Fly (Yoko Ono album)

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Fly
Studio album by Yoko Ono

Publication
(s)

September 20, 1971 ( US )
0December 3, 1971 ( UK )

Label (s) Apple / EMI , Rykodisc Records

Format (s)

Double LP , MC , CD

Genre (s)

Rock , avant-garde

Title (number)

LP: 13 / CD: 15

running time

1 h 32 min 41 s
(CD 1: 42 min 4 s, CD 2: 55 min 20 s)

occupation
  • Bobby Keyes: Pools at O'Wind
  • Jim Gordon: drums with Hirake , tabla with O'Wind
  • Chris Osborne: Dobro at Midsummer New York and Mind Train
  • Joe Jones: "Joe Jones Automatic Music Machines " at Airmale , Don't Count The Waves and You

production

Studio (s)

chronology
Yoko Ono / Plastic Ono Band
1970 		Fly Some Time in New York City (with John Lennon )
1972

Fly is the second solo studio album by Yoko Ono . At the same time, including the three avant-garde albums with her husband John Lennon and the live album by the Plastic Ono Band, it is Yoko Ono's sixth album. It was released on December 3, 1971 in the UK and on September 20, 1971 in the USA.

On the cover, the artist named Yoko Ono with The Plastic Ono Band .

History of origin

Before the release of the second studio album Fly , Yoko Ono and John Lennon released under the names John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band (Yoko Ono / Plastic Ono Band) , with John Lennon singing the A-side and Yoko Ono the B-side of the single:

  • Power to the People / Open Your Box (John Lennon [Yoko Ono] / Plastic Ono Band - Released March 12, 1971 [USA: March 22, 1971])
Entrance gate from Tittenhurst Park

The recordings for the album took place in August 1971 in John Lennon's own studio, Ascot Sound Studios , in Tittenhurst Park , it was to be the first and last album by Yoko Ono that was created there. It was created as a kind of "twin album" to Lennon's album Imagine . In addition to 12 songs by John Lennon, the film Imagine also contains the two Yoko Ono titles Don't Count the Waves and Midsummer New York .

On her previous album with the Plastic Ono Band, Ono already used styles from pop and rock music , but also employed forms of the musical avant-garde there (a joint appearance with Ornette Coleman in the Royal Albert Hall was documented there). On the double LP, released on September 21, 1971, she relied more consistently on the possibilities of pop and rock music than on the previous solo album; this is seen as an attempt to “conquer pop music as a medium of expression”. Despite the project character of the Plastic Ono Band , the interaction with musicians like Klaus Voormann and Eric Clapton Ono offered the opportunity to record their compositions with a rock band. Increasingly, she no longer oriented her singing to the ideals of traditional Japanese music and free jazz , but adopted the specific means of pop music. The band also includes Lennon, Jim Keltner and Jim Gordon (percussion), Bobby Keyes (saxophone, keyboard) and Chris Osborne ( Dobro ). Joe Jones developed eight instruments specially for Yoko Ono, called Joe Jones Tone Deaf Music Co., which play music with little human help.

The double album contains a mixture of different compositions, conventional rock songs as well as experimental compositions. On pages 3 and 4 in particular was movie music documented Airmale came from Lennon's film Erection , the title track from the eponymous film of the artist. Yoko Ono also collects songs on the album that have already appeared on singles or other records such as Hirake (Open Your Box) or Don't Worry, Kyoko . The other recorded but unused song The Path appeared on the Onobox in 1992 .

Cover

The cover design was done by John Lennon. The cover photo is also from John Lennon.

Track list

All tracks on the album were composed by Yoko Ono.

page 1

  1. Midsummer New York - 3:51
  2. Mind Train - 16:52

Page 2

  1. Mind Holes - 2:47
  2. Don't Worry, Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow) - 4:55
  3. Mrs. Lennon - 4:12
  4. Hirake - 3:31
  5. Toilet Piece / Unknown - 0:30
  6. O'Wind (Body Is the Scar of Your Mind) - 5:22

Page 3

  1. Airmale - 10:43
  2. Don't Count the Waves - 5:24
  3. You - 8:59

page 4

  1. Fly - 22:52
  2. Telephone Piece - 0:37

Re-releases

The first release of the full album in CD format was made by Rykodisc Records on July 22, 1997 and includes two additional songs, both songs are not from the recording sessions. Will You Touch Me is an acoustic demo played by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Between the Takes was recorded in 1970 with the line-up of Yoko Ono (vocals), John Lennon (guitar) and Klaus Voormann (bass). The exact recording dates of the two tracks are not listed in the CD booklet. The CD release was remastered by George Marino and Rob Stevens at Sterling Sound Studios .

The double CD was released as follows:

CD 1

  1. Midsummer New York - 3:51
  2. Mind Train - 16:52
  3. Mind Holes - 2:47
  4. Don't Worry, Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow) - 4:55
  5. Mrs. Lennon - 4:12
  6. Hirake - 3:31
  7. Toilet Piece / Unknown - 0:30
  8. O'Wind (Body Is the Scar of Your Mind) - 5:22

CD 2

  1. Airmale - 10:43
  2. Don't Count the Waves - 5:24
  3. You - 8:59
  4. Fly - 22:52
  5. Telephone Piece - 0:37

CD bonus tracks

  1. Between the takes - 1:58
  2. Will You Touch Me - 2:45

On July 21, 2017, the remastered album was released as a double CD and vinyl double long-playing record (pressed on black and white vinyl) on the Secretly Canadian / Chimera Music labels . The CDs were remastered by Greg Calbi and Ryan Smith, the vinyl album was remastered by Greg Calbi and Sean Lennon . The CDs were sold in a hinged cardboard cover. The CD comes with a 16-page illustrated booklet containing information about the album. The songs The Path and Head Play (Medley: You / Airmale / Fly ) originally appeared in January 1992 on the compilation album Onobox . The Path was recorded by John Lennon and Yoko Ono at Ascout Sound Studios in 1970 , the Medley Head Play (Medley: You / Airmale / Fly) was made in 1992. The following songs were used as bonus tracks:

CD bonus tracks

  1. Between the Takes - 1:58 (1997 re-released)
  2. Will You Touch Me - 2:45 (1997 re-released)
  3. The Path - 5:43
  4. Head Play (Medley: You / Airmale / Fly ) - 2:34

Single releases

Mrs. Lennon

As the first independent single from Yoko Ono, Mrs. Lennon / Midsummer New York was released from the album in Great Britain / Germany (October 29, 1971) and the USA (September 29, 1971).

Mind Train

In the UK, on 21 January 1972, the single was released Mind Train / lists the Snow is Falling  . The B-side was created during the recording sessions for the album, but not included on the album. Listen the Snow is Falling also appeared as the B-side of the single Happy Xmas (War Is Over) .

Chart placements

Charts Top ranking Weeks
Chart placements
United States (Billboard) United States (Billboard) 199 (2 weeks) 2

While the album reached the Billboard 200 (US album charts), none of the single releases made it into the official single charts.

Reviews

Especially in comparison with Lennon's Imagine, “Ono's record could not stand, especially since it had clear weaknesses.” Changing musical influences “stayed as ideas in the room” without creating a unity for the pop music listener. According to her biographer Katrin Berndt, “Ono seemed to have lacked a consistent concept”. Some pieces were also perceived as filling in gaps, such as Toilet Piece / Unknown (where only a toilet flush can be heard). The most interesting track on the album is Midsummer New York . This piece serves as a rock 'n' roll piece of the genre typical vocabulary, ironically the Ono; it is “a terrifying but remarkably well-made mix of 1950s rockabilly and Yoko's vocal extremism.” The piece's lyrics emphasize Ono's insecurity about her environment. Further successful pieces are after Katrin Berndt Hirake (Open Your Box) and Mind Train with interesting texts. In the piece Fly Ono tries to represent the noises of a fly with vocal means: Her voice "hums, swings, exults so enthusiastically that after a few minutes the listener has completely forgotten that he is listening to a human voice."

literature

  • Katrin Berndt Yoko Ono - In Her Own Write. Your musical creation and the influence of John Lennon . Marburg 1999; ISBN 978-3-8288-8021-4 .
  • Neville Stannard: Working Class Heroes , ISBN 0-907-08092-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ 7 ”-Single: Power to the People
  2. ↑ a b c d Katrin Berndt: Yoko Ono - In Her Own Write , p. 28
  3. ↑ cf. Discography Ornette Coleman
  4. ↑ Katrin Berndt: Yoko Ono - In Her Own Write , p. 30
  5. ↑ Katrin Berndt: Yoko Ono - In Her Own Write , p. 22
  6. ↑ Portrait of Allmusic
  7. ^ German 7 ″ vinyl single: Mrs. Lennon
  8. ↑ Great Britain 7 ″ vinyl single: Mind Train
  9. ↑ Chart sources: US
  10. ↑ J. Cott / Ch. Doudna (Ed.): The Ballad of John and Yoko. Munich 1984, p. 386
  11. ↑ Katrin Berndt: Yoko Ono - in Her Own Write , p. 29