Tag Archives: Secretly Canadian

Looks Like the Yoko Ono Reissue Train is Back On the Tracks

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After a solid start – way back in 2016 – the Yoko Ono reissue program came to an abrupt halt in 2019. It’s now been 7 years since we’ve had anything.

Back then the promise was 11 albums in all. They were to be reissued on LP, on CD and for the first time as digital downloads. The plan was to do this in three distinct groups:

1st group:
Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins (1968)
Unfinished Music No. 2: Life With Lions (1969)
Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band (1970)

2nd group:
Fly (1971)
Approximately Infinite Universe (1973)
Feeling the Space (1973)
A Story (1974)

3rd group:
Season of Glass (1981)
It’s Alright (I See Rainbows) (1982)
Starpeace (1985)
Unfinished Music No. 3: Wedding Album (1969)

And that release plan all began to happen. There was even a promo video to officially kick things off:

Group one materialised in late 2016. Then group two (except for A Story) was issued across 2017. Then came a two year hiatus until Unfinished Music No. 3: Wedding Album suddenly appeared in all its box-set glory in 2019, the first release of group three.

And then, for about seven years, it all went very, very quiet. Until now.

Season of Glass has just been released and, like each of its predecessors, it comes on limited edition white vinyl, on black vinyl, and on CD. All the artwork is faithfully reproduced and the CD comes with bonus material:

And today an email from Secretly Canadian/Chimera Music popped into our inbox alerting us that on September 18 It’s Alright (I See Rainbows) is set to follow quickly on its heels. It is available for preorder now:

So that begs the question – are A Story and Starpeace soon to follow? Hope so.

John Lennon/Yoko Ono Wedding Album – Unboxing

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Our copy of the John and Yoko Wedding Album arrived today – but if there’s anyone who is entitled to do an unboxing video of the box set contents, it’s this guy:

Lennon Ono “Wedding Album” Reissue

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On her 86th birthday Yoko Ono has announced that the next installment in her lengthy album re-issue project will be the often-maligned John Lennon/Yoko Ono Unfinished Music No.3: Wedding Album from 1969.

The release date of March 22, 2019 will be two days after the 50th anniversary of the couple getting married in Gibraltar, near Spain (see “The Ballad of John and Yoko”):

The new box set (issued via Secretly Canadian and Chimera Music) will re-create the original, which in typical fashion was well ahead of its time in offering a plethora of extras along with the album inside. It was a white box filled with souvenirs of John and Yoko’s nuptials: photographs; a replica of their marriage certificate; their own drawings of the wedding and famous Bed-in honeymoon/peace event which followed; a picture of a slice of wedding cake; more sets of photos; and a booklet of press clippings about the couple.

The box and it’s contents were created by graphic designer John Kosh who is probably better known for his work with The Beatles (he did the cover of Abbey Road, and the lavish box and book that accompanied early editions of Let It Be).The ongoing Yoko Ono Reissue Project was launched in 2016. It aims to remaster and reissue all eleven of Ono’s studio recordings between the years 1968 and 1985. Each will painstakingly reconstruct the original vinyl packaging. There have been six releases to date: Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins (1968, with John Lennon); Unfinished Music No. 2: Life With the Lions (1969, with John Lennon); Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band (1970); Fly (1971); Approximately Infinite Universe(1973); and Feeling the Space (1973). Still to come are Season of Glass (1981); It’s Alright (I See Rainbows) (1982); Starpeace (1985); and A Story (1997, but recorded in 1974).

The Wedding Album is available on white vinyl, on CD, and as digital download, and there are a very limited number (300 copies) being made available on clear vinyl exclusively through the British record store chain, Rough Trade Records.

Eleven Early Yoko Ono Albums to be Reissued

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Way back in March, 2014 we flagged that there was a thorough Yoko Ono solo reissue program in the pipeline and it was to include all of her early, long-out-of-print Apple and Zapple Record releases. Since that time it has gone decidedly quiet….

Now comes news that it is finally going to happen – and soon:

Chimera Music and the Secretly Canadian label, have just announced that eleven solo Yoko Ono titles will be coming out in three groups of releases over the next twelve months or so.

The first grouping of three reissues is due out on November 11 – on CD, on vinyl, and as digital downloads. First titles are:

Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins (originally issued on Apple in 1968):ono-unfinished-1

Bonus track on the CD, and on vinyl (via a download card), will be ‘Remember Love’.

Unfinished Music No. 2: Life With the Lions (originally issued on Zapple in 1969):ono-unfinished-2

Bonus tracks on the CD, and on vinyl (via a download card), will be ‘Song for John’ and ‘Mulberry’.

Yoko Ono: Plastic Ono Band (originally issued on Apple in 1970):ono-plastic-ono-band

Bonus tracks on the CD, and on vinyl (via a download card), will be: ‘Open Your Box’, ‘Something More Abstract’, ‘The South Wind’, and the never-before-heard ‘Why (Extended Version)’.

The release project overs studio albums issued between 1968 and 1985 and will painstakingly reconstruct the original vinyl packaging, along with never-before-seen photos and ephemera (although from these two “bundle offer” pack shots on the Chimera site it looks like the record labels and CDs will depict grapefruits instead of Apple, and that the vinyl will be white and/or clear):ono-bundle-vinylono-bundle-cd

The audio is re-mastered from the original tapes by Greg Calbi and Sean Lennon. In addition to making the vinyl available for the first time in decades, each album will also be available digitally for the first time. The complete list of titles and release groupings is:

1st group:
Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins (1968)
Unfinished Music No. 2: Life With Lions (1969)
Plastic Ono Band (1970)

2nd group:
Fly (1971)
Approximately Infinite Universe (1973)
Feeling the Space (1973)
A Story (recorded in 1974, released as part of Ono Box in 1992)

3rd group:
Season of Glass (1981)
It’s Alright (I See Rainbows) (1982)
Starpeace (1985)
Unfinished Music No. 3: Wedding Album (1969)