Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins

Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins
Jon Lennon and Yoko Ono frontally nude, Lennon’s arm around Ono. The couple are in the center of the cover, which is mostly blank off-white except for some small text.
Studio album by
John Lennon and Yoko Ono
Released11 November 1968 (US)
29 November 1968 (UK)
Recorded3–4 May 1968 at Kenwood, Surrey[1] or 19–20 May 1968
Genre
Length29:27 (original LP)
33:32 (1997 CD reissue)
LabelApple/Track/Tetragrammaton
ProducerJohn Lennon, Yoko Ono
John Lennon and Yoko Ono chronology
Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins
(1968) 		Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions
(1969)
Alternative cover
The album covered by a brown paper bag with holes cut out to show John and Yoko's faces and the text "Two Virgins"
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.

  1. ^ Madinger, Chip; Raile, Scott (2015). Lennonology Volume One: Strange Days Indeed. Open Your Books LLC. ISBN 9781631101748.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference CEPMW was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Blenkinsop, Ian (2019). Music: The Definitive Visual History. London: DK Books. p. 327. ISBN 9780241458310. Retrieved 16 August 2022. 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.
  4. ^ Walls, Seth Colter (5 December 2016). "Yoko Ono / John Lennon: Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins". Pitchfork. Retrieved 11 October 2022. 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.
  5. ^ Marter, Joan M. (2011). "Yoko Ono". The Grove Encyclopedia of American Art: Volume 1. Oxford: Oxford University Pressq. p. 596. ISBN 978-0-19-533579-8. Retrieved 11 October 2022. ...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.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference CMaume was invoked but never defined (see the help page).