Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono / Plastic Ono Band

11 decembre 1970

Apple Records – SAPCOR 17
UK/1970
Apple Records – SW 3373
US/1970
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Tracklist

A1		Why	5:30
A2		Why Not	10:39
A3		Greenfield Morning I Pushed An Empty Baby Carriage All Over The City	5:40
B1		Aos 7:06
		Bass – Charlie Haden, David Izenzon
		Drums – Ed Blackwell
		Trumpet – Ornette Coleman
B2		Touch Me	3:40
B3		Paper Shoes	8:10
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Credits

    Bass – Charlie Haden (B1), David Izenzon (B1), Klaus Voormann
    Drums – Edward Blackwell (B1), Ringo Starr
    Engineer – Andy Stevens, Eddie, John Lickie, Phil MacDonald
    Guitar, Design – John Lennon
    Producer – John Lennon & Yoko Ono
    Trumpet – Ornette Coleman (B1)
    Vocals, Design – Yoko Ono	
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Aos (B1) is from a rehearsal tape for a show at Albert Hall with Ornette Coleman February 1968.
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On 28 Dec 1970, "Why" was released on 45 as the b-side to John's "Mother." The single spent 6 weeks on Billboard chart; highest position #43.
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The original UK release comes with a custom Apple inner sleeve with credits, flower illustration, dedication to John ('For John with love from Yoko, 9/10/70') and its instruction to 'Play in the dark'	
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The Japanese CD edition comes with a white obi and 3 Bonus Tracks
07		Open Your Box	7:37
08		Something More Abstract	0:47
09		The South Wind	16:42
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Secretly Canadian – SC281, Chimera Music – SC281
LP, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue, Remastered, Clear
USA & Europe / 8 nov. 2016
Includes Digital Download With Bonus Tracks.
07	Open your box	7:34
08	Something more abstract	0:43
09	Why (extended version)	8:38
10	The south wind	16:42
8" x 8" 8-page glossy photo booklet, large folded card black & white poster, printed inner sleeve, "A Hole to See the Sky Through" thick card postcard with D/L code, polythene sealed with large hype sticker.
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from New York Times, 20 December 1970

JOHN LENNON/PLASTIC ONO BAND (Apple SW 3372) and YOKO ONO/PLASTIC ONO BAND (Apple SW 3373). The only similarity here is between the album covers. Both depict almost identical pastel-hued country scenes. On Lennon's, however, Yoko sits beneath the tree holding his head in her lap; on her recording the positions are reversed. But, as I said, that's the only similarity.
Lennon, on his album, plays and sings with only the support of bass, drums (Ringo Starr) and, on a few tracks, piano; Yoko Ono is listed as a performer of ``winds.'' The net result is a group of empty selections that sound like basic Beatle music tracks--that is, the first tracks made in a recording studio, before various superstructures, textures and coloring devices have been added. Under the right circumstances, such a paring down to basics can be artistically illuminating as well as enjoyable; the obvious parallel is with the classical string quartet--one of the purest forms of musical distillation in Western music.
Alas, no such parallel exists here. Lennon seems to have intentionally reduced his musical thoughts to the bare minimum. I don't doubt that he did so in search of musical and psychic clarity, but he hasn't convinced me that he has found it. Many of the songs reflect the concerns that no doubt have dominated his thoughts since the break-up of the Beatles and his much-publicized California interlude with psychotherapy. References to his mother and to his relationship with Yoko Ono color most of the material.
Curiously, the album resembles Paul McCartney's recent solo outing in its dogged emphasis upon musical self-centeredness. Clearly, these are two artists who lost something important when their intimate working partnership deteriorated.
Yoko Ono's music consists almost entirely of wailing vocal sounds accompanied by frenzied, but essentially rather simple-minded back-up rhythms. A little of it goes a long way. Too long.