Even When You're Far Away:Yoko Ono

Artist: Yoko Ono

Genre: Retro-Futuristic Jazz Pop

Appears On: Season of Glass

Appears On (Mixes): Thirteen Ugly Children Roll Gutterballs

Song Notes: I've often said that Yoko Ono is often slagged by people who haven't actually listened to the records. (Hell, even when Rykodisc put out the Onobox -- something I've been trying to find for a while now, actually -- the slogan was "Not as bad as you might think!" which is true... but neglects to mention that it's actually good.) There's a quote from John Lennon that seems to sum it up: "Yoko is the most famous unknown artist in the world. Everyone knows who she is, but nobody knows what she does." And this is only a small slab of what she's done (art installations; films; etc.) -- some of her pop music work.

The first Yoko Ono song I actually sat down to listen to was "O'Oh" (from the Onobox), and I was blown away by how... beautiful it was, honestly. I put it on the first Mix CD I compiled, just so people could hear it -- hopefully without preconceived notions. I've played it for people since and the reaction when I tell them who it is is "THAT'S Yoko Ono?!" Mainly because people tend to think of Yoko's singing as the "EEEEAAAHGGGGHAHAHAHAHAH" type stuff (exemplified by the Barenaked Ladies' "Be My Yoko Ono"), but, well -- she didn't do that very much. There's a little bit of that in her oeuvre, but not even remotely as much as people seem to think. And, you know what? When she DOES do that sorta thing -- it actually WORKS in the recording.

Anyway, though, since "O'Oh" was on the mix CD, I chose not to post that one again, and wanted to share some new tracks. All four of these can be found on the Onobox-distillate-of-sorts, Walking On Thin Ice. "Even When You're Far Away" was on Season of Glass originally, "Kiss Kiss Kiss" was on Double Fantasy (recorded with her husband), and both "Death of Samantha" and "Kite Song" were on Approximately Infinite Universe. I know you might be skeptical, but download and listen before making a judgment call; I'm pretty sure these won't be quite what you're expecting -- they really are quite ahead of their time. (When I played "O'Oh" for my friend Ben the other day, he mentioned that it didn't sound at all like it had been recorded in 1973, instead sounding like it had been recorded by a group like Pizzicato 5 with their retro-futuristic bent. )

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