While John and Yoko's first album "Two Virgins" got plenty of attention because of its nude album cover photos, their second album "Life With The Lions" only got scant attention. The album is a continuation of John and Yoko attempting to present their lives together as art.

The opening track "Cambridge 1969" was recorded live at Cambridge University during an unusual avant-garde jazz concert. For 26-minutes, Yoko is heard screeching, screaming, cackling, howling and doing who knows what else while John Lennon brutalizes his electric guitar with atonal feedback behind her. This piece continues in this fashion for much of its duration. It's only towards the end that some additional help comes along. Percussionist John Stevens and Sax player John Tchicai join John and Yoko during the last six minutes. After Yoko shuts up and John turns off his amplifier, the two other John's continue playing alone as the piece fades out.

The second half of the album was recorded at Queen Charlotte Hospital in London where Yoko was pregnant but ultimately suffered a miscarriage. "No Bed For Beatle John" consists of Yoko (with John in the background) putting various press articles on the couple to music. It is sung in a the style of a Gregorian chant.

This is followed by "Baby's Heartbeat", a five-minute tapeloop of the heartbeat of John and Yoko's unborn child who was miscarried shortly after this recording was made.

Next up is the self-explanitory "Two Minutes Silence". This was obviously influenced by composer John Cage's piece entitled "4:33" which sounds exactly like "Two Minutes Silence" only longer.

The album closes with "Radio Play" which is 12 and 1/2 minutes of someone rhythmically shutting a radio on and off while playing with its tuner. If you listen carefully, The Beatles "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" comes through on the radio. Also, John Lennon can be heard in the background making phone calls.

Like "Two Virgins", "Life With The Lions" is more of a collectors piece than an enjoyable listening pleasure. It is worth listening to however.

The remastered Rykodisc CD includes two additional pieces recorded at Queen Charlotte Hospital. "Song For John" is a somber piece featuring Yoko singing with John playing acoustic guitar. "Mulberry" is a 9-minute piece in which Yoko repeats the word "Mulberry" over and over with different inflections while John plays an abstract slide guitar.

And indeed, it provides a welcome relief for weary listeners struggling their way through this horrendous monument to artistic vanity and pretentiousness. I cannot imagine there are many who've honestly listened to this pseudo-art more than once all the way through. The only role this album plays in music history is to serve, like the Wedding Album, as a dire warning to all of how awful the results can be when artistic pretentiousness prevails over good judgement and true creativity. I'd gladly listen to an album's worth of 'Two minutes Silence' rather than just two more minutes of this nauseating tripe.

Track by track:

1. "Cambridge 1969" -- Yoko sings free jazz (in the same manner that people play it on wind instruments). The sounds she makes are absolutely astonishing. How does she do it without frying her voice? How does she overcome physiological barriers? If you know how to listen to a pitch or timbral curve, she not only calls and responds with her own phrases, she calls and responds with John's feedback guitar. I once spoke to John Tchicai about this track and he smiled really wide and recalled it very fondly, so they must have been having fun. He also informed me the performance went on much longer without John & Yoko (John & Yoko's sets blended with Tchicai and John Stevens), typical for free jazz performances. Check Alan Silva's "Seasons" for a 2 hour and 26 minute big band freakout -- something really astonishing and scary if this floats your boat.

2. "No Bed For Beatle John" -- Funnily enough the chants in this song are catchy enough that I find myself sometimes humming the melody to this song. This is a nifty trick. I wonder what John & Yoko were thinking about as they were reading these newspaper accounts.

3. "Baby's Heartbeat/Two Minutes Silence" -- I've always thought these tracks went together. You hear John and Yoko shuffling to get the microphone onto Yoko's belly to record the heartbeat, and you hear it churning along like a Hafler Trio track. And suddenly it quits just as you've hit the point that George Clinton calls "where repetition becomes sacred." The vigil for the loss of the baby in the two minutes silence gives you plenty to ponder as the track passes and you hear the ambience of your surroundings.

4. "Radio Play" -- this is an interesting artistic statement -- a glimpse into John & Yoko's every day life, but there's a barrier in between you and them -- someone playing with a radio. Sometimes my ears strain to hear what's on the radio, sometimes it's fascinating to try to hear what John & Yoko are doing at the time. But the point that there *is* a barrier doesn't go unnoticed.

5. "Song For John" -- what a pretty, sad song, full of images. Countless movies play in my mind upon hearing.

6. "Mulberry" -- As Yoko holds her tones quietly, repairing her voice from the frying she did with other pieces such as "Cambridge 1969", John plays (with) a dobro. I like the contrast between John's busy sounds and Yoko's controlled, quiet chanting of the word "Mulberry." This track is quite like some of Fred Frith's more experimental guitar pieces or Sonny Sharrock's early records.

There's plenty to like about this album. I just wish more people got what they were trying to do. Having big ears for free jazz (which I do) helps.

I bought this, back in 1969. Still not too sure, exactly why. The only thing funny about it, was the horns at the end of Side 1. Otherwise, it's just noise, ie, Yoko's wailing. More of a waste than George Harrison's " Electronic Sound ". Just a waste of $ 4.98 then.

Being a John Lennon fan I bought this on vinyl years ago. Boy do I feel like a sucker. There is no music on this - just John & Yoko's pretentious avant-garde "art". Anyone who claims to enjoy this is either lying or just nuts. If Lennon had not been a Beatle then this would never have seen the light of day. Save your money for actual music.