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Season of Glass

Yoko Ono - Season of Glass Audio CD

A fair review of the Yoko Ono "Season of Glass" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Yoko Ono reviews here, or go back to the Yoko Ono tabs.

Band: Yoko Ono
Title: Season of Glass
Rating:

Release Date: 1997-08-26
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Goodbye Sadness 2: Mindweaver 3: Even When You're Far Away 4: Nobody Sees Me Like You Do 5: Turn of the Wheel 6: Dogtown 7: Silver Horse 8: I Don't Know Why 9: Extension 10: No, No, No 11: Will You Touch Me 12: She Gets Down on Her Knees 13: Toyboat 14: Mother of the Universe 15: Walking on Thin Ice [*] 16: I Don't Know Why [*]

I Still Own The Vinyl
With the 45 rpm single version of Walking on Thin Ice. I still have the vinyl version of this album. I ran across this album (dating myself) on my Amazon recomendations. I stopped to read the other reviews. The ones rated 4 & 5 stars I have little to add. I, too, was a Yoko fan before she became "the woman who broke up the Beatles. " I owned her book Grapefruit, and actually remember one of her exercises from the book (paraphrasing): Pretend you are a child playing hide and seek. Pretend no one is looking for you.

I own "Two Virgins". I actually like her singing. I hear her influence in the B52s (as did John. ) On December 8, 1980 I was watching Monday Night Football. My friend Lisa and I used to bet, successfully, on football games. I heard, of all people, Howard Cosell announce that John Lennon had been shot. I was devastated. I don't remember who won the game that night, whether I won money or had to pay the bookie. The world stopped.

One afternoon, in the 1970's, I was walking in Central Park, walking from East Side to West, near the carousel. Coming up the same path, West to East, was John & Yoko. It was a brisk Fall day. Heading towards dusk. Like everyone in my generation, the Beatles changed my life. I remember palpatations and thinking, "Do I ask for an autograph? Or do I do what a native New Yorker should do - respect their space?" I decided the latter. I'm sure my face gave my thoughts away because as John & Yoko neared they slowed down, waiting for the inevitable pen and paper. I pulled up alongside them. "Hi, John; hi, Yoko," smiled and kept walking. They both smiled and said "Hi. " We kept walking. New Yorkers all. I will always remember their smiles.

Inside my vinyl album is a greyed letter to Yoko. Expressing my grief, my sympathy to a woman who'd just lost her husband, lost the father of her son, the man who'd just returned to his career with "Double Fantasy". It is a personal, heartfelt letter I never sent. Instead this album said everything and more on the subject of loss. I just put the letter inside the record jacket.

This is a evocative collection of songs, poetry, about dealing with loss and anger and grief and love. Walking on Thin Ice is a brilliant song, right on the cutting edge of the punk revolution sitting on the high wire of new wave and disco. It was revolutionary, and had it come just a little earlier could've done for Yoko what "Broken English" did for Marianne Faithfull. Her break through moment. This album was the breakout work John felt was finally her moment. Instead, tragedy.

Ignore the one star reviews. By now you know Yoko's eclectic style. You either like it or you don't. I think the oddest, and most ridiculous, comments are the ones suggesting she doesn't have a right to include gun shots, doesn't have the right to put her husband's glasses on the cover. It reminds me of the comment Pete Townshend has made about the losses of Jimi, Janis, and Keith: "They may be YOUR rock stars. But they were my FRIENDS. " Those glasses belonged to her murdered husband. She has the right to do whatever she wants with them, and sing whatever she wants to sing.

John & Yoko courted in public. Married in public. Had to put up with the entire world commenting on their relationship. Their ups & downs were public. That Yoko would choose to document her very private feelings in this public arena is an extension of that invasion of privacy that they put up with for years. Her effort is nothing less than courageous and brave. That she did so in such a touching, heart breaking, effective manner is art.

Like the service she requested in John's memory, worldwide, 10 minutes of silence, it's quiet and powerful. I initially didn't want to go to that memorial in Central Park. At the last minute I jumped on the subway and just made it as "Imagine" was ending, and the silence began. I remember hearing the news copters above the park. In the middle of New York City, no noise. Peace and tears. This album opens up a floodgate of memories for me. Sad, but fond.

If you have an open mind, know what it's like to lose someone you love, or have a will to survive, give this album it's due. Every day I'm still glad I never asked for that autograph. It's a New York thing. .

what makes a true artist?
But what she has lastingly taught us is that real art demands the ignoring of the barriers of polite convention or the seductive lure of sensationalism in order to allow the artist's most vulnerable, raw and instinctive feelings to stand naked and exposed. Yoko Ono has been in our consciousness for decades, seen in many lights even though she was overshadowed by her husband's notoriety and shocking death. The genuine artist must have the ability to do this along with the skills to transmit these feelings to listeners and viewers. This album has, from its first days, helped us to understand more about John Lennon's private life and the effect of his heart-breaking death than all the words of the writers and critics. It has been, and remains, a vibrant and unceasingly touching picture of what real love looks like ("no-one can see me like you do-o-o, no-one can see you like I do-o-o"), and why these two cultural icons remained flesh and blood as well for us, through all these years. Yoko holds nothing back, knowing that there will be those who find shards of the broken glass and proclaim the whole enterprise profane. She trusts us to ignore all that and to connect directly with her heart, which is so brilliantly exposed. An admirable artist and an admirable woman. Open your heart to her messages.

Yoko for any season *****
YES to Yoko. This just an amazing album that touchs so many places/feelings-it's a wow what happened.

The Adventures of Yoko Ono and her Five Star Album
How this CD has escaped the glance of even the most literate critic is beyond me, and listening to this now, more than 25 years after its' release, it is both poignant and timeless - hallmarks of a true classic. The beauty of "Season Of Glass" is perceived by few, and appreciated by fewer.

Sure, there will always be people who scoff at a Yoko Ono record. This was a woman who was repeatedly blamed for the breakup of The Beatles, and had at the time attracted so much negative press. No one bothers anymore to think of the amazing career Yoko had even before she met John (check out her book "Grapefruit" - it will blow your mind with its' experimental take on creating your own art). Musically, Yoko Ono is decidedly an acquired taste. Glance through the many reviews littering this page and you will find little love for her.

The fact is, "Season of Glass" is a masterpiece. Released just four months after Yoko witnessed the murder of her husband John Lennon, it is a living document of a womans' hell. Perhaps hell is a crude word to use, but it does take you inside the mind of a woman who is in mourning. There is one track that was recorded a few hours after John was killed, and to listen to Yoko struggling to finish it is quite a moving experience.

To me, the most moving song here is "Toyboat". A simple Japanese nursery-rhyme feel envelops the entire track. Its one of those singalong ditties that you can't help but get addicted to. "Toyboat" was recently remixed for Yoko's 2007 album "Yes, I'm A Witch", and she only bettered it there. Here, in its' stark, pure form, its a track to love and gloat about.

Equally beautiful, but far more interesting, is the track "Nobody Sees me Like you Do". This track follows the same meter and structure as "What a Bastard the World Is" from Ono's "Approximately Infinite Universe" album. What a melody! How is it that this song isn't being more revered, or even covered in todays' dismal musical arena? Its original songs such as these that set Ono apart.

For decades, Ono was thought of as 'that screaming woman' who just taped herself screaming, and set it to awful feedback, and then release it on CD. Well, to be honest, her CD "Fly" did have some of these 'unlistenable' moments, but you have to remember that this is her most stripped down, and 'acoustic' sounding album ever. It chronicles her life after Johns' death, and tells us so much about who Yoko really is.

The album cover alone will make you think. Controversial at the time, it shows John Lennon's blood stained spectacles set against the window of their New York highrise apartment. Ono was accused of being a sellout and not respectful of her husbands' demise. Looking at it now, I can only see this as Yoko's statement of both bravery and misery. Saying - this is what I had to deal with, and I won't forget it. In fact, I consider this albums' cover to possibly be the greatest album cover of all time (challenged only by the cover of "In the Aeroplane over the Sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel).

Heres the thing - Yoko Ono will never find a huge audience. But there is something to mystical and spiritual about this woman, that I've always been drawn to her message and her music, even though she may not have the best voice. But thats what I love about her. Listening to her wail out of tune on record may not be everyones' cup of tea, but I certainly love it. In fact, I think her songs have always been WAY ahead of their time, and very, very few people 'get' her music.

I invite you to be part of the Yoko Ono experience and buy this album. As her most acoustic album, its the best starting place. After this, you should get "Approximately Infinite Universe" and then "Yes, I'm a Witch". All of them are underrated classics of their genre, and even though humanity in general may not pay Yoko Ono the respect she deserves, I can certainly see her as a pioneer of modern art and music, and she'll always have my respect and admiration.

Five Stars. .

I Beg To Differ
Imagine was written and recorded in England well before the Lennons moved into the Dakota in NYC, so John could not have been sitting at his white piano inside the Dakota looking out over Central Park and composing Imagine. Whoever wrote the editorial review for this album REALLY needs to get their facts straight. Nice thought, though.

As far as the album goes, it's bearable. When I try to take the vocals out of the mix and listen to John and Ringo (and Klaus Voorman) laying down the groove musically, I can appreciate it. I mean, after all, you have half the Beatles playing together on record! .

You can see a complete list of all Yoko Ono discography, or go back to the Yoko Ono tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.