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Showing reviews 1-5 of 12
 This is the top Lennon C.D. 1973 April 27, 2010
Mr. Anthony Cox
You can go for the 'Imagine' C.D. 1971 and you can go for 'Sometime in New York City'1972..but when you reach this one..you can dig this man's REAL solo talent!
Great music folks!
 A minor classic August 14, 2009
S. B. Goldstraw
There is a missing ingredient in Mind Games. The tunes are good. The playing is good. But the production is ordinary. Lennon produced the album himself and I think in the hands of Phil Spector it would have become another Imagine.
Yoko does a good job on the remix, despite what you may have heard, and this version sounds less tinny, isolating the instruments better and making the whole thing sound more like the Plastic Ono Band album. And removing the echo as much as possible from Lennon's voice gives the songs more immediacy.
But nevertheless it needed more varied production. I suppose no-one would be interested in letting Phil Spector loose on the tapes now ? No, I don't suppose they would.
 Dont write it off! December 25, 2008
Mr. Owen Martin (ireland)
Im not gonna compare it to other lennon or beatles albums but take the album on its own merits. If you do you will find some great songs here. But there are also songs here that sound like they were just knocked off pretty quick without any real effort.
Title track - Brilliant. Cant go wrong here.
Tight A$ - Again a great track. Sounds like John in the Reeperbahn pounding out rock n roll.
Aisumasen - Not bad at all. Nice bluesy ballad and John sings well. So far so good.
One Day - Poor. Probably knocked off in a few minutes. Lennon used to be able to do that but the difference was the songs were still good and he also had the rest of the beatles to contribute and tidy up afterwards. Hit the skip button.
Bring on the Lucie - Slightly better than the last song but still not great. Good message but musically its pretty boring.
Next song is mute.
Intuition - poor. the irony is that John's intuition and instinct for a good tune had left him.
Out the Blue - okay song but nothing special. john is running out of ideas but lucky for us he still has a few left for the end of the album.
Only People - I really like this song. He gets his message across well like in Give Peace a Chance. Line of the album in this "We dont want no Pig Brother scene". A fun song with a vintage lennon message. What more do you want?
I Know - The best song on the album and one of my favourite john solo songs. Using a similar riff to ive got a feeling, lennon weaves a beautiful tune full of zest for life and love for his wife. The Lennon magic is right here folks.
You Are Here - sleepy song. nothing special.
Meat City - a great rocker. great guitars and vocals.
6 good songs. You'd be hard pressed to find an album today with 6 good songs on it. Lennon's magic does appear on this album so thats really good enough reason to buy it.
Mind Games - Utterly Lennon in every way October 21, 2007
John Saviano (Los Angeles, CA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Being a true member of the Lennon faithful since I was 10 (34 years running) I was always completely preoccupied with the Beatles portion of John's career. It was only very recently that I have delved into his solo career beyond the "Lennon:Legends" cd (Can you believe it - I know shame on me). What I have found is that while there are many great songs, John's solo work feels uneven compared to his Beatles days. Maybe without the competition with Paul his ballast wandered. Who knows, but John has always shown the ability to share his life with his fans through his music without the veiled pretense, perhaps more so than any other artist, and his solo work feels like he just really had to say some things or else, and this dedication to expressing "feeling" in his solo work provided some of his greatest moments - and sometimes made the music suffer. "Mind Games" is a perfect example of this because while he had mellowed some towards his former bandmates, and seemed to have a bit to prove here musically, there are moments on "Mind Games" when John lets the pureness of his message become more important than the music itself, as if he felt it OK to go with a less than perfect chord pattern becasue he beleived in what he was saying SO much. This very weaknesses has been correctly pointed out by other reviewers here, but it is also precisely what makes Lennon the truly great artist he was. He remained true to himself always by laying it all on the line everytime, no matter what. He has always given us beautiful songs, deep emotional songs, rockers, sarcastic songs, angry songs - and a few I dare say clunkers. All of this is here for the taking on "Mind Games" and in a very Lennon way works to varying degrees. I actually love this cd because even when John falls short it's still better then when most musicians try to make great music. And who really played the fantastic guitar solo on "Aisumasen" becasue I can't believe John did. It just doesn't feel like him. Anyway, if you are a fan - this is already part of your collection. If you are a casual member of the Lennon fan club this is a collection that you will like but it will leave you short because of it's uneven feel. It's highpoints are amongst his finest and it's lower points will not win any new converts. It is in this way that "Mind Games" is utterly Lennon because it showcases his talents and shortcomings so vividly.
Everytime I listen to Lennon I am reminded why I value the power of music so much. I can never remained "untouched" by his music when I listen to it and "Mind Games" does have this special quality to be sure. It was the discovery of "Aisumsen" that rekindled my passion for John's non-Beatles music. The very fact that I am still discovering things to appreciate from this once in a lifetime talent is what makes me want to write this review. And that makes me glad. "Mind Games" represents Lennon very well I think.
Some Underrated Stuff On Here! September 29, 2007
P. ISAACS (Bristol, England)
Mind Games has some great songs on it. The title track should have obviously been a bigger hit and Ausimasen (i'm sorry), Bring On The Lucie and Out The Blue are real underated gems but there is also some forgettable ones that should have never made the album and that to me is why it only gets it's three stars. A great songwriter who was more than likely uninspired whilst making the record.
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