ONO, YOKO
APPROXIMATELY INFINITE UNIVERSE (LTD. COL. LP) (SECRETLY CANADIAN)
White Vinyl! There's a fury at the core of Yoko Ono's 1973 rock opus Approximately Infinite Universe that was not apparent on previously recorded efforts.
Ono has always been a master of turning pain and sadness into art, but here, there's a clenched-fist intensity that sets it apart in her deep, unparalleled catalogue.
Ono is angry. She proved that one can carry a boundless love for humanity and still be furious - furious at male/female relationships, at war, at your partner.
Meanwhile, on a sonic level, Ono ups the ante on the more centered rock-n-roll sounds she approached with 1971's Fly.
The album is one of the most traditional-sounding rock chapters in Ono's sprawling catalogue.
There are moments here that absolutely rival Jersey legends the E Street Band, though of course Ono's vision leads her band down darker, more mystical paths than the E Street Band ever dared tread.
Approximately Infinite Universe is an essential and progressive piece of Ono's output, both in the advancements she made as a songwriter/conceptualist, and as a solidified statement of her staunch feminist role within the very male-dominated mainstream rock ghetto of the mid-1970's.