The worst fate for a remix album isn’t incompatibility—it’s irrelevance. By that standard alone, this second swan dive into Yoko Ono’s deep tracks is a resounding success, as only one of the 17 interpretations fails to make some kind of splash (take two bows, Moby, for banalizing the most divisive artist of the 20th century and requiring 10 minutes to do so).
Whereas 2007 template Yes, I’m A Witch plays like an expertly curated tribute concert—Peaches, Cat Power, Antony Hegarty, Spiritualized, Apples In Stereo and the Flaming Lips recreating a cross section of Onobox in their own image—the best of this sequel does something less expected: It inhales Ono’s gonzo energy and becomes an altogether different beast. Behold, Death Cab For Cutie as electro-marionette puppeteers (“Forgive Me My Love”), Peter Bjorn And John as noir auteurs (“Mrs. Lennon”) and Miike Snow as the rainbow-surfing Willy Wonka to Ono’s Oompa Loompa choir (“Catman”). Clearly, these bands have been holding out on us.
The top standalone track belongs, unsurprisingly, to Sparks, whose prickly, swinging piano version of “Give Me Something” was first erected in 2010 and still towers over the field. But even disasters like Dave Audé’s robo-Yoko clubber “Wouldnit” and Ebony Bones’ ominous misreading of “No Bed For Beatle John” hold some fascination, mostly due to the exquisite weirdness of their exhumed source material. Love it or hate it, in her hands or someone else’s, Ono’s music does what fine art has always done: It dares you to feel.
—Noah Bonaparte Pais
