Antagonistic, beautiful, deep, visceral – just open your Mind Games… John Lennon is back

THINK about the level of creativity achieved by the Beatles in their relatively brief but stellar career.

You’d “imagine” John Lennon needed a long lie-down in a dark room after the Fab Four went their separate ways in 1970.

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But far from that, he started his solo career at high speed.

Freed from the constraints of being in the band, Lennon’s freewheeling compositions addressed his abiding themes of peace and love, as well as passionate reflections on politics, class, injustice and religion.

Uncompromising, visceral, authentic, beautiful, antagonistic, deep, experimental.

All these words apply at various points to the body of work he was busy assembling.

His first three albums were released within 18 months of each other – John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970), Imagine (1971) and Sometime In New York City (1972 with Yoko Ono) – certainly the work of a man in a hurry.

But in 1973, Lennon’s life reached a crossroads.

At age 33, he faced deportation from the US for his prominent stance against the Vietnam War AND sitting president Richard Nixon.

At home, his seemingly unbreakable relationship with Yoko Ono was about to enter an 18-month separation involving their legendary “lost weekend.”

It was against this backdrop of uncertainty that Lennon ventured to New York’s Record Plant to record his fourth solo album, Mind Games.

He decided to use the same musicians from Yoko’s Feeling The Space album.

As she developed into a visionary musician in her own right, Yoko recruited a more experienced group than the loose jam band Elephant’s Memory involved in Sometime In New York City.

This, in turn, inspired Lennon to record a more commercial album with the same team, which he called Plastic UFOno Band.

Among them were his friend and drummer Jim Keltner (currently touring with Bob Dylan), guitarist David Spinozza and others providing bass, pedal steel, piano and saxophone.

Also on board to provide the album’s sultry backing vocals was girl group Something Different.

Crucially, this was the first LP produced by Lennon and the first without Phil “Wall Of Sound” Spector at the helm.

In the decades since its release, Mind Games has been considered one of Lennon’s lesser achievements, but known for its sublime title track, the quirky humor of Bring On The Lucie (Freda People) and some beautiful ballads, Out Of The Blue and Um day at a time).

Many of the other songs went unnoticed by listeners – perhaps people didn’t realize how personal they are and how much they reveal about Lennon’s state of mind.

Now, 50 years later, the album should have been reevaluated.

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Thus, the John Lennon Estate and Universal Music are releasing Ultimate Collection editions of Mind Games featuring various remixes, previously unreleased out-takes and instrumentals.

The raw studio mixes are especially effective, like being in the studio with the great man himself.

The collection is authorized by Yoko and produced by her only son with John, Sean Ono Lennon.

Now 91, Yoko reflects on her late husband’s title track from his most underrated album: “John was trying to get the message across that we all play mind games.

“But if we can play mind games, why not create a positive future with it – be a positive mind game?

“Mind Games is an incredibly strong song.

“At the time, people didn’t quite understand the message because it was before its time.

“Now, people will understand this.

“At that time, I don’t think people even knew they were playing mind games.”

In a new interview with Uncut magazine, Sean says the album was the sound of “my dad getting back on track after a very experimental and volatile period.

“I grew up listening to it without realizing that, to some extent, it had been forgotten when it came out.

“For me, it’s always been one of his strongest records.”

Depending on your level of interest in Lennon, the various new editions offer something for everyone, from the obsessive to the casually curious.

So it’s time to listen to Mind Games again – with an open mind.

“So keep playing these mind games together/Faith in the future, outside of the now.”