Enrichment.
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Artist:
Okay, friends, it's time for me to talk about some music I love.
Yes, kids, it's time for some Difficult Mogging. Do you recognize that face? It was once a face more hated than loved or even liked, and it probably still is. I have been listening to Yoko Ono for years, and I prefer her albums Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band and Fly to any Beatles record, or any solo Beatle's record. It's just how my tastes have developed. (Of course, Lennon plays an integral role in both of the albums; on Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band, they duet, John's guitar and Yoko's voice.) I always liked her songs on Double Fantasy, but it really started by my being astounded by her voice and artfulness on those early records. Then I discovered that her album Rising and the companion Rising Mixes (feat. Ween laying down some StallionfunkTM, and Thurston Moore mixing hundreds of Japanese noise tapes as the background for Yoko's ululations) are both really damn cool ... and her '01 Blueprint for a Sunrise ain't too shabby either. Then she went to the backburner for some time.Some weeks ago, though, I picked up a tape called Walking on Thin Ice, a compilation of her less-inaccessible pop material from the '70s and '80s. There are some great songs on that tape. Of course "Walking on Thin Ice" (the last song John ever recorded; he was tracking it the day he was shot) is wonderful, an edgy single, 1980 NY dance-floor bass and percussion injected with a reggae inflection and her piercing vocals. But I also love the numbers from Approximately Infinite Universe, the double-album from 1973 (one of two Yoko releases from that year). "Death of Samantha" is a slow-burning soul, and it took me about halfway through the song to realize that the refrain is genius: "People say I'm cool/ Yeah, I'm a cool chick, baby/ Every day I thank God/ that I'm such a cool chick, baby..." And even "Woman Power" from Feeling the Space (the other 1973 album) is damn cool. I'm a little skeptical about the records she did in the '80s, but that applies to so many people, you know? (It's often true that, as an artist of the last 40 years, you either define yourself by the '80s or you get lost in 'em...)I can't even talk about her visual art here (there's even more to say about that), but it makes her music make even more sense, and I love it. I got to see her Yes Yoko Ono exhibit at SFMOMA a few years ago and I was a changed man.So, I figured this is as good a test as any to see if MOG is a truly understanding community. I'm getting into Yoko's music again, and more so this time. We can still get along, right?
Yes, kids, it's time for some Difficult Mogging. Do you recognize that face? It was once a face more hated than loved or even liked, and it probably still is. I have been listening to Yoko Ono for years, and I prefer her albums Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band and Fly to any Beatles record, or any solo Beatle's record. It's just how my tastes have developed. (Of course, Lennon plays an integral role in both of the albums; on Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band, they duet, John's guitar and Yoko's voice.) I always liked her songs on Double Fantasy, but it really started by my being astounded by her voice and artfulness on those early records. Then I discovered that her album Rising and the companion Rising Mixes (feat. Ween laying down some StallionfunkTM, and Thurston Moore mixing hundreds of Japanese noise tapes as the background for Yoko's ululations) are both really damn cool ... and her '01 Blueprint for a Sunrise ain't too shabby either. Then she went to the backburner for some time.Some weeks ago, though, I picked up a tape called Walking on Thin Ice, a compilation of her less-inaccessible pop material from the '70s and '80s. There are some great songs on that tape. Of course "Walking on Thin Ice" (the last song John ever recorded; he was tracking it the day he was shot) is wonderful, an edgy single, 1980 NY dance-floor bass and percussion injected with a reggae inflection and her piercing vocals. But I also love the numbers from Approximately Infinite Universe, the double-album from 1973 (one of two Yoko releases from that year). "Death of Samantha" is a slow-burning soul, and it took me about halfway through the song to realize that the refrain is genius: "People say I'm cool/ Yeah, I'm a cool chick, baby/ Every day I thank God/ that I'm such a cool chick, baby..." And even "Woman Power" from Feeling the Space (the other 1973 album) is damn cool. I'm a little skeptical about the records she did in the '80s, but that applies to so many people, you know? (It's often true that, as an artist of the last 40 years, you either define yourself by the '80s or you get lost in 'em...)I can't even talk about her visual art here (there's even more to say about that), but it makes her music make even more sense, and I love it. I got to see her Yes Yoko Ono exhibit at SFMOMA a few years ago and I was a changed man.So, I figured this is as good a test as any to see if MOG is a truly understanding community. I'm getting into Yoko's music again, and more so this time. We can still get along, right?
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