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Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band
Studio album by Yoko Ono
Released	11 December 1970
Recorded	October 1970
Genre	Avant-garde, Experimental, Rock
Length	40:29
Label	Apple
Producer	John Lennon and Yoko Ono
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Rolling Stone (somewhat favourable) link
Yoko Ono chronology
Live Peace In Toronto 1969 (1969) Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band (1970) Fly (1971)

Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band is the avant-garde debut album by Yoko Ono, which came after recording three experimental releases with John Lennon and a live album as a member of the Plastic Ono Band. With the exception of one track (recorded with Ornette Coleman), the entire album emerged from one raw and cacophonous freeform session when, improvising throughout, Ono develops and pushes to extremes her characteristic trademark, a strained vocal style derived from Japanese hetai, a vocal technique used in Kabuki performances.

It was recorded simultaneously with her husband's John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band at Ascot Sound Studios and Abbey Road Studios using the same musicians and production team.

Initially on Apple Records, through EMI, Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band was released to considerable critical disdain in 1970, at a time when Ono was being widely blamed for the break-up of The Beatles. Notable exceptions were the estimations of Billboard who called it 'visionary' and critic Lester Bangs who supported it in Rolling Stone. More recently, the album has been credited (like those of The Velvet Underground) with having an influence, particularly on musicians, grossly disproportionate to its sales and visibility. Critic David Browne of Entertainment Weekly, has credited the album with "launching a hundred or more female alternative rockers, like Kate Pierson of the B-52s to current thrashers like L7 and Courtney Love of Hole."

Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band failed to chart in the UK but reached #182 in the US. The album was reissued on CD by Rykodisc in 1997 with three bonus tracks from the era, and an "LP replica" special edition was issued by V2 Records in Japan in 2007.

Cover Artwork

The covers of both Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band and John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band albums are nearly identical; Lennon pointed out the difference in their 1980 Playboy interview. ("In Yoko's, she's leaning back on me; in mine, I'm leaning on her.") Both photos were taken with a consumer-grade Instamatic camera on the grounds of Tittenhurst Park (their home at the time) by actor Daniel Richter (as listed in the album's credits) who worked as an assistant for the Lennons at the time.

Track listing

All songs by Yoko Ono.

Side one

1. "Why" – 5:37
   • An edited version became the B-side to Lennon's single "Mother"
2. "Why Not" – 9:55
   • Excerpted in a 1980 RKO Radio tribute, featuring Lennon's last recorded interview
3. "Greenfield Morning I Pushed an Empty Baby Carriage All Over the City" – 5:38
   • The title and lyrics come from Ono's book Grapefruit

Side two

1. "AOS" – 7:06
   • Featuring Ornette Coleman, recorded on 29 February 1968, predating the rest of the material
2. "Touch Me" – 4:37
   • Also selected as a B-side, to "Power to the People", replacing Ono's "Open Your Box" for the US market
3. "Paper Shoes" – 7:26
   • Referenced by Lennon during the 1980 RKO interview

Bonus tracks

7. "Open Your Box" - 7:35
   
8. "Something More Abstract" - 0:44
   
9. "The South Wind" - 16:38

Personnel

• Vocals - Yoko Ono
• Guitar - John Lennon
• Drums - Ringo Starr
• Bass - Klaus Voormann
• Engineers - Phil McDonald and John Leckie.

On "AOS"

• Trumpet - Ornette Coleman
• Drums - Edward Blackwell
• Bass - David Izenzon, Charles Haden