Milk and Honey (album)

Milk and Honey is the sixth and final album by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, released in 1984. Following the compilation The John Lennon Collection, it is Lennon's eighth and final studio album, and the first posthumous release of new Lennon music, having been recorded in the last months of his life during and following the sessions for his 1980 album Double Fantasy. It was assembled by Yoko Ono in association with the Geffen label.

Milk and Honey
Studio album by
John Lennon and Yoko Ono
Released9 January 1984 (UK)
27 January 1984 (US)
RecordedTracks 1–4 October–November 1979, August–December 1980, 1982–1983
GenreRock
Length36:49
LabelPolydor, Geffen, Capitol
ProducerJohn Lennon, Yoko Ono
John Lennon chronology
The John Lennon Collection
(1982)		 Milk and Honey
(1984)		 Live in New York City
(1986)
Yoko Ono chronology
It's Alright (I See Rainbows)
(1982)		 Milk and Honey
(1984)		 Starpeace
(1985)
Singles from Milk and Honey
  1. "Nobody Told Me"
    Released: 6 January 1984
  2. "Borrowed Time"
    Released: 9 March 1984
  3. "I'm Stepping Out"
    Released: 15 July 1984

Background

Milk and Honey was the duo's projected follow-up to Double Fantasy, though Lennon's murder caused a temporary shelving of the project. It took Ono three years to be able to resume work to complete it. Ono's material largely comprises new recordings which she undertook during the album's preparation in 1983, which give her songs a more commercial and contemporary edge. Conversely, Lennon's material, being rough takes and rehearsal recordings, has a more casual feeling.

Music and lyrics

"Nobody Told Me", a song Lennon intended for Ringo Starr's 1981 album Stop and Smell the Roses, was released as a single and became a worldwide Top 10 hit. Other singles from the album were "I'm Stepping Out" and "Borrowed Time". The songs "Let Me Count the Ways" and "Grow Old with Me" were written by Lennon and Ono to each other using inspiration from poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning. They are presented in their demo form.

Title

The album title came from Ono, who explained that it referred to their journey to the US, "the land of milk and honey". "But also, in the Scripture, the land of milk and honey is where you go after you die, as a promised land", Ono went on to say. "So it's very strange that I thought of that title. Almost scary – like someone up there told me to call the next album Milk and Honey."[1] The cover is an alternative take from the same photo session that produced the front cover of Double Fantasy, though this photo appears in colour.

Release
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Robert ChristgauA[3]
Mojo[4]
MusicHound2.5/5[5]
Paste[6]
Rolling Stone[7]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[8]
Uncut[9]

After falling out with David Geffen, whose Geffen Records had initially released Double Fantasy, Ono moved future projects to Polydor Records, which initially released Milk and Honey. EMI, home of Lennon's entire recorded output—including that with the Beatles—acquired this and all Lennon releases in the late 1990s. Predictably, the reaction to Milk and Honey was less fanatical than the one that afforded Double Fantasy in the wake of Lennon's death, but it was still well received, peaking at No. 3 in the UK and No. 11 in the US, where it went gold. Jack Douglas, who had co-produced Double Fantasy with Lennon and Ono, also had input into the initial sessions for Milk and Honey, though Ono declined to credit him after their professional relationship soured following Lennon's death.

Aftermath

In 2001, Ono supervised the remastering of Milk and Honey for its CD reissue, adding three bonus tracks and a 22-minute excerpt from Lennon's last interview in the late afternoon of 8 December 1980, hours before his death.

The bonus tracks include home demo recordings of "I'm Stepping Out" and "I'm Moving On" (from Double Fantasy) along with a version of "Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him" featuring Lennon's vocals only, which was planned to be included on the Ono tribute album Every Man Has a Woman (released 1984).

Track listing

Side one

  1. "I'm Stepping Out" (John Lennon) – 4:06
  2. "Sleepless Night" (Yoko Ono) – 2:34
  3. "I Don't Wanna Face It" (Lennon) – 3:22
  4. "Don't Be Scared" (Ono) – 2:45
  5. "Nobody Told Me" (Lennon) – 3:34
  6. "O' Sanity" (Ono) – 1:05

Side two

  1. "Borrowed Time" (Lennon) – 4:29
  2. "Your Hands" (Ono) – 3:04
  3. "(Forgive Me) My Little Flower Princess" (Lennon) – 2:28
  4. "Let Me Count the Ways" (Ono) – 2:17
  5. "Grow Old with Me" (Lennon) – 3:07
  6. "You’re the One" (Ono) – 3:56
2001 reissue bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
13."Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him"Ono3:19
14."I'm Stepping Out" (home version)Lennon2:57
15."I'm Moving On" (home version)Ono1:20
16."John and Yoko interview by Dave Sholin and Laurie Kaye, 8 December 1980" 21:55

Personnel

Charts

References
  1. Ono, Yoko (October 2010). "Milk and Honey 2010 Remaster Liner Notes".
  2. Allmusic review
  3. Robert Christgau review
  4. Doyle, Tom (November 2010). "John Lennon Signature Box". Mojo. p. 114.
  5. Gary Graff & Daniel Durchholz (eds), MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide, Visible Ink Press (Farmington Hills, MI, 1999; ISBN 1-57859-061-2), p. 667.
  6. Kemp, Mark (23 October 2007). "John Lennon – Reissues". Paste. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  7. Rolling Stone review
  8. "John Lennon: Album Guide | Rolling Stone Music". Rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2014.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  9. Mullholland, Garry (November 2010). "John Lennon – Remasters". Uncut. p. 108. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  10. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  11. "austriancharts.at John Lennon / Yoko Ono – Milk and Honey". Hung Medien (in German). Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  12. "Top Albums/CDs – Volume 39, No. 24, February 18, 1984". RPM. Archived from the original on 28 August 2011. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  13. "dutchcharts.nl John Lennon / Yoko Ono – Milk and Honey". Hung Medien, dutchcharts.nl (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  14. "InfoDisc : Tous les Albums classés par Artiste > Choisir Un Artiste Dans la Liste" (in French). infodisc.fr. Archived from the original on 3 November 2013. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  15. "Hit Parade Italia – Gli album più venduti del 1984" (in Italian). hitparadeitalia.it. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  16. "a-ビートルズ – Yamachan Land (Archives of the Japanese record charts) – Albums Chart Daijiten – The Beatles" (in Japanese). 30 December 2007. Archived from the original on 14 February 2012. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  17. "charts.nz – John Lennon / Yoko Ono – Milk and Honey". charts.nz. Recording Industry Association of New Zea Land. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  18. "norwegiancharts.com John Lennon / Yoko Ono – Milk and Honey". Hung Medien, norwegiancharts.com. VG-lista. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  19. "swedishcharts.com John Lennon / Yoko Ono – Milk and Honey". Hung Medien, swedishcharts.com (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  20. "John Lennon / Yoko Ono – Milk and Honey — hitparade.ch" (in German). Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  21. "The Official Charts Company – John Lennon and Yoko Ono – Milk and Honey". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  22. "allmusic ((( Milk and Honey > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))". allmusic.com. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  23. "Album Search: John Lennon" (in German). Media Control. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  24. "Top 100 Albums of 1984". RPM. 5 January 1985. Retrieved 29 October 2011.
  25. "日本で売れた洋楽アルバムトップ30 (Top-30 international albums on the Japanese Oricon Year-End Charts 1984". Archived from the original on 21 October 2007. Retrieved 21 October 2007.
  26. "Canadian album certifications – John Lennon & Yoko Ono – Milk and Honey". Music Canada.
  27. Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970-2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  28. "British album certifications – John Lennon/Yoko Ono – Milk and Honey". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Milk and Honey in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  29. "American album certifications – Lennon, John & Yoko Ono – Milk & Honey". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH. 

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