The Plastic Ono Band: John Lennon / Yoko Ono

John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band:



Label
Apple

Catalogue No.
PCS 7124TCPCS 7124

Country of Origin
England

Release Date
11th December 1970

Total time
39:47

U.K. L.P. Chart Entry Date :
16th January 1971

Highest Position :
11

Weeks in Chart :
11 Weeks

John Lennon's fifth official L.P. release.Credited as titled: John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band Personnel :John - Vocals, guitar, pianoYoko - WindRingo Starr - DrumsKlaus Voorman - BassBilly Preston - Piano (on "God")Phil Spector - Piano (on "Love").Tea and sympathy: Mal Evans.

Produced by John and Yoko and Phil Spector. Emgineers: Phil Macdonald, Richard Lush, John Lickie, Andy Stevens and Eddie.
Recording Details."Look At Me" was left over from the "White Album" sessions", and "My Mummy's Dead" was recorded by John alone with a cassette recorder. Initial demo's of the other songs for this album are created during John and Yoko's "Primal Therapy" course with Dr. Arthur Janov, firstly in London in April 1970, and then in California in June-August. "God" demos were first performed on 26th July 1970.Studio recordings of the tracks for this album commence on 26th September at Abbey Road at which several other tracks are jammed including, "When A Boy Meets A Girl", "Don't Be Cruel", "Glad All Over", "Honey Don't", "Hound Dog", "Matchbox", and "That's Alright (Mama)". Sessions are completed on 23rd October, with the final mixes ready by the 27th.

Front cover photograph is by Dan Richter. Sleeve Design by John and Yoko. The ineer sleeve (side one pictured above) includes the lyrics, except for two words in "Working Class Hero" which are replaced by astericks. Underneath it says, "Omitted at the insistence of E.M.I."Also on the inner sleeve John has written, "for Yoko with love from John 9/10/70" which John must have written on the occasion of his 30th birthday.

Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band:

Yoko Ono's debut album, which came after recording three experimental releases with John Lennon and a live album as a member of the Plastic Ono Band. With the exception of one track (recorded with Ornette Coleman), the entire album emerged from one raw and cacophonous freeform session when, improvising throughout, Ono develops and pushes to extremes her characteristic trademark, a strained vocal style derived from Japanese hetai, a vocal technique used in Kabuki performances.

It was recorded simultaneously with her husband's John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band at Ascot Sound Studios and Abbey Road Studios using the same musicians and production team.
Initially on Apple Records, through EMI, Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band was released to considerable critical disdain in 1970, at a time when Ono was being widely blamed for the break-up of The Beatles. Notable exceptions were the estimations of Billboard who called it 'visionary' and critic Lester Bangs who supported it in Rolling Stone. More recently, the album has been credited (like those of The Velvet Underground) with having an influence, particularly on musicians, grossly disproportionate to its sales and visibility. Critic David Browne of Entertainment Weekly, has credited the album with "launching a hundred or more female alternative rockers, like Kate Pierson of the B-52s to current thrashers like L7 and Courtney Love of Hole."

Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band failed to chart in the UK but reached #182 in the US. The album was reissued on CD by Rykodisc in 1997 with three bonus tracks from the era, and an "LP replica" special edition was issued by V2 Records in Japan in 2007.