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{{Other uses|The Wedding Album (disambiguation){{!}}The Wedding Album}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}{{redirects here|John & Yoko}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2012}}
{{Infobox album
| name       = Wedding Album
| type       = Album
| artist     = [[John Lennon]] and [[Yoko Ono]]
| cover      = JohnLennon-albums-weddingalbum.jpg
| border     = yes
| alt        = a mostly blank cover with a photo of John Lennon and Yoko Ono in an archway and the album title printed above.
| released   = 20 October 1969 (US)<br/>7 November 1969 (UK)
| recorded   = 25–31 March 1969<br/>22 and 27 April 1969
| venue      =
| studio     = Room 902, [[Hilton Hotel]], [[Amsterdam]]<br />[[Abbey Road Studios]], [[London]]
| genre      =
*[[Avant-garde music|Avant-garde]]<ref>{{cite book|title=Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World: Volume 1: Media, Industry and Society|year=2003|publisher=Continuum|location=London., [England]|isbn=9780826463210|page=154|edition=Volume 1.|editor=Shepherd, John}}</ref>
*[[spoken word]]
| length     = 47:38
| label      = [[Apple Records|Apple]]
| producer   = [[John Lennon]], [[Yoko Ono]]
| prev_title = [[Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions]]
| prev_year  = 1969
| next_title = [[Live Peace in Toronto 1969]]<br />(with [[Plastic Ono Band|The Plastic Ono Band]])
| next_year  = 1969
}}
'''''Wedding Album''''' is the third and final in a succession of three collaborative [[Experimental music|experimental]] [[albums]] by [[John Lennon]] and [[Yoko Ono]]. It followed ''[[Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins]]'' and ''[[Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions]]''. In Britain, the album was released credited by "John and Yoko", without last names mentioned. In the United States, it was released credited by "John Ono Lennon & Yoko Ono Lennon."

==Recording==
"John & Yoko", the first side, a recording made on 22 and 27 April 1969, is of Lennon and Ono calling out each other's names, through a range of volume, tempos, and emotions, over the sound of their heartbeats. The two recorded on individual microphones.<ref name=pob/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/wedding-album-mw0000020366|title=Wedding Album - Review|publisher=AllMusic|author=William Ruhlmann|access-date=3 April 2015}}</ref> Lennon described the heartbeats as being "like African drums", and the piece being "like an extended, very extreme ''"[[John and Marsha]]"'' that was out years ago by [[Stan Freberg]]. It really makes your hair stand on end."<ref name=pob/> Lennon edited the two together on 1 May 1969.<ref name=rare>{{cite web|url=http://www.beatlesbible.com/people/john-lennon/albums/wedding-album/|title=Wedding Album|work=beatlesbible.com|date=22 September 2010|access-date=3 April 2015}}</ref>

"Amsterdam", the second side, had been recorded first, in a hotel room at the [[Hilton Hotel]] in [[Amsterdam]], the Netherlands during 25–31 March 1969.<ref name=pob/> The piece consists of interviews explaining their campaign for peace, conversations and captured sounds during the couple's "[[Bed-In]]" honeymoon.<ref name=pob/> An early form of what would become "John John Let's Hope for Peace" forms the beginning of "Amsterdam".<ref name=pob/> There were also four other musical interludes including Lennon performing a blues-style composition on [[acoustic guitar]], featuring the words "Goodbye Amsterdam Goodbye". Ono sings "Grow Your Hair", a song regarding peace. Lennon sings a brief excerpt in ''[[a cappella]]'' of the Beatles song "Good Night".<ref name=goodnight>{{cite web|url=https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/good-night/|title=Good Night Song|work=beatlesbible.com|date=22 September 2010|access-date=20 October 2023}}</ref> The last interlude is a short recitation of the words "Bed peace" and "Hair peace".<ref name=pob/><ref name=rare/>

Outtakes and interviews from Lennon and Ono's [[Bed-In]] were released as promo 7" vinyl [[Acetate disc|acetates]] by [[Bell Records|Bell]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Borack|first=John M.|title=John Lennon: Music, Memories, and Memorabilia|year=2010|publisher=Krause Publications|location=Iola, WI|isbn=9781440216497|page=124}}</ref>

==Release and reception==
{{Album reviews
|rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
|rev1score = {{Rating|1.5|5}}<ref>{{cite web|last=Ruhlmann |first=William |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/wedding-album-mw0000020366 |title=Wedding Album - John Lennon, Yoko Ono |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=27 April 2013}}</ref>
|rev2 = [[MusicHound]]
|rev2score = '''woof!'''<ref>Gary Graff & Daniel Durchholz (eds), ''MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide'', Visible Ink Press (Farmington Hills, MI, 1999; {{ISBN|1-57859-061-2}}), p. 667.</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev3Score = {{Rating|1.5|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/john-lennon/albumguide |title=John Lennon: Album Guide &#124; Rolling Stone Music |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=16 August 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209175016/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/john-lennon/albumguide |archive-date=9 February 2014 }}</ref>
}}
''Wedding Album'' was initially released on [[Apple Records|Apple]] on 20 October 1969 in the US,{{#tag:ref|US Apple SMAX 3361|group="nb"}} and 7 November 1969 in the UK.{{#tag:ref|UK Apple SAPCOR 11|group="nb"}}<ref name=pob>{{cite web|url=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/carousel/pob/pob04.html |title=John Lennon Discography |publisher=Homepage.ntlworld.com |access-date=27 April 2013}}</ref> The record came as an elaborate box set designed by [[John Kosh]], including sets of photos, [[comic strip]] drawings by Lennon,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/l/lennon_john.htm|title=John Lennon|website=lambiek.net|access-date=27 December 2024}}</ref> a reproduction of the marriage certificate,{{#tag:ref|Lennon and Ono's marriage was held in Gibraltar on 20 March 1969.<ref name=pob/>|group="nb"}} a picture of a slice of wedding cake (inside a white sleeve), and a booklet of press clippings about the couple.<ref name=pob/> It also included a [[Mylar]] bag that had the word "[[Bagism]]" printed on it.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rarebeatles.com/photospg/wedding/wedlp.htm|title=John Lennon & Yoko Ono Wedding Album|work=rarebeatles.com|access-date=4 April 2015}}</ref> The album did not chart in the UK, but managed to peak at number 178 in the US, staying on the charts for three weeks.<ref name=pob/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.discogs.com/John-Ono-Lennon-And-Yoko-Ono-Lennon-Wedding-Album/release/522067|title=Wedding Album - Lennon/Ono|publisher=discogs|access-date=3 April 2015}}</ref> Regarding the limited success, Lennon later addressed it saying, "It was like our sharing our wedding with whoever wanted to share it with us. We didn't expect a hit record out of it. It was more of a... that's why we called it Wedding Album. You know, people make a wedding album, show it to the relatives when they come round. Well, our relatives are the... what you call fans, or people that follow us outside. So that was our way of letting them join in on the wedding".<ref name=rare/> The album was available on vinyl, [[cassette tape]] and [[8-track tape]], each with the same deluxe packaging. The album was also advertised through magazine print advertisements, which Lennon and Ono's previous two albums had not been. The album was reissued in 1997 through [[Rykodisc]] with three bonus cuts – two of them [[B-sides]] by [[The Plastic Ono Band]] composed by Ono. The album was reissued again in March 2019 on Sean Lennon's Chimera label in collaboration with Secretly Canadian. This edition was released with the two original tracks. The release commemorated the 50th anniversary of the famous Bed-In in the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel in March 1969.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gratefulweb.com/articles/yoko-ono-celebrates-50th-wedding-anniversary-reissue-1969-release-wedding-album|title = Yoko Ono Celebrates 50th Wedding Anniversary with Reissue of 1969 Release 'Wedding Album'}}</ref>

''[[Melody Maker]]'' critic [[Richard Williams (journalist)|Richard Williams]] was given two single-sided [[Test pressing|test pressings]] for his review (which appeared on the front page of the November 15th issue). Each had a blank side featuring only an engineer's test signal, but Williams mistook it for a double album.<ref name="johnblaney">[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZuCZR7MiDA0C&pg=PA30 John Lennon: listen to this book, by John Blaney]</ref> In his review, he noted that sides two and four consisted entirely "of single tones maintained throughout, presumably produced electronically", and that the pitch of the notes appeared to change slightly. Lennon and Ono sent a telegram to Williams thanking him for his review and writing: "We both feel that this is the first time a critic topped the artist. We are not joking."<ref name="JPGR">{{cite web|last=Calkin|first=Graham|title=The Wedding Album|url=http://www.jpgr.co.uk/sapcor11.html|access-date=27 April 2013|publisher=Jpgr.co.uk}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=February 2021}}

==Track listing==
All pieces by [[John Lennon]] and [[Yoko Ono]], except where noted.

{{tracklist
| headline = Side one
| title1 = John & Yoko
| length1 = 22:44
}}
{{tracklist
| headline = Side two
| title2 = Amsterdam
| length2 = 25:00
}}
{{tracklist
| headline = CD bonus tracks
| title3 = [[Who Has Seen the Wind? (song)|Who Has Seen the Wind?]]
| note3 = Ono
| length3 = 2:05
| title4 = [[Listen, the Snow Is Falling]]
| note4 = Ono
| length4 = 3:25
| title5 = [[Don't Worry Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow)]]
| note5 = Demo) (Ono
| length5 = 2:15
}}

*The bonus tracks are not present on the 2019 Reissue.

== Personnel ==
*[[John Lennon]] – [[guitar]]s, [[Keyboard instrument|keyboards]], [[heart sounds|heartbeat sounds]], [[vocals]]
*[[Yoko Ono]] – vocals, rare sounds, heartbeat sounds
*[[Klaus Voormann]] – [[electric guitar]], [[bass guitar]] (track 4)
*[[Nicky Hopkins]] – [[piano]], [[Tubular bells|chimes]] (track 4)
*[[Hugh McCracken]] – piano, chimes (track 4)

==Charts==
{|class="wikitable"
|-
!Chart (1969)
!Peak<br>position
!Total<br>weeks
|-
|U.S. ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' 200
|align=center|178
|align=center|3
|}

== References ==
; Footnotes
{{reflist|2|group="nb"}}

; Citations
{{reflist}}

{{John Lennon}}
{{Yoko Ono}}

== External links ==
*[https://www.todomusica.org/john_lennon/ John Lennon] at [https://www.todomusica.org/ Todomusica.org] Spanish

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:John Lennon albums]]
[[Category:Yoko Ono albums]]
[[Category:1969 albums]]
[[Category:Apple Records albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by John Lennon]]
[[Category:Rykodisc albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Yoko Ono]]