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Mind Games

by John Lennon

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Released in 1973 after the dismal musical detour that was Sometime in New York City, Mind Games showed John Lennon returning to the emotional pop sounds of Plastic Ono Band and Imagine. But while the glorious title track (the album's only hit) was every inch a worthy successor to "Imagine," the rest of the songs were written off by most critics as half-baked experiments. In retrospect, most of them, while not classic stuff, are still better than the bulk of what passed for rock music in the early 1970s. "You Are Here" and "Out of the Blue" are definitely on par with Lennon's best solo work, while "Bring on the Lucie (Freda Peeple)" couches its political barbs in silly good humor. Even better is "Meat City," a rocker as wild and surreal as the "White Album"'s "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey." The 2002 remastered reissue is fleshed out with three "home version" takes of album tracks. --Dan Epstein