Yes, I'm a Witch

At first glance, this looks like it might be yet another one of those records where an older cult artist is paired with a bunch of younger/ supposedly hipper musicians in efforts to add legitimacy to the younguns and street cred to said cult figure. Such is not the case with Ono's version of a collaborative hipster album, Yes, I'm A Witch. Yoko chose all the artists herself, and her choices range from predictable (Cat Power, Antony, Flaming Lips) to not (Le Tigre, Porcupine Tree, Hank Shocklee). The musicians were asked to pick elements of songs from Ono's back catalog and rework them. Most chose her distinctive vocals and created new songs using them (surprisingly, no one chose to work with "Mind Train" off her daring 1971 LP Fly). Unsurprisingly, Peaches chose to rework "Kiss Kiss Kiss," the infamous Double Fantasy song wherein Ono appears to achieve orgasm. Jason Pierce from Spiritualized turns the dance-y 1981 number "Walking on Thin Ice" into a powerful drone/ guitar workout percolating with a drum machine's pulse. The awesomest song is the Flaming Lips' take on Lennon/ Ono's "Cambridge 1969," carving a marvelous krautrock-ish groove that cradles Ono's unique vocal talents and Lennon's feedback and makes it something new, and better. The results overall are surprisingly great, though it's a bit disorienting given the eclectic array of artists. Ono fans, of course, will not likely be bothered by that. --Mike McGonigal

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