FLY

What you hear on Fly is Yoko Ono s disarming combination of opacity and visceral personal transparency in full bloom. It s one of the most unbridled most captivating soul albums ever made. And that s right where she wants you: vulnerable wide open to any-and-everything ready to have your world tipped onto it s head. She s a master of spinning your head around. First you get the Bar Band from Hell of quot;Midsummer New Yorkquot; to kick things off. It s about the last thing you d expect from Ono coming off Plastic Ono Band. But here you are listening to Ono channeling Elvis. Why am I all of a sudden bopping along to it? At 16-minute-plus the tranced-out motorik-inspired boogie quot;Mind Trainquot; is rough-and-ready for your next basement get down. Movement and perspiration required. Then we have the absolutely gutting blues of quot;Don t Worry Kyoko (Mummy s Only Looking For Her Hand in The Snow).quot; Full of ache and raw emotion the song is a love note a plea for forgiveness to her estranged daughter Kyoko shot across the universe on a flaming arrow. Ono follows this stampede of emotion with the self-referential torch song quot;Mrs. Lennon quot; a wounded song that gets right into the Universal Loneliness. And so here you are. You re devastated. You re exhausted. You re exhilarated. And you re only 1/4 of the way up the mountain that is Fly. Dig deep traveler it s worth the climb.