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Imagination featuring Leee John / 40 Years

17CD box set

By Paul Sinclair

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A mammoth 17CD box set, called 40 Years, celebrates the output of British soul/funk trio Imagination and samples some of the solo work of Leee John, the band’s singer / keyboard player.

Best known for singles ‘Body Talk’ and ‘Just An Illusion’, Imagination emerged in the early 1980s worked with producers such as Tony Swain/Steve Jolley and Arthur Baker and had tracks remixed by the likes of David Morales, Frankie Knuckles, and others. There were seven studio albums and two remix albums and all of them are included in this new box set (including 2016/17’s Retropia which was released as ‘Imagination featuring Leee John’).

The second half of the box takes in some of Leee John’s solo work (there’s not a lot of it) before moving into ‘bonus CD’ mode with a plethora of remixes, unreleased tracks and live cuts.

40 Years has been “conceived and personally curated” by Leee John, and he’s signed some prints for a limited version. Reflecting on the era, John says: “The ‘80s were such special times in many ways, especially in the evolution of music technology, with sequencers, synthesisers, computers, samplers, and with music available on multiple formats including vinyl, cassettes to CD. By the time we got to the ‘90s and noughties with iPods and iPhone, the whole platform and generation of the music industry had vastly changed”.

40 Years is a 17CD box set featuring the music of Imagination and Leee John (click image to enlarge)

The box set has 189 tracks in total across the 17 CDs which is surely more Imagination than you could ever imagine owning. Nevertheless, it’s less than £70 and is signed by the man himself, so that’s little more than £4 per CD and there’s surely some cracking remixes included.

40 Years is released on 10 February 2023, via Edsel Records.

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Imagination Feat. Leee John

40 Years - 17CD box set signed edition

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Tracklisting

Imagination / Leee John

    • CD 1: BODY TALK (Imagination)
      1. Body Talk
      2. So Good, So Right
      3. Burnin’ Up
      4. Tell Me Do You Want My Love
      5. Flashback
      6. I’ll Always Love You (But Don’t Look Back)
      7. In And Out Of Love
    • CD2: IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (Imagination)          
      1. In The Heat Of The Night
      2. Heart ‘N’ Soul
      3. Music And Lights
      4. All Night Loving
      5. Just An Illusion
      6. All I Want To Know
      7. One More Love
      8. Changes
    • CD3: NIGHT DUBBING (Imagination)    
      1. Flashback
      2. Just An Illusion
      3. Music And Lights
      4. So Good, So Right
      5. Body Talk
      6. Heart ‘n’ Soul
      7. Changes
      8. Burnin’ Up
    • CD4: SCANDALOUS (Imagination)        
      1. New Dimension
      2. State Of Love
      3. Point Of No Return
      4. When I See The Fire
      5. Shoo Be Doo Da Dabba Doobee
      6. Wrong In Love
      7. Looking At Midnight
      8. The Need To Be Free
    • CD5: TRILOGY (Imagination)     
      1. Last Days Of Summer
      2. Body And Soul
      3. One Heart
      4. You’ve Got The Lovin’
      5. Found My Girl
      6. Blue Day Gone
      7. Sunshine
      8. Breathless
      9. Thank You My Love
      10. Rock Me Slow
      11. I’m Coming To Get You
      12. Trilogy
    • CD6: CLOSER (Imagination)      
      1. I Know What Love Is
      2. Hold Me In Your Arms
      3. Paranoia
      4. Where Are You Now
      5. The Last Time
      6. For Members Only
      7. Touch (Part One)
      8. Instinctual
      9. Who (Tell Me Who)
      10. Operator
      11. Over
      12. Hot Nights
      13. Skin Time
      14. Closer
    • CD7: LIKE IT IS (Imagination)     
      1. Changes
      2. Burning Up
      3. Just An Illusion
      4. Body Talk
      5. T.O. (Love’s Taking Over)
      6. In And Out Of Love
      7. Instinctual
      8. So Good So Right
      9. Flashback
      10. Music And Lights
      11. Give Into Love
      12. In The Heat Of The Night
      13. Megamix (Edited Version) Just An Illusion/MusicAnd Lights/So Good So Right/Flashback
    • CD8: THE FASCINATION OF THE PHYSICAL (Imagination featuring Leee John)
      1. Work
      2. I Like It
      3. The Best Of My Life
      4. Ooh Aah
      5. Loving Tight
      6. Fascination Of The Physical [12″ Version]
      7. The Night We Loved
      8. I Can’t Wait
      9. Private Hearts
      10. Call On Me
    • CD9: FEEL MY SOUL (Leee John)          
      1. Sensuality
      2. Now Is The Time
      3. The Thin Line
      4. Embraceable You
      5. Feel My Spirit
      6. Someone To Watch Over Me
      7. Jazzamatazz
      8. Flamingo Blue
      9. U Never Know
      10. Small World
      11. Strange Fruit
      12. Jazzamatazz (Funk Version)
      13. Now Is The Time (C’est Le Moment)
    • CD10: THE VOICE OF ILLUSION VOL. 1 (Leee John of Imagination)      
      1. Leee John Medley by Symix: Passion/Mighty Power Of Love/Love Me Like You Do/Call On Me/Pearls
      2. Just An Illusion (21st Century Mix)
      3. Just An Illusion (Dero’s Mix)
      4. I Can C 4 Miles
      5. Everybody Wakeup (Soul Version)
      6. Slippin’ Slowly
      7. Mind, Body And Soul (Funk Version)
      8. Come On Over
      9. Fool In Love
      10. Alone Again
      11. Groove Thing
    • CD11: RETROPIA (Imagination featuring Leee John)      
      1. Utopia
      2. Secrets
      3. Fantasia
      4. Solitude
      5. Do It Right Now
      6. Hello Goodbye
      7. Tell Her Love Has Felt The Need
      8. Highway To Hell
      9. Brighter Day
      10. Make Your Mind Up
      11. The Best I Could
      12. Visions
      13. Just An Illusion (21st Century Version) – Remastered
      14. Krash (All Night Long) (New Radio Mix)
      15. Police And Thieves
      16. The Truth (Alternative Version)
    • CD12: ‘CLOSER’ REVISITED (Imagination)    
      1. Instinctual [Dave Morales Mix Edit]
      2. For Members Only [7″ Mix]
      3. I Know What Love Is [7″ Version]
      4. The Last Time [Special DJ edit of The Cool Sax Remix]
      5. (Wanna Get) Over [LP with Horns]
      6. Instinctual [Dave Morales Mix – Def Vocal Mix]
      7. Who (Tell Me Who) [A-Side With Solo]
      8. The Last Time [The Long Cool Mix]

       

    • CD13: ‘CLOSER’ REVISITED (Imagination)    
      1. For Members Only [12″ Mix]
      2. Hold Me In Your Arms [12″ Master]
      3. I Know What Love Is [The Philadelphia After Dark Mix]
      4. Instinctual [Def Groove Mix]
      5. One Day I Found Me
      6. Paranoia [12″ Mix]
      7. The Last Time [The Cool Sax Remix]
      8. Instinctual [Dave Morales Mix – Stink Mix]
    • CD14: UNRELEASED TRAX, MIXES AND DEMOS (Various)              
      1. The Key (Only You) (Imagination)
      2. Give Into Love – Dub Version (Leee John & Adam Pendse)
      3. Fly (Imagination)
      4. In The Heat Of The Night – Alt Version (Imagination)
      5. Changing Times (Leee John & Sinitta)
      6. Gyration (Imagination)
      7. Casualty (Leee John)
      8. Daydreamer (Leee John)
      9. Two Of A Kind (Leee John)
      10. Keep A Lite (Leee John)
      11. Make Your Mind Up – Original Version Demo (Leee John)
      12. Are You Ready (Leee John)
      13. Ay Ay [Version 1] (Leee John ft Ezzy)
      14. Best Of My Love (Leee John)
      15. Cherish (Leee John)
      16. Turn It Out (Leee John)
      17. When Love Calls (Leee John)
    • CD15: UNRELEASED TRAX, MIXES AND DEMOS (Various)              
      1. New Dimension [Alternative Chorus “In A Mans World”] (Imagination)
      2. Looking At Midnight [Alternative Mix] (Imagination)
      3. Heart ‘N’ Soul [Alternative Vocal Version Mix] (Imagination)
      4. Passion [Original Leee John vocal] (Imagination ft Leee John)
      5. Passion [duet English/French version] (Imagination ft Leee John and Mourad)
      6. Passion [Deevious Mix by Dee Vaz] duet English/French version (Imagination ft Leee John and Mourad)
      7. Passion [Tefa French Rap] duet English/French version] (Imagination ft Leee John and Mourad)
      8. Too Late (Leee John)
      9. Notorious [Original Demo became ‘Wrong In Love’ from ‘Scandalous’] (Imagination)
      10. Happiness [Original Demo which became ‘One More Love’] (Imagination)
      11. Going Round In Circles [Demo] (Imagination)
      12. Halfway To Paradise [Demo which became ‘So Good, So Right’] (Imagination)
      13. Stop, Look & Listen (Leee John)
      14. Some People (Leee John)
    • CD16: LIVE TRAX (Imagination/Leee John)
      1. Tell Me Do You Want My Love [Live circa 1984]
      2. Found My Girl [Live Leeds 1985]
      3. Shoo Be Doo Da Dabba Doobee [Live UK circa 1985]
      4. Thank You My Love Live UK circa 1986]
      5. Heart ‘N’ Soul [Live Leeds circa 1986]
      6. We Turn The World -Pt 1/ Pt 2 [Live, Leningrad Russia circa 1989/90]
      7. In And Out Of Love – Reggae [Live, Russia 1989/90]
      8. Love’s Takin Over [Live, Russia]
      9. Body Talk [Live, Russia]
      10. Instinctual [Live, Russia]
      11. Slippin’ Slowly [Live UK circa 1999] (Leee John)
    • CD17: 12″ SINGLES SELECTION          
      1. New Dimension [US Remix Edit] (Imagination)
      2. State Of Love (Imagination)
      3. Body And Soul (Imagination)
      4. Thank You My Love (Imagination)
      5. Last Days Of Summer (Imagination)
      6. Changes (Dimitri From Paris Is Nightdubbin’ Remix)
      7. The Best Of My Life [12″ Re-Edit]
      8. No More Lies (Nelson Leeroy ft. Leee John of Imagination)
      9. Do It Right Now [Victor Simonelli Remix] (Imagination featuring Leee John)
      10. Burnin’ Up [New Vocal Extended Mix] (Leee John)

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