John Lennon
The Unedited RKO Interview (Disc 1) Darth Disc DD014
This is the unedited RKO Radio interview with the Lennons on 8 December 1980.
"Some notes on the recording /remastering:
This historic interview - John Lennon's last - was conducted on Monday, December 8, 1980 from 1 to ca. 3:30pm in Yoko Ono's office at the Dakota Apartments. It was conducted for the RKO radio network by Dave Sholin, Ron Hummel (Engineer for KFRC - San Francisco) and Laurie Kaye. Warner Brothers promotion director Bert Keane was also present. Until now, it was available primarily in versions derived from the RKO syndicated broadcast, John Lennon: The Man. The Memory, which was written by Kaye, narrated by Sholin and originally aired on December 14, 1980. That show used only a portion of the interview, with musical selections interspersed. What you are holding now is the unproduced and uncut (except to the extent noted below) raw interview tape.
The principal sources for this CD transfer were two C-90 cassettes, recorded in mono and dubbed several times before they came into our possession. They are the best and most complete sources we could find; but listeners should note that because of the age of the tapes, and dubbing that had gone on before they made their way to us, there are some audio artifacts present on these discs. Great care has been taken to present this recording as accurately as possible, and not to abuse or misuse the audio restoration tools available today. In other words, some of the tape hiss from the source remains: the alternative was a recording devoid of atmosphere, and with the
timbral qualities of the voices altered. But tape hiss was not the only problem created by the multiple dubbing in this tape's background. Obviously some of the tape copiers were far from fastidious in checking to see that their dubs had all the material on the
tapes they copied from, and where reel changes occurred, there were gaps in our primary source. Yes, it's truly shocking: no doubt anyone reading this would have been far more careful when dubbing such a historical treasure. The good news is that at least some of the missing material could be taken from the RKO broadcast. The source for these patches was an over-the-air dub, which had been produced for airplay - which is to say that the raw interview had been subjected to processing , editing for content (unfortunately, in no case does the patch completely supplant the raw interview), and in a few cases the addition of a musical bed. Although every
effort has been made to blend these inserts with the raw interview, they will be evident to the listener. These inserts, which range from a few seconds to about two minutes in length, can be found in the following spots:
Disc 1, Track 24 (1'53 - 2'02)
Disc 1, Track 32 (0'07 - 0'25)
Disc 2, Track 8 (4'11 - 6'17)
Disc 2, Track 9 (0'00 - 0'10)
Disc 2, Track 27 (2'07 - 3'09)
There is also a break before Track 24 on Disc 2, but alas, none of the missing dialogue was aired in the radio broadcast. In addition to material absent because of slovenly dubbing, there were also breaks in the original conversation that were not captured on the source tape. These breaks are evident prior to Track 25 on Disc 1, and before Tracks 9 and 28 on Disc 2. It may be, of course, that a complete tape, several steps lower on the generational ladder, will turn up one of these days. In the meantime, this is the most complete edition of John Lennon's final interview that has ever been made available. We hope you find it illuminating."
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/rickenbacker/Beatleg_17/Conspiricy_Of_Silence_RKO.htm
Boots that have sourced this material:
John Lennon: The Man, The Memory.
Label: Black Cat
The radio broadcast of 14 December 1980
Reflections And Poetry
Label: Silhouette Music
Edits of interview
Testimony
Label: Thunderbolt
74 min of RKO interview
The Last Word
Label: Baktabak
55 min of RKO Interview
Lineage: CDR trade - EAC - Soundforge for editing - tlh - dime
There is no music here, song titles are discussions of the named track.
01. Opening 3:13
Tracks 1-19 Yoko Ono
02. (Just Like) Starting Over 1:14
03. Marriage 3:29
04. The Dialogue Concept Of Double Fantasy 1:54
05. Hard Times Are Over 1:29
06. How The Songs Came About 0:55
07. Hearing John's Songs For The First Time 2:04
08. Finding The Time To Write 0:51
09. Her Reaction To Hearing (Just Like) Starting Over The First Time 2:13
10. Watching The Wheels 0:24
11. Being Credited With Saving John's Life 1:11
12. Stand-Offs With John In The Early Days 1:11
13. Her background 2:51
14. Her Creativity Being Furthered By Her Relationship With John 1:00
15. Her Music Being More Direct On Double Fantasy 0:38
16. I'm Your Angel 1;46
17. Switching Roles 3:13
18. The Impression That She Still Controls John 0:51
19. Being Role Models 2:11
20. Greetings / Sesame Street 1:48
Tracks 20-34 John Lennon and Yoko Ono
21. A Day In The Life Of John And Yoko 3:55
22. John And Sean's Relationship 1:47
23. Television Commercials 1:48
24. Being Able To Spend Time With Sean 2:03
25. Teenagers 0:47
26. Children In Today's Society 2:04
27. Making A Decision To Devote Time To Sean 2:35
28. Feeling Guilty 2:08
29. School 1:19
30. Discipline 3:20
31. The Urge To Make Music Again 3:03
32. Hearing Yoko's Songs For The First Time 1:19
33. Public Acceptance Of Double Fantasy 1:30
34. Personal Songs 1:47
Part 2 to follow tomorrow.