The Plastic Ono Band
Live Peace In Toronto 1969

THE REVIEW

September 12, 1969, a live recording without too many frills and accessories, a straightforward and sincere performance. "Live Peace In Toronto" is officially John Lennon's fourth solo work, a live album to seal the first part of his career alone without his companions. After a series of works, which the bravest call experimental, with his new partner Yoko Ono, this LP is the first to enter the charts and be classified as a "normal" music record for "normal" people who don't want to listen to entire sides of games and dialogues between lovers. By September '69, John is effectively out of the Beatles, even though he lacks the courage to admit it. His companions have long considered him lost, and the difficulties in assembling "Abbey Road," due to his unjustified absences, are proof.

The Plastic Ono Band is the name under which John and Yoko hide in the early months of their solo career. It isn't a real group but just a label quickly put together to give a name to a new project. The lineup that appears in Toronto consists of Eric Clapton on guitar, Klaus Voorman on bass, and Alan White on drums. The musicians never rehearsed the tracks, a point Lennon reiterates at the start of the performance, and thus the live acquires a very amateurish dimension that gives it a subtle charm. However, the caliber of the musicians is such that the improvisation comes off very well. It's a pity that the material presented is quite scant, with two robust rock classics like "Blue Suede Shoes" and "Money" opening the concert in a boisterous way but still too little. This is followed by a perhaps not too convincing "Dizzy Mizz Lizzy" and an energetic version of "Yer Blues", the best moment of the album. The unreleased "Cold Turkey" disappoints the audience eagerly awaiting the new pacifist anthem "Give Peace a Chance". More than a quarter of the album is occupied by an unclassifiable Yoko Ono who, with her screams and various squawks, pampers the audience in the indispensable "John, John (Let's Hope For Peace)".

The album is released under Apple; the original edition includes the 1970 calendar of John and Yoko, various photos for each month with poems and verses from the two complementary souls. Reissued in 1995, still by Apple, it again includes the calendar for the same year. An unexceptional live, but still a historic record, awaiting the first solo steps from George, Paul, and of course, Ringo in 1970.