Plastic Ono Band* – Shaved Fish

Grabbed this mainly for the non-album singles. Solid pressing with ample low end, no complaints here. My copy plays nice and clean with almost no surface noise, but there is a jump towards the end of "Instant Karma".

This is a very nice pressing. The sound is very open and clear with good bass response.

The essential tracks produced by Phil spector so a dry sound clearly not audiophile still quite an acceptable sound

Several of the master tapes were unavailable for the compilation, and dubs from 45 rpm single records were used. Due to this, the first release of the compact disc in May 1987 suffered from poor sound quality and needed to be remastered. The improved CD version was issued in December 1987, restoring the full fadeouts that were shortened in some of the songs on the original release.

What I found out was, when I went to look for the "Cold Turkey" master tapes, nobody knew where they were. I had to use dubs of "Power to the People" because the tapes were gone, nobody could give a damn at the record companies because they weren't... you know, that big. Big enough for them to be interested... I thought if I don't put this package together, some of the work is just going to go... they will be lost forever.

— John Lennon[2]

Ok so we love The Beatles. We love John. We love...(well, perhaps 'mostly love')...John's solo albums. Shaved Fish though, certainly the first side, was probably the first ever 'Greatest Hits' cash-in released in time for Christmas that didn't exactly rouse the festive cheer. If you understand John's pains, hang-ups and frustrations then ultimately it's fine. Objectively though, the 'hit singles' from the uncompromising John are quite a dark listen. Defiant chants of protest (yes, even Give Peace Of Chance has a combative snarl to it), drug addiction withdrawal (literally howling with pain), the inner child desperately pleading for his parents to BE there (like they SO weren't or weren't 'allowed' to be!), the warning about karma getting YOU (or is it Paul, ha ha!), comparing the oppression women to that of black slaves....and that's just the lyrics! Even though much of it is in the major key, the mood is sober if not sombre and in places, quite scary. Clamouring guitars, deathly tolls of a church bell, plenty of shouting, chanting, wailing and screaming (and none of it's Yoko!), Spector's muddy engineering on the earlier stuff makes it even less 'family-friendly'.

BUT.....it's John, it's REAL... and somehow every song gets in your brain as well as under your skin. That mysterious thing that the musical personality of a Beatle can achieve. Suffice to say, it's a remarkable album. ittedly it's Side One where the dark colours are mainly. Side Two not so much...in fact No.9 Dream is positively blissful. Mind you, don't expect his Christmas song at the end to let you off and gloss over the fact that there's a war going on!! And what are YOU gonna do about it???

Essential. And great on LP. 1975 pressing. It's the only way! :)

The sound quality on this pressing is far better than my original 1975 Apple release. Recommended!

This is the first uk pressing of that compilation - it sounds really great with deep bass, clear highs, great dynamics and wide stereo sound - never heard some of these songs sounding so fabulous before (specially b side) !! and a beautiful laminated glossy cover !

Ich bin im Besitz der Variante 6 , aber die CD ist mit Sgt. Pepper Album cover und der Cd Bedruckung erschienen.
Ein seltener Fehldruck ???????

I had this LP as a teen in the 70s and went looking recently for an EX copy. Sounds great and a brilliant collection of songs from John. Mine has the live Give Peace A Chance reprise at the end after Happy Xmas (War Is Over). Great record.