The eight-disc deluxe box set includes new remixed and mastered stereo mixes, elements & elemental mixes, outtakes and more
Anchored by the buoyant peace-and-love anthem, “Mind Games,” John Lennon’s fourth album of the same name, was surprisingly written and recorded during an incredibly tumultuous time in the rock legend’s life. In 1973, at age 33, John found himself in personal and political upheaval. A years-long deportation battle with US immigration continued to rage on while his high-profile anti-Nixon campaigning, anti-Vietnam war activism, as well as the overtly political messages on his polarizing 1972 album, Sometime in New York City, made him a target of a newly elected Richard Nixon, leading to surveillance by the FBI.
This was the dramatic backdrop as John entered NYC’s Record Plant in August ’73 with a select band of world-class session musicians (jokingly named The Plastic U.F.Ono Band), including their friend drummer Jim Keltner who along with guitarist David Spinozza assembled pianist Ken Ascher, bassist Gordon Edwards, pedal-steel player “Sneaky” Pete Kleinow, saxophonist Michael Brecker, drummer Rick Marotta, backing vocalists Jocelyn Brown, Christine Wiltshire, Angel Coakely and Kathy Mull, and, to make his fourth post-Beatles solo album in just three years. John would channel this period of extraordinary activity to make a deeply personal and engrossing album of self-reflection that explored themes of love, heartbreak, peace, spirituality and social injustice, giving us yet another window into his life and soul, and some of his best solo songs, on Mind Games.
On July 12th, The John Lennon Estate and Capitol/UMe will celebrate John Lennon’s pivotal and intensely personal 1973 album, Mind Games, with a suite of completely newly remixed and expanded Ultimate Collection editions, offering an immersive, deep listening experience and in-depth exploration of this classic, yet underappreciated record.
Fully authorized by Yoko Ono Lennon and produced by Sean Ono Lennon, who oversaw the production and creative direction, the Ultimate Collection is from the same audio team that worked on the critically acclaimed Imagine and John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band Ultimate Collections, including triple Grammy Award-winning engineer Paul Hicks, and mixers/engineers Sam Gannon and Rob Stevens. The definitive Ultimate Collection puts listeners in the center of the studio and explores the album’s 1973 recording sessions at the Record Plant in New York City, from inception to the final master, through scores of unreleased outtakes, unadulterated versions, instrumentals, stripped-down mixes, studio chatter and more, revealing how these fan-favorite songs evolved and came to life.
Mind Games – The Ultimate Collection offers six different unique listening experiences that are at once immersive and intimate, ranging from the brand new Ultimate Mixes of the timeless album, which put John’s vocals front and center and sonically upgrade the sound, to the Elements Mixes, which isolate and bring forth certain instruments from the multitrack recordings to highlight playing previously buried in the original mix, and the Raw Studio Mixes, which allows listeners to hear the recording that John and The Plastic U.F.Ono Band laid to tape, mixed raw and live without vocals effects, tape delays or reverbs.
The Evolutionary Documentary is a unique track-by-track audio montage that details the evolution of each song from demo to master recording via demos, rehearsals, out-takes, multitrack exploration, and studio conversations. The Outtakes allow listeners to hear compelling different takes of each song while the Elemental Mixes, a new set created especially for the Mind Games – Ultimate Collection, inhabit a world between the minimalism of the Elements Mixes and the Ultimate Mixes, stripping the songs back to simpler, lean-back arrangements with John’s voice to the fore, and without drums. An array of listening options, including high-definition, studio quality 192kHz/24bit audio in stereo and enveloping 5.1 Surround and Dolby Atmos mixes, are available on Blu-ray.
All tracks have been completely remixed from scratch from the 15 original two-inch multitrack session tapes using brand new 192-24 digital transfers. The Ultimate Collection includes previously unreleased out-takes and stems plus additional never-heard-before audio from archive ¼” reel-to-reels, cassettes, and videotapes.
Mind Games – The Ultimate Collection releases will be available in digital and 2 CD and 2 LP versions to a deluxe box set featuring 6 CDs and 2 Blu-ray Discs. The pièce de résistance is a Super Deluxe Edition, a Limited Edition of only 1100 copies worldwide.
Last month, a limited edition four-track Mind Games vinyl EP was released exclusively for Record Store Day as a teaser of the Ultimate Collection. Offered in two color variants – a luminous glow-in-the-dark 140g color vinyl and a 180g black vinyl audiophile version, the EP includes three songs from the set, along with “I’m The Greatest” (Ultimate Mix), a song written by John for Ringo Starr, which appeared on his 1973 album, Ringo. This previously unreleased version features John on vocals, George Harrison on guitar and Ringo on drums.
Truly a work of art and in a class of its own, the Super Deluxe Edition box set is, in essence, a time capsule into John and Yoko’s world around the writing and recording of Mind Games, including the times leading up to and after its release in 1973. As innovative as it is elaborate, the Super Deluxe box set is presented in a 13-inch cube, a perspex reproduction of Yoko’s 1966 artwork “Danger Box.” Once lifted, four sides, featuring artwork from Mind Games on a shiny Mirror Board, fall to reveal nine individual boxes of various shapes and sizes interlocked together, each with its own look and focus. Hidden throughout the comprehensive and creative set are many Easter Eggs, some of which can only be revealed by using other items in the box to see them, along with loads of other hidden secrets, surprises, puzzles, and “mind games”. The box is housed inside a striking 13” packing container cube adorned with custom art.
The Deluxe Edition presents Mind Games in a 10-inch by 10-inch box, identical in size and shape to the Gimme Some Truth, Imagine – The Ultimate Collection, and John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band – The Ultimate Collection boxes, and features 72 tracks across six CDs and two HD Blu-ray Audio discs for more than seven hours of music for the most definitive listening experience. Several hidden audio and video tracks, along with secret messages and other Easter Eggs are spread across the set.
The original Mind Games album has been faithfully remixed from the ground up by producer Sean Ono Lennon, working with triple Grammy Award-winning mixer and engineer Paul Hicks with additional engineering by Sam Gannon. They utilized high-definition 24-bit-192kHz audio transfers of the original first-generation multitrack recordings by Matthew Cocker at Abbey Road Studios to create the best possible recreations of the originals. The result is these new Ultimate Mixes now reveal whole new levels of sonic depth, definition, and clarity, especially in 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Atmos.
A new set created especially for the Mind Games – Ultimate Collection, The Elemental Mixes, mixed by Hicks, inhabit a world between the minimalism of the Elements Mixes and the Ultimate Mixes. Simpler stripped-back, lean-back arrangements, erring towards the acoustic, with John’s voice to the fore, and without drums.
The Elements Mixes, mixed by Sam Gannon, reduce the songs to the minimum amount of instruments possible. At most, only three instruments are heard at any one time. With the focus taken away from John’s vocals, the delicacy and nuance of these performers are allowed to shine through. Instrumental selections were made on a song-by-song basis – which instruments and performances should be highlighted and what other instruments would they work well together with to maintain an engaging listening experience with such a sparse arrangement. These range from just Ken Ascher’s piano and organ on “Mind Games” and “Out The Blue,” allowing one to hear his beautiful, melodic playing, to Sneaky Pete Kleinlow’s isolated rollicking pedal steel guitar on “Tight A$,” to John’s electric piano and Gordon Edwards’ bass on “One Day (At A Time).”
Edited, mixed, and engineered by Sam Gannon, the Evolution Mixes are mini audio documentaries that explore the development of each song from their very first demo state through to the fully formed master take via in-studio development, chat and outtakes. Edited down from the original 16-track multitrack tapes, demo cassettes, and other source tapes, generally each Evolution Documentary runs through the song’s sessions chronologically, starting with demos or early takes and ending with an exploration of the master take and its overdubs; highlighting different, and sometimes hidden, parts of the multitrack while including all the best method, madness, and magic heard during the creation and development of the songs. These mixes put the listener into the center of the studio with John Lennon and The Plastic U.F.Ono Band in order to hear a deep dive into his creative process.
Mixed by Rob Stevens, the Raw Studio Mixes transport listeners to the center of the Record Plant to hear exactly what was recorded during the sessions. The songs have been mixed with minimum effects, tape delays or reverb, recreating as close to possible what these performances sounded like, raw and live. The Raw Studio Mixes stand on their own to provide an alternative listening experience, stripping away the effects, especially on John’s vocals, that were used in the production of the original album.
Having reviewed all the takes from the entire recording sessions, the best alternate take of every song on the album is presented.
Mind Games is also being celebrated this year in several innovative ways. Sean Ono Lennon and The John Lennon Estate have partnered with the consciousness-expanding psychedelic meditation phone app, Lumenate, to release nine reimagined Meditation Mixes of “Mind Games exclusively.” The newly transformed mixes have been designed (in combination with the frequencies of light from the Lumenate app) to put the listener in a relaxed, meditative state, to help guide your mind into deeper states of consciousness.
Various sound design techniques and processes have been applied to the original 1973 two-inch multitrack recordings, and in some cases have been enhanced with additional instrumentation from producer Sean Ono Lennon.
The Lumenate app uses the flashlight on the back of one’s smartphone strobed at research-driven frequencies onto a person’s closed eyes to neurologically guide them into a state of consciousness between that of deep meditation and psychedelics.
Each of the nine Meditation Mixes has been paired with a unique, deeply immersive light sequence, using carefully selected flicker frequencies to accompany the mind-and-mood-altering sound. These singular, mind-altering sequences elevate the musical journey, deepen the sense of relaxation, and allow users to see, hear and feel the music like never before.
The “Mind Games” Meditation Mixes launched May 1st, as part of Mental Health Awareness Month. The experience is available for free, exclusively via the Lumenate app.
