage and padding it out with some new stuff while passing it off as an entirely new product?

The video as it stands, however, is a delight to behold. Even though I would have liked seeing a lot more footage of the making of 'Imagine,' the scenes that are there are fantastic, showing what went on behind the scenes. We see John doing rough takes, cursing out the other musicians because they're not doing things right, playing back what he just recorded, changing parts of the songs, all of the usual things that musicians do while making an album but which their fans usually don't get to be privy to. We also see footage of John and Yoko around their house, relaxing and having fun together, meeting with celebrity friends, and talking to fans. John explains to one of these fans that he's just a regular guy and isn't special or a demigod just because he's a musician, that most of the time he's singing about his own life, not anyone else. If a fan can relate his songs to one's own life, that's one thing, but it's not as though he deliberately wrote these songs because he felt the pain and life experiences of people he's never met. The John we see here is such a multifaceted human being, more proof of why he's the person I admire most. He could be funny, sweet, sarcastic, angry, brutally honest, gentle, tender, silly, and professional, and all of those sides of him just made him a flawed human being like any other person.

There's also an interview with John and Yoko included as a bonus feature. They're talking about love, sex, and relationships, in a very honest and realistic way. Although some people might not like some of their views, if one looks honestly at society and reality, there can be no denying that all of the things they say in this interview are true. For example, celebrities using sex appeal to sell their movies or music is nothing new and has been going on for ages. One can have love without sex and sex without love. How high one's hemline is or what age one became sexually active at isn't something that should assume great importance when one thinks about serious issues in the world, like hunger and war. Many times people throw up minor issues like that to deflect responsibility away from dealing with the harder things. People might strategically cover up a picture of naked people because they don't want kids to see that, but that just sends a message that the human body and sexuality are shameful, unnatural, and disgusting, and as John said, he and all of his friends had already seen dirty pictures and heard stories about sex by the time they were eight years old anyway. This was a really insightful interview, even though some people might be off-put by what they're saying.

All in all, I'd recommend this disc, but only if you haven't already seen the other videos that a lot of this footage was pulled from. I agree that this does kind of straddle the fence between the casual viewer, who might not be interested in it, and the hardcore fan, who will want it regardless but be disappointed because it contains so much footage from other films.