Double Fantasy promotional album signed and inscribed on the back cover in black ballpoint, "For Neil, love, John Lennon,” and "Yoko Ono," with Lennon adding small smiley face sketches of himself and his wife. In fine condition. The record is included. The album is a gold stamp promotional copy, which presents a convenient marker to determine which albums Lennon signed to friends/family as opposed to standard copies signed to fans. This particular album was signed for Neil Goldberg, an employee at The Hit Factory recording studio in New York City, whose own personalized ‘The Hit Factory’ jacket accompanies this lot. Sessions for Double Fantasy began at The Hit Factory on August 7, 1980, and continued through October 19, 1980. The production resulted in dozens of songs, enough to fill Double Fantasy and a large part of a projected second album, Milk and Honey.
Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Tracks and by a detailed letter of provenance from the original recipient, who writes, in part: “I was working as electronic maintenance engineer at The Hit Factory Studios on West 48th Street in New York in 1980 when Double Fantasy was being recorded...My responsibilities included, among other things, the daily audio alignments ahead of each day’s recording session on the Studer A80 tape decks. Our shop was located on the same floor as the studio, so I saw John pretty frequently. I admit I was in awe, especially since we would have occasional brief conversations around the catering area...John always presented himself as very down to earth, and not as the rock and roll god he was. That made it easy to chat with him...The embroidered Hit Factory jacket was given to the staff members prior to the album’s start. The autographed Double Fantasy album passed from John’s hand to mine sometime around September or October of 1980, and was a pre-release copy. WOW!”
Although Double Fantasy received mixed reception from music critics upon its release on November 17, 1980, the murder of Lennon by Mark David Chapman on December 8, 1980, prompted fans and critics alike to reexamine the work. It became a commercial success soon thereafter, and Double Fantasy went on to win the 1981 Album of the Year award at the 24th Annual Grammy Awards.
Lennon and Ono signed a number of Double Fantasy albums at their home office on November 21, 1980, not long after their historic photo session in Central Park with Allan Tannenbaum. In addition to those ‘Studio One’ home office examples, Lennon also signed a copy for his would-be assailant some six hours before his tragic death. Autographed 'Double Fantasy' album covers are very rare and immensely desirable, with this particular example all the more impressive given its addition of two Lennon sketches and that it was presented to a Hit Factory studio employee.
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