Album Reviews

By the time Mind Games was issued in December of 1973, John Lennon had lost all semblance of musical and personal balance. Sad, but true. The looming Yoko on the horizon cover said it all. Yet the stunning title tune, with its wistful melody and “summing it all up” lyrics led many fans to believe the revolutionary Beatle had returned to greatness after the formless debacle that was Sometime in New York City, but alas, they were mostly wrong.

With the exception of the title track and the lovely “I Know (I Know),” there wasn't much to recommend here-at least when it was first issued. In retrospect it's still a weak effort, as Lennon meandered between his Yoko fetish, his scream therapy, and his Utopian political sloganeering.

Still, those of us who loved him and love him can now forgive the excesses and appreciate and cherish even the regurgitated slop he offers up here as good riffs are repeated, lyrics are transparently re-cast and re-hashed and Lennon's gift for evocative melodic lines appears to have mostly left him.

The tied-to-her apron-strings love songs to Yoko should have been left as cassette greeting cards slipped under her powder room door instead of being made public, but then considering the Two Virgins cover, this was to be expected. The political ramblings like “Bring on the Lucie (Freda People)” are equally difficult to take, yet the record is enjoyable nonetheless thanks to some good playing by Jim Keltner, Michael Brecker, “Sneaky” Pete Kleinow and David Spinozza. Rick Marotta sits in on drums on “Meat City.” Marotta, brother of longtime Peter Gabriel drummer Jerry, is best known today as writer/performer of the music for “Everybody Loves Raymond.”

Here's a funny aside: when I was publishing The Tracking Angle I got a postcard from a Rick Marotta in Staten Island that simply read “Please send a copy of your magazine to me.” Now maybe this was this Rick Marotta, but I had forgotten the name at the time and I was so incensed by the order, I sent the card back in an envelope with my reply: “Why the fuck should I send you a copy of my magazine?” I probably should have sent him one but he probably should have been less aggressive and demanding without an explanation. Anyway….

Even at his near-bottom, Lennon was worth the listen and all these years later, this disc, while not nearly the equal of either Plastic Ono Band or Imagine has its moments and is a piece of a musical history puzzle that remains one of the most intriguing, creative and at times pathetic and sad in all of rock and roll.

Is it worth the price Mobile Fidelity is asking for the 180g version reissued from Yoko's 96k/24 bit revisionist remastering? Only you can answer that. However, the remix in this case is in many ways better than the original, which was bunched up in the middle both tonally and spatially. Though recorded at The Record Plant, the original production was glassy and ill-focused probably due in part to the early solid state boards or perhaps the blow. In any case, the re-mix, though still a bit bright, offers more detail, better focus and a wider, more carefully considered soundstage.