Album: Ono

Already instantly recognisable from just her first name, Yoko Ono has now chosen to use only her last name - ironically, exactly the same two syllables usually comprising the listening public's reaction to news of another Yoko album - in what one presumes is an attempt to streamline her public image. This album is likewise aimed at re-positioning Yoko in a rapidly changing cultural landscape, by aligning her with a selection of (mostly American) trendy indie acts such as Peaches, Polyphonic Spree, Sleepy Jackson, Cat Power and Antony of Johnsons fame, each of whom has selected a track from her back catalogue and woven her original vocal parts into a new arrangement of their own devising. The results are every bit as hit and miss as you'd imagine, ranging from Shitake Monkey's transformation of "O'Oh" into slick pop-funk, to Craig Armstrong's treatment of "Shiranakatta (I Didn't Know)" as a lush symphonic chanson. more