Hold On World: The Lasting Impact of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Plastic Ono Band, Fifty Years On (Backbeat Books), by John Kruth

With a long list of poetry books and music biographies to his credit, one-time Milwaukeean John Kruth’s latest work is a look back at John and Yoko.

In the spring of 1970, the breakup of the Beatles scalded the air. That December, John and Yoko had the audacity to simultaneously release two albums with the same title, Plastic Ono Band. Lennon’s album has come to be regarded as one of the most honest albums ever released by a popular musician. Ono’s album was widely panned by fans and critics alike; the world is still catching up. Her ideas have since influenced generations of open-minded musicians.

In Hold On World: The Lasting Impact of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Plastic Ono Band, Fifty Years On, Kruth uses his experience as a musician and listener to turn the lens on the tempestuous era when the scales began falling from the eyes of peace and love generation.

Knitting in cultural context and thoughts from folks like producers Hal Wilner and Al Kooper to musician (and Yoko collaborator) Ornette Coleman and George Harrison’s sister Louise, Kruth peers back on a society that recoiled when Lennon suggested the Beatles were bigger than God. Bill Frisell’s lyrical introduction, clearly intoning “There’s so much to be thankful for.” sets the book the right direction.

John and Yoko fearlessly used everything from television and radio programs, to spiritual and psychological retreats and art exhibits, to dig for the truth. Five decades on, Kruth’s research frames a pair of wildly talented people who seemed to have the world on a string yet were self-aware enough to search into their own past and try to make real peace. Those lessons continue to resonate.