When it comes to John Lennon's two final solo albums, both with Yoko Ono - 1980's Double Fantasy and 1984's Milk and Honey - people often tend to combine John's tracks from both of them to make a purely John Lennon solo album. Many, myself included, have played this game before, each having their own twist on it. But what about the tracks by Yoko? More often than not, the Yoko songs are discarded, the main reason being that they don't mix well with the John songs despite the intention behind it.
Originally, both Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey were intended by the couple to represent a conversation between a husband and wife, which is why the songs alternate between singers. With only the John songs, the listener is better able to relate to him as a househusband. But is there a way to salvage the Yoko tracks and make an album out of them?
Actually, there is. Two albums, in fact. Yoko's 1997 album A Story was actually recorded in 1974 during John's lost weekend, and many of the tracks included were later re-used for future albums. I've used that as a reference in order to make these albums feel more complete, so that meant tracks from both Season of Glass and It's Alright (I See Rainbows) were utilized. This is based upon the assumption that John and Yoko both did solo projects instead of duet albums and John was never killed. The latter point is mostly to explain why tracks from both of Yoko's solo albums are included, as I doubt the majority of Season of Glass would've existed if John lived.
Side A (21:00)
1. Walking on Thin Ice - 6:00 (non-album single)
2. Give Me Something - 1:35 (Double Fantasy)
3. I'm Moving On - 2:13 (Double Fantasy Working Version)
4. Dogtown - 3:22 (Season of Glass)
5. It Happened - 5:08 (B-side)
6. Kiss Kiss Kiss - 2:42 (Double Fantasy)
Side B (20:15)
7. Yes, I'm Your Angel - 3:08 (Double Fantasy)
8. She Gets Down on Her Knees - 4:13 (Season of Glass)
9. Beautiful Boys - 2:55 (Double Fantasy)
10. Will You Touch Me - 2:37 (Season of Glass)
11. Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him - 4:02 (Double Fantasy)
12. Hard Times are Over - 3:20 (Double Fantasy)
The main inspiration for this was Uncle Dan's Double Milk and Honey Fantasy boxset from 2018, in which for one of the discs, he combined all of Yoko's tracks (barring "Let Me Count the Ways") from both albums into one, with the inclusion of "Walking on Thin Ice", which provided the album title. I wanted to go for a similar approach, albeit my version will focus solely on tracks from Double Fantasy, as well as a few from Season of Glass and the "Walking on Thin Ice" single. Overall, enough material for a complete album running at 41 minutes.
Walking on Thin Ice begins with the title track, running for the whole six minutes; this will be the album's lead single, albeit an edited version is utilized instead. Following this is "Give Me Something" and "I'm Moving On", the latter of which is the version with Cheap Trick as the backing group. Next is the first of the Season of Glass tracks, "Dogtown", which was originally recorded in 1974 before being reused in 1981. Also worked on in 1974 is "It Happened", the B-side of "Walking on Thin Ice", now being promoted to an album track; both sides of the single dominate Side A, which concludes with "Kiss Kiss Kiss", much like Uncle Dan's version did.
Side B utilizes similar cues to Uncle Dan, beginning with "Yes, I'm Your Angel". Following is "She Gets Down on Her Knees", another 1974 track, and then "Beautiful Boys" and "Will You Touch Me", the latter of which makes three tracks originally included on Season of Glass. The album concludes similarly to the original Double Fantasy with a one-two punch of "Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him" and "Hard Times are Over", the latter of which also originated in A Story.
So how does Walking on Thin Ice compare to Double Fantasy, much less any theoretical John solo album from 1980? Compared to Double Fantasy, it's obviously more cohesive as we can hear Yoko taking a more pop route with her music. But alas, it will inevitably pale compared to her husband's work, which many Beatle fans will likely prefer. Depending on lyrical content, more tracks from Season of Glass could be included, but as it stands, Walking on Thin Ice is a pretty solid album overall.
And now, the 1983 solo Yoko album!
Side A (17:14)
1. My Man - 3:56 (It's Alright)
2. Don't Be Scared - 4:35 (extended version)
3. Sleepless Night - 3:53 (extended version)
4. O' Sanity - 1:05
5. Open Your Soul to Me - 3:45 (Onobox)
Side B (17:02)
6. Your Hands - 3:04
7. Forgive Me, My Love - 3:11 (Onobox)
8. Loneliness - 3:47 (It's Alright)
9. You're the One - 4:34 (extended version)
10. Tomorrow May Never Come - 2:26 (It's Alright)
Right out of the gate, the problem with compiling Yoko's tracks from Milk and Honey is that they're quite short, running at a combined length of a little less than 16 minutes. Even more so if we cut "Let Me Count the Ways" - a track that leads into John's "Grow Old with Me" - running at about 13 and a half minutes. Fortunately, there do exist longer versions of most of the songs on Onobox from 1992, extending the combined length to a little over 17 minutes, albeit I imagine that getting a hold of it is pretty hard. That's more or less a whole side figured out, so now it came down to at least doubling the length and getting creative.
Milk and Honey Fantasy begins with "My Man" from It's Alright, which was originally written in 1980 while John was still alive, yet Yoko didn't record this until after he'd been murdered. Once again taking cues from Uncle Dan, we follow that with the extended versions of "Don't Be Scared" and "Sleepless Night", and then "O' Sanity", the shortest Yoko track from the sessions at just slightly over one minute. The first side concludes with "Open Your Soul to Me", an outtake considered for Double Fantasy, but was later recorded during the sessions for Season of Glass.
The second side begins with "Your Hands", followed by "Forgive Me, My Love", another outtake considered for Double Fantasy, but again, re-recorded for It's Alright; it was even considered for a musical John and Yoko were planning before he was killed. Next is "Loneliness", yet another track originally started in 1974, followed by the extended version of "You're the One" and concluding with "Tomorrow May Never Come", the latter of which was also first recorded in 1974. Originally, I wanted to include "There's No Goodbye", a demo that eventually ended up on Take Me to the Land of Hell in 2013, but I opted against it instead.
Admittedly, Milk and Honey Fantasy is quite short, running at just 34 minutes, mainly because I was unsure as to which songs were about John after his death. But hopefully it turns out okay, especially with the extended versions of some songs helping the length a bit. That being said, a couple of more tracks wouldn't hurt. Both albums combined will fit onto a single CD.
