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Yoko Ono's Plastic Ono Band

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Yoko Ono's Plastic Ono BandYoko Ono's Plastic Ono Band record came out at the same time as John Lennon's one, 1970. The covers are so similar that it would have been easy for an unsuspecting Beatles fan to pick up Ono's by mistake. I'm sure that was the couple's intention and I'm also sure that the majority of people who bought it by mistake binned it pretty soon after. While Lennon's was massive success Ono's got to 187 on the American chart and didn't even get in the British one. This is no real surprise though as the LP is very much influenced by the extremely eclectic New York avant guarde scene. Ono had been deeply embroiled in that scene years before she met Lennon, mixing and working with heavyweights such as John Cage and La Monte Young.

The record bursts out of the traps in quite violent fashion with the track Why. The drumming (Ringo Starr) and bass playing (Klaus Voormann) are nothing too much out of the ordinary, a sort of hardish funk rock. But Ono's voice and Lennon's guitar are vicious enough to make you gasp in terror and delight simultaneously. Lennon uses a slide and drags it all over the neck of the guitar to create a warped beast of treble, and he constantly searches to discover more sound abnormalities. Having heard some of La Monte Young's early sixties strange blues experiments I can now see where Lennon, Starr and Voormann where coming from. But it is Ono's voice that gives the record that extra something to make it truly stand out. The variety of sounds she gets out of her voice is stunning, shouting and screeching WHY at the start of the song then for the remainder hurling distortion and reverberations into every space available.

Second track Why Not is the logical consequence of Why. The band have 'come down', weary after extreme exertion. The beat is slow and drawn out, Lennon is still searching for and achieving a shattered rock/blues sound but much quieter, and Ono is almost spent, like she is staggering around drunk and confused. On Greenfield Morning I Pushed An Empty Baby Carriage All Over The City they have all recovered to create the most atmospheric and hypnotic track. A warbling Indian instrument plays the intro with an equally warbling Ono vocal. The guitar, bass and drums enter with the most simple repetitive music thus far, and Ono stretches out long different pitched notes, double or triple tracked to create an impression of echoing ghosts.

The last three tracks can only be enjoyed if you get the first three I think. They are more experimental, especially AOS where Ono makes noises along to Ornette Coleman's free jazz trumpet. This piece is very sexual, with Ono's sighs building until they are interspersed with “Not yet”. When she finally does succumb it becomes a free jazz overload, but her screeches spit out such disgust you know she didn't enjoy it too much. Touch Me and Paper Shoes are more dub like versions of the opening tracks but still worth hearing to discover that Ono is continuing to stretch her vocal chords into different shapes. This LP is a very strange ride and was a genuine influence on punk with it's wallowing in repetition and confused emotions.

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