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May 1968 - July 1969: Avant-Garde a Clue

Pictured above: John Lennon and Yoko Ono, 1968.

In May of 1968, feeling miserable and increasingly distanced from her husband, Cynthia Lennon decided to go on holiday to Greece with her friends Jenny Boyd and Yannis Alexis “Magic Alex” Mardas. Whilst on his own, John Lennon called Yoko Ono and invited her over for the night. Yoko soon expressed an interest in John's avant-garde home recordings after he had asked: "Do you want to hear some of the things I've been playing around at in my studio?". Lennon then played her some of his tapes which consisted of comedy recordings and electronic sounds, both of which he knew the other Beatles would not allow on their albums. After hearing the tapes, Ono insisted that they make their own recording. Cynthia returned home unexpectedly the next day to find them sitting cross-legged on the floor in matching white robes, staring into each other's eyes.

Afterward, Cynthia would go on to leave the house to stay with friends, with Mardas later claiming he slept with her that night. Weeks later, she was informed by him that Lennon was seeking a divorce and custody of Julian Lennon on the grounds of her adultery with him. After negotiations, Lennon capitulated and agreed to let her divorce him on the same grounds. The case was settled out of court in November 1968, with Lennon giving her £100,000 ($240,000 in US dollars at the time), a small annual payment and custody of Julian.

“The divorce was a bitter process, no one walked out of it happy… then again, nobody does when dealing with separation”

- John Lennon, 1968

Pictured above: The Beatles and Yoko Ono, 1969

As the turn of the year came around, The Beatles reunited during January of 1969, unsure of what to do for the followup for Peace and Chaos. Among them was none other than Yoko Ono, who suggested that the band should take a more avant-garde approach, even going as far as to suggest using some of Lennon’s home recordings. Harrison was the first to speak up against the idea, stating how he “didn’t care whatever the hell John and Yoko got up to on their own”, yet how “messing with The Beatles in that way was way too much”. McCartney then chimed in, speaking of how they “didn’t have any better ideas, so why not?”

“Honestly, avant-garde a clue what to make of that album even now.”

- George Harrison, 1981

Recording for what was at the time simply referred to as “John and Yoko’s thing” officially started on January 28th, 1969. The first thing to be recorded was Ono’s song Remember Love, followed by an instrumental suite of several instrumental compositions written by McCartney in the late 50s and early 60s.

Around that time, Harrison had recently purchased a Moog synthesizer, one of the first of its kind. With it he recorded the piece Under the Mersey Wall, without the assistance of the other Beatles. Starr originally wanted to do a piece for the album entitled Taking a Trip to Carolina however, he felt he couldn’t fully flesh it out into a full song and as such left it out of the album.

The final piece of the puzzle came with the Lennon-Ono piece Two Virgins, assembled through the May 1968 home tapes they did together, with notably two entirely different and seemingly unrelated parts on the respective left and right channels. Critics compare the piece to the extended climax of Revolution 19.

When it was all said and done, Unfinished Music was released on March 20th, 1969 at the start of John and Yoko’s bed-in for peace in Amsterdam. The critical reaction being bemused, yet intrigued by the direction The Beatles took, many blaming the presence of Yoko Ono for the seemingly complete tonal shift the band had taken. The album was the ‘beginning of the end’ for George Harrison in particular, who found the album to be the worst thing he had any involvement within his musical career.

“I mean I didn’t think the album was too bad, but I can see many people thinking it was jarring of us going from writing strong pop songs to doing neo-Avant classical music”

- John Lennon, 1974

Unfinished Music

01. Rock and Roll Spring Time (11:16) [1]
a. Momma Miss America
b. Valentine's Day
c. Hot as Sun
d. Kreen-Akrore

02. Two Virgins (14:43) [1]

03. Under the Mersey Wall (18:42) [2]

04. Remember Love (4:05) [3]

Released: March 20th, 1969

Track sources:

[1] - Custom mix by The_Lifehouse

[2] - Electronic Sound, 1969

[3] - Give Peace a Chance, 1969

Pictured above: The Beach Boys, 1969

Despite the controversial release of Friends, The Beach Boys wasted no time going on tour to promote the album. Brian Wilson even attempted to return touring after the success of the Monterey Pop Festival performance. Unfortunately, Brian had another breakdown, which got him to check himself at a psychiatric hospital. With this, the tour was canceled and The Beach Boys were temporarily left without their de-facto leader.

“I think it was Mike who suggested we start writing our own songs, going all like ‘we don’t need Brian’. Morale at the time was kind of low, but Mike did what he had to do to lift our spirits to record a new album, even with Brian’s absence.”

- Al Jardine, 1979

The sessions were comprised of in-part outtakes from previous recordings, and notably, the Charles Manson song Cease to Exist, which was rewritten by Dennis Wilson as Never Learn Not to Love. By the end of the recording sessions in early January 1969, the band had recorded over an hour worth of solid songs. Albeit wanting to avoid the criticism that Friends received of having too much filler, only a certain batch of songs was released on February 10th, 1969, with the rest being released on July 4th, 1969. With the latter batch of songs, Brian had already returned from his stay at the hospital and helped further develop and produce the songs.

Rendezvous

01. Do It Again (2:18) [1]

02. Walkin’ (2:45) [2]

03. Sail Plane Song (2:24) [2]

04. My Little Red Book (2:33) [2]

05. Well You Know I Knew (1:41) [2]

06. Can’t Wait Too Long (3:51) [3]

07. Old Folks at Home / Ol’ Man River (2:52) [3]

08. I Went to Sleep (1:36) [1]

09. We’re Together Again (1:58) [3]

10. Walk On By / Lonely Days (3:19) [4]

11. The Nearest Faraway Place (2:40) [1]

12. A Time to Live in Dreams (1:50) [2]

13. Ol’ Man River (Reprise) (1:17) [2]

Released: February 10th, 1969

Track sources:

[1] - 20/20, 1969

[2] - I Can Hear Music - The 20/20 Sessions, 2018

[3] - Friends / 20/20, 1998 reissue

[4] -  Custom Mix by maywoods

Break Away

01. Break Away (2:59) [1]

02. I Can Hear Music (2:38) [2]

03. Be With Me (3:15) [2]

04. Bluebirds Over the Mountain (2:53) [2]

05. Celebrate the News (3:04) [1]

06. Loop de Loop (3:00)  [3]

07. San Miguel (2:26) [3]

08. All I Want to Do (2:05) [2]

09. Cotton Fields (2:24) [2]

10. Never Learn Not to Love (2:33) [2]

11. Time to Get Alone (2:42) [2]

Released: July 4th, 1969

Track sources:

[1] - Friends / 20/20, 1998 reissue

[2] - 20/20, 1969

[3] - Landlocked (soniclovenoize reconstruction)

Pictured above: The Velvet Underground, 1969

Having found a new relatively more mainstream audience after appearing in The Rolling Stones’ Rock and Roll Circus TV special, Lou Reed wasted no time taking production of their next album into his own hands. The album had been recorded between November and December of 1968, and was scheduled to be mixed by MGM staff engineer Val Valentine. Despite this Lou insisted on mixing the album himself, in a way that Sterling Morrison described as if the album had been “recorded in a closet”, which inspired naming the album In The Closet. The album was released in March of 1969, becoming VU’s best selling album up to that point.

“I’ll admit, the name In The Closet was a bit of a double entendre, with the album sounding like it was recorded in a closet, and, well, the gay term.”

- Lou Reed, 1987

In The Closet

Side A

- 01. Candy Says (4:04) [1]

- 02. What Goes On (4:34) [1]

- 03. Some Kinda Love (3:39) [1]

- 04. Pale Blue Eyes (5:43) [1]

- 05. Jesus (3:23) [1]

Side B

- 06. Beginning to See the Light (4:44) [1]

- 07. I’m Set Free (4:04) [1]

- 08. That’s the Story of My Life (2:03) [1]

- 09. The Murder Mystery (8:54) [1]

- 10. After Hours (2:10) [1]

Released: March 1969

Track sources:

[1] - The Velvet Underground, 1969 (Closet Mix)

Author's notes:

Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of updates since last month... I (Auran) have been having some personal issues going on and didn't really find the time or motivation to write... to make up for it, have this pretty long post! I'd be lying if I said I know when the next post is coming, but SC is still continuing I promise!