Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins
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| Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins | ||
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| Studio album by John Lennon and Yoko Ono | ||
| Released | 29 November 1968 | |
| Recorded | 19 May 1968 | |
| Genre | Avant-garde | |
| Length | 32:59 | |
| Label | Apple Records / Rykodisc | |
| Producer(s) | John and Yoko | |
| Professional reviews | ||
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| John Lennon and Yoko Ono chronology | ||
| Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins (1968) |
Unfinished Music No.2: Life with the Lions (1969) |
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Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins is an experimental album released by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1968. The result of an all-night session of musical experimentation in Lennon's home studio at Kenwood, John and Yoko's debut album is known not only for its avant garde content, but also for its cover. The couple used a time delay camera to take nude photographs of themselves, the front cover displayed them frontally nude, while the rear cover featured them from behind. (The photos were taken not at Kenwood, but at Ringo Starr's basement apartment at Montagu Square, where Lennon and Ono stayed later that year.)
The recording consists largely of tape loops, playing while Lennon tries out different instruments (piano, organ, drums) and sound effects (including reverb, delay and distortion), changes tapes and plays other recordings, and converses with Ono, who vocalises ad-lib in response to the sounds. Lennon's longtime friend Peter Shotton remembered later in his memoir that many of the loops were made by Lennon and himself, in the days before the recording. Lennon recorded directly to two-track stereo, but much of the source material was monophonic.
Two Virgins was the second album released under the Apple Records label, after George Harrison's Wonderwall Music. It was distributed by Transatlantic Records in the UK and Tetragrammaton Records in the USA, after EMI in the UK and Capitol Records in the US refused to handle it, because of the cover photo. (Nonetheless, EMI mastered and pressed the record in Britain, charging their standard fee.)
The cover provoked an outrage, prompting distributors to sell the album in a plain brown wrapper. Copies of the album were impounded as obscenity in several jurisdictions (including 30,000 copies in New Jersey). Lennon wryly commented that the uproar seemed to have less to do with the explicit nudity, and more to do with the fact that the pair were rather unattractive (and the photo unflattering; Lennon described it later as a picture of "two slightly overweight ex-junkies"). The album was named so because immediately after recording was finished, John and Yoko consummated their relationship for the first time.
Nevertheless, the taboo-breaking album cover was perhaps the first time that a male celebrity of any consequence had exposed himself so thoroughly to the public.
Actress Sissy Spacek, using the pseudonym Rainbo, recorded the song "John, You Went Too Far This Time" about the album cover. The song is occasionally played on Dr. Demento's radio show.
Two Virgins never charted in the UK (and only 5000 British copies were ever pressed), but managed to reach #124 in the US.
The album was reissued by Ono through Rykodisc in 1997, with an additional bonus track — "Remember Love", the B-Side to "Give Peace A Chance".
While the Tetragrammaton records pop up from time to time, there are rare 1970's Japanese imports of the original disc (with same cover) still available which are much better quality recordings than the Tetragrammaton release[citation needed] as they were done on virgin vinyl and enclosed in rice paper (like most 1970-88 Japanese imports).
[edit] Track listing
All pieces by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
- "Two Virgins Side One": – 14:14
- "Two Virgins No. 1"
- "Together"
- "Two Virgins No. 2"
- "Two Virgins No. 3"
- "Two Virgins No. 4"
- "Two Virgins No. 5"
- "Two Virgins Side Two": – 15:13
- "Two Virgins No. 6"
- "Hushabye Hushabye"
- "Two Virgins No. 7"
- "Two Virgins No. 8"
- "Two Virgins No. 9"
- "Two Virgins No. 10"
Rykodisc CD bonus track: "Remember Love"
| Yoko Ono |
|---|
| Studio albums |
| Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band | Fly Approximately Infinite Universe | Feeling the Space | A Story Season of Glass | It's Alright (I See Rainbows) | Starpeace Rising | Blueprint for a Sunrise |
| With John Lennon |
| Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins | Unfinished Music No.2: Life with the Lions Wedding Album | Live Peace in Toronto 1969 | Some Time in New York City Double Fantasy | Milk and Honey |
| Compilations |
| Walking on Thin Ice | Onobox |
| Other Albums |
| New York Rock | Every Man Has a Woman | Yes, I'm a Witch | Open Your Box |
