Gimme Some Truth

Much grander than the single-disc Power to the People but not nearly as lavish as the 11-disc Signature Box, the four-disc Gimme Some Truth is the middle ground of Apple/EMI’s 2010 John Lennon reissue series: a collection of four thematic collections offered at a reasonable price. Breaking any artist’s work into themes is tricky, but the topics here are broad enough to give the compilers some wiggle room: Working Class Hero contains Lennon’s protest songs, Woman his songs of love and women (“Mother” and “My Mummy’s Dead” don’t quite qualify as romantic tunes, after all), Borrowed Time features songs about “life,” and his rock & roll numbers are presented on a disc called Roots, oddly sharing its title with the controversial original unofficial release of Rock 'n' Roll (indeed, this Roots disc winds up containing the entirety of Rock 'n' Roll). Some of the selected songs may not quite fit the themes but the 72 cuts here contain much of Lennon’s solo best, making this a good thorough overview for those who need more than the hits but don’t want to invest in full albums. It’s at a very nice price point, too.