"Mind Games"

John Lennon:  “Mind Games”

Reissued Vinyl Album:  (Purchased from Amazon.com)

Original Release Date:  1973  Record Plant Studios

My Rating:  (4 Stars)

Side 1

Mind Games

Tight A$

Aisumasen (I’m Sorry)

One Day (At A Time)

Bring On The Lucie (FredaPeeple)

Nutopian International Anthem

Side 2

Intuition

Out The Blue

Only People

I Know (I Know)

You Are Here

Meat City

   I don’t think it’s false to state many people believe Yoko Ono destroyed The Beatles.  While this accusation may not be entirely untrue, it’s this blogger’s opinion that she perfected the individual, John Lennon.  I’ll freely admit to the fact that I’m not always wild about Lennon singing with The Beatles, but when John sang to Yoko it’s a whole different story.  It’s a story about something more than simply a music legend.  In my opinion, the John Lennon who wrote about Yoko Ono was someone more relatable.  During this period of his career he came across as just a man who obviously loved a woman.  As a result he created some absolutely beautiful music for her. 

   During the album, “Mind Games,” my favorite example of Lennon’s unapologetic devotion to Yoko can be found during the song, “Out Of The Blue.”  This fantastic ballad features a simpatico relationship between not only piano and guitar, but also man and woman.  Lennon passionately breaks into the lyrics, “Every day I thank the Lord and Lady,” emphasizing a rather forward thinking opinion towards gender equality.  Later he continues with an almost primal growl, “All my life’s been a long slow knife  I was born just to get to you  Anyway I survived long enough to make you my wife.”  It’s lyrics like this that make a blogger’s knees go weak.  The song, “Out Of The Blue,” is an example of one of the world’s largest superstars unabashedly stating he lives only for a woman.  At the time John Lennon was a 1970's rock star without machismo!  Instead, he was a man with a modern way of expression.

   Continued future concepts can be found in several songs on the album.  A good example of this is the piece, “Bring On The Lucie.”  This song features the futuristic floaty sounds of guitar mixed with horns.   As a result, Lennon created the perfect euphoric composition to compliment yet another one of his peace anthems.  In addition, more contemporary sounds can be found during the song, “One Day At A Time,” where dreamy vocals lull a listener into John and Yoko’s seemingly Utopian love affair.  While this blogger will admit that some of this pair's combined work can come off as pretentious, it’s my opinion that the songs featured on the album, “Mind Games,” does this while still encouraging a listener to, “Come and be pompous with us.”

   Of course, no other piece on the album makes me want to join the John and Yoko, "commune," more than the title track, “Mind Games.”  I have to admit that it places at least in my personal Top 50 songs ever.  I love the music’s’ mantra sound.  I also adore the drippy idealism of the lyrics. However, mostly I admire the conviction John Lennon displayed towards the topics of love and peace.  He sang, “Love is the answer and you know that for sure.” A person hears this and walks away thinking, “Damn it, he’s right!  How can it be so simple?” 

   Of course after the album, “Mind Games,” is done playing reality returns to a listener.  “The answer,” is not so simple.  Even for a huge star like John Lennon things obviously did not go perfect.  However, while listening to this record of love and peace this blogger can’t help but get caught up in its’ promises.  While I'm admittedly not an expert in the actual history of John Lennon, I do know that he composed stunning songs that displayed extreme humility when it came to the topic of love.  This is something even modern day male performers rarely do.  In addition, Lennon focused a lot of these forward thinking tendencies toward the concept of peace.  He sang, “I want you to make love not war  I know you’ve heard it before.”  I want to answer him by stating, “Yeah, I’ve heard it before but I’ve never wanted to believe it so bad.”

-r.

"Mind Games":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6G2s6LNQQY