The albums calledMind Games, and its, well, just an album, he toldMelody Maker.
Its not a political album or an introspective album.
Someone told me it was likeImaginewith balls, which I liked a lot.
A map of “John Lennon’s Liverpool,” with black light revealing points of interest in the ‘Mind Games: Ultimate Collection’ super deluxe box set.Sacha Lecca for Rolling Stone
… Theres no deep message about it.
Bizarrely, he was downplaying the record, playing mind games with expectations.
The song, accordingly, consisted of three seconds of silence four-and-a-half minutes more concise than John Cages conceptual433.
Deep messages were hiding everywhere.
For whatever reason, though,Mind Gameswasnt the juggernaut that Imaginewith balls should have been.
Mind Games, Aisumasen, Intuition, and Out the Blue, and several others have endured as classics.
But the heart of the collection is Lennons album, presented several ways.
(Add 12 more if you have an Atmos surround sound setup at home.)
Lennon and Ono were two of rocks avant-garde pioneers and that spirit lives in the variations.
Yes is surrender, the messages are bold.)
And the songs reggae middle-eight skanks harder than on the one Lennon settled on in 73.
Similar revelations abound throughout the six discs.
Some of the Ultimate Mixes reveal new depths to the better-known original mixes.
And the outtake of the song runs 10 minutes with no fadeout for an ultimate bliss-out.
Plus, Lennons tossed-off closing soundbite, Who is that and why are they doing those strange things?
moves all around you.
(And, for the record, the Nutopian International Anthem soundsgreatin all the remixes.
Theres both love and whimsy here.)
You have to disassemble it to keep it in good shape.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about the box set is that theres even more music hidden throughout its contents.
Is it a time capsule?
Art rocks Ark of the Covenant?
It all depends on how deep you dig into it.
Luckily, there are maps to help you find your way.
Were changing our rating system for album reviews.
you’ve got the option to read about ithere
