Grapefruit Records?: Secretly Canadian Rewrites History With Yoko Ono Reissues

As a part of its Yoko Ono reissue project, Secretly Canadian Records has reissued John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Wedding Album, 50 years after its original release in 1969. Touted on their website as a "faithful recreation," the reissue includes the remastered (white) vinyl, as well as reproductions of all original inserts in a boxed set edition. 

While the reissuing of Ono's albums originally released between 1968 and 1985 (including three  with John Lennon) is a valuable contribution to the preservation of her artistic work,  Secretly Canadian has not quite lived up to its stated purpose, "to painstakingly recreate the original vinyl packaging" in the Lennon/Ono series. In fact, SC has replaced the original Apple Records label with a "grapefruit" label (see below). While some might see this as a minor point, the substitution is at best inconsistent with SC's avowed commitment to authenticity.

While not always the case (albums are commonly reissued on different labels, of course), in this instance it is impossible, and historically disingenuous, to attempt to separate the artist and record from the label, at least as far as Ono's Apple albums are concerned. Apple, at the time, carried with it an implied association with The Beatles. In Ono's case, her artistic association with and marriage to John Lennon elevated her professional profile and facilitated her access to worldwide distribution of her work on a major label. This is not to say that her work did not merit such attention and support. It did, and it is gratifying that she has subsequently received the credit she deserves. However, when a reissue aspires to be the "definitive edition" of a work, the altering of a fundamental part of the original album is a significant misstep.