Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins | ||||
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Studio album by John Lennon and Yoko Ono | ||||
Released | 11 November 1968 (US) 29 November 1968 (UK) | |||
Recorded | 3–4 May 1968 at Kenwood, Surrey[1] or 19–20 May 1968 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 29:27 (original LP) 33:32 (1997 CD reissue) | |||
Label | Apple/Track/Tetragrammaton | |||
Producer | John Lennon, Yoko Ono | |||
John Lennon and Yoko Ono chronology | ||||
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Alternative cover | ||||
![]() The album as it was sold in stores, with the original cover underneath a brown bag. |
Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins is the first of three experimental albums released by John Lennon and Yoko Ono on Apple Records. It was the result of an all-night session of musical experimentation with Yoko in John's home studio at Kenwood, while his wife, Cynthia Lennon, was on holiday in Greece.[6] Lennon and Ono's 1968 debut recording is known not only for its avant-garde content, but also for its cover, which shows the couple naked. This made the album controversial to both the public and the parent record company EMI, which refused to distribute it. In an attempt to avoid controversy, the LP record was sold in a brown paper bag, and distributed by Track and Tetragrammaton in the United Kingdom and the United States respectively. Two Virgins, while failing to chart in the UK, reached number 124 in the US. The album was followed six months later by Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions.
CEPMW
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).John and Yoko's public life became a series of conceptual art events. They made avant-garde films and sound collage albums, including Two Virgins (1968) where they appeared naked on the sleeve.
The Lennon/Ono collaborative albums were a critical part of their take on celebrity coupledom. ... The first set to be issued, subtitled Two Virgins, was a sound-collage set reportedly produced during their first night together.
...They also released an album of musique concrete, Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins, the first record issued on the Beatles' Apple label, later that year.
CMaume
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).