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Nov 29, 2018 Web Exclusive By Hays Davis

Warzone finds Yoko Ono revisiting her work from 1970 through 2009. While these 13 tracks are new versions of early highlights, they sound like fresh statements, with lyrics that are as strikingly relevant as ever. Ono’s delivery is often stark, with messages that are usually bleak, serving to underscore how these are songs that consider the present at least as much as they did the original influences that led Ono to conceive them.

Sounds of animals and gunfire open the album on the alarming title track. A strident Ono angrily addresses those who create an environment that feels like wartime, and after her moans join the sounds of the other creatures she closes with a chilling “If you hear me, please help us.” “Hell in Paradise” continues the thread of hope being a precious commodity, with Ono singing over spare, atmospheric backing: “Mesmerized by mythology/Hypnotized by ideology/Antagonized by reality.”

While some may not see these recordings displacing the originals as their go-to version, “I Love All of Me” is an example of Ono’s new take being a compelling update. With stinging references and observations (“I’m a yellow girl, you choose to call me slanted eyes/I’m a white boy who fights for his roots and ties”), Ono’s Warzone version brings a poignancy to the lyrics that seemed a bit incongruent with the music on the upbeat original from 1985’s Starpeace. Reaching back to her 1973 album Approximately Infinite Universe, a gentle, dreamy “Now or Never” is a plea for change that’s as timely as ever. “‘Cause dream you dream alone is only a dream/But dream we dream together is reality.” (www.imaginepeace.com)

Author rating: 6.5/10