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| Two Virgins album cover released in 1968 |
In 1968,a strange album had hit the record stores.Also strange in content,the album was noted for its lurid cover,though the sleeve is considered to be a little tame in today's standards.The LP was banned in different States particularly that of Massachusetts for allegedly promoting pornography.
The album was called Two Virgins,which is considered to be John Lennon's first solo project in collaboration with Yoko Ono.Presented in its full name Unfinished Music No.1:Two Virgins,the album is composed of that electronic drone and tape loops in the same vein as the White Album's "Revolution 9".
There was no music being played except for some background noises and John calling Yoko and Ono doing the compliment.It was all very strange and the LP belongs to the avant garde genre of music.
Two Virgins is John Lennon's first solo LP,and it was noted to be the album that made Lennon eligible to be nominated to the Rock N' Roll Hall Of Fame in 1994 as a solo artist.An artist or group will be eligible for induction to the Hall Of Fame 25 years after the release of the first album.
John Lennon had already been inducted as a member of the Beatles in 1988 and was the first person to be inducted twice: as a band member and as a solo artist.He was presented by none other than his former songwriting partner and bandmate Paul McCartney.
Lennon was said to be the first Beatle to pop the balloons of pretentiousness that was going on in the band's inner circle.When Two Virgins had hit the shops the other Beatles expressed their horror,McCartney [who probably bit his lip as to hold back his real feelings] provided a note on the cover "When two great Saints meet, it is a humbling experience. The long battles to prove he was a Saint." This was contrary to what
Francie Schwartz has to say about what was going on between the two giants of rock music during the late sixties.As told earlier,John Lennon was the first member ever to pop the balloons of pretentiousness regarding what was going on with the band and Schwartz,who was a former live-in girlfriend of McCartney's tells all in her book
Body Count.Unlike any other books,Francie had kinder memories of Yoko Ono contrary to other Beatles books citing her as the evil witch who broke up the band.
The Beatles were in shambles after their manager Brian Epstein died of a drug overdose in August 1967.And Francie Schwartz claimed that she was a witness on how things got sour between Lennon and McCartney.According to her book,their friendship had ended at the time she was living at McCartney's house around in 1968 and surprisingly,John and Yoko had been living there too.Schwartz had mentioned on how John and Yoko loved reading all their fan mails and about Paul not even touching his.One day,as Francie claims,Lennon and Ono were surprised to see a note on the table addressed to them,it was typewritten,they opened it and they were all appalled with the note saying "
You and your jap tart think you're hot shit",and then according to Francie,Paul got down from upstairs wearing nothing but trousers and said to the couple that he did that note for a lark.That was the moment when John Lennon looked at Paul as if he was saying "Do I know you?".Then as Francie later have claimed,that was the beginning of the end for the songwriting partners,they may have worked together after that,but it was never the same.
With John Lennon being the rebel Beatle must've exposed the naked truth on how he felt as if he was choking on what was going on with the Beatles-at least during that point of time.Business problems,management pressure all took toll on four of them.After all,it was John Lennon who later claimed that he had wanted to leave and only had the guts to tell the others about it later even before Paul announced the band's breakup in 1970.Lennon on the other hand,had already started making solo albums even when he was still with the Beatles with Two Virgins as his debut that was to be followed by two more albums in 1969: Life With The Lions and The Wedding Album.
With its complete title Unfinished Music No.1:Two Virgins,the album lost momentum in the British charts possibly due to poor distribution.Lennon was even persuaded to shelf it until November of 1968 which by then the White Album would be safely in the stores for the other Beatles didnt want their double LP to coincide with this provocative oddity.Nevertheless,Two Virgins still managed to chart in the United States reaching number 124 on the Billboard 200 albums.
TRACK LISTING:
All selections by Yoko Ono and John Lennon except noted:
1.Two Virgins Number 1
2.Together (De Sylva,Brown,Henderson)
3.Two Virgins No 2
4.Two Virgins No.3
4.Two Virgins No.4
5.Two Virgins No. 5
6.Two Virgins No 6
7.Two Virgins No 7
8.Two Virgins No 8
9.Two Virgins No 9
10.Two Virgins No 10
Bonus Track: Remember Love (Yoko Ono)--added on the 1997 re-issue.
The controversial cover photo was taken by the couple using a time-delay camera at the basement of Ringo Starr's apartment. The album provoked an outrage with 30,000 copies impounded in New Jersey and other states stating that the cover art was indeed obscene and pornographic.Lennon defended the album saying that the photos were that of two shy people and even said that he wont give a shit about anyone during a bed-in at Amsterdam Hilton in 1969.Later,Lennon said that the cover photo were that of two slightly overweight ex-junkies,as Lennon and Ono's heroin addiction was told to the public as the Beatles' scene were getting heavy.The couple were later busted in London and Ono had a miscarriage.
One will wonder what was Lennon thinking at the time when he got the avant garde music and controversial cover for this album? In the meantime,it was also reported that Lennon filmed his own penis on various stages of erection for Yoko Ono's much publicized art film,wittily titled
Erection.The film was said to have been mysteriously withdrawn.
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| Back cover of the album Two Virgins with the couple showing their behinds |
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(c) Keith Vernon Adagio
