Lennon Legend: The Very Best of John Lennon (DVD)

Lennon Legend: The Very Best Of John Lennon (DVD)

Lennon Legend: The Very Best of John Lennon was released on DVD in November 2003 as a series of remastered, remixed & new videos with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound audio mixes.

The DVD featured never-before-seen footage from the Lennon/Ono archive, rare newsreel and private footage, 15 new and newly-remastered music videos, 5.1 surround sound, new animations of Lennon’s drawings and an extensive photo gallery including rare and previously unseen images.

Featuring 20 tracks in total, the DVD featured footage that was traced back as close to its original source as possible. In many cases this meant going back to the original film negative, which was then digitally re-transferred and remastered. With footage shot on video, it was necessary to go back to John Lennon’s original camera tapes (all on long-obsolete formats) and have them re-transferred.

This has been a source of contempt for Lennon fans, as the wide majority of videos on the DVD were newly made, with the exceptions of "Imagine", "Instant Karma!", and "Woman." Both "Power to the People" and "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night" are the originals, albeit in extended form, and the video for "Stand By Me" has new footage inserted. The originals can be found on the 1992 VHS compilation The John Lennon Video Collection, which as of this writing has not been re-released.

This is as definitive a collection as it’s possible to be. John’s life was an amazing one and one that I feel privileged to have been part of. Compiling this DVD has been a very emotional experience: unearthing rare footage, watching it increase in clarity before my eyes, reliving hundreds of memories that were part of our lives and which are now being passed on to a new generation. It is a film made with love and hope – my love for my husband and our hope that peace will prevail in the world. Give peace a chance! —Yoko Ono Yoko was very keen that the DVD’s film and video content should be of the highest possible quality, to accompany the stunning new audio remasters. We explored all the archives around the world – from EMI and Abbey Road to New York, all the possible stock footage and newsreel sources, plus several attics and basements too, blowing dust off old film-cans, rubbing them and watching the genie appear. As we turned the archives upside down and inside out, we also uncovered all sorts of hidden gems, included here and within the ‘extra features’ section of the DVD. —Director Simon Hilton