Stripped Down

At the time called a "comeback record" for the then-focused-father John Lennon, Double Fantasy went on to be one of the most storied releases of 1980. Not only was the record Lennon's final release before he was murdered, but the disc won a number of Album of the Year awards, featured a handful of radio staples and was the first major release that had people believing that a domesticated rocker could still make interesting, cool music. It was, as many said at the time and have said since, the first great midlife rock record - hold the crisis. The 30 years since its release, however, haven't been so kind to the album. Comprised of seven originals each from Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, many have joked about the obnoxious task of having to skip every other song. Also, the often cheesy 80s production sound hasn't done well for ears over the years, making it hard for new generations to get into the dated sounding production.

And now Yoko, (whom I've always like quite a bit) has attempted to bring new life to the record. To celebrate what would've been her late husband's 70th birthday, Ono authorized a number of remastered, spruced-up editions of Lennon solo albums, the focus being on Double Fantasy. While all the other reissues are straightforward, Fantasy comes with all new album art by son Sean Lennon, the original album remastered and, the highlight, a new version of the Double Fantasy, titled Stripped Down. Most already know the original album, which features radio standards  "(Just Like) Starting Over," "I'm Losing You," "Woman" and "Watching the Wheels" (all John songs, natch), so I'll refrain from saying too much about the original record. The Lennon songs, at their cores, are mostly great; the Ono songs don't mix well, but are some of the most listenable work of her career.