YOKO ONO’S SEMINAL 1981 ALBUM SEASON OF GLASS SET FOR 45th ANNIVERSARY RERELEASE
Preorder SEASON OF GLASS album.
Stream WALKING ON THIN ICE single.
One of Pitchfork’s Top 200 Albums of the 1980s, Season of Glass will be available in expanded CD and digital formats and for the first time on vinyl this century.
– Yoko Ono, Rolling Stone, October 1, 1981
In honor of Yoko Ono’s 93rd birthday, and to mark the 45th anniversary of its release, Secretly Canadian announce that Ono’s seminal 1981 album Season of Glass will be released summer 2026, in expanded CD and digital versions, and, for the first time in more than forty-five years, on black and limited quantities of white vinyl, with expanded and enhanced artwork. Hit single “Walking on Thin Ice” is now available to stream everywhere for the first time.
One of Pitchfork’s Top 200 albums of the 1980s, Season of Glass was released in June 1981, just seven months after the senseless murder of Ono’s husband and creative partner, John Lennon. Full of songs about love, loss, anger and fear, the album reflected Ono’s experience in stark detail, creating almost a companion piece to Ono and Lennon’s 1970 Plastic Ono Band “primal scream” albums.
“Season of Glass was really just being me, I suppose,” Ono told Newsweek in 1982. “Sort of, it was like a primal scream in a way; you know, something happened in my life, and I just had to say it. And I think it was therapeutic for me more than anything else. And I was pretty honest, I suppose.”
“My voice kept cracking while I recorded the songs,” Ono added in the liner notes to the 1992 box set ONOBOX. “I finally thought maybe I shouldn’t put the album out. Then it occurred to me there were probably many people in the world whose voices were cracking for many reasons. I realized my songs were the songs of the desperate. It was all right to show myself as how I was.”
Ono’s fifth studio album, Season of Glass was also the artist’s most commercially successful to date, cracking the Top 50 on Billboard’s Album Chart, but it was not without controversy.
Preorder SEASON OF GLASS album.
The album’s cover was a photograph of Lennon’s blood-soaked glasses, just as they were returned to Ono from Roosevelt Hospital after his murder. Though David Geffen, the head of Geffen Records, who had released Ono and Lennon’s Double Fantasy in November 1980, and released the original version of Season of Glass, implored Ono to change the cover, Ono stood her ground.
“The record company called me and said the record shops would not stock the record unless I changed the cover,” Ono wrote in the liner notes to ONOBOX. “I didn’t understand it. Why? They said it was in bad taste. I felt like a person soaked in blood coming into a living room full of people and reporting that my husband was dead, his body was taken away, and the pair of glasses were the only thing I had managed to salvage – and people looking at me saying it was in bad taste to show the glasses to them.”
“I’m not changing the cover,” Ono has recalled telling Geffen. “This is what John is now.”
Taken by Ono from the bedroom window in the couple’s Dakota apartment overlooking Lennon’s beloved Central Park, the photo did indeed cause a stir. But Ono was circumspect.
“I really wanted the whole world to see those glasses with blood on them and to realize the fact that John had been killed,” she told The New York Times in 1981. “It wasn’t like he died of old age or drugs or something.”
In 1992, she recalled the experience to American Songwriter. “When I made Season of Glass, I felt like I was still walking underwater or something, so I didn’t really know people’s reaction,” she told the magazine.
Backed by the same band that had played on Double Fantasy, the sound of Season of Glass sits in alignment next to that album, which at the time was already considered an artistic triumph for Ono, who was inspiring young artists like the B-52s and Sonic Youth.
“The musicians were really gung-ho in making this album,” Ono wrote in the liner notes to ONOBOX. “Because they were the musicians from Double Fantasy, and we had a rapport, and also a feeling of loss.”
“I was probably still in a state of hysteria, and also it was easier for me to go to the studio and make something than sitting at home, because that’s where John and I worked together and we were used to that studio, we were used to making things, making music and it was a familiar thing to do,” she added of the experience.
Preorder SEASON OF GLASS album.
Stream WALKING ON THIN ICE single.
Following the release of the hit single “Walking on Thin Ice,” the song Ono and Lennon were working on the night Lennon was murdered, and one of the bonus tracks included in the CD and digital versions of Season of Glass, the album was embraced by critics and fans alike.
Publications from both sides of the Atlantic praised the album, noting that Ono was “writing and performing outstanding material” in a voice that was “strident, assured and confident.” The then-current dean of music criticism, Robert Christgau of the Village Voice, wrote that “damn near every song is affecting.” Meanwhile, Rolling Stone gave it four stars, calling it Ono’s “most accessible, assured work,” praising the album for blending emotional, raw expressions of grief and rage with intelligent pop that was nothing short of a remarkable, albeit painful, artistic statement.
In 1997, in an interview with Goldmine, Ono said of the critical response and healthy sales, “Being an artist, you get an idea, and you go with it. And you just make something. You don’t think, ‘Well, this is going to be considered my response to John’s death.’ I never thought that way. It’s just the fact that I was frantic, and I was going crazy, and I had to work. That’s all. I just had to work. If I didn’t work, if I didn’t do music, I couldn’t have survived. My mind was just about at the edge.”
In the years since its release, the honest, loving, sometimes harrowing nature of the songs on Season of Glass have meant that it has only gained in stature. Now universally embraced as a powerful artistic statement about grief and loss, it is considered a landmark release, and among Ono’s best works; a fully realized artistic statement.
“Like all my records, this album has a little theme to it,” Ono reflected in a conversation with Rolling Stone in late 1981. “First you say goodbye to sadness, and then there are flashbacks to different aspects of our relationship. After that, you know what happens… And in the end, a woman tries to stand up on her own. It’s my diary, in fact.”
Ultimately, Season of Glass is a stunning, cathartic listen. Still, Ono has always insisted there’s one thing the album is not: healing.
“What healing? That’s another thing most people don’t know, but the widows of the world will know,” she told the Los Angeles Times nearly a decade after the album’s release. “Losing a husband is something you can’t shake. It’s not just a feeling of missing him. It’s something more that could never heal. His loss will always stay.”
Preorder SEASON OF GLASS album.
SEASON OF GLASS
‘Thank You, Thank You, Thank You. Music was my salvation. I am thankful for all the help I got on this album from above & around. Thank you Phil. Thank you Hugh, Slick, George Anthony, Andy, Tony, David & Arthur. I hope your beautiful talent and love will shine through this album. Thank you Ed, Jon, Fred & Jerry, for your warm support. Everything went so well because of all your love and care.
When I started to sing I noticed my throat was all choked up and my voice was cracking. I seriously thought maybe I should quit making the album because, as some people had advised me, “It was not the time”.
But the question was, when would it be the time? I thought of all the people in the world whose voices were choking and cracking for many reasons. I could sing for them. I could call it a “choke” or “crackle”. Well, wasn’t that what the critics had been saying about me for all these years anyway? That gave me a laugh, and it became easier. Many amazing things happened during the recording session. All I can say is that John was right therewith me, busy trying to arrange things for me. That is why this album is not dedicated to him. He would have been offended. He was one of us.
Love,
Yoko Ono
May 6 ’81, N.Y.C.’
SEASON OF GLASS
Track listings for the CD/digital and vinyl releases:
Goodbye Sadness
Mindweaver
Even When You’re Far Away
Nobody Sees Me Like You Do
Turn of the Wheel
Dogtown
Silver Horse
I Don’t Know Why
Extension 33
No, No, No
Will You Touch Me
She Gets Down on Her Knees
Toyboat
Mother of the Universe
CD/Digital Bonus Tracks
Walking On Thin Ice
I Don’t Know Why (Demo)
Dogtown (Phil Spector Mix)
Musicians:
Yoko Ono: solo & background vocals
Hugh McCracken: guitar, jew’s harp on “Dogtown”
Earl Slick: guitar
Anthony Davillo: guitar on “No, No, No” and “Toyboat”
George Small: keyboards
Anthony Davillo: keyboards
Tony Levin: bass
John Siegler: bass on “Mindweaver” and “Mother Of The Universe)”
Andrew Newmark: drums
David Friedman: vibraphone & percussion
Arthur Jenkins, Jr.: percussion
George ‘Young’ Opalisky: soprano & alto saxophone
Michael Brecker: tenor saxophone (appears courtesy of Arista Records)
Ronnie Cuber: baritone saxophone
Howard Johnson: tuba
Sean Ono Lennon: a little story
Words and music: Yoko Ono
Producers: Yoko Ono & Phil Spector
Recorded, mixed and mastered at The Hit Factory, N.Y.C
Engineer: Ed Sprigg
Assistant Engineer: Jon Smith
Music scores: Yoko Ono
Conductor: Anthony Davillo
Production assistants: Frederic Seaman, Jerry Caron
Cover photography and original album design by Yoko Ono
Artwork: Christopher Whorf/Art Hotel
Additional photography by Bob Gruen
Stream WALKING ON THIN ICE single.
WALKING ON THIN ICE – FOR JOHN
John and I were gloriously happy in the first week of December. Double Fantasy was in the top ten. It was just a matter of time for it to go up to number one since we still had two weeks to Xmas and it was selling well. We kept saying, “We did it, we did it,” and hugged each other. “What are we going to do when it’s number one, John?” “I’ll take you out to dinner.” “That’s a date?” “That’s a date.” That meant dressing up time: John in his suit and me in drag. He would put the diamond pin on his lapel, a birthday present from me. Then we would end up going to a quiet, dark restaurant where nobody could see us except us. But that was our idea of fun. “Mother, help me put this diamond pin on, will you?” I hear him saying.
“Yoko, you paid your dues, and you produced a top ten record. Don’t let them kick you around any more. When you talk to them, just remember that. They have to respect you now. Just look them in the eye and say, ‘I’m to a top ten artist’ in your mind, okay?” he said, over and over again. “Don’t worry, John. I look them in their eyes anyway.” “That’s because you’re crazy,” he laughed. “But you’re a commercial success now, Yoko; you don’t know what that means. It means dollars and cents, and they understand that.” “Sure, John.”
“Walking On Thin Ice” was what we were remixing that night. The past weekend we had listened to the song all day and night. It was as if we were both haunted by the song. I remember I woke up in the morning and found John watching the sunrise and still listening to the song. He said I had to put it out right away as a single. He wanted to be on the B-side of it. I didn’t think that was wise. “Nobody’s going to listen to the A-side then.” “Hey, I’ve got a good idea. How about sending just the A-side to the DJs and keep the B-side a total secret until it’s sent to the shops?” “Nice try, John. You know it’s not going to work.” Later, John agreed with me. “You’re probably right. We have to put you out as a solo artist.”
In our minds we were a team. In the world’s mind it was John Lennon and his Missus who got lucky. I caught him looking at the grey streak in my hair. He caught me looking at his cheekbones. We were old soldiers. “Let’s really give it to them. Let’s make it a rule that we won’t release any photo of us unless we are kissing or looking at each other.” “That’ll really go down well, I bet,” I laughed. He laughed, too, looking pleased that he made me laugh. The family who laughs together stays together, I thought.
Getting this together after what happened was hard. But I knew John would not rest his mind if I hadn’t. I hope you like it, John. I did my best.
Yoko
Jan.24 ’81
N.Y.C.
Stream WALKING ON THIN ICE single.
Walking On Thin Ice
Walking on thin ice
I’m paying the price
For throwing the dice in the air
Why must we learn it the hard way
And play the game of life with your heart?
I gave you my knife
You gave me my life
Like a gush of wind in my hair
Why do we forget what’s been said
And play the game of life with our hearts?
I may cry someday
But the tears will dry whichever way
And when our hearts return to ashes
It’ll be just a story
It’ll be just a story
Ai ai ai ai ai ai ai ai
I knew a girl who tried to walk across the lake
‘Course it was winter when all this was ice
That’s a hell of a thing to do, you know
They say the lake is as big as the ocean
I wonder if she knew about it?
Ai ai ai ai ai ai ai ai
Vocals: Yoko Ono
Lead guitar, keyboards: John Lennon
Rhythm guitars: Hugh McCracken & Earl Slick
Bass guitar: Tony Levin
Drums: Andy Newmark
Percussion: Jack Douglas
Words and music by Yoko Ono
Produced by: John Lennon, Yoko Ono & Jack Douglas
Engineer: Lee DeCarlo
Assistant Engineers: Jon Smith & Julie Last, Sam Ginsberg & Steve Mark
Recorded at Hit Factory, N.Y.
Stream WALKING ON THIN ICE single.
Photos in this article by Bob Gruen bobgruen.com and Allan Tannenbaum sohoblues.com taken from the accompanying album artwork.
