The John Lennon Collection

Greatest hits, NZ pressing. Very good vinyl, cover and lyric inner sleeve.

The John Lennon Collection is a retrospective compilation album of music from John Lennon's solo career.

The album was originally scheduled for release in late 1981, but was held back a year due to sort out the legalities owing to the fact that half the songs on the album were licensed to EMI and the other half, songs from Double Fantasy, were licensed to Geffen.^[1] It was eventually released on 1 November 1982 by Parlophone in the United Kingdom,^{[nb 1]} and on 8 November by Geffen in the United States.^{[nb 2][1]} It was the first Lennon album to be issued following his death in 1980. The album includes most of Lennon's hit singles and other tracks from his solo albums recorded with EMI from 1970–75, as well as all but one of his tracks from his final album Double Fantasy, which was initially distributed by Geffen Records in America and EMI/Parlophone in the United Kingdom.^[1]

The EMI selections on the album are similar to those on Shaved Fish, Lennon's 1975 compilation album, but without the singles "Cold Turkey", "Mother" and "Woman Is the Nigger of the World." These were substituted with the 1975 hit single "Stand by Me" and "Love", a popular track from the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album. The other half consisted of many of the tracks from Double Fantasy. In the US, the album was issued with a slightly different track listing,^{[nb 3]} with "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" and "Stand by Me" excluded from the vinyl release