Today’s highly anticipated release of John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band – The Ultimate Collection is being heralded with a slew of exciting activity including a global listening event, interactive, collaborative mosaic, a beautiful tribute at Abbey Road Studios, innovative Spotify Canvases directed by Sean Ono Lennon and incredible early reviews.
To coincide with the release, the wall in front of the famed Abbey Road Studios has been taken over and adorned with the iconic album cover artwork of John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, which along with Yoko’s companion album, was recorded there in 1970 when it was known as EMI Studios; portions of the Ultimate Collection were mixed there in 2020.
Emblazoned with John & Yoko’s declaration that “You Are The Plastic Ono Band,” the mural features a QR code directing to a newly launched website PlasticOnoBand.com where fans can claim a piece of the album art via an unique, interactive mosaic and thereby join the Plastic Ono Band. The album cover art has been broken into thousands of individual tiles which are assigned randomly when visiting the site. Fans can then claim a tile by writing their name and an optional message. When they zoom out they will see the other messages and be able to watch the picture build.
Sean Ono Lennon has created a captivating and innovative animation series using the Spotify Canvas medium. Written and directed by Sean, the series of short looping scenes tell the story of a character called Egbert, whose life experiences strangely mirror the sentiments in the sequence of songs on the eleven album tracks, and enjoys encores with the singles “Give Peace A Chance,” “Cold Turkey” and “Instant Karma! (We All Shine On).”
Working closely with the team behind the Emmy Award-winning, Oscar-nominated 2007 animated short, “I Met The Walrus,” about his father John Lennon, the Egbert films were written and directed by Sean Ono Lennon, with producer Jerry Levitan, illustrator James Braithwaite and Director of Animation Josh Raskin, coordinated by Simon Hilton for Lenono. Experience them on mobile here: https://johnlennon.lnk.
Fans around the world are invited to simultaneously listen together to the new Ultimate Mixes of John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, tomorrow, Saturday, April 24 at 6 pm BST as part of #TimsTwitterListeningParty,
Whilst listening, the event will include participation on Twitter from the Estate of John Lennon, with Yoko Ono Lennon, Sean Ono Lennon, Ringo Starr, original Plastic Ono Band bassist and artist Klaus Voormann, the Estate of George Harrison, drummer Alan White, John and Yoko’s friend, personal assistant and album cover photographer, Dan Richter, mixer/engineer Paul Hicks and further Special Guests to be announced. Public collaboration in the event is encouraged by posting using the hashtag.
Immediately following the Listening Party, the newly launched Twitter Spaces platform will host an audio-based afterparty featuring a discussion hosted by Chris Hawkins of BBC Radio 6 Music and featuring Sean Ono Lennon, Klaus Voormann, Dan Richter, Paul Hicks, Tim Burgess, legendary producer John Leckie (Radiohead, The Stone Roses, My Morning Jacket), Ultimate Collection Compilation Producer/Production Manager Simon Hilton and a variety of special guests to talk about the making of the album, its legacy and the exciting new collection.
