Starpeace

Starpeace
Studio album by Yoko Ono
Released 18 February 1985
Studio Right Track Recording, New York City
Genre
Length 40:21
45:05 (reissue)
Label PolyGram
Rykodisc (reissue)
Producer Bill Laswell, Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono chronology
Milk and Honey
(1984)
(with John Lennon)Milk and Honey1984		 Starpeace
(1985)		 Onobox
(1992)Onobox1992
Singles from Season of Glass
  1. "Hell in Paradise"
    Released: 13 October 1985

Starpeace is Yoko Ono's 1985 concept album, designed to spread a message of peace around the world as an opposition to Ronald Reagan's "Star Wars" missile defense system. As with most Ono albums, it did not chart extensively but the single release of "Hell in Paradise" reached #16 on the US dance charts. The album was subtitled "An Earth Play for Sun and Air" in the booklet and on the disc.

Aftermath

In 1986, Ono set out on a world tour to accompany the album's message. The CD reissue by Rykodisc in 1997,[1] includes a live recording of "Imagine" from the sellout Budapest show of the tour. An a cappella version of "Now or Never" from the same show was also a bonus track on A Story. Words, music, concept, and vocals by Ono.

The 1984 video documentary release Yoko Ono: Now & Then includes footage of the recording sessions for Starpeace. Over the end credits, Ono performs an unreleased song apparently entitled "Rainbow Time".

A 12" promo single was released for the song "Cape Clear", featuring a re-edit of "Walking on Thin Ice" on the flipside.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [2]
Robert ChristgauB-[3]
The New York Timesfavorable[4]
Rolling Stonefavorable[5]
Sounds
Spinunfavorable

The album received mixed reviews. Sounds gave it a one star (out of five) review, calling it "a slab of pretentious AOR offal".[6] Spin writer Armond White called it "a Sesame Street album for children who think My Weekly Reader has been withholding the truth", and said that "the album's placidity and earnestness make embarrassing claims on our emotions".[7] Allmusic writer Richie Unterberger retrospectively gave it two stars, stating that the tracks were "often imbued with a kind of sappy utopianism".[2] Peter Buckley, in The Rough Guide to Rock, has described the album as "a rather bombastic error of judgement, laden down by pseudo-cosmic philosophizing".[8] Rick Shefchik, in the Charlotte Observer called it "the same old '60s hippie drivel".[9]

On the other hand, Robert Palmer of The New York Times gave the album a positive review, calling it "splended" [sic], viewing it as "the most balanced album Miss Ono has made", and describing it as "state-of-the-art pop music for 1985".[4] Rolling Stone also reviewed the album positively, with Anthony Decurtis writing that "Starpeace seamlessly fuses artistic daring and accessibility... there can be no denying that this fifty-two-year-old pop star now fully deserves to be reckoned with on her own demanding terms".[5]

The poor response to the album and low ticket sales on the world tour led to Ono withdrawing from making music, later saying "After Starpeace I was totally discouraged...by the fact that there was no kind of demand for what I was doing, to put it mildly!".[10] She returned to music with the critically acclaimed Rising in 1996.

Track listing

All songs written by Yoko Ono, except where noted.

Air Side
No.TitleLength
1."Hell in Paradise"3:27
2."I Love All of Me"3:53
3."Children Power"2:26
4."Rainbow Revelation"3:17
5."The King of the Zoo"3:10
6."Remember Raven"2:12
Be Side
No.TitleLength
7."Cape Clear"4:52
8."Sky People"3:46
9."You and I"3:01
10."It's Gonna Rain (Living on Tiptoe)"3:42
11."Starpeace"3:17
12."I Love You, Earth"2:40
Reissue bonus track
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
13."Imagine" (Live)John Lennon4:44

Singles

  • "Hell in Paradise" (7" with instrumental version, 12" with remixes) (Reached #16 on US dance chart)
  • "Cape Clear" (Promo 12" with re-edit of "Walking On Thin Ice")

Personnel

Technical

Tour

In 1986 Yoko set out on a goodwill world tour for Starpeace, mostly visiting Eastern European countries that she felt were in need of her message of peace. Ono refused to tour with a corporate sponsor and personally financed the endeavour herself. The media were largely unfair in their coverage of the tour, accusing Ono of "ego-tripping" and ridiculing her for underselling venues. In one case, a photo of Ono rehearsing to an empty hall before the show was printed as if nobody had come to the actual concert. A German DJ was also encouraging people to turn up and throw glass bottles at her.

However, the fans loved the shows, critics widely praised her for her performances, and she filled a venue of 15,000 in Budapest. That said, planned US tour dates were postponed and eventually cancelled due to disappointing ticket sales. Rykodisc's 1997 CD reissues of Ono's albums made available live versions of "Imagine" and "Now or Never" from the tour.
The Starpeace setlist usually consisted of:

References

  1. ↑ Yoko Ono - Starpeace (CD, Album) at Discogs
  2. 1 2 Starpeace at AllMusic
  3. ↑ http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=1701&name=Yoko+Ono
  4. 1 2 Palmer, Robert (1985) "'Starpeace' Lets Yoko Ono Have Her Cake and Eat It", The New York Times, October 13, 1985. Retrieved March 15, 2013
  5. 1 2 Decurtis, Andrew (1985) "Yoko Ono Starpeace", Rolling Stone, December 5, 1985. Retrieved March 15, 2013
  6. ↑ "Yoko One 'Starpeace'", Sounds, 14 December 1985, p. 28
  7. ↑ White, Armond (1985) "Yoko Ono Starpeace", Spin, December 1985, p. 28. Retrieved 15 March 2013
  8. ↑ Buckley, Peter (2003) The Rough Guide to Rock, Rough Guides, ISBN 978-1843531050, p. 752
  9. ↑ Shefchik, Rick (1985) "Yoko Ono: Old Hippie in New Package", Charlotte Observer, November 15, 1985, p. 7D
  10. ↑ Johnstone, Nick (2006) Yoko Ono Talking, Omnibus Press, ISBN 978-1846091018, p. 81
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