I am writing and posting this in the hope that someday (soon) we can watch this video as a throwback to what it was like when the world was on lockdown because of a global pandemic. Like Kim Petras and Charli XCX before him, Lee Ranaldo asked friends and fans to send him clips for his video. It’s a more melancholy result this time, showing people in masks getting on with their lives, sprinkled with short bursts of backyard dancing against a backdrop of empty fields, wind-swept streets and city squares overrun by pigeons. The song is, of course, a John Lennon cover, recorded by Ranaldo in 1991. Its re-release is part of Ranaldo’s efforts to release more archival work, including lots and lots of Sonic Youth live performances, which you can check out on their Bandcamp page. Man, I miss that band. Also, “John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band” is one of the greatest records of all time, so this is a perfect excuse to take another dip into its particular light&dark universe of regret, acceptance and hope.
Quote:
“During this time of enforced global confinement – the ‘planetary pause’, as I’ve been calling it, I’ve been sorting thru some old releases, and came across my version of John Lennon’s ‘Isolation’, which was recorded back in 1991 and released on the 1998 album Amarillo Ramp (for Robert Smithson). Our dear, departed friend Epic Soundtracks (Swell Maps, These Immortal Souls, Crime and the City Solution) played drums on the track, and I’ve always loved both the original and the version of the song we made, almost 30 years ago now... I thought it could be timely to re-present this track as relevant to our current moment. For video accompaniment I sent a request to friends far and wide around the globe, asking for brief personal video clips of the confinement from wherever they were – what they saw out on their streets, in their living spaces; whatever subjective view on our current situation they wanted to send me. I cut them all together to the song as a sort of informal, intimate record of this moment.
Stay safe out there, and hope to see you again once this is over, no matter how long it takes.
You can listen to the track and the album it comes from on my Bandcamp page.
Lee Ranaldo New York City May 2020
