STUCK RECORDS

Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band – ‘Between My Head And The Sky’
UK Release 21/9/09 (Chimera)

Marrying John Lennon was simultaneously the best and worst thing Yoko Ono could do for her career. I’m not suggesting she married him with an ulterior motive (she was already a respected artist when they met) but her union with one of the most famous men in the world brought her to the attention of the mainstream. Unfortunately the public didn’t care for Yoko because she “broke up the Beatles” (you’ll know that’s a ridiculous notion if you have anything more than a casual interest in the group) and popular opinion of her shocking, experimental music was not much better.

After John’s murder in 1980, Yoko delivered the classic album Season Of Glass, paired with the single ‘Walking On Thin Ice’, both charted fairly well and brought her to a new audience. After 20 or so further years of musical obscurity, in 2001 a club mix of ‘Open Your Box’ made it to #25 on the US dance chart. Over the next eight years, through remix albums, high-profile collaborations and no less than five number one dance singles in the US, she was known and respected by a new generations of musicians and music fans who were not swayed by previous generations’ general dismissal of her work. And now in 2009, she’s back with her first album of original material in almost a decade.

Between My Head And The Sky is a collaboration with the Plastic Ono Band, which is a name that applied to whoever was working with John & Yoko during the late sixties and early seventies. This is the first time the band has been credited since 1973, and it’s an all new line-up led by Yoko’s son, Sean Lennon. The result is an album filled with strange moments (it is a Yoko record, after all) but with beautiful, contemporary sensibilities, bringing the album into the new century whilst never forgetting that the woman behind it was born in 1933.

From the chilled-out minimalism of ‘Feel The Sand’ to weirdo ramblings of ‘Ask The Elephant!’, the many shades of Yoko are present here. She doesn’t get the club remix treatment, obviously, but some of these would make great dance floor anthems and it’s an idea for a tie-in record. The heart of the album is in one of the final tracks, ‘I’m Going Away Smiling’, a sparse piano ballad with lyrics to make you tear up a little, or at least feel a bit melancholy. It’s about reflecting and making peace, and while peace is a running theme in her work, it’s nice to hear such a forward-thinking artist looking back. It’s one of the best songs she’s ever recorded, and one of my personal favourites of 2009.

Even with all the collaborations and remixes over the last few years, they’ve always used old vocal tracks, and it’s great to hear Yoko singing something new. It’s very much a case of “you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone”, and maybe this album will bring her new fans and a new attitude from those who wrote her off years ago. If you’ve never heard a Yoko Ono album before this is a great introduction, and evidence that she is one of the most unfairly maligned artists of the last 40 years.

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Richard Croft