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YOKO ONO

Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band

by Gillian G. Gaar

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Excellent

• DEXYS MIDNIGHT RUNNERS: Don't Stand Me Down by Everett True
• THE BUZZCOCKS: Love Bites by Philip Guichard
• THE MISFITS: Legacy of Brutality by Dan Paulus
• KYUSS: Untitled by Adam Heimlich
• YOKO ONO: Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band by Gillian G. Gaar
• RUN-D.M.C.: Run-D.M.C. by Adam Heimlich
• PAUL MCCARTNEY: McCartney II by Sean Nelson
• THE OUTLAWS: Wanted by Hank Trotter
• RUSH: 2112 by Andy Spletzer
• JOHN COLTRANE: Interstellar Space by Nathan Thornburgh
• THE EMOTIONS: Rejoice by Riz Rollins
• Men Without Hats: Rhythm of Youth by Sean Nelson
• RANDY NEWMAN: Good Old Boys by Sean Nelson
• ARETHA FRANKLIN: SPARKLE by Riz Rollins
• THE DOLLY MIXTURE: Demonstration Tapes by Lois Maffeo
• WEEN: The Pod by Adam Heimlich
• TRACEY THORN: A Distant Shore by Lois Maffeo
• SMIF-N-WESSUN: Dah Shinin' by Adam Heimlich
• QUEEN: A Night at the Opera by Dan Paulus
• TALK TALK: Laughing Stock by Riz Rollins

Shortly after recording this album, John Lennon raved to Rolling Stone, "If somebody with a rock-oriented mind can possibly listen to her stuff you'll see what she's doing. It's fantastic... she makes music like you've never heard on earth. And when the musicians play with her they're inspired out of their skulls." Naturally, the rock audience dismissed his views, saying Lennon was clearly biased since Yoko Ono was his wife, and besides, nothing good could come out of the evil Woman-Who-Broke-Up-The-Beatles.

To be fair, since there was no alt rock scene to speak of in 1970, curious listeners had no context in which to place this riveting work, which brilliantly fuses the avant-garde with rock 'n' roll. The bass and drums provide a foundation that's rock solid and propulsive (Ringo sure never played like this with the Beatles), while Lennon tries to make his guitar sound like Ono's voice -- or is that the other way around?

Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band was recorded at the same time as Lennon's own solo effort, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, after Lennon and Ono had undergone primal scream therapy. Lennon's album, featuring such classics as "Mother," "Isolation," and "God," has long been regarded as one of his more powerful works, while Ono's companion album has been overlooked. Don't you make the same mistake. Yoko Ono is the bridge between the Velvet Underground and Patti Smith.