Mind Games [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

John Lennon

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 5, 2002)
• Original Release Date: 1973
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B00006L3S3
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #34,892 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Released in 1973 after the dismal musical detour that was Sometime in New York City, Mind Games showed John Lennon returning to the emotional pop sounds of Plastic Ono Band and Imagine. But while the glorious title track (the album's only hit) was every inch a worthy successor to "Imagine," the rest of the songs were written off by most critics as half-baked experiments. In retrospect, most of them, while not classic stuff, are still better than the bulk of what passed for rock music in the early 1970s. "You Are Here" and "Out of the Blue" are definitely on par with Lennon's best solo work, while "Bring on the Lucie (Freda Peeple)" couches its political barbs in silly good humor. Even better is "Meat City," a rocker as wild and surreal as the "White Album"'s "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey." The 2002 remastered reissue is fleshed out with three "home version" takes of album tracks. --Dan Epstein

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Brilliant, Underrated Album..., June 30, 2005

By	Kelvin Peakin "Lennologist" (Here) - See all my reviews

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.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Flawed remastering., November 5, 2002

By	Neil Richardson (West Yorkhire, UK) - See all my reviews

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.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Game Winner, November 27, 2002

By	Thomas Magnum (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

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.