Words by Riley Fitzgerald
Graphic by Press

New details from book publisher Thames & Hudson suggest John Lennon‘s debut solo album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band will likely receive a reissue this October.

Given that the publisher previously worked on the accompanying booklet for the reissue of John Lennon’s Imagine in 2018, a forthcoming book release John & Yoko Plastic Ono Band provides grounds to belive an expanded version of the album will accompany it.

While no formal details have yet to be announced, December 2020 will mark the 50th anniversary of Plastic Ono Band‘s release.

The book’s newly released Amazon blurb reads as follows:

“Described by Lennon as ‘the best thing I’ve ever done’, and widely regarded by critics as his best solo album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band was released on 11 December 1970. With first-hand commentary by Lennon, Ono and other members of the Plastic Ono Band, and packed with previously unseen photographs by those who documented their lives, this incisive volume offers new insights into the raw emotions and open mindset of Lennon after marriage to Ono and the break-up of the Beatles.”

“Following their wedding in March 1969, Lennon and Ono decided that their future musical endeavours should be credited to a conceptual vehicle, the Plastic Ono Band. The band featured an ever-changing line-up of musicians, including Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann, Ringo Starr, Alan White, George Harrison, Billy Preston and Jim Keltner, all of whom played live with Lennon and Ono, and contributed to their recordings. This period of intense personal soul-searching and fearless honesty that John & Yoko inspired in one another had a huge impact on Lennon’s song writing, resulting in the creation of tracks that are intensely personal and unlike anything previously heard in popular music, including ‘Mother’, ‘Working Class Hero’ and ‘God’. This book takes those lyrics as a starting point and explores Lennon’s life, career and world view.”

The deeply personal album detailed Lennon’s disillusionment with the Beatles, his relationship with his parents and struggle, his depression and loggerheads with conventional religion in eviscerating detail.

While Lennon’s confessional songwriting may have met with mixed reactions from critics and fans, it struck an instant struck a chord with many songwriters, Pink Floyd‘s Roger Waters included.

Plastic Ono Band is scheduled for publication October 8, Lennon’s 80th birthday.