Performer Notes

Personnel includes: Yoko Ono (vocals); John Lennon (guitar); Klaus Voorman (bass); Ringo Starr (drums); The Ornette Coleman Quartet.
Personnel: Yoko Ono (vocals); John Lennon (guitar); Ornette Coleman (trumpet); Ed Blackwell, Ringo Starr (drums).
Audio Remasterers: Greg Calbi; Sean Lennon.
Recording information: Abbey Road (1970); Trident Studios (1970).
Recorded during the sessions for John Lennon's PLASTIC ONO BAND and packaged in nearly exactly the same sleeve (Lennon said his intent was to make some people accidentally buy Ono's record instead of his own), YOKO ONO & PLASTIC ONO BAND springs from the same impulses as its better-known doppelganger. Written and recorded while Lennon and Ono were under the influence of Arthur Janov's Primal Scream therapy, the album's six lengthy tracks are more abstract and yet even more powerful than Lennon's more literal work. Free jazz trumpeter Ornette Coleman makes a guest appearance, giving the album an even more manic, cathartic feel than it might have had already. Highlights include the two-part "Why" and "Why Not" and the even more outre "Greenfield Morning I Pushed an Empty Baby Carriage all Over the City." YOKO ONO & PLASTIC ONO BAND is an avant-garde milestone. The Rykodisc reissue includes three bonus tracks, including the banned single "Open Your Box."

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone - "Here is where Ono jumps fully from art icon to musical maverick with a sound that would be attempted, mutated and covered, but never duplicated."

Spin (1/98, p.88) - Ranked #10 on Spin's list of the "Top 10 Reissues."

Spin (9/97, p.157) - "...Ono and her voice are the complete focus. Her chattering, glottal vocalese, which at times resembles the performance poetry of Dadaist Kurt Schwitters, proves itself to be a powerful engine for moving non-weird rock grooves into plains of extreme otherness..."

CMJ (5/24/99, p.32) - "...the band took commercial rock 'n' roll kicking and screaming into the twisted world of avant-garde improvisation, attacking scales and rhythms with enough sonic violence to make both John Zorn and Thurston Moore plug their ears in mortal terror..."

Melody Maker (6/28/97, p.48) - "...It wouldn't be entirely ridiculous to call it the first completely successful avant-garde rock record....among the finest, strangest and most original of its time."

Pitchfork (Website) - "[A] triumph, in part, because it sounds fully aware of this reality. It's also iconic because it contains some of Lennon's most aggressive guitar work."

Album: Plastic Ono Band
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Why	More Info...	0:05
2)	Why Not	More Info...	0:10
3)	Greenfield Morning I Pushed an Empty Baby Carriage All Over the City	More Info...	0:05
4)	Aos	More Info...	0:07
5)	Touch Me	More Info...	0:04
6)	Paper Shoes	More Info...	0:07
7)	Open Your Box	More Info...	0:07
8)	"Something More Abstract"	More Info...
9)	Why (Extended Version)	More Info...	0:08
10)	The South Wind	More Info...	0:16

Album: Plastic Ono Band
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Why	More Info...	0:05
2)	Why Not	More Info...	0:10
3)	Greenfield Morning I Pushed an Empty Baby Carriage All Over the City	More Info...	0:05
4)	Aos	More Info...	0:07
5)	Touch Me	More Info...	0:04
6)	Paper Shoes	More Info...	0:07
7)	Open Your Box	More Info...	0:07
8)	"Something More Abstract"	More Info...
9)	Why (Extended Version)	More Info...	0:08
10)	The South Wind	More Info...	0:16