Search - Yoko Ono :: Approximately Infinite Universe

Whammo blammo womyn's lib

Van Halen Kurtz | Twin Oaks | 09/13/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Hey, remember that 13-year-old boy wearing a custom-printed YOKO ONO sweatshirt to 8th grade class (Lindbergh Middle School) in 1973? The weirdo kid who liked Yoko better than John? That was me, and no surprise I turned out transgendered.



Admittedly, none of AIU's long set list has the succinctness and vigor of "Woman Power" (Ono's final Apple 45, culled from the subsequent FTS album), nor does the J+Y production here come close to Spector's polished muscle on "We're All Water" (from STINYC) - but! - no doubt Elephant's Memory was THE band for Ono. Not only do they rock like they wanna rock the world (especially hotshot lead guitarist Wayne Gabriel) but, unlike ALL other Ono sessions, they keep her in pitch throughout.



Here are some of the hardest feminist anthems, ever. "YangYang" and "What A Bastard The World Is" still throw further than DiFranco, Amos or Hole. What a rip these two arresting ditties are never covered by the remix&mash trendies. "I Felt Like Smashing My Face In A Clear Glass Window" gives quintessential teen angst a Springsteenian grandeur. "What Did I Do" is avant-boogie and, certainly, "Death of Samantha" deserves its epic place in the Ono canon. Simultaneously fire-breathing, girlishly vulnerable, comic and desperate, NOBODY in showbiz communicates as loud & clear like this lady.



One of the greats.



Oh, yeh ... little 'ol organic tranny me ... was in a "technogrunge" band, back in the early 90s, and performed a Yoko Ono tribute set at CBGB's, amongst other East Coast venues. I, the "singer," dyed my hair black and dressed, enfemme, as YO. Top that, Thurston."

The Definitive Yoko Ono : Her Best Album

Cabir Davis | 11/22/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"My Dad had this back in the day, so I've sort of grown up listening to it. But listening to it today, its incredible that she got away with these lyrics. Most of them are hard hitting feminist rants, but quite poignant as well. I take it that even if you're not a feminist, you would enjoy the classic "What a Bastard the World is", a sprawling epic track that shuffles between orchestral and punk-rock. Simply amazing.



"Approximately Infinite Universe" is also one of the records where Yoko Ono let her voice and acoustic sensibilities shine more than on her other albums. Listen to this, then listen to "Fly". This is obviously so much more accomplished, and more cohesive as a body of work.



Prime reason is the music. Yoko traded in her screeching and feedback-loving self for something far more primal and stripped down, and it worked. What also worked were the song selections and transitions. The multiple genres within songs make this a very diverse recording, and yes, even though its on 2 CDs, its not overlong or boring - in fact, my respect for this increases each time I listen to it.



By far Yoko's best album - the only competition it has is her own 1981 release "Season of Glass", and her 2007 release "Yes, I'm A Witch"."

Falling in Love with Yoko All Over Again

Brian Covert | 12/22/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In the 1980s, young (mostly white) college-age kids in the West prided themselves on having "discovered" a cool, hip kind of music they called "New Wave," a more commercialized offshoot of punk rock. The only thing was, this so-called "New Wave" was really an old wave that had been pioneered some years before in great part by an avante-garde performance artist who was a person of color and a woman. Yes, it was Yoko Ono.



This double record, "Approximately Infinite Universe", has little of the avante-garde screeching and wailing style for which Yoko was known in musical and performance art circles at the time (including on "Some Time in New York City", the album which she recorded just before this one with her partner, John Lennon). What "Approximately Infinite Universe" does showcase is Yoko's delving into more mainstream pop-rock styles, and she handles the transition well. This album is a brilliant record of an artist who was then at the top of her game in the early 1970s.



The backup band that Yoko and John used during that period, the New York-based Elephant's Memory band, kicks ass throughout this album, especially on driving numbers like "Yang Yang", "Kite Song", "What Did I Do!" and "Move On Fast". Yoko's occasional anti-male/pro-feminist rants on the album are guaranteed to both repel and attract listeners, but at least she had the guts to speak her mind and was not afraid to hit where it hurt: On the taunting tune "What a Mess", for example, she sings: "If you keep hammering anti-abortion / we'll tell you no more masturbation for men...So how do you feel about that, brother?" But to balance things out, she does show her more gentle side toward men on songs like "I Want My Love to Rest Tonight" and "Winter Song", as well as on the melancholy "Song For John", featuring very Japanese-sounding piano work.



On the acoustic ballad "Now or Never", Yoko does her best Bob Dylan impersonation when she sings: "Are we gonna / keep sending our youths to war?...People of America / when will we stop?" The Vietnam War, obviously, was on her mind but this song could well have been written today. My favorite lines by Yoko also come from this song: "Dream you dream alone is only a dream / but dream we dream together is reality". John Lennon would cite these very same lines in the famous Playboy magazine interview done just before his death in 1980.



The title track, "Approximately Infinite Universe", is by far my favorite on this album, with its haunting guitar work and sweeping strings propelled by a strong, marching-style drum beat and Jim Pepper-style saxophone phrasing. Yoko explained in the album's liner notes at the time how the title of this song came from a conversational mind-game that she and John had played on the topic of (quote-unquote) "astral identity". I also really like the photos in the album jacket of Yoko and John strolling arm in arm on the New York City waterfront in the early 1970s.



The lyrics on this CD are pure Yoko throughout, and oftentimes the great music on the album doesn't seem to quite fit Yoko's lyrics, which can get corny and abstract at times. Also, Yoko seems to be slightly off-rhythm in several songs -- but then again, that was probably her style, given her avante-garde background. The only song in which Yoko does her famous vocal acrobatics is on the song "Is Winter Here to Stay?", a bluesy number, but even then you get the feeling she is really holding herself back for fear of stepping outside the mainstream pop-rock boundaries she carefully set for recording this particular album.



I had always liked Yoko Ono as an outspoken artist who was never afraid to live her art to the fullest and express her views on various issues affecting the world, but listening to this album "Approximately Infinite Universe", I fell in love with Yoko all over again. By all means, check out this pioneering work by a woman of color who was at the top of her game some 35 years ago -- and who would have a clear influence on the so-called New Wave music "boom" that had western white kids all excited just a few years later."