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Saturday, April 11, 2009

John Lennon, Yoko Ono and the band, a day after Toronto concert



Live Peace in Toronto 1969 is a live album recorded by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1969 in Toronto, Ontario, at a rock and roll revival show as The Plastic Ono Band. Featuring Eric Clapton on guitar (fresh from the breakup of Blind Faith), Klaus Voormann on bass and future Yes drummer Alan White (who a few months later would provide the drums on the percussion-driven Plastic Ono Band single, "Instant Karma!") on drums, the line-up is filled out by Lennon on lead vocals and rhythm guitar and Ono on vocals. The album was credited to The Plastic Ono Band, a conceptual grouping that included Lennon and Ono and whoever happened to be backing them up at that particular moment. Both Lennon and Ono would use the nomenclature for several of their future solo albums.

The album is technically a soundtrack recording, being part of the audio portion of D.A. Pennebaker's documentary movie Sweet Toronto. Lennon and Ono made a deal with Pennebaker to license their portion of the show for record, in exchange for rights to include their appearance. Unfortunately the deal fell through, with Lennon and Ono changing their minds about the inclusion (Lennon had been ill the day of the concert, and it showed on camera), and the movie was never originally released. (Showtime ultimately presented the performance during the 1980s, and the full movie appeared later on home video and DVD.)

As initially released on LP and later cassette tape, 8-track and on video cassette, side one of Live Peace in Toronto 1969 comprised John's set, which included his two Plastic Ono Band singles for the year, "Give Peace A Chance" and a preview of the yet-to-be released at the time of the show "Cold Turkey;" "Yer Blues" from the White Album; and some favoured covers of 1950s rock and roll. Side two comprised Yoko's set, including the b-side to "Cold Turkey," "Don't Worry Kyoko," and featuring her trademark caterwauling stage act, which was not quite as well received as Lennon's performance. The album ends with Lennon, Clapton, and Voorman leaning their guitars against the amplifiers to create a sustained roar of solid feedback, while Yoko continues screaming as the rest of the band leaves the stage.

On the video cassette, Eric Clapton can clearly be seen looking at John Lennon with a look of horror on his face as Yoko starts her caterwauling. Additionally, as the band are leaning their guitars against the amplifiers to create the feedback, Clapton breaks the fourth wall by looking directly into the camera and rolling his eyes in frustration at Yoko's performance.

Unlike many Lennon and Beatles albums, the individual guitars are clearly distinguishable in the stereo mix, with Lennon's toward the left channel and Clapton's toward the right. Also, the movie mix of the soundtrack offers stronger vocals by Ono during "Yer Blues", and Clapton during "Give Peace A Chance".

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