Album Flashback #5: Yoko One + Plastic Ono Band - Between My Head and the Sky
Say what
you will about Yoko Ono, but as an artist she has definitely been doing what we
now know as modern art for many years, and listening to this eclectic album of
art music, you can definitely imagine the birthing of this to be conceptually
similar to an exhibition.
Of course, like any album it has its quiet moments and extremely
loud moments, but they feel not like a studio session but a serious of aural
brushstrokes added to an increasingly diverse sonic canvas that knows no bounds
it seems. Everything from heavy rock, dance, acid jazz, drum and bass, beat
poetry and many more mix together here to make an album that is truly worth
listening to if you can get past its experimental leanings which may put many
off this album when it really is depriving your ears of some very good music.
But is it any good you ask? As A fan of avant garde music and art
rock in general I can easily sit down with my food and openly accept this piece
of art with the greatest of ease. But the greatest thing about Between My Head
And The Sky is not it's undeniably avant garde credentials but the way it
sounds so modern it's almost too in your face.
The production courtesy of Ono
and Sean Lennon is nothing short of brilliantly inspired and never seems to
lose any steam as concept albums often do. The best moments are the overly arty
parts where the album really starts to live up to its bizarre description of
classical/punk afforded it by a certain well known application on various
computers across the world. Put another way, this album is so hard to pin down
the genre is simply Yoko Ono.
And if I can't seem to describe the albums greatness is any
plausible sense, it's because this album is an unabashed art project that
contains so much inspiration it's hard to describe. There is so much of its
sonic landscape to take in that you have to simply listen and try to enjoy.
There is a kind of undefined "cool" or "class" to this
album that is undeniable in its presence.
The screams, wails and electronic assaults
on our ears are never obtrusive or distasteful; they are on first listen almost
hilarious, bizarre even. And that's what makes this album great. You could play
it to any number of people and every reaction will be different, some will
praise the artiness, others will say that it's self indulgent nonsense from an
artist who polarises opinions like almost no other.
All I know, it's great in its earth bound sentiment and even
greater in its experimentation. Listen at your own peril - you may be forced to
change your mind about this artist.
Written by Culture Agent #1