Ken Sharp's book, "Starting Over: The Making of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's 'Double Fantasy'" is a wonderful oral history of a period that hasn't been explored much in depth -- how the last album John Lennon had a direct hand in before he died came together.
Sharp interviewed everyone involved: Yoko Ono, producer Jack Douglas, David Geffen, the studio musicians, recording engineers, Cheap Trick, videographers, photographers including Annie Leibovitz and Bob Gruen, members of the media who interviewed John and Yoko during the promotion of the album, record company personnel and more. The book also features an array of photos taken during the sessions and includes the last photo of John and Yoko taken together inside the Dakota late afternoon on Dec. 8th.
"I'm proud to say that besides the archival interviews with John and one quick quote from Paul, every quote in the book is culled from a new interview that I did," he told us in a phone interview. "I spent the time to track down all the key principals involved. I didn't want to draw from previous works and was driven to create a tapestry of remembrances from a first-hand perspective. Surprisingly, there was a paucity of info about this period, which is certainly overshadowed by the awful tragedy that happened on December 8th."
Sharp says he feels the book fills a void.
"To me 'Double Fantasy' never received the coverage it deserved. And certainly information about the album is much harder to come by then something like 'John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band' or 'Imagine' or 'Walls and Bridges', albums that are more extensively documented. I really hope this book provides a window into the creative process."
He said Yoko Ono was very cooperative.
"I interviewed her for the book and she was gracious and kind. She was a great interview, as were all the folks involved with the book," Sharp says. "Before that, I'd interviewed her two previous times at the Dakota and that was in the '80s for the John Lennon 'Live In New York City' album record and for her box set, 'Onobox.' And it was kind of a mindblower to be inside the Dakota and do the interview in her office."
He credits Andy Newmark with helping arrange some of the interviews.
"He really believed in me and helped open some doors with some folks that were reluctant to speak or hadn't spoken on record at all. He was able to convince them to speak to me."
There have been rumors among fans for years that the sessions were filmed and taped extensively. Sharp says there was taping, both audio and video, done.
"From conducting interviews for the book, there were hidden mics that Jack Douglas had set up and everything that John was doing was recorded for posterity, whether it was him talking with the musicians, warming up or isolations of his parts. That was done throughout the sessions. And near the end of the sessions, John caught on and got a little angry about this until he was told by Jack, 'Hey, this is something I wanted to surprise you with for your birthday -- a complete collection of sessions.' So there exists a complete audio record of the sessions and Yoko certainly has that."
"But," he says, "in terms of the sessions, from my research filming took place just one night. A gentleman named Jay Dubin, who'd previously done the "Crazy Eddie" record store commercials that were famous in the New York/New Jersey area, filmed the session band and John and Yoko doing two songs in the studio, 'I'm Losing You' and 'I'm Moving On'. But the sad part about the whole situation is while an excerpt of the session of Yoko doing 'I'm Moving On' was used in the mid-'80s on a Yoko documentary, the John portion has never turned up. And there's wild speculation whether it still exists or not. John purportedly didn't like the way he looked in the footage. He thought he looked too thin and supposedly destroyed the tapes by flushing them down the toilet."
"However, I hold out hope that they do exist," he says. "I have a hunch that a private collector has them and perhaps will one day they'll be returned to Yoko or be released." Sharp devotes an entire chapter to the Dubin footage in the book.
There is, however, some other footage out there. "There's home video footage that John shot of himself at the Cold Spring Harbor home performing an acoustic version of 'Dear Yoko', which has turned up in collector's circles."
Sharp, who previously co-wrote a book on Cheap Trick, also explores that group's involvement in the sessions and theorizes why their work wasn't used on the album. "It certainly wasn't due to the quality of the performance," he says. "The tracks are really, really good, but to me they wouldn't fit with the other tracks. They really would have stood out from the more polished and lush sound of the 'Double Fantasy' tracks."
"In terms of providing an explanation as to why the Cheap Trick tracks didn't make the final cut, I tried to present many sides of the picture," he says. "I think people can come up with their own conclusions."
He says one of the criticisms he's heard about his book is that he didn't provide a song-by-song and take-by-take chronology detailing the recording process. He says that just wasn't possible.
"I wasn't provided any access to studio logs," he says. "And the worst thing to do is speculate and include information that's not correct plus the main thrust of the book does not concern minutaie like that. My goal was to document the making of the album via recollections of those we were there, in essence providing the reader with a 'fly on the wall' perspective."
Sharp thinks John and Yoko were heading toward more musical experimentation after 'Double Fantasy.' "It kind of sounds that way to me. Listen to John's amazing howling primal guitar work on 'Walking on Thin Ice.' He seemed to be excited to tap back into that avant-garde approach.
"But, you know," Sharp says, "John never was a follower. He was always his own man. I think that's what we loved about him."
Comments
I think it is very hard for anyone who wasn't there when John was recording for the DF and Walking on Thin Ice sessions to get an idea of what was really going on in John's personal life.
John was a very private person and so even the musicians and recording crew he spent most of his waking hours with weren't privy to what was going on with John.
I think that Ken has missed the boat on this boat and isn't getting at the real story of how John was a virtual prisoner by Yoko: she was like a jailer of sorts who strictly monitored what he was eating, who he was talking to, what he was doing. She intercepted his ph calls, cancelled John's get together with Paul just weeks before his death and much more. John was doing everything he could to help promote the DF album and also help promote Yoko in her own right as a successful recording artist. so he went along with everything she wanted him to do, all those interviews in the last few days of his life, all those photo sessions to document their so called "true love" even if it was really to help hype the DF album.
Anytime someone says that Yoko was "supportive" means that she approves of how her relationship is being portrayed at that time and keeps the myth alive.
Ken's book fills a void, but it doesn't go far enough. Sorry Ken.
How isn't talking to everyone involved not getting the story? If you want dirt, go to the National Enquirer or Albert Goldman's horrible book. That's not what this book is.
Maybe John wanted to Yoko to be his gatekeeper. Maybe he told her to tell everyone to leave him alone. He was not a prisoner. He traveled to Japan in 1977, Bermuda, South Africa. John did what he wanted to do.
Where is the coverage of Paul's concert in Brazil for 66,000 fans? Or the fact that the Band on the Run reissue reached No. 17 on the British official charts? Instead we get more coverage of a Lennon book you've already written about several times. Why are you so eager to hawk Lennon's solo work but you ignore McCartney's? Your bias has definitely shown this past month and it's disappointing.
Take a look at our Paul McCartney Examiner side. We've had several stories about the Brazil concerts.
Steven, I just get the impression you think Paul should have disappeared for the months of October, November, and December. And I don't understand that attitude. Yoko used John's birthday to promote her own work at her concerts. Sean Lennon has released a new album this month. Why shouldn't Paul feel free to start his reissues and continue his concerts? Fact is, the Beatles Examiner has been almost entirely about the Lennon reissues and birthday for 2 months now.
The Lennon birthday was a big story. There was a lot going on with it all over the world. Paul wasn't ignored by any means. Between here and the Paul McCartney Examiner, we wrote a lot.
I find it hard to believe that this info has not been covered over and over again. John's final months have been gone over with a fine tooth comb. DF was not given good reviews when it came out - until John died. Then it was treated like the best release ever. If Yoko is involved then we can pretty much know that it is her version and not necessarrily the truth.
Sad.
Not true. For example, Sharp goes into all sides of the Cheap Trick involvement, including how Yoko may have influenced the decision to leave their tracks off the album. The book is not Yoko's version of the story.
I have to agree with Steve on this one.
I listened to Kens interview on the Fab Fourum and the content of this book is in no way controlled by anyone, he was granted interviews with those involved,it's a fly on the wall document from those who were there, i for one can't wait to get a copy.
Thanks, Steven. As I wrote, there wasn't much as information about these sessions as there should have been. This book definitely fills a need.
Their seems to be this small group of people who are out to attack Yoko every chance they get. Ken Sharp interviewed almost every single person in John's life in those last few months. John Lennon was a lousy actor....Have you seen How I Won the War? You can fake words but what you can't fake is chemistry and feeling. If you listen to the last 2 interviews with John and Yoko BBC and RKO you hear 2 people who are still in love. That you can't fake. That should be all the proof needed. Ken's book is excellent and IMO captures John's life at that time in history.
Thanks, Jeff. I don't think it's necessarily a thing to attack Yoko, but that there seems to be a undercurrent of a certain belief that is hard to shake. Some people want to believe certain things about her and won't let anything change it. Having encountered her and interviewed her, I'll say she is unique and complex. People should remember she made John happy. That's very important. Despite the Goldman book and others of that ilk, what people have read about her isn't necessarily true. A book brings new information and is very necessary.
I've never understood why Yoko belongs to the Beatles Examiner and Paul is separate. Strange
Paul has his own page, but there is Paul news here, too. He's not being shuffled away. As for Yoko, much of her activities revolve around John Lennon. John Lennon's not here, so for news about him, Yoko is usually involved. Hope that explains it.
I read a few books & heard rumors that Lennon's marriage wasn't as bliss as we heard thru his last interviews and there were rumors that after the 1981 Double Fantasy tour ,that Yoko was going to file for Divorce to John. May Pang even admits they were still caring on with her relationship with John in 1980.Getting Yoko primed as an artist may make sense,that she wouldn't rely on the "John Lennon" name.and she can go out on her own and do her thing.
The deal with May Pang is this - they broke up in 1975. John made a couple of booty calls to her from 1975-1978 about once or twice a year. This is directly from her book Loving John. After that ,they spoke on the phone a couple of times and John sent her a postcard from South Africa in May of 1980. That was the last she heard from him. You can google this, although she likes to stretch it out to seem like it was a ten year "relationship'" *rolls eyes*
All that whining about Paul not getting enough coverage is a bit hard to understand. Paul's past tours were covered to the extreme on Steve's pages. It just happens to be John's 70th birthday this year and 30th anniversary of his murder. Get over it people!
I am enjoying the extensive John Lennon coverage. It seems like everyone John was involved with practically is still alive, except for him. It is appropriate to celebrate Lennon right now! It's been a long time since we rock and rolled with Lennon!
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