Eagle VisionJohn and Yoko: Above Us Only Sky, a documentary about the making of John Lennon‘s classic 1971 album, Imagine, had its U.S. television premiere in March on A&E. Now, it’ll be released on DVD, Blu-ray and digital video on September 13.
The film explores the fruitful creative relationship between Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, as John worked on Imagine and its classic title track at his Tittenhurst Park estate in Ascot, U.K. The documentary uses previously unseen footage from the couple’s archives, plus new interviews with Ono, Lennon’s son Julian, various musicians who worked on the album and others who were close to the couple at that time.
Among the movie’s many highlights are rare scenes of Lennon recording various songs from the album with such collaborators as George Harrison, bassist Klaus Voormann, pianist Nicky Hopkins, future Yes drummer Alan White and producer Phil Spector. During the flick, we also hear John recording the first demo for “Imagine.”
“Rock/pop songs appeal. They talk to people. And there’s nothing like that,” Yoko notes. “Imagine was a result of that. Both of us knew that we were talking in a way that people understand.”
“The fact that ‘Imagine’ as a song was written and put out in the world was magical,” she adds. “And I hope you will smell the magic of it. I feel in the big picture, the fact that John and I met — was to do this song.”
John and Yoko: Above Us Only Sky was directed by Michael Epstein, whose credits also include the 2010 LennoNYC documentary, about Lennon’s fight against the U.S. government’s attempts to deport him while he was living in New York City during the 1970s.
You can pre-order the video now at Eagle-Rock.com.
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