Signature Box - John Lennon : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards : AllMusic

review

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

The crown jewel in Apple/EMI’s extensive 2010 John Lennon remasters series, Signature Box contains all of the solo studio albums Lennon released during his lifetime (minus the trio of experimental duet LPs with Yoko Ono released on Apple and Zapple), his first posthumous album Milk and Honey, a disc of non-LP singles, a disc of home demos, but not the 2010 showcase item Double Fantasy Stripped Down, which is available only as a bonus on the indvidual reissue of Double Fantasy. It is, in other words, close enough to complete to perhaps invite a little bit of quibbling about what is absent -- Live Peace in Toronto could fit in nicely with this batch and there are outtakes from Menlove Ave missing but the real niggling comes with the home demo disc, which emphasizes demos and alternate takes of songs from Plastic Ono Band and Imagine, leaving behind demos of songs Lennon gave away, including “I’m the Greatest” and “Goodnight Vienna,” which he handed over to Ringo, and songs that never made it to one of his records. Ultimately, this is nitpicking because Signature Box is handsomely produced and contains the best-sounding Lennon remasters -- remastered by the team that did the acclaimed 2009 Beatles remasters, using the original mixes, not the recent remixes -- which is enough to make this more than worthwhile for the serious Lennon fan.

tracks: disc 1

	Title/Composer	Performer	Time
1	Mother John Lennon	John Lennon	5:36
2	Hold On John Lennon	John Lennon	1:52
3	I Found Out John Lennon	John Lennon	3:37
4	Working Class Hero John Lennon	John Lennon	3:47
5	Isolation John Lennon	John Lennon	2:52
6	Remember John Lennon	John Lennon	4:32
7	Love John Lennon	John Lennon	3:22
8	Well Well Well John Lennon	John Lennon	5:57
9	Look At Me John Lennon	John Lennon	2:53
10	God John Lennon	John Lennon	4:12
11	My Mummy's Dead John Lennon	John Lennon	0:51

tracks: disc 2

	Title/Composer	Performer	Time
1	Imagine John Lennon	John Lennon	3:07
2	Crippled Inside John Lennon	John Lennon	3:52
3	Jealous Guy John Lennon	John Lennon	4:17
4	It's So Hard John Lennon	John Lennon	2:29
5	I Don't Wanna Be A Soldier Mama I Don't Wanna Die John Lennon	John Lennon	6:08
6	Gimme Some Truth John Lennon	John Lennon	3:17
7	Oh My Love John Lennon / Yoko Ono	John Lennon	2:48
8	How Do You Sleep? John Lennon	John Lennon	5:39
9	How? John Lennon	John Lennon	3:46
10	Oh Yoko! John Lennon	John Lennon	4:20

tracks: disc 3

	Title/Composer	Performer	Time
1	Woman Is The Nigger Of The World John Lennon / Yoko Ono	John Lennon feat. Plastic Ono Band, Yoko Ono	5:18
2	Sisters, O Sisters Yoko Ono	John Lennon feat. Plastic Ono Band, Yoko Ono	3:49
3	Attica State John Lennon / Yoko Ono	John Lennon feat. Plastic Ono Band, Yoko Ono	2:56
4	Born In A Prison Yoko Ono	John Lennon feat. Plastic Ono Band, Yoko Ono	4:07
5	New York City John Lennon	John Lennon feat. Plastic Ono Band, Yoko Ono	4:34
6	Sunday Bloody Sunday John Lennon / Yoko Ono	John Lennon feat. Plastic Ono Band, Yoko Ono	5:03
7	The Luck Of The Irish John Lennon / Yoko Ono	John Lennon feat. Plastic Ono Band, Yoko Ono	2:59
8	John Sinclair John Lennon	John Lennon feat. Plastic Ono Band, Yoko Ono	3:31
9	Angela John Lennon / Yoko Ono	John Lennon feat. Plastic Ono Band, Yoko Ono	4:09
10	We're All Water Yoko Ono	John Lennon feat. Plastic Ono Band, Yoko Ono	7:14

tracks: disc 4

	Title/Composer	Performer	Time
1	Cold Turkey John Lennon	John Lennon feat. Plastic Ono Band, Yoko Ono	8:35
2	Don't Worry Kyoko Yoko Ono	John Lennon feat. Plastic Ono Band, Yoko Ono	16:06
3	Well (Baby Please Don't Go)	John Lennon feat. Plastic Ono Band, Yoko Ono	4:40
4	Jamrag John Lennon / Yoko Ono	John Lennon feat. Plastic Ono Band, Yoko Ono	5:36
5	Scumbag John Lennon / Yoko Ono	John Lennon feat. Plastic Ono Band, Yoko Ono	4:27
6	Au John Lennon / Yoko Ono	John Lennon feat. Plastic Ono Band, Yoko Ono	8:10

tracks: disc 5

	Title/Composer	Performer	Time
1	Mind Games John Lennon	John Lennon	4:13
2	Tight A$ John Lennon	John Lennon	3:39
3	Aisumasen (I'm Sorry) John Lennon	John Lennon	4:44
4	One Day (At a Time) John Lennon	John Lennon	3:10
5	Bring on the Lucie (Freda People) John Lennon	John Lennon	4:12
6	Nutopian International Anthem John Lennon	John Lennon	0:04
7	Intuition John Lennon	John Lennon	3:10
8	Out the Blue John Lennon	John Lennon	3:22
9	Only People John Lennon	John Lennon	3:28
10	I Know (I Know) John Lennon	John Lennon	3:51
11	You Are Here John Lennon	John Lennon	4:12
12	Meat City John Lennon	John Lennon	2:53

tracks: disc 6

	Title/Composer	Performer	Time
1	Going Down On Love John Lennon	John Lennon feat. Little Big Horns	3:57
2	Whatever Gets You through The Night John Lennon	John Lennon	3:27
3	Old Dirt Road John Lennon / Harry Nilsson	John Lennon	4:13
4	What You Got John Lennon	John Lennon feat. Little Big Horns	3:09
5	Bless You John Lennon	John Lennon	4:37
6	Scared John Lennon	John Lennon feat. Little Big Horns	4:41
7	#9 Dream John Lennon	John Lennon feat. The 44th Street Fairies	4:46
8	Surprise, Surprise (Sweet Bird Of Paradox) John Lennon	John Lennon feat. Little Big Horns, Elton John, Lolly & Stan	2:57
9	Steel And Glass John Lennon	John Lennon feat. Little Big Horns	4:39
10	Beef Jerky John Lennon	John Lennon feat. Little Big Horns	3:31
11	Nobody Loves You (When You're Down And Out) John Lennon	John Lennon feat. Little Big Horns	5:12
12	Ya Ya L. Dorsey / M. Robinson	John Lennon	1:09

tracks: disc 7

	Title/Composer	Performer	Time
1	Be-Bop-A-Lula T. Davis / Gene Vincent	John Lennon	2:37
2	Stand By Me Ben E. King / Jerry Leiber / Mike Stoller	John Lennon	3:31
3	Medley: Rip It Up/Ready Teddy John Marascalco	John Lennon	1:34
4	You Can't Catch Me	John Lennon	4:53
5	Ain't That A Shame	John Lennon	2:34
6	Do You Wanna Dance	John Lennon	2:53
7	Sweet Little Sixteen	John Lennon	3:04
8	Slippin' and Slidin' Bocage	John Lennon	2:17
9	Peggy Sue Buddy Holly	John Lennon	2:05
10	Medley: Bring It On Home To Me/Send Me Some Lovin' Sam Cooke	John Lennon	3:42
11	Bony Moronie	John Lennon	3:50
12	Ya Ya	John Lennon	2:17
13	Just Because	John Lennon	4:30

tracks: disc 8

	Title/Composer	Performer	Time
1	(Just Like) Starting Over John Lennon	John Lennon feat. Yoko Ono	3:56
2	Kiss Kiss Kiss Yoko Ono	John Lennon feat. Yoko Ono	2:41
3	Cleanup Time John Lennon	John Lennon feat. Yoko Ono	2:58
4	Give Me Something Yoko Ono	John Lennon feat. Yoko Ono	1:34
5	I'm Losing You John Lennon	John Lennon feat. Yoko Ono	3:57
6	I'm Moving On Yoko Ono	John Lennon feat. Yoko Ono	2:21
7	Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) John Lennon	John Lennon feat. Yoko Ono	4:05
8	Watching the Wheels John Lennon	John Lennon feat. Yoko Ono	3:59
9	Yes, I'm Your Angel Yoko Ono	John Lennon feat. Yoko Ono	3:09
10	Woman John Lennon	John Lennon feat. Yoko Ono	3:32
11	Beautiful Boys Yoko Ono	John Lennon feat. Yoko Ono	2:55
12	Dear Yoko John Lennon	John Lennon feat. Yoko Ono	2:34
13	Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him Yoko Ono	John Lennon feat. Yoko Ono	4:03
14	Hard Times Are Over Yoko Ono	John Lennon feat. Yoko Ono	3:19

tracks: disc 9

	Title/Composer	Performer	Time
1	I'm Stepping Out John Lennon	John Lennon feat. Yoko Ono	4:06
2	Sleepless Night Yoko Ono	John Lennon feat. Yoko Ono	2:33
3	I Don't Wanna Face It John Lennon	John Lennon feat. Yoko Ono	3:21
4	Don't Be Scared Yoko Ono	John Lennon feat. Yoko Ono	2:44
5	Nobody Told Me John Lennon	John Lennon feat. Yoko Ono	3:34
6	O' Sanity Yoko Ono	John Lennon feat. Yoko Ono	1:06
7	Borrowed Time John Lennon	John Lennon feat. Yoko Ono	4:29
8	Your Hands Yoko Ono	John Lennon feat. Yoko Ono	3:04
9	(Forgive Me) My Little Flower Princess John Lennon	John Lennon feat. Yoko Ono	2:28
10	Let Me Count the Ways Yoko Ono	John Lennon feat. Yoko Ono	2:16
11	Grow Old With Me John Lennon	John Lennon feat. Yoko Ono	3:09
12	You're the One Yoko Ono	John Lennon feat. Yoko Ono	3:57

tracks: disc 10

	Title/Composer	Performer	Time
1	Power To The People John Lennon	John Lennon feat. Plastic Ono Band	3:24
2	Happy Xmas (War Is Over) John Lennon / Yoko Ono	John Lennon feat. Plastic Ono Band, Yoko Ono	3:34
3	Instant Karma! (We All Shine On) John Lennon	John Lennon feat. Plastic Ono Band, Yoko Ono	3:20
4	Cold Turkey [Single Version] John Lennon	John Lennon feat. Plastic Ono Band	5:02
5	Move Over Ms L John Lennon	John Lennon	2:57
6	Give Peace A Chance John Lennon	Plastic Ono Band	4:54

tracks: disc 11

	Title/Composer	Performer	Time
1	Mother John Lennon	John Lennon	4:24
2	Love John Lennon	John Lennon	2:38
3	God John Lennon	John Lennon	4:34
4	I Found Out John Lennon	John Lennon	4:34
5	Nobody Told Me John Lennon	John Lennon	3:13
6	Honey Don't Carl Perkins	John Lennon	1:39
7	One Of The Boys John Lennon	John Lennon	2:38
8	India, India John Lennon	John Lennon	3:06
9	Serve Yourself John Lennon	John Lennon	5:20
10	Isolation John Lennon	John Lennon	3:06
11	Remember John Lennon	John Lennon	5:28
12	Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) John Lennon	John Lennon	4:10
13	I Don't Wanna Be A Soldier Mama I Don't Wanna Die John Lennon	John Lennon	3:25