Working Class Hero: The Definitive Lennon

Disc 1
1	(Just Like) Starting Over 3:57
2	Imagine / Flux Fiddlers 3:02
3	Watching the Wheels 3:31
4	Jealous Guy / Flux Fiddlers 4:13
5	Instant Karma! (We All Shine On) / Plastic Ono Band 3:21
6	Stand by Me 3:26
7	Working Class Hero 3:48
8	Power to the People / Plastic Ono Band 3:22
9	Oh My Love / Flux Fiddlers 2:44
10	Oh Yoko! / Flux Fiddlers 4:17
11	Nobody Loves You (When You're Down and Out) / John Lennon & the Plastic Ono Band 5:07
12	Nobody Told Me 3:34
13	Bless You / John Lennon & the Plastic Ono Band 4:38
14	Come Together Live 4:23
15	New York City / Invisible Strings 4:31
16	I'm Stepping Out 4:06
17	You Are Here / Plastic U.F.Ono Band 4:08
18	Borrowed Time 4:30
19	Happy Xmas (War Is Over) / Harlem Community Choir 3:37
Disc 2
1	Woman 3:33
2	Mind Games / Plastic U.F.Ono Band 4:12
3	Out the Blue / Plastic U.F.Ono Band 3:23
4	Whatever Gets You Thru the Night / Philharmonic Orchestrange 3:26
5	Love / Plastic Ono Band 3:25
6	Mother / Plastic Ono Band 5:34
7	Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) 4:01
8	Woman Is the Nigger of the World / Invisible Strings 5:16
9	God / Plastic Ono Band 4:10
10	Scared / Philharmonic Orchestrange 4:36
11	#9 Dream / Philharmonic Orchestrange 4:47
12	I'm Losing You 3:56
13	Isolation / Plastic Ono Band 2:52
14	Cold Turkey / Plastic Ono Band 5:03
15	Intuition / Plastic U.F.Ono Band 3:09
16	Gimme Some Truth / Flux Fiddlers 3:15
17	Give Peace a Chance / Plastic Ono Band 4:50
18	Real Love 4:12
19	Grow Old with Me 3:20

Barnes & Noble

Summing up John Lennon's solo career isn't an easy task, what with all the twists and turns that it took along the way -- but this 38-track retrospective does a fine job of touching all the bases he touched. Unlike many similar compilations, Working Class Hero isn't structured chronologically. Instead, the producers -- including Yoko Ono herself -- arranged the music more or less thematically, framing it with Lennon's most uplifting compositions. As such, the album begins with the one-two punch of "(Just Like) Starting Over" and "Imagine" before moving into raised-fist political anthems like "Instant Karma" and "Power to the People." Unlike earlier collections of Lennon's solo work, there's a fairly strong concentration on his activist period, represented not only by the oft-played "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" but also by still-controversial offerings such as the stark "God" and "Woman Is the Nigger of the World." The roller-coaster sequencing befits Lennon's legacy, with easygoing rockers like "Whatever Gets You Through the Night" rubbing elbows with white-knuckled acoustic soul-barers like "Mother." As Ono put it, "[John] laid his life on the line to speak out the truth for all of us. Enjoy this incredible selection of songs of wisdom and power, and know that John is now in the heart of each of us, helping to heal ourselves and our planet." David Sprague

All Music Guide

There sure hasn't been a shortage of John Lennon compilations over the years, but there hasn't been a new collection since 1997's Lennon Legend and there haven't been any two-CD sets covering his entire career -- until 2005's Working Class Hero: The Definitive Lennon, that is. Released on October 4, 2005, this surely was intended as a tie-in to the Broadway show Lennon: The Musical, but it wound up appearing ten days after the musical concluded its disastrous run. Even if the show did tank, it provided the occasion for this strong collection. Working Class Hero may tread familiar territory -- not only does it have all the usual suspects, from "Instant Karma" to "(Just Like) Starting Over," it has them in a sequencing that feels familiar, even it doesn't correspond to any specific previous release -- but that's fine, because it provides a rather thorough overview of Lennon's best-known solo songs. In many cases, these are often his best, but there are surely some great songs missing here, particularly because the comp emphasizes material with a slight romantic bent or songs that play into the myth of St. John (meaning, mixed alongside the hits there are plenty of songs about Yoko and being a father, and rockers are given short shrift). But these are minor complaints: anybody who wants a succinct yet comprehensive compilation of most of Lennon's solo best should be satisfied with this. Stephen Thomas Erlewine