John Lennon & Yoko Ono - Unfinished Music No. 1. Two Virgins (1968)

Year: 11 November 1968 (CD 11 Nov 2016 )
Label: Secretly Canadian Records (US/Europe), SC289/CHIM27
Style: Avant-Garde, Sound Collage
Country: Liverpool, England / Tokyo, Japan
Time: 33:05
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 180 Mb

Oh no! It's Yoko! Part I
The one where John Lennon loses his mind and predicts what Captain Beefheart will sound like to people who don't like Captain Beefheart.
You know, a lot has changed about me and my taste in the four years since I first heard Unfinished Music 1: Two Virgins. For one thing, I've grown accustomed to avant-garde art. I find a lot more to appreciate in music such as this very album, where it clearly isn't conventional music, and many are going to despise its very existence. One thing that hasn't changed, however, is the fact that Two Virgins is STILL a shitty album.
Yeah, I'll admit, I returned to this album hoping I would enjoy it more now that my taste has evolved so much. But having periodically returned to Two Virgins over the years, I can't say I ever grew to love it. And listening to it these past few days in preparation for this Yoko binge, I really can't say any light has been shone on whatever the hell they were trying to do.
Here's the thing; while avant-garde music has this rep that "You don't actually have to do anything that requires actual effort. Just record the beep boop noises of the microwave, just slam a fist on a piano, just scrape scrap metal and call it art," it DOES, in fact, require some thought of what you're doing. As much as the average person wants to believe that Sachiko M or Merzbow or whoever were taking the piss, taking advantage of snobs and whatnot, there is actually a method to the madness. The same cannot be said of John and Yoko's first collaboration.
It's clear that, with Yoko introducing John to avant-garde records, they thought they could make some "high art" themselves. Just dope up on the hallucinogens and fuck around for 30 minutes in their home studio! The result is a wild ride, but one that is perhaps a bit TOO wild. You're left wanting to puke your guts out.
Sure, there's some ideas here. Some INTERESTING ideas, I might add. The field recordings, the Musique concrete near the beginning of side two, but through it all, you have Yoko screaming like the madwoman she is, and John talking in the background in a silly radio host voice, and it really is just them taking the piss.
Two Virgins is John Lennon and Yoko Ono fucking around, having fun, being silly and stupid in the studio. Perhaps the vitriol this album gets is unwarranted, but I can't say this music is good at all. Even as someone who has grown to respect Yoko a lot, this album very much isn't a good introduction to her, and it's no wonder most people turned their backs on her the second John released this.
It's funny; I can't say I like this album, but the bonus track is one I appreciate a lot. Remember Love certainly isn't a groundbreaking track (at least nowhere near as groundbreaking as the main album), and it's pretty conventional 1960s hippie messaging. But it shows Yoko's heart. Through her soft vocals and the simple acoustic in the background, this track comes out of the end of these hellish recording sessions as a nugget of gold. Granted, it's too little too late, not being anything particularly noteworthy, but hey, it's a nice peace from the chaos.
(albumoftheyear.org/user/justsomeguy/album/18566-unfinished-music-no-1-two-virgins/)

01. Two Virgins Side One (14:17)
02. Two Virgins Side Two (14:45)
03. Remember Love (04:03)

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