Welcome to the Beatles Rarity Of The Week. In early 1980, during the planning stages of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Double Fantasy album, the two agreed to approach Jack Douglas about producing it. The Lennons had worked with Jack before, as far back as the Imagine album, where he acted as sound engineer. Jack had also worked throughout the 1970′s with an impressive list of musicians including The Who, Patti Smith, Blue Oyster Cult, Aerosmith, Miles Davis, Alice Cooper, Montrose and many others. Yoko gave Jack some demos, and Jack got very interested in the project. In 2005, he admitted that he felt like he would have a hard time making the tunes sound better than the demos, which he thought were so intimate.

A few years earlier, Jack had produced Cheap Trick’s debut self-titled album and felt like their lead guitarist, Rick Nielsen, and drummer, Bun E. Carlos, would give the perfect sound to John’s “I’m Losing You” and Yoko’s “I’m Moving On.” Rick and Bun were brought in to the sessions at the Hit Factory in New York during August of 1980 to work with John and Yoko on the two songs. While the results were good, they ended up favoring later takes done by the session band (Hugh McCraken, Earl Slick, Tony Levin, George Small, Andy Newmark and Arthur Jenkins) to use for the album. Yoko also selected a later take for the recently released stripped down Double Fantasy.

However, a ‘cleaned up’ version of a Nielsen/Carlos take of “I’m Losing You” was included on the John Lennon Anthology CD box set released in 1998, and while it has been given a punchier mix there, many of the lead guitar parts by Rick are edited out, as is the second middle eight section (Here in the valley of indecision…). This week for the BROW, I’m giving you more of a live, unmixed and unedited account, with all the rubs and no overdubs.

John Lennon at Double Fantasy sessions - Hit Factory NYC, 1980

Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post:

1) Double Fantasy – 2000 CD remaster of original 1980 album, including “I’m Losing You”. Note with item 2 (below) a 2010 remaster of this original version is also included with the ‘stripped down’ version (so there it’s 2 for the price of one).

2) Double Fantasy Stripped Down [New Mix + Original Recording Remastered] – 2010 special ‘stripped down’ version of original 1980 album. Also includes original 1980 mix on separate disc. Includes original and ‘stripped’ version of “I’m Losing You”.

3) John Lennon Anthology 1998 4-CD box set collection of out-takes and alternates, including a different mix (than the one featured here) of the Nielsen/Carlos version of “I’m Losing You”.

4) Wonsaponatime – 1998 CD collection containing the best tracks from the John Lennon Anthology box set, including a different mix (than the one featured here) of the Nielsen/Carlos version of “I’m Losing You”.

5) Gimme Some Truth – 2010 4-CD stereo remastered themed compilation of the best post-Beatles John Lennon songs, including “I’m Losing You”.

6) Additional Amazon links for your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

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