Yoko Ono

reissues

Two Virgins (Rykodisc)

Life With the Lions (Rykodisc)

Wedding Album (Rykodisc)

Plastic Ono Band (Rykodisc)

Regardless of whether or not Yoko Ono broke up the Fab Four, that's ancient history. Now that Rykodisc is reissuing her back catalog we finally have a chance to consider her art free of the old stigma. Her music couldn't have been as annoying as everyone made it out to be, could it? Well, it all depends on which one of her albums you choose and your tolerance for high-pitched squawking. Her singing was inspired by hetai, a straining vocal performance style used in Kabuki, and the results could be eerily beautiful or more grating than fingernails on a chalkboard. Out of the first four reissues (there are seven more to come), Plastic Ono Band is by far the most accessible. Joined by John Lennon on guitar, Klaus Voorman on bass and Ringo Starr on drums, Yoko emits hypnotic wails over the band's ambling, bluesy accompaniment. It's easy to hear why Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore says she's an influence. The waves of guitar squall and quivering vocal screeches are reminiscent of early Sonic Youth. "AOS" is a rehearsal tape for a 1968 show Ono did with saxophonist Ornette Coleman and their two improvisational styles complement one another well. Other albums don't fare nearly as well. The Wedding Album's first track, "John & Yoko," is little more than John and Yoko cooing each other's names for 22 minutes. Although the reissue includes a few rare B-sides (which weren't on the original version), it hardly makes up for the self-involvement of the rest of the album. Two Virgins is an evening of John and Yoko noodling around at home. You'll hear everything from whirring spaceship sounds to John tossing off one-liners like: "Look who's come over for tea." All of the pretentious artistry then distills into the sweet lullaby "Remember Love" (a bonus track on the reissue). The ditty — reminiscent of Lennon's folky number "Julia" — proves that Ono could sing very sweetly if she wanted. In this context, however, the song is extremely melancholic. It's easy to picture Ono listening to Two Virgins, remembering the night it was recorded and longing for her slain husband. Life With the Lions, recorded in the time of Yoko's miscarriage, has some interesting tracks such as "Baby's Heartbeat," which is a sonogram of her unborn child, and the insipid "No Bed for Beatle John," where John, who was sleeping in the bed next to Yoko in the hospital, had to give up the space for a real patient (oh, the angst). Listening to these albums is kind of like going to see old friends do mediocre performance art: if you get over the fact that it's kind of embarrassing to begin with, there are fun moments to be found.

— Neil Gladstone