Monday, February 11, 2013

Yoko Ono: "Milk Bottle in a Blanket of Snow (Aerial View)"

Her first artistic breakthrough (1961).


No wonder John fell in love with her.

14 comments:

buzzbabyjesus said...

The first three letters of Conceptual are C-O-N. Yoko is, if nothing else, a con artist who would have rightfully remained unknown if it weren't for her single minded pursuit of John, who was an unhappy drug addict stuck in a marriage he was ill-equipped for. One listen to her recent collaboration with Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon will verify her lack of actual talent.

If not for her, the Beatles likely would have squeezed out at least one more album. Which, based on the evidence of their respective solo albums, would have been a good one.

Here is a tantalizing glimpse, in a rough run-through of "All Things Must Pass" from the "Black Album".
You can hear a little Beatles magic when their voices come together, a quality missing from George's finished version.

http://alanwalkerart.com/audio/all_things_must_pass.mp3


steve simels said...

To be fair, the picture I posted isn't really real -- it's from Mark Shipper's hilarious PAPERBACK WRITER. Which is to say this is a Yoko parody.

How accurate and deserved I will leave for others to argue.
:-)

steve simels said...

Incidentally, my favorite Thurston Moore story is from when he recreated early Beatles songs as part of the band on the soundtrack to the Beatles in Hamburg bio-pic BACKBEAT.

He told producer Don Was that it was the first time in his life he'd played the guitar in standard tuning.

Gummo said...

Mrs. Gummo used to be a Yoko defender until I got hold of a DVD of Let It Be outtakes -- in one scene, the band is in the studio, desperately trying to come up with some inspiration, and she's literally getting in everyone's way. Her obliviousness to what's going on around her is breathtaking.

That said, Lennon's insistence on foisting her upon the band, including making sure she sat in the studio proper when they were trying to work, and even encouraging her to "jam" with the band, just speaks to me of an angry passive-aggressive little shit who used Yoko's incredibly high annoyance factor to his own ends.

buzzbabyjesus said...

I should have recognized the image from "Paperback Writer", but I've moved too many times and no longer have a copy. You might be the reason I read it in the first place.

Brooklyn Girl said...

I agree with Gummo. John admired con artists, and that's what she excelled at. She had no business being in the studio, and he did that just to fuck with them, imho.

Jai Guru Dave said...

Just listened to that clip of "All Things Must Pass" How did they not develop that and put it on the album??? It is so obviously a gem! I can really see how frustrated George must have been.

buzzbabyjesus said...

That is probably the only worthwhile bit of music I can find from "The Black Album", which is audio from the cameras shooting non-stop at Twickenham studios, an experience they all hated. Just to illustrate how bad things got here's the imfamous "No Pakistanis"

http://alanwalkerart.com/audio/no_pakistanis.mp3

Shortly afterwards they moved to the Apple basement and worked on what would turn out to be "Let It Be".

MJConroy said...

Quoting the Barenaked Ladies:
"But I don't like all these people
Slagging her
For breaking up the Beatles.
(don't blame it on Yokey)
If I were John and you were Yoko,
I would gladly give up musical
Genius
Just to have my own
Personal Venus."

Ha!

buzzbabyjesus said...

When Aunt Mimi first met Yoko,
she said,
"Who's the poison dwarf, John?"

I'm not making this up.

Gummo said...

Mimi had all her marbles.

dSmith said...

She got him off heroin, there's that. But she is a no talent pseud.

Hannes A. Jónsson said...

Reportedly, Saint John, upon hearing the news of Elvis Presley's death, responded with this infamous quip: "Elvis died the day he joined the army".
An unknown philosopher, upon hearing the news of of John Lennon' death, responded with: "John died the day he met Yoko Ono".

Anonymous said...

yeah, Thurston "Howell the III" Moore is so hip he NEVER TUNES HIS GUITAR THE REAL WAY!

(Blush) My hero.....!