There’s no doubting Yoko Ono’s sincerity: Warzone’s title track begins with jungle sounds brutally disturbed by machine-gun fire, before she starts wailing passionate warnings in that inimitable fashion. But though there’s something primitive about her soundscapes, like a latter-day Scott Walker album on an IKEA budget, it’s when she describes “Men flashing their guns and balls/ Women looking like barbie dolls” that you realise how indispensable her work’s literal nature is. Furthermore, much of Warzone – which reimagines songs from her extensive catalogue – is more listenable than that opening shock suggests. Naturally, Why’s bestial howls aren’t easy on the ear, and Woman Power’s raucous garage rock confirms how, aged 85, Yoko Ono’s still full of fury. But the hypnotic Hell In Paradise quietly mocks us for being “Underqualified for love/ Overqualified for life” and I Love All Of Me provides redemption, while I Love You Earth is powerfully heartfelt, and a closing Imagine eerily sparse.
Written by Wyndham Wallace. Released on Chimera Music.