John Lennon ~ Mind Games [1973]

1. "Mind Games" – 4:13
2. "Tight A$" – 3:37
3. "Aisumasen (I'm Sorry)" – 4:44
4. "One Day (at a Time)" – 3:09
5. "Bring on the Lucie (Freeda Peeple)" – 4:12
6. "Nutopian International Anthem" (John Lennon/Yoko Ono) – 0:03
   • Lennon and Ono's anthem for Nutopia, which is symbolically mute
7. "Intuition" – 3:08
8. "Out the Blue" – 3:23
9. "Only People" – 3:23
10. "I Know (I Know)" – 3:49
11. "You Are Here" – 4:08
12. "Meat City" – 2:45
13. "Aisumasen (I'm Sorry)" - 3:36
    • home version, appears on 2002 reissue
14. "Bring on the Lucie (Freeda Peeple)" - 1:02
    • home version, appears on 2002 reissue
15. "Meat City" - 2:37
    • home version, appears on 2002 reissue

With Mind Games John Lennon put his wares for the crowd to inspect. Like every arts and crafts fair, there are a number of outstanding pieces on Mind Games but there's also plenty of material that needed work. The title track is like a fuzzy polaroid of the best songs on Imagine and Plastic Ono Band; you have the impression something important is there you're just not sure what it is exactly. The arrangement makes the song come to life. While the sentiments were more direct and succint on Lennon's first two post-Beatles solo albums, they were also couched in simpler arrangements. Every song on Mind Games (even the weaker tracks) is Lennon's shot back at critics that bemoaned what appeared a loss of the Lennon/McCartney craft. Mind Games is Lennon's Ram; some of it is aural wallpaper with pictures of ducks on it. There's no crime in creating less than compelling background muzak--the irony is that Lennon had taken McCartney to task for the very same "flaw" nearly two years before... Like many of the icons of the 60's, Mind Games is less than the sum of it's parts. It recalls the glory of Lennon's best work but also the weakness of his worst as well. Although not as emotionally powerful as Walls and Bridges (Gerswin meets primal scream therapy), it has a number of moments that resonante with Lennon's wit and love of music.

Mind Games is John Lennon's fourth post-Beatles solo album, and was recorded and released in 1973. This release of the album marked the beginning of Lennon's fourteen-month separation from Yoko Ono and the end of his period of political activism which was prompted in part by the re-election of Richard Nixon. As a result of it being a purely solo release (with no involvement from Ono) and a return to relative normality after the politically-heavy Some Time in New York City, Mind Games was much more warmly received by the public and Lennon's critics, with the album reaching #13 in the UK and #9 in the US, where it went gold.

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