Customer Reviews

Live Peace In Toronto 1969

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"Live Peace In Toronto" captures John Lennon and a hastly assembled group of players in a raw rare live performance at Toronto's Rock and Roll Revival Festival on September 13th 1969. Lennon's makeshift band during this performance consists of Eric Clapton on guitar, Klaus Voorman on bass, Alan White (later to become famous in the band Yes) on drums and of course, Yoko Ono.
The almost 'anything goes' nature of this performance is largely due to the fact that this group had never played together before (hence John's opening announcement). The only rehearsal being on an airplane from England to the actual Toronto gig.
Once on the stage, John and his Plastic Ono Band dive into some remarkable renditions of some classic oldies that had been an influence on Lennon. After a brief tune-up, the band rips into a snarling version of "Blue Suede Shoes" followed by an equalling heavy version of "Money". This is followed by a solid yet spontaneous take on "Dizzy Miss Lizzie" in which John seems to be making up the words as he goes along. John's set closes with three Lennon originals beginning with "Yer Blues" from The Beatles "White Album". The version included here launches into a short but stellar jam with some great lead guitar work from Lennon and Clapton. Next up is the world premiere of John's ode to heroin withdrawl "Cold Turkey". The audience's reaction to this song was understandably mixed which prompted John to tell the audience to "come on and wake up". This quote was edited out of the album but is left in its accompanying film. Finally, Lennon finishes his half of the show with a rousing amped-up version of "Give Peace A Chance" which turns into a joyful sing-along. Not a bad way to end a show....
...But it's not over yet. After "Give Peace A Chance", John steps up to the microphone and announces that "Yoko is going to do her thing all over you". What follows is a full-throttle assault on the Toronto crowd beginning with the jamming "Don't Worry Kyoko" in which Yoko cackles, wails and screams while the band jams on a repeated four-chord riff. This leads into a raucous 13-minute finale entitled "John, John, Let's Hope For Peace" which features more of Yoko's torturous howling accompanied by droning screeching guitar feedback from the instruments of Lennon, Clapton and Voorman along with White randomly making fills across his drum kit when he can. The show ends with Yoko bleating out a series of high-pitched screams while John Lennon and the rest of the band leave their instruments against their amplifiers before walking off the stage. After Yoko bellows her last breath, it's the sound of solid feedback which follows. After roadie Mal Evans shuts off the amps, there is an obvious sound of confusion and disarray from the crowd. A surprising end to an outstanding one-off performance.
This CD captures the entire Toronto performance in its entirety from the band tuning-up to the final drone of feedback at the end. The mix on the CD is different from that of the original LP. The LP captures more of the raw live sound heard at the event while the CD has a more polished mix with echo added to the drums and some of the vocals. I personally perfer the mix on the original LP but the CD version is not bad either.
The CD booklet features a reproduction of the original calender which came with the LP. Instead of being for 1970, it's for 1995 (a bit outdated now).
"Live Peace In Toronto" is still a rare find for Lennon and Beatle collector's. Both the CD and the original LP are worth searching out for. Most people will want to skip over Yoko's half of the show and only listen to John's. Apart from the strange finale from Yoko, this is a great performance from John Lennon. There was really nothing quite like this afterwards.

From start to finish, one of the greatest live albums ever. Great takes on rock standards Dizzy Miss Lizzie, Blue Suede Shoes, and Money, and new songs like Cold Turkey. On "Side 2", where Yoko does her thing all over you, you get to hear John doing some amazing things with distortion and feedback. Highly recommended, and worth every penny.

This was a liberating performance for Lennon and Ono, and an oddly riveting one. The band is loose around the edges, never having played together before, but they end up creating a powerhouse of sound.

I know most people don't appriciate the reviews I do, so I don't expect anyone to appriciate this one. I'm doing this review for me. I'll be reviewing the russian version that's couples with Rock'N'Roll. This CD is 79+ minutes. Each album is almost exactly 40 minutes with Live Peace being 41 and Rock'N'Roll being 39. The Russian 2CD contains every note of both albums. Here is the track listings. LIVE PEACE IN TORONTO - 1969: 1. [Introduction of the Band &] Let's Hope for Peace 2. Blue Suede Shoes 3. Money [That's What I Want] 4. Dizzy Miss Lizzy 5. Yer Blue[s] 6. Cold Turkey 7. Give Peace a Chance 8. Don't Worry Kyoko [Mummy's Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow] 9. John John [Let's Hope for Peace] ROCK'N'ROLL 10. Be-Bop-A-Lula 11/2. Stand By Me 12/3. A) Rip it Up B) Read[y] Teddy 13/4. You Can't Catch Me 14/5. Ain't That a Shame 15/6. Do You Want to [/Wanna] Dance[?] 16/7. Sweet Little Sixteen 17/8. Slippin' and Slidin' 18/9. Peggy Sue 19/10. A) Bring it on Home to Me B)Send Me Some Lovin' 20/11. Bon[e]y Moronie 21/12. Ya Ya 22/13. Just Because. The stuff in brackets is CD information I know to be correct, but is not on the CD anywhere. The track numbers in slashes are cd player track number/liner notes track number. The track listings in the CD art are seperated by album, but not in your CD player. The version of Live Peace on here does contain the first track "Introduction of the Band," but that track is combined with "Let's Hope for Peace." The much hated Yoko side of Live Peace is a true side. "Don't worry Kyoko" (5min) and "John John" (13min) is difficult for the uninitiated. But in all fairness at that point in the CD, you've only been lestening for 20 minutes, so really, how low is your paitence if you can't get through that? I think the bad aspect is reduced when you know you've got 39 minutes of classic rock via John Lennon right on her tail. This is a great version. The only bad thing about this twofer is that since Rock'N'Roll was remastered, reissued with extra tracks, the version you're hearing now won't be the best version but if you've ever heard unremastered music from 30 years ago0, you know exactly what this'll sound like. This doesn't obviously have the four bonus tracks (Angel Baby/To Know Her is to Love Her/Since My Baby Left Me/Just Because (Reprise)) because this was released significantlly before that remastered version was released. Oh, and the sound quality on Live Peace is a touch better than the sound quality on Sometime in New York, but basically equivalent. I'm sure you'll like the superfly Russian Federation graphics (joining the h in john with the l in lennon was awesome! Yay British Racing Green!) and trying to figure out what the angry-looking Russian says on the bottom of the CD. This can play in all non-POS CD players. If this helped, please say so.

I really liked this album a lot, surprisingly. As many here know, this is the first "official" performance of John & Yoko's Plastic Ono Band, featuring John, Yoko, Klaus Voorman on bass (he's the only one who would show up on John's and Yoko's official Plastic Ono Band releases), Eric Clapton (a guitarist of some note), and Alan White (a few years before he joined Yes). The band sounds fresh and invigorated, and they sound like a garage band that knows what they're doing. John says at the beginning of the CD that they've never played together before, so they do songs that they know. I think that might be a little facetious, as they sound good together and they had to have at least a few rehearsals before performing.

The song selection is excellent, with the band kicking ass on Blue Suede Shoes, the great Beatles' number Yer Blues, Give Peace a Chance (which sounds better than the studio version), but the real treasure (and the reason I bought the album in the first place) is side two, which is when Yoko comes in. They do an excellent cover of Don't Worry Kyoko, then kick into an epic, free form meltdown called John, John (Let's Hope for Peace). It's a great Yoko epic, surreal, vivid, memorable, and typical of her experimentation at this time. The crowd does appauld at the end of the numbers, even John, John, which runs 12 1/2 minutes.

Overall, if you dig Yoko as much as I do (I have more Yoko solo stuff than all the former Beatles combined), you need to get this album for her contributions. The other songs are great, too.

The Toronto show which this album comes from was John's first real concert away from The Beatles. He had already appeared on The Rolling Stones' Rock and Roll Circus but that was more of a TV special than it was a concert, so this pretty much constitutes his first non-Beatles gig.

It's a truly wonderful performance with Eric Clapton, brilliant as usual, on lead guitar, breaking into some great solos, Klaus Voorman (an old German friend of The Beatles) on bass, Alan White on drums, and John on lead guitar. They start off with som great rock and roll covers. The band, newly named the Plastic Ono Band, breathe great life into these covers, and they all sound very rough and loud. After they go through these covers, they perform the fantastic Beatles song Yer Blues, which sounds even better here than it does in its studio version. They also premiere John's song about his heroin habit, Cold Turkey. It's not nearly as good as the studio version, or the version the Plastic Ono Supergroup did at the Peace For Christmas concert during Christmas of 1969, but it's still enjoyable, although it basically falls apart during the end. They then do a great version of Give Peace A Chance. Although I love the original version, it's fun hearing it in this electric version, even if John forgets the lyrics occasionally, which he actually does during some of the early numbers as well.

Of course, then it goes into Yoko's section of the concert. Before you start reading, I'm going to tell you that I'm a huge Yoko fan and I think she did "punk" before it was "punk". The two songs she does here, Don't Worry Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking For Her Hand In The Snow) and John, John (Let's Hope For Peace), are wonderful numbers, especially the first one, which has some great guitar courtesy of Eric Clapton. Eventually, the band starts leaving the stage until it's only the scream of feedback left.

Live Peace In Toronto is a great album, but it's also very rough and if you prefer the polished studio versions of these songs, then you might want to listen to them again instead of listening to this album.

And then they burst into Carl Perkins' "Blue Suede Shoes". It's an interesting live performance and Lennon's first since the last Beatles concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco in 1966. A mere three years but light years away. Clapton on guitar -- in the aftermath of the demise of Cream -- is terrific. The first few songs are great renditions of old rock standards along with the Beatles tune "Yer Blues" and Lennon's "Cold Turkey". Then there is Yoko .........
Oh well, nothing is perfect. Had this on vinyl when I was a teenager. No way in Hell will I pay nearly $100 for a CD. Sooner or later someone will reissue this. Wait, you'll thank me for it.

A good time for John, this a good live cd to have. The down side is Yokos on it and it's a little short.

This is a true story. One day, back in 1970, I was playing this LP in my room and my cat attacked the record player, scratching deeply into Side Two. So I have not been able to play the Yoko Ono songs since. The cat didn't touch Side One, which remains great for its spontaneity, passion and imprecision. Even better than the Rock And Roll Circus performance by Lennon, Clapton, Richards and Mitch Mitchell on drums, which also rocks in a raw way. That cat is now long dead. Yoko lives on.

"life in Toronto" ofered Lennon's incredible music and Yoko Ono's Live in Toronto (Mlps) (Spkg)amazing screams