John Lennon "Two Virgins" Vinyl Apple Records 1968

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Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins is the first of three experimental albums released by John Lennon and Yoko Ono on Apple Records. It was the result of an all-night session of musical experimentation with Yoko in John's home studio at Kenwood, while his wife, Cynthia Lennon, was on holiday in Greece.[2] Their debut recording is known not only for its avant-garde content, but also for its cover which features the couple naked: This made the album controversial to both the public and the parent record company EMI, which refused to distribute it. In an attempt to avoid controversy, the LP record was sold in a brown paper bag, and distributed by Track and Tetragrammaton in the United Kingdom and the United States respectively. Two Virgins, while failing to chart in the UK, reached number 124 in the US. The album was followed six months later by Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions.

The genesis of the album came about when Yoko expressed an interest in John's avant-garde home recordings after he had asked "Do you want to hear some of the things I've been playing around at in my studio?" Lennon then played her some of his tapes which consisted of comedy recordings and electronic sounds, both of which he knew the other Beatles would not allow on their albums. After hearing the tapes, Ono insisted that they make their own recording.

The recordings that ended up on the album consisted largely of tape loops, playing while Lennon tried out different instruments (piano, organ, drums) and sound effects (including reverb, delay and distortion), changed tapes and played other recordings, and conversed with Ono, who vocalised ad-lib in response to the sounds.

I had this room full of different tapes where I would write and make strange loops and things like that for the Beatles' stuff. So we made a tape all night. She was doing her funny voices and I was pushing all different buttons on my tape recorder and getting sound effects. And then as the sun rose we made love and that was Two Virgins."] This was John's first recording project that did not feature any help from the other Beatles; parts of the album were reminiscent of later editions of the Beatles' Christmas flexi recordings.

Lennon and Ono used a time-delay camera, which was set up by Tony Bramwell, to take nude photographs of themselves for the album's cover: these were taken at 34 Montagu Square, in early October 1968. Lennon explained that they "were both a bit embarrassed when we peeled off for the picture, so I took it myself with a delayed action shutter.

The cover provoked an outrage, prompting distributors to sell the album in a plain brown wrapper. Quotes from Genesis Chapter 2, chosen by Derek Taylor, were placed on the back of the brown bag.The album's title arose from the couple's feeling that they were "two innocents, lost in a world gone mad".

The album was regarded by some authorities as being obscene and copies were impounded in several jurisdictions (including 30,000 copies in New Jersey in January 1969).

William Ruhlmann of AllMusic remarked that it was "not unlike what you might get if you turned on a tape recorder for a random half-hour in your home", calling the music "naked".

1. "Two Virgins Side One": – 14:14
   • "Two Virgins No. 1"
   • "Together" performed by Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians, vocalist: Tony Craig (George "Buddy" DeSylva, Lew Brown, Ray Henderson)
   • "Two Virgins No. 2"
   • "Two Virgins No. 3"
   • "Two Virgins No. 4"
   • "Two Virgins No. 5"

2. "Two Virgins Side Two": – 15:13
   • "Two Virgins No. 6"
   • "Hushabye Hushabye" ("I'd Love to Fall Asleep and Wake Up in My Mammy's Arms" performed by Fred Douglas and his orchestra) (Sam M. Lewis, Joe Young, Fred E. Ahlert)
   • "Two Virgins No. 7"
   • "Two Virgins No. 8"
   • "Two Virgins No. 9"
   • "Two Virgins No. 10"