John Lennon The Bermuda Tapes Ap: A Review

If you are a John Lennon fan with an ipad and haven't done so already, it is well worth getting the "John Lennon Bermuda Tapes" app.   This interactive app tells the story of John Lennon's  June 1980 sailing trip to Bermuda and how he came to write the songs that appeared on his album, "Double Fantasy."




If you choose the "Tell the Story" portion, then you are part of the action, getting to swipe and move your finger along the screen to allow things to happy while you hear John and other insiders tell the story of sailing to Bermuda.    It moves onto hearing about John discovering the B-52's and how "Rock Lobster" sounded like Yoko and his reaction to the song and interviews with three members of the B-52's are included.    There is a section where you hear John talk about coming up with the name "Double Fantasy" and while he is telling the story, you can "plant" your own flower and take a snapshot of it.

Here is the snap of the flower I made on the ap

But the best part by far is the music of John Lennon.    The app has what looks like cassette tapes of John Lennon's Bermuda demos.  It is sort of neat because the cassette player feature can rewind, fast forward and when you are done listening, you hit "eject."   These songs won't be anything new to Lennon fans.   I heard them on bootlegs many years ago and I am pretty sure most of them have been commercially available.    However, they are still great to hear.   I think my favorite is the demo for "Watching the Wheels" that has Fred Seaman banging on a pot in the background.      There also are the hand-written lyrics to the songs for you to view, which I always love to see.

Overall this is a really amazing app and for $4.99 (all of which goes to a charity that fights hunger) it is well worth getting (if you have an ipad).   My #1 concern with the app is that there will be a day in the future when an ipad app will be obsolete and the interviews and package will be gone forever.  


To purchase "John Lennon the Bermuda Tapes" go to the Apple App Store and search for it.   Enjoy!