Yoko Ono Walking On Thin Ice/ It Happened (Geffen Records, GEF 49683, 1981)
Yoko Ono My Man/ Let The Tears Dry (Polydor, 2095 494, 1982)
The last few Yoko singles bridge John's murder in 1980.
Walking On Thin Ice is the song he was working on the night he died so it has an extra poignancy. It's okay but it's dated a little, as anything that is aiming to be state of the (dance) art is. It's still far and away the best song of this bunch though.
Give me the more visceral early Yoko any day. Woman Power isn't that either unfortunately (although the music is pretty good, Yoko's performance is embarrassingly naive). By 1973 the pressure of being ubiquitous as a couple, literally together 24/7, told. They entered the so called 'lost weekend' phase and the music duly suffered.
My Man is also not for the uninitiated. The terrible synth sound of the early eighties is painful and Yoko's vocals don't help.
Hidden gems: Men.. is a coquettish trifling; It Happened is heartfelt but taken out of the terrible 1980/1981 context it's only a pleasant strum along. Let The Tears Dry starts with gunshots and a hint of Amazing Grace before a chorus about John. Somehow, strangely, these kinds of things from Yoko don't have any emotional resonance. Weird.
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