Imagine

Apple released it on 9 September 1971 in the United States and on 8 October in the UK. Lennon built a studio at Tittenhurst Park, his home in Ascot, so the basic tracks could be cut away from Abbey Road, and the tapes then went to the Record Plant in New York for final overdubs, including King Curtis on saxophone. Phil Spector co-produced with Lennon and Ono, and the string arrangements were by Torrie Zito, played by the Flux Fiddlers.

Lennon had asked George Harrison to play on the record after the two jammed in New York, and Harrison brought in Klaus Voormann. Harrison played on half of the ten tracks. Nicky Hopkins, Alan White, Jim Keltner and members of Badfinger also played. Lennon said in 1980: "I call it Plastic Ono with chocolate coating."

The lyrics range over peace, love and politics. Imagine opens the album, and Jealous Guy began as "Child of Nature" in 1968. Gimme Some Truth was first heard during the Beatles' Let It Be sessions in early 1969 and appears with a new bridge. "How Do You Sleep?" was written during a period of bad feeling between Lennon and Paul McCartney. Early copies of the LP carried a postcard of Lennon holding a pig, a mock of McCartney's sheep pose on Ram. The cover photographs were taken by Ono, and the back cover quotes her book Grapefruit.

It went to number one on both the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200. In Rolling Stone in 1971 Ben Gerson said it contained "a substantial portion of good music" but thought the previous album better, while Alan Smith of the NME called it "superb". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic later wrote that it was "a remarkable collection of songs". Rolling Stone ranked it number 80 on its 2012 list of 500 greatest albums. It was remixed for the six-disc Ultimate Collection in 2018.