Customer Reviews

Mind Games

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(46)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Grossly underated album with some of Lennon's best work for years.
Largely retreating from the politcal messages of "New York City", this collection returns to the far more contented sound of "Imagine". The use of laid-back instrumentation, pleasant melodies and highly crafted lyrics, gives the whole album a country-rock feel, the sort of thing you might have expected from Mike Nesmith or The Byrds at the time.

Like all Lennons albums from the mid '70's it has always suffered from appalling sound quality, probably a combination of Lennon's production technique and the use of tapes several generations from the masters. So improving on the sound quality was never going to be difficult.
The original CD release from over 10 years ago is a muddy and completely uninspiring presentation, sounding almost AM radio quality.

The immediate impression of this new version is that the sound is opened up and feels much warmer. You can actully identify many individual instruments for the first time, particularly the bass guitar, and the impression of a wall of sound has been completely eliminated.

Pity then, that the track Meat City has been spoiled by the use of an un-edited vocal take with a littering of ad-libs, exorcised from the original record. The track also fades to early, cutting short the spoken message at the end.

It's a pity that people familiar with the it do not get hear the material and highlight these sort of mistakes before it's release.

Bonus tracks are always going to be a matter of personal opinion. The three selected for this release whilst pleasant enough, add little to the presentation.

A lot of people consider Mind Games to be another Lennon "flop", coming after Sometime In New York City, which is also considered to be a bad album. However, Mind Games is, without doubt, a stronger album than New York City and while it isn't as strong as some of John's other work, some other artists would probably kill to have an album like this.

The first song is the most well known on the album and wouldn't be out of the place on his Imagine album. It's a nice, relatively slow, upbeat number and always makes its way on to Lennon best-of compilations. After that, the songs aren't as well known. Tight A$ is a fun rocker, but not one of John's best. It seems to wear off its welcome fairly quickly, but the next song is much stronger. Aisumasen (I'm Sorry) is a great love letter/apology to Yoko, and one of the strongest songs on the album. One Day (At A Time) is another good song but is followed by what I consider to be the best song on the album Bring On The Lucie (Freda People). It's a fantastic little number and the only song on the album that has anything "political" in it at all, and it's not even a political song. It's definitely a classing John song, and it is very underrated, much like the rest of the album.

For those wondering, the Nutopian International Anthem is a 5 second long silence, and was the anthem for the conceptual country that John and Yoko created in 1973. After that, we have Intuition, which has always sounded to be like something off of Plastic Ono Band, except a little more upbeat than most of the songs on that album. Out Of The Blue is another of my favorite songs on the album, and is sort of like an upbeat love letter to Yoko.

Only People and I Know (I Know) are fairly good songs, but are hardly the best on this album. However, the last two are definitely classics. You Are Here is a quiet, beautiful song and Meat City is an absolutely fantastic rocker, and a great way to end an amazingly underrated album.

This remastered edition also has three extra tracks. Home demos of Aisumasen (I'm Sorry), Bring On The Lucie (Freda People), and Meat City. They're fairly rough but they're goopd to listen to a couple of times.

Overall, I highly recommend picking Mind Games up. It's not one of John's most famous, but it's a fantastic album, and it is very underrated.

First, let me say that I think the sound quality is amazing and would be interesting as a "Novelty." Hearing stuff I've never heard before is cool and put a smile on my face for the first listen and I love hearing some of the parts in the mix I've never heard before. I feel the same way about the other John Lennon "RE-MIXED/ RE-MASTERED" CD's that have come out in the last few years. But... now that "Mind Games" has come out in the same way as it's predecessors I really wish they would have just re-mastered John's albums the way the were recorded and left them ALONE!!! They sound very different from the original recordings. As flawed as some of the original mixes are I would think that for history's sake we wouldn't repaint the "Mona Lisa." The re-mix DOES change the music completely at times. For example... The beginning of "Meat City" sounds completely different than the original. The new version is much mellower. Also, the end of "Meat City" is missing some of the spoken words. I always thought that was one of the coolest things about this album. And... It must be noted that it was flawed on the original CD release also. It faded out TOO SOON also! Was it lost on the master tape somehow? If not this MUST be corrected! Overall... This would be cool as bonus disc with the original mix CD. Perhaps a 2 CD set. If we all complain enough maybe we can get them to re-issue the orignal mix simply remastered. (I wonder if they're planning on doing that. What a great way to get me to buy the album a total of 4 times :)....Strange but, I never heard hiss on "Nutopian International Anthem " before... wasn't it complete silence and only 3 seconds long not 6?
I'm wondering and somewhat paranoid about what will happen to "Wall and Bridges" and "Rock n' Roll". I am now going to go to E-Bay and look for the original LP/ Album/ Record/ Vinyl (which it looks like I may have parted with too soon) and place a bid just so I can hear John say... "Why are they doing those strange things"... maybe he was forseeing the future about these re-mixes.

1973's Mind Games found John Lennon returning to more familiar ground after 1972's overt political statement, Sometime In New York City. Mind Games is full of highly melodic pop songs and crisp rockers, but Mr. Lennon still found some space to open up people's minds. At the time, Mr. Lennon's new idea was to create a new Utopia or Nutopia as he called it. The album featured the state's anthem which is listed as six seconds long, but is actually just dead silence. Outside of that, the album is full of great stuff including the lush title track. "One Day At A Time" is a beautiful song and "Tight A$" is a 50's style rocker. "Bring On The Lucie (Freda Peeple)" combines a political message with one of the catchiest rhythm tracks on any of his solo works. This newly remastered version of the album brings to life the fullness and richness of the tracks that previous cd's lacked.

Only four stars. That is not for the material, but for the remix. The instruments do indeed sound clearer and more distinct than they did on either the LP release or the original CD. That, like on the IMAGINE remix, is a much-needed improvement. My issue is with the vocals. John Lennon employed a delay effect (OK, he used it to death, to be perfectly honest) on his lead vocals to such a degree that it became his trademark (listen to Paul McCartney's vocal on "Let Me Roll It" from BAND ON THE RUN, a song written to John). While there were times that one could argue against the effect, it is immediately identified with him and his music from this period. Hearing these songs without that distinctive vocal effect is a bit like seeing AMERICAN GOTHIC without the pitch fork.

Now, about the music. This album came out in 1973, following the abominable SOME TIME IN NEW YORK CITY. MIND GAMES was a return to form, and enjoyed a much warmer reception. Several of the songs on this album are among my favorite Lennon compositions. "I Know" is a strikingly beautiful ballad with wonderful backing vocals. "Tight A$" shows the sense of humor for which John was so famous and was sorely missing on his previous album. Like others who have reviewed this album, I love "Meat City", a frenetic rocker that doesn't take itself too seriously. The rest of the album is just as good.

My advice is to buy this remixed version to hear the drastic improvement in sound quality of the instruments, but do not part with your LP or previously-issued CD version. Besides, comparing is half the fun, and in all fairness, the vocal delay was a bit overdone. But it just seems to belong there now.

If anyone associated with the remixing should read this, please use restraint on WALLS AND BRIDGES.

Wow! Wait until you hear this remixed and remastered Mind Games CD. You will not believe your ears. Mind Games was always a favorite Lennon album for me, even on vinyl. But I always felt some of the tracks sounded "muffled", especially "Mind Games" and the classic rocker, "Meat City". Well, crank up your stereos!! Now all these wonderful tracks sound crisp, clear and loud. You hear instruments and vocals that were lost in the original mixes - they were there all along, we just could not distinquish or seperate. Now the songs are full of wonderful sounds and harmonies - and in real stereo. I went back to the orignal CD issue to compare, and indeed many of the tracks sound like they were recorded in mono the seperation was so poor and volume so low.

This is a great Lennon CD and Peter Cobbin (Re-mix Engineer) at Abbey Road Studios has worked his magic once again (he also re-mixed the Plastic Ono Band and Imagine CD's). Just Fabulous!

Like the other Lennon remasters, the sound is greatly improved. The disappointing factor is the abbreviated fade-out on "Meat City". During the fade on the vinyl LP, Lennon says "Who is that? Who is that? Who is that? Who ... is ... that? And why are they doing ... those ... strange ...... things?" When the original CD was issued years ago, the last word ("things") was missing. Now this remastered edition omits the entire last question. I guess another "improved" version will arrive in a few years and I can buy this album again.

I need John Lennon to make day bright. I grow up on Beatle and still find music to give me life every day. This CD sound so clear and improve of the old standard. Thank you Miss Yoko for letting the spirit of music live on. We play One Day at a Time to help our daily journey of peace and survival. The first song on album is almost a mantra of our existence. I'm Sorry is soft plea to unrequited love. Out the Blue is standout song with pretty melody and lyrical vow to wife. Many Beatle fan enjoy this song of all. I Know bring light to a dark world and lift your heart from sadness. Beatle songs speak in this way. Music is gift even after singer has left world. Love through lyrics and light through music. We listen with joy.

Was the Nutopian National Anthem really remastered as stated? Count me as skeptical... I'm not a trained musician, but I hear absolutely NO appreciable difference between any previous issues of this song! Can't believe they would charge 99 cents to download it. Talk about paying for nothing! Buyer Beware... There just may be something kind of funny about that though if some poor soul unknowingly pays a dollar for 4 seconds of silence....

Seriously though, this is a great John Lennon album with one big hit (Mind Games) and some lesser known gems tending towards the softer, mellower. love songs like Out the Blue, I Know, I'm Sorry. Very personal and heartfelt like so much of Lennon's work. One of my favorites.

Mind Games has always been my favorite John Lennon solo work, going back to '73. But I was always disappointed by the mediocre sound quality. Thank God, John, and Yoko for this current version, which is not only remastered, IT IS REMIXED! The sound quality has been greatly improved! So if you ever liked this album, or like John Lennon's solo work, this CD MUST be in your collection.