Capitol
2004
Acoustic
About This Album
The 2004 compilation Acoustic collects 16 tracks featuring John Lennon alone (more or less) backed only by his acoustic guitar. It's a good idea for a compilation, but the execution is problematic. First of all, Lennon's solo albums didn't have all that many solo acoustic songs on them; they were carefully constructed in a studio, often featuring layers of overdubs, even on such emotionally direct albums as Plastic Ono Band. So producer Yoko Ono has chosen to rely primarily on demos and home recordings for this compilation -- a choice that may not sit well with casual fans lured in by the simple, classy title, thinking that this is a more polished affair than it is. More problematic is that this 16-track collection is a hodgepodge of nine cuts previously released on the 1998 rarities box Anthology and seven previously unreleased tracks. Home recordings and demos are by their nature music that appeals primarily to die-hard fans, of which Lennon has many. However, those very fans will already own over half of this collection on the box set, and they'll not only wonder why they have to buy these songs again, but why the seven "new" songs didn't appear on Anthology in the first place, especially since they are very good.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 and 12)

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