It's Alright (I See Rainbows) is the sixth solo album by Yoko Ono, and her second release after the murder of husband John Lennon. As a variation of a theme concerning its predecessor, the back cover features a transparent image of Lennon in a then-contemporary photo of Yoko and Sean, depicted in Central Park. Released in 1982, all songs were written, composed, arranged, produced, and sung by Ono. It charted at #98 in the US.
| It's Alright (I See Rainbows) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 2 November 1982[1] | |||
| Studio | The Hit Factory, New York City | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 36:43 | |||
| Label | Polygram | |||
| Producer | Yoko Ono | |||
| Yoko Ono chronology | ||||
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| Singles from It's Alright (I See Rainbows) | ||||
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Background
editThe album saw Yoko take her music in a more uplifting direction following 1981's Season of Glass, despite the "bulk" of the album's songs "deal[ing] with her unabated feelings of loss over Lennon."[2]
Yoko reflected on the making of the album when writing liner notes for the 1992 boxset Onobox:
The songs from It’s Alright were an attempt to do new sounds. I used shotguns for the backbeat. I brought Sean’s toy raygun to the studio to use it as a rhythm track. I was expecting the usual sneer I had gotten from the musicians and engineers whenever I had tried to do anything that was out of the ordinary. Surprisingly, no one was upset this time. It was ’82 and it seemed as though I was finally in sync with the world.
[...]
In a way, the It's Alright time was much more difficult for me as a woman, as a person, than when I had made Season Of Glass. Life went on. I had to walk and talk normally, while I knew that somewhere inside me there was a clock that had stopped in ’80.
— Yoko Ono, "ONOBOX by Yoko Ono". 23 April 2009.
In 1997, the album was remastered by Ono and Rob Stevens for release on CD by Rykodisc.[3] The 1997 release used newly remixed versions of all songs. Some of the original mixes had a CD release in 1992 on the Onobox set but the rest remain unreleased on CD to date.
Reception
edit| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [4] |
| Rolling Stone | [2] |
Billboard called it Ono's "most commercially accessible musical effort."[5] Writing for Rolling Stone, Kurt Loder noted its "committed and convincing avant-gardism", which produced a "synthesizer-based pop that’s more adventurous than much of the music currently being ground out by Europersons half her age."[2]
Track listing
editAll songs written by Yoko Ono.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "My Man" | 3:56 |
| 2. | "Never Say Goodbye" | 4:25 |
| 3. | "Spec of Dust" | 3:31 |
| 4. | "Loneliness" | 3:47 |
| 5. | "Tomorrow May Never Come" | 2:26 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 6. | "It's Alright" | 4:23 |
| 7. | "Wake Up" | 3:47 |
| 8. | "Let the Tears Dry" | 2:24 |
| 9. | "Dream Love" | 4:53 |
| 10. | "I See Rainbows" | 3:15 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 11. | "Beautiful Boys" (Demo) | 2:00 |
| 12. | "You're the One" (Alternate take) | 4:50 |
Personnel
edit- Yoko Ono – vocals
- Paul Griffin – keyboards, synthesizer, piano
- Pete Cannarozzi – synthesizer
- Gordon Grody, Kurt Yahjihan, Carlos Alomar – background vocals
- Elliott Randall, Steve Love, Hugh McCracken, John Lennon, John Tropea – guitar
- Michael Holmes, Paul Shaffer – keyboards
- Neil Jason, Tony Levin, Wayne Pedziwiatr – bass guitar
- Yogi Horton, Allan Schwartzberg – drums
- Rubens Bassini, David A. Freedman, Sammy Figueroa, Roger Squitero – percussion
- Badal Roy – tabla
- Howard Johnson – baritone saxophone, tuba
- Technical
- Brian McGee, John Davenport, Jon Smith – engineer
- Bob Gruen – photography
Charts
edit| Chart (1982–83) | Peak position |
Total weeks |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard 200 | 98 | 13 |
Release history
edit| Country | Date | Format | Label | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 2 November 1982[1] | LP | Polydor | PD1-6364[6] |
| Cassette | CT-1-6364[7] | |||
| United Kingdom | 16 December 1982[1] | LP | POLD 5073[8] | |
| Cassette | POLDC 5073[8] | |||
| Germany | 1982 | LP | 2391559[9] | |
| Australia[10] | ||||
| Japan | January 1983 | 28MM 0241[11] | ||
| United States | 1 July 1997[12] | CD | Rykodisc | RCD 10422[13] |
| United Kingdom | 26 August 1997[8] | |||
| Japan | 1997 |
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f Onobox (liner notes). Yoko Ono. Rykodisc. 1992. RCD 10224/29.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ a b c Loder, Kurt (1983-01-20). "It's Alright (I See Rainbows)". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
- ^ Yoko Ono - It's Alright (I See Rainbows) (CD, Album) at Discogs
- ^ https://www.allmusic.com/album/r46037
- ^ "Top Album Picks". Billboard. December 25, 1982. p. 87. Retrieved 2023-02-08.
- ^ "Yoko Ono – It's Alright (I See Rainbows) (1982, Vinyl)". Discogs. 29 November 1982.
- ^ "Yoko Ono – It's Alright (I See Rainbows) (1982, Cassette)". Discogs. 1982.
- ^ a b c "It's Alright (I See Rainbows)".
- ^ "Vinyl Album: Yoko Ono - It's Alright (I See Rainbows) (1982)".
- ^ "Yoko Ono – It's Alright (I See Rainbows) (1982, Vinyl)". Discogs. 1982.
- ^ "Yoko Ono – It's Alright (I See Rainbows) (1983, Vinyl)". Discogs. January 1983.
- ^ "Ready or Not: Yoko Ono Albums to be Reissued". MTV. Archived from the original on February 18, 2018.
- ^ "Yoko Ono – It's Alright (I See Rainbows) (1997, CD)". Discogs. 1997.