Customer Reviews

Fly (2cd Slim)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

Sometimes I think, "I just want to talk to someone who appreciates this." And then I get the mental reply that most people would give me: "Sorry, Lennon's dead." Many of the reviews I find hear support this claim. People seem to hold an awful lot of animosity towards Ms. Ono and her work. Maybe it's because, like one said, they've got this vengeance complex against her for "breaking up the Beatles." Or maybe it's something more innocent like not appreciating the avant garde or experimental (which I completely understand). I'd like now to lend a voice to the minority group of those in favor: This record and YOKO ONO/PLASTIC ONO BAND are unadulterated masterpieces to my ears. Ono and Lennon brought out the best in each other on these records. This stuff never gets tiresome to me. At the end of it all, I will have listened to these more often than I will have listened to IMAGINE and RUBBER SOUL combined. Wonderful. And I have no shame in saying I think so.

Disc one is less interesting to me than disc two. I can see why "Midsummer New York" has been well received. However, except for his 1969's Session Album, I can't listen to Elvis hound dog type music. It's not a bad song but I don't like the beat. Track three "Mind Holes" is good but way too short. This is of the same calibre as anything else on "Plastic Ono Band". I find it soothing and stimulating. "Mrs. Lennon" is my favorite track on disc one. I very much like this "Yoko". She's tender and intelligent. "Toilet Piece" is a royal flush! great fun. "O Wind (Body Is The Scar Of Your Mind)" is the third song on disc one that I especially enjoy. I can meditate to the drums and voice. The slight variations throughout keeps the song interesting for me. Disc two starts out with "Airmale" from Lennon's film "Erection". This is perhaps the centerpiece, for me, of this two disc collection. It's long, and probably far too long for most people, but it keeps my interest throughout. It's a strange, magical journey into.... It has a sense of purpose, and the chimes are wonderful. "Don't Count The Waves" some of Yoko's music ventures are pure think pieces. I classify this one as one of those. Hypnotic! "You" reminds me of "Why" from POB. Very different for sure, but I find it to be the "yin" to "Why"'s yang. "Fly" is the primal "yelp" that preceeded her heavy "Rising" cd. Very long. Sometimes too long. But it makes sense to me. The gutteral noises of the body, the brain, the vocals, the lungs, everything is explored and chokes and splurts all over you and everyone else in the way. "Telephone Piece" is the royal ring. Have a sense of humor and enjoy the idea here. Bonus tracks: "Between The Takes" could have been an outtake from POB. OK. "Will You Touch Me" the lyrics could have been on Lennon's POB. Lyrics much better than the melody.

This is an epic masterpiece from Yoko. There are many brilliant (and yes, I mean brilliant) songs here. Mrs. Lennon is achingly beautiful. I really like Mindtrain, presented here in its original 16 minute version (the box set Onobox has a single length edit). The rock and roll insanity of Don't Worry, Kyoko is incredibly intense. The musicians rock like hell, and Yoko sings with a feverish passion. Airmale is an eerie song, reminiscent of Brian Eno's ambient work. You is another great track. The only track that should be avoided is the title one. It runs 22:53, and it is not an interesting 22:53. The album is the best example of her "avant-garde" work (as narrow minded critics put it; they have to label EVERYTHING), and it's one of her best albums ever. Originally a double album when it was released, it has withstood the test of time, and it's the album of hers I revisit the most. I have a ton of Yoko's albums (including Onobox, Season of Glass, It's Alright, Fly, Plastic Ono Band, Rising, and her colloborations with John, Sometime in NYC, Two Virgins, Life with the Lions, Double Fantasy, Milk and Honey), and I am not ashamed of saying I think she's f^%%ing brilliant.

Yoko performed some of the most lascerating electric guitar solos of all time, on this disc. Only she did them with HER VOICE!!! Half the songs are meditatives, dusky, gems, and the other are death metal/funk blitzkriegs. Some of John's best guitarwerk can be found here, along with Clapton, and Ringo. If Yoko is a witch like so many halfwits portend, then "FLY" is her pox on all their little houses.

What was so astonishing with the Yoko Ono/PLastic Ono band release of the same name, which came in 1970, was how it fused wild, often improvised jams with primal vocal performance and ambient soundscapes. And to top it off, free-jazz of the most untempered sort performed by Avant-jazz guru Ornette Coleman. So, when this 2 LP set was released in 1971, what had changed? Thruth to tell, the album does not unleash the full range of manic energy as did POB, but it is more varied and- in its own right - more adventurous. Despite the pretentions of the opening rock number "midsummer New York" & the lovely, doomed love ballad "Mrs. Lennon", the rough edges of such cliffhanger escapades as "Don't worry Kyoko" & "Hirake", are never smoothened out. The second disc contains over fifty minutes of Yoko's instrumental experimentations, which owe even less to rock&roll than the material on the first disc. Despite continuous variation! s, the instrumentals and vocal improvisations ultimately start to wear just a tad thin, but then again Lou Reed did incomparably worse when attempting noise experimentation on the trite "metal machine music". Few artist's would probably succeed as well with this feet as does Yoko, and the spirit of this epic album continues to inspire to this day.

By the time "Fly" was released, Yoko had long been associate with negativity in many people's minds. Well, it's their loss. Though Ono would release 2 more solo albums ("Feeling the Space," "Approximately Infinite Universe"), and one more "John and Yoko" album ("Some Time in New York City,") this would be her final great album until the 80's, if not her greatest.
The album is quite different than "Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band," her other great 70's album: while that record, being a product of scream therapy, was angry and loud, "Fly" is more mixed, with much of the album devoted to quiet, medative tracks.
The first record of the two-record set is collected much more like a traditional album. Included are pop/rock numbers, Ono style vocalizations, and aural art. Yoko contributes two of her most classic numbers, the haunting "Mrs. Lennon," and the rocky "Don't Worry, Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking for her Hand in the Snow"). The avant numbers are just as fulfilling as the pop numbers, and are excellent. This is an album in the sense that there are seperate, recognizable songs, while the second record is quite different.
The second, in fact, takes the feel of a symphony: there are 5 tracks, the final being a piece of aural art: so, in reality, there are 4 movements: "Airmale," "Don't Count the Waves," "You," and the sprawling "Fly." The track dissapear: instead is a 35 minute rambling piece of music, with its own feel, its own logic, and its own beauty.
In fact, that's an excellent way to define this record: "Fly" follows its own logic, produces its own beauty, and embodies the listener with its own magic.

I will elaborate. The music contained on this album is not for the majority of the population. That much is clear. However, the music is a raw distillation of the essence of Yoko Ono and her husband John. Both individuals seemed unafraid of the consequences of releasing music unenjoyable for the majority. It was evident that John had been pushing the boundaries of music through the evolution of the Beatles. Also, it is apparent to me after reading many user comments and reviews of this album I found that most people despise the music's uniqeness and avant-garde aspects. Furthermore, their disapproval of the music inhibits unwarranted slander of the artist. It is ignorant to wrongly slander a musician with hateful words for expressing his or herself unaldulterated. It seems evident that the essence that flew through John and Yoko that happens to be trapped physically in the grooves of this recording generated the same sort of hateful insults from people when it was applied to politics rather than music. The tangent is obvious to me, perhaps not to everyone else. Both the music and the politics of these two lovers were considered avant-garde by the general populace and their reception of the man and the music, which is apparent on this site, is of unacceptance and slanderous hate. Why is it that when something is avant-garde or outside of normalcy do people fear it and in turn reject it with violence or persecution?? John is dead because he spoke his mind and purposed a planet without hate, without war, where man questions normalcy and constantly evolves through the acceptance of new ideas and the avant-garde. Why not leave Yoko alone and accept that her music is a transmission of raw spiritual peace many of us will never feel inside. The music is an expression of a reality that exists in the shadows of our souls but the majority of us fear to embrace. The Beatles were going to break up regardless of Yoko. And if you disrespect Yoko Ono because of her personality rather than her music, I ask you this, if Paul was so in love with Linda, why has he been such a man whore since? Why has Paul manipulated the Beatles music so in turn he could profit the most? Yoko Ono should be given respect alone for attempting to preserve the integrity of the Beatles music rather than allowing it to become a commodity. When the majority can listen to an unusual album such as this (or any other Yoko Ono record for that matter) and review it with intellectual discussion rather than prejudice and hate than perhaps the world will begin to resemble that which John and Yoko imagined.

If you judge an album or a singer for what they aren't trying to be, without even trying to look into their intent, you're missing out on alot and misleading alot of people...
There are many mistaken ideas of Yoko, and if you don't like her, I suggest you look a little closer.
I've said it before in another review, and now, having said it twice, I'm not even gonna act as if I care those silly opinions exist;)
This is a beautiful, groovy, exciting, revolutionary, and completely beautiful album, to name a few words...
Yoko's interesting vocal techniques are not annoying to me at all, but fascinate me, as she blends herself,...her sounds...and her words with her otherworldly arrangements...she has an explanation of the her original ideas that inspired her to do this album.
It is a two CD set with many classics...there isn't a bad song on here...
From the blues-tribute of "Midsummer New York" to one of my alltime favourites "Don't Worry Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking For Her Hand In The Snow"...to the fun and amusing interludes...to the long and involved title track, which was the soundtrack to an interesting concept-art-piece film...to the bonus tracks and beyond...there's something that you will love if you only let your mind free...
Buy this album now and be happy with your purchase!:)

This album has a bit of every type of Yoko song on it (a pattern she continued in most following albums) It's a good starting album for new Yoko fans curious about all the types of music Yoko did in the past.

You know, certain artists tend to bring out the devil's advocate in me, and Yoko Ono certainly qualifies on that count. Most people's perception of Yoko as a musician/artist runs a very small gamut from bemusement to outright hostility...most people in my experience identify her with her trademark howling and screaming and mistakenly think that is all there is. I find myself having to defend her artistry at odd times, and 1972's Approximately Infinite Universe and this one are useful in proving my point-which is not to say that Fly, the album in question, is any sort of masterpiece; I find disc two almost completely unlistenable and disc one is at times overlong and self-indulgent. But the good stuff on disc one is very good indeed. "Midsummer New York" and "Mindtrain" choogle along with that great old Lennon/Voorman/Ringo late 60's-early 70's Beatle sound that I love so much, and "Mrs. Lennon" is a haunting, sad and lovely song. So, caveat emptor: if you are predisposed to like Yoko, and are curious about her work, there are better places to start...but the pleasures of this album outweigh the shortcomings to me. And if you're one of the kneejerk detractors, then why are you here anyway?