"John Lennon Collection, The" by John Lennon – ***

First released: 1982

As Lennon had died, a revised compilation was in order even if Lennon hadn’t recorded any new tunes since the last one ("Shaved Fish" in 1975). While this collection is an improvement, it still falls short of what a good Lennon compilation could and should be. It wouldn’t be until the "Lennon Legend" collection from 1997 that a proper collection that truly represents the career of John Lennon would be released.

Highlights of this compilation at the time were the first full-length album release of "Give Peace a Chance" and "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" and the first album release period for "Move Over Ms. L". Lowlights include the inclusion of every "Double Fantasy" track sans "Cleanup Time", since they don’t all really warrant greatest hits compilation status. I would have left off "I’m Losing You" and "Dear Yoko" in its original LP configuration in favor of some older tunes. The 1989 CD version was better by adding four tracks originally left off of the US LP version ("Happy Xmas (War is Over)", "Stand By Me", "Move Over Ms. L" and "Cold Turkey").

Confused? Me too. Put it this way, the original US LP has 15 tracks, while the UK one has 17 tracks. The CD version has 19 tracks.