Live Peace in Toronto 1969

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Live Peace in Toronto 1969
Live album by Plastic Ono Band

Publication
(s)

December 12, 1969 ( UK )
December 15, 1969 ( US )

Label (s) Parlophone

Format (s)

LP , MC , CD , download

Genre (s)

Rock , avant-garde rock

Title (number)

8th

running time

39 min 49 s

occupation

production

John Lennon and Yoko Ono

Studio (s)

Abbey Road Studios

chronology
Wedding album
1969 		Live Peace in Toronto 1969 John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band
1970

Yoko Ono / Plastic Ono Band
1970

Live Peace in Toronto 1969 is a live album by the Plastic Ono Band . It is the fourth joint album by John Lennon and Yoko Ono , who used the group name "Plastic Ono Band" for the second time. The band, whose concept was to have no permanent members, consisted here of Lennon and Ono from Eric Clapton , Klaus Voormann and Alan White . The recordings were made on September 13, 1969 at the "Toronto Rock and Roll Revival" in Canada . It was released on December 12, 1969 in the UK and on December 15, 1969 in the US .

History of origin

The first public live performance of a Beatle since August 29, 1966 came about under unusual circumstances. Canadian concert promoter John Brower called Apple on September 12, 1969 in London to invite John Lennon to a rock and roll revival festival in Toronto. When Lennon found out that his youth idols Chuck Berry , Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard would perform there, he admitted spontaneously, but placed the condition that he could play with his group there. Lennon had to put this group together in a very short time, because the next morning the band had to fly to Canada. Lennon's choice fell on Eric Clapton as guitarist, Klaus Voormann as bassist and Alan White as drummer. The three musicians were able to be persuaded to participate and nothing seemed to stand in the way of taking part in the concert on the following day. On the morning of September 13, 1969, Lennon seemed to regret his acceptance and he and Ono did not show up at the airport. He asked his assistant, Anthony Fawcett, to cancel participation and send the organizers a bouquet of white flowers. Fawcett drove to the Lennon mansion and persuaded him to reconsider the decision. The Plastic Ono Band was rebooked on a later flight and arrived in time for their performance in Canada. The program for the concert was discussed during the flight. Since they had never played in this composition, the choice fell on pieces that everyone knew. Klaus Voormann remembered this flight in his autobiography.

“John listed a couple of titles and the ones that all nodded their heads were then taken. That was 'Blue Suede Shoes', 'Money', 'Dizzy Miss Lizzy'. John gave us the key and we started the songs. "

- Klaus Voormann

Lennon also selected three of his compositions: Yer Blues , which he recorded with the Beatles in 1968, Cold Turkey , his latest unrecorded piece, and Give Peace a Chance , the first official release under the name "Plastic Ono Band". Finally he prepared Clapton, Voormann and White for Yoko Ono's contribution to the concert.

“'What kind of songs are Yoko going to sing?' We really wanted to know. 'Well, how am I supposed to explain that, well, it's very easy.' John pushed around, then grabbed his guitar and scrubbed that one chord again. 'For example, always just like that, this harmony, sooo ... do you hear?' 'Ok', said Eric [Clapton], 'I can put a typical Bo Diddley groove over it and Yoko, does she sing to it?' 'Well', John squirmed […], 'you can't call it singing. Of course she will sing, but not in the usual sense, it will be completely different. '"

- Klaus Voormann

After landing in Toronto, the musicians were driven straight to Varsity Stadium. Once at the venue, there was just enough time in a small room to tune the instruments and for a small rehearsal. Just before the gig, Gene Vincent stopped by to greet Lennon. Already during the preparation time, Lennon began to feel unwell and when the band was finally called and made their way to the stage, he had to vomit violently. After that he was obviously better and turned around with the words “Ok, lads. Let's go! ”To his colleagues.

The concert

Varsity Stadium of the University of Toronto

The live album includes the announcement with which Kim Fowley , the moderator of the festival, announces the Plastic Ono Band: “Get your matches ready…” John Lennon's opening words to the audience are: “We're just going to do numbers that we know because we've never played together before. " (German: We only play pieces that we know because we've never played together. ) The group began their performance with Blue Suede Shoes , a piece from 1956 by Carl Perkins . This was followed by Money (That's What I Want) , a piece from Barrett Strong's 1959 , which Lennon had often played live with the Beatles and which appeared on Beatles' second album With the Beatles in 1963 . The next track Dizzy Miss Lizzy - originally by Larry Williams from 1958 - Lennon knew from numerous appearances with the Beatles. A studio recording was made on the 1965 album Help! released. After these three cover versions , Lennon resorted to his own compositions. It started with Yer Blues , a piece that Lennon had written in 1968 for the so-called White Album . At least Eric Clapton was also familiar with this song, as he had played it in December 1968 as part of the "Rock and Roll Circus" with the group The Dirty Mac . “We've never done this number before, so best of luck” was Lennon's simple announcement for the next track. Lennon wrote Cold Turkey in August 1969, but has not recorded it yet. The studio version came about - with a slightly different line-up, Ringo Starr replaced Alan White on drums - on September 28, 1969. The Lennon part of the Plastic Ono Band's concert ended with Give Peace a Chance . The piece was released on July 4, 1969 as the first publication of the Plastic Ono Band. Lennon counts the song in German with “one, two - one, two, three, four.” Although Yoko Ono kept the lyrics of the songs on prepared slips of paper for Lennon during the concert, there were numerous spontaneous changes to the text.

After the applause for Give Peace a Chance ended, the audience was confronted with Yoko Ono's contributions. She began with her composition Don't Worry Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow) , a studio version of which was later released as the B-side of the single Cold Turkey . This almost five-minute performance was followed by another Ono work entitled John John (Let's Hope for Peace) , which ended after more than twelve minutes with the feedback from the guitars leaning against the amplifiers. Mal Evans finally turned off the amplifiers and "released" the audience. While the first track followed the forms of rock music halfway, the second track was extremely avant-garde . The author John Blaney describes the piece as pure avant-garde noise . The audience's reactions to Ono's pieces seem to have been less than positive.

"In retrospect, I'm sure if John hadn't had so many plus points from the listening guests, then tomatoes and other rotten substances would have hailed."

- Klaus Voormann

Two weeks after the concert presented John Lennon at London's Abbey Road Studios , the mixing of the recordings of the concert finished. On December 12, 1969 the album was released; the first edition also contained a calendar. In Great Britain - like Lennon's previous solo albums - it was not able to place in the charts. In the USA, on the other hand, it reached number 10 in the charts and was also awarded a gold record .

Cover design

The cover design was done by John Kosh. The first edition comes with a calendar for 1970.

Track list

page 1
  1. Blue Suede Shoes ( Carl Perkins )
  2. Money (That's What I Want) (Janie Bradford / Berry Gordy )
  3. Dizzy Miss Lizzy ( Larry Williams )
  4. Yer Blues ( Lennon / McCartney )
  5. Cold Turkey (John Lennon)
  6. Give Peace a Chance (John Lennon)
Page 2
  1. Don't Worry Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow) (Yoko Ono)
  2. John John (Let's Hope for Peace) (Yoko Ono)

Re-releases

  • In May 1995 the album was first released in CD format in a version remixed by Rob Stevens in the Quad Recording Studios . The CD was George Matino in the Sterling Sound Studios newly remastered . The CD comes with a 32-page illustrated booklet containing a calendar for 1995.
  • The CD release from 1995 was remastered by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MFSL) and was released in April 2006 as a 24-carat gold-plated CD in a limited edition. The CD comes with a 32-page illustrated booklet containing a calendar for 2006.

Chart placements

Charts Top ranking Weeks
Chart placements
United States (Billboard) United States (Billboard) 10 (32 weeks) 32

Concert film

By DA Pennebaker who comes documentary Sweet Toronto , published 1971st The film shows the concert of the Plastic Ono Band, as well as performances by other artists such as Chuck Berry or Jerry Lee Lewis . The May 1998 DVD release of the concert film John Lennon and The Plastic Ono Band: Sweet Toronto contains additional mixes.

literature

  • Chip Madinger, Mark Easter: Eight Arms To Hold You - The Solo Compendium 44.1 Productions 2000, ISBN 0-615-11724-4 (pp. 29-31).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Anthony Fawcett: John Lennon. Beatle, artist, provocateur . Bergisch Gladbach: Gustav Lübbe Verlag, 1979. pp. 139-141.
  2. ↑ Klaus Voormann : Why don't you play Imagine on the white piano, John? Munich: Heyne, 2003. p. 194.
  3. ↑ Klaus Voormann: Why don't you play Imagine on the white piano, John? Munich: Heyne, 2003. p. 196.
  4. ↑ Klaus Voormann: Why don't you play Imagine on the white piano, John? Munich: Heyne, 2003. p. 198.
  5. ↑ Klaus Voormann: Why don't you play Imagine on the white piano, John? Munich: Heyne, 2003. p. 200.
  6. ↑ John Blaney: Lennon and McCartney. Together alone. London: Jawbone, 2007. p. 24.
  7. ↑ Klaus Voormann: Why don't you play Imagine on the white piano, John? Munich: Heyne, 2003. p. 202.
  8. ↑ Bruce Spizer: The Beatles Solo on Apple Records. New Orleans: 498 Productions, 2005. p. 22.
  9. ↑ Chart sources: US1 US2