JOHN LENNON - Plastic Ono Band [2010 Remaster] Review

John Lennon- Plastic Ono Band [2010 Remaster]

AT THE BEGINNING: Plastic Ono Band is the debut solo album release by John Lennon. It's been put together after three experimental albums with Yoko Ono, and a live performance for peace in Toronto. John, Yoko and some musicians called their-selves a 'Plastic Ono Band'. which also became an album title.

COVER ART: Cover art is a picture, where John and Yoko are laying beneath the tree.

ABOUT THE REMASTERS: 'Plastic Ono Band' was released in several remastered versions. These versions were: MFSL version (Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab), 1990 remaster (John's 4CD Box Set), 2005 remaster (with the rest of the catalogue), and these days along with the 'Gimme Some Truth' campaign.

PACKAGING: The new 2010 remaster comes in a form of digipak, something similar than the Beatles' 2009 remasters. The packaging includes the CD, a booklet with some linear notes, and a restored cover art (in High Definition). On the front side, as well as the whole catalogue, includes John's signature, and a known little drawing of John's face. Simply said, really nice ! :)

SOUND QUALITY: Let's skip the additional chit-chat, and take a look at the sound quality itself.

SO, HOW DO THEY SOUND ?: I'm going to write some notes about each song on the album, with some of my thoughts obtained from my first, maybe second listening. (You can scroll all the way down for verdict.)

MOTHER - When I first heard the remaster of this song, I was slightly shocked in the first few seconds. The bells start to ring immediately in the first second (I don't remember it that way), and the bells sounded very low-fidelity, there was a lot of noise in the background. When the song started, my mind went brighter, though. Drums banged right into my right ear (the panning is a bit harder than the MFSL version), and John started to sing. The rest of the song contains high clarity, so it sounds very good, and fresh, I would say.

HOLD ON - The first guitar note is probably lost (it started a bit sooner than original, what's going on ?). The kick in this remaster sounds a bit too strong, which isn't bad, but it can cause you a slight headache without even knowing it. Vocals sound very clean. The only pity is that snare could sound a bit louder, instead of the louder kick.

I FOUND OUT - Starts a bit quieter than the first two songs, and guitar is a bit louder than vocals, too. Everything sounds very good, but vocals are less dominant than in the original, and drums are a bit panned to the right channel quite heavily. Guitar could also be a bit more dominant than bass, since it plays a bigger role in this song, I would say.

WORKING CLASS HERO - Starts a bit quiet, with a bit fuzzy-sounding vocals, with guitar panned to the left channel, with vocals in the middle. I would honestly say, that this song sounds better in original, the remaster doesn't really caught the spirit of the song.

ISOLATION - A bit of noise in the intro, drums (the snare) sounds really good, and vocals are a bit quieter than the instruments, but otherwise it sounds really well.

REMEMBER - Ah, when I first played this song, I was kinda angry, and shocked, the drums sound horrible in this one (and it sounds really clean in the original). The bad thing is, that those drums are going through the whole song, taking a bit dominant role. This song has probably the worst sound quality of all in this album. Thumbs down for this one.

LOVE - A bit of noise in the beginning, but vocals sound really good in this one. Piano sounds clean, too. Guitar could have sounded a bit (just a little) bit better. Expect for that little noise going through the whole song, it sounds really good, and beautiful, just how this song should.

WELL WELL WELL - Rough sound of the guitars, and a bit badly sounding drums in this one. Bass sounds a bit weird, too. Vocals are good, though.

LOOK AT ME - Again, some additional noise in whole song. Vocals sound a bit more lo-fi than in the original, I don't know why. The result is not the best, sadly.

GOD - One of the strongest songs in the album. Piano sounds a bit noised, drums are a bit muffled, and vocals sound good, but they're a bit quieter. This song also contains a strong spirit within it, so it could have been done a bit more provocative, with some dynamic voluming. Again, I hear some tape-like noise, but it can be just my headphones this time.

MY MUMMY'S DEAD - A very sad song, and a very sad ending of this album. Sounds a bit more like an old AM radio, which is good in this case.

VERDICT - Well, this albums sounds nice remastered. I can say nice, I honestly don't think that it blew me away somehow. Compared to the MFSL version, this version sounds a bit bad, but MFSL version is not too affordable, it's a rare piece. The CD version was slightly out of print, and the 4CD Box Set is a bit expensive, so if you want a CD version, this is one of the few options. It's worth the money, and packaging is also very nice. Even if I think that it could have been done better, I recommend it to every fan. So, all I can say, that if you want the CD version of this album, and/or hesitating about the buy, I say that you won't regret it, unless you already own the MFSL version (which is probably not the case).

RATING: ALBUM - 4.7/5.0
REMASTER - 3.7/5.0

Thank you for reading, stay tuned for more !