{"id":11199,"date":"2014-10-27T09:01:43","date_gmt":"2014-10-27T13:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=11199"},"modified":"2014-10-27T09:01:43","modified_gmt":"2014-10-27T13:01:43","slug":"john-lennon-and-the-sony-icf-2001","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/10\/john-lennon-and-the-sony-icf-2001\/","title":{"rendered":"John Lennon and the Sony ICF-2001"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"icf2001l\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Many thanks to SWLing Post<\/em> reader,\u00a0Robert Yowell, who writes:<\/p>\n

“I happen to be a huge Beatles fan, and especially a fan of John Lennon’s solo music as well. The last album he recorded was “Double Fantasy” which was made in New York City during the summer of 1980.<\/p>\n

As you probably know, Sony introduced that same year the revolutionary ICF-2001 PLL synthesized receiver. John was known to have been a great fan of home electronics, especially those produced by Sony and other Japanese manufacturers. He also was a great fan of radio – as his appearances on the local WNEW-FM rock music station in NYC in the 70’s attest to.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Photo<\/a>

Photo credit: Bob Gruen who photographed John Lennon many times during the latter part of his life in New York City.<\/p><\/div>\n

“The attached photo was taken at the NYC studio called “The Record Plant<\/a>” during the making of the album “Double Fantasy<\/a>” in 1980.While I cannot be 100% sure that the ICF-2001 sitting on the table belonged to John – I think it is extremely likely. He still stayed in regular contact with his native England, and at this pre-Internet time, the only easy way for him to listen to the BBC was through this radio.<\/p>\n

Another possibility is John enjoyed experimenting with new sounds in his music. During the Beatles, he even plugged in a radio into the sound mixing board when the song “I Am the Walrus” was recorded. You can hear at the end of the song a heterodyne whistle of tuning in a station as it settles on the BBC during a reading of Shakespeare’s King Lear. Perhaps John was intending to do something similar in the studio the day this photo was taken?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I imagine that was a good possibility, Robert. Again, many thanks for this bit of Lennon history.<\/p>\n

For those of you who have never heard “I am the Walrus,” you can listen below\u00a0courtesy of YouTube<\/a>:
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