1. The Paths 7:17
2. Are You Looking For Me 7:06
3. It's Time For Action 7:04
4. Outtro 2:31

The first three pieces are musically similar, all based on repetitive patterns (and all in the same key). Musically, the patterns are quite intricate and utterly minimal. A cool aesthetic here.

1. The Paths 7:17

Fashioned around a two bar background pattern of guitar, bass, drums and slide, a (very much) more mellow version of the "Do The Oz" riff. Ono's voice weaves in and out of the mix, rarely dominating. Running across the top end is a fast percussion track, dominated by tabla.

One is immediately struck by the close relationship of this early Ono style and Techno/Trance. That's not to say that she was necessarily influential, but she was definitely ahead of the game.

The piece closes with the sounds of birds in nature. The fabric of "The Paths", particularly the opening section, seems to be modelled on characteristic overlapping sound of birds in a forest, reflecting the "inner spiritual side of nature" and "imitate nature in her manner of operation", as cited by Alexandra Munroe in his study of Ono's art in the book.

2. Are You Looking For Me 7:06

In much the same key, the second piece has a half-bar riff, providing an urgent, agitated urban backing which is unrelentingly the same throughout the seven minute piece, leaving Ono's part utterly in the foreground.

"Are you looking for me" she intones, followed by sudden, stabbing breathing. A litany of ideas follows:

i'm the goddess in your dream
i'm the devil in your scream
...
i'm your air, i'm the fire
i'm the water, i'm your mirror
i'm your window, i'm your shadow

[ from the AIU website ]

All punctuated by more breathing, which slowly becomes the dominant force. It's truly a virtuoso breathing performance, moving through agression, defence, fear, suffocation, sexual orgasm, and finally to a exhausted waiting game.

The work stops suddenly. It's quite brilliant.

3. It's Time For Action 7:04

The four-bar pattern provides stability, although agressive drumming provides a definite stuttering affect. Ono calls out the lyric initially:

It's time for action
There's no option
Get a life, stay alive
Every day, every way

My immediate impression was that she was talking about the need to carry on after her loss. Perhaps that was reinforced by the Coue reference "every day, every way" (it's getting better).

In her earlier work Ono often had problems articulating text, caused by her pronunciation and vocal production. That's all gone here, and in fact she produces two or three quite distinct voices. The initial "calling" voice, a half-whispered, purring background chant and occasionally sung two part harmony on "stay alive" (although it sounds like "still alive" at times). She's found a comfort zone.

4. Outro 2:31

The riff drifts away, falling into the bird sounds which closed "The Paths". One thinks of the intro to "Across The Universe" (caused the pulsing bird chorus), but the birds do not break into flight, instead we're left contemplating life, life, life, all dressed up and everywhere to go in it's daily green koans. It's a quiet, precious moment if you know how to accept a gift from a stranger.

While listening, I thought of a sci fi short story. A man and his family have a business in country where they produce windows that take fifteen years for the light to pass through. They are then sold to city dwellers who get an ever changing country vista for fifteen years. Tragedy strikes: He loses his family, and spends the next decade or so wandering around his windows hoping for chance glimpses of his family, captured in the glass.

Summary

I thought my view of the pieces might be my own projection but I later found some web pages that verified the musical impressions. Ono has prepared a DVD for later release with visual accompaniment: see Instant Karma for the lengthy report. Here are some brief excerpts:

The DVD begins in blackness as the "The Paths" begins its haunting intro...followed suddenly by a quick glimpse of..something... We get a few more glimpses of what appears to be a pattern painted on a canvas..., but finally realize, we are looking at water.

"Are You Looking For Me?" begins in blackness.. then an image begins to appear. It turns out to be a very close-up still photo of Yoko's face... As the song's mood changes and becomes more intense...

"It's Time for Action" is accompanied by the most eye-popping visuals on the entire disc. The scenes are taken from John and Yoko's participation in a political demonstration in London..

For the "Outtro," which features the peaceful sounds of birds chirping, Yoko has chosen a photograph of John, Yoko and Sean from the Family Album book of photos, backed by a woodland scene...

I found two things fascinating. First, how she's picked up on the early style that she developed with Lennon in 1970, and added to that base, particularly in terms of arrangement and performance skills. Second, how she was able to tell a story using these quite abstract tools.

Harmony, conflict, action, reflection. Great stuff Yoko.

Written by Ian Hammond ("Yes" is the answer)

Many thanks to Barwon Books, purveyors of the finest in publishing, who supplied this weighty tome.

Copyright © Ian Hammond 2001.
This article will be maintained at Sari Gurney's Yoko Ono website AIU