The US Press Release:
Capitol To Reissue John Lennon's Mind Games
10-4-2002 - 10:04 AM

Mind Games, John Lennon's seminal 1973 solo album, has been remixed, remastered and augmented by three bonus tracks, and will be reissued by Capitol Records on November 5, 2002.

The original album is complemented by three previously unreleased tracks - an early version of "Aisumasen (I'm Sorry)" with alternate lyrics, a home version of "Bring On The Lucie (Freda Peeple)" and an alternate version of "Meat City."

In the tradition of Capitol's recent Lennon reissues (Imagine, Double Fantasy, Plastic Ono Band and Milk and Honey), Mind Games utilizes original cover art, but features new deluxe packaging. The
32-page booklet includes many previously unseen John Lennon drawings, photographs and
memorabilia from the era, plus full song lyrics.

The follow-up to 1972's heavily politicized Some Time In New York City, Mind Games was
recorded at New York's Record Plant in August 1973, and released in November of that year. At
the time, John was in the middle of his battle with Immigration to stay in the U.S., the Watergate
scandal was making headlines and a global recession was underway.

"On 'Mind Games,' for the first time, Lennon has begun to mix his older, spiritual and religious
yearnings with his political convictions," noted critic Dave Marsh upon its release. (A yellowed
clipping of his review is reproduced in the CD booklet.)

Just before recording the album, John and Yoko had moved into the Dakota in New York. That
same month had seen them reveal their image of Nutopia, a concept explored on the album
sleeve for Mind Games and on the track "Nutopian International Anthem," a few seconds of
silence. In their Declaration of Nutopia (issued on April 1st of 1973 and reproduced in the new
packaging), John and Yoko described it as a conceptual country - one with "no land, no
boundaries, no passports, only people...no laws other than cosmic."

(9/16/02, 7 a.m. ET) -- Mind Games, John Lennon's seminal 1973 solo album, has been remixed, remastered, and augmented by three bonus tracks, for a reissue due October 8 in North America.

The original album is complemented by three previously unreleased tracks--an early version of "Aisumasen (I'm Sorry)" with alternative lyrics, a home version of "Bring On The Lucie (Freeda
Peeple)," and an alternative version of "Meat City."

Following in the tradition of the recent Lennon re-issue programme (Imagine, Double Fantasy, Plastic Ono Band, and Milk And Honey), the new deluxe packaging will include original cover art
and a new 32-page booklet, which includes many previously unseen Lennon drawings, photographs, and memorabilia from the       era, plus song lyrics.

The album will be reissued the day before what would have been Lennon's 62nd birthday (October 9).

Mind Games was recorded at New York's Record Plant in August 1973, and released in November that year.

-- Mark Bergman, Montreal

At times, the higher resolution of the 2002 edition highlights the flaws: somewhat lightweight material with an often slow deliberate tempo, the beginnings of a homogenized, sterile sound (the influence of using session musicians, as opposed to a real band), too much treble or mid range in the mix, the overuse of strings and / or background vocals. A different production approach in 1973 would have benefited the more heavier intended songs (Tight A$; Bring On The Lucie (Freeda People), Only People) which wind up sounding slighter than they were probably meant to be. As a plus, increased detail and clarity is in evidence throughout the disc. The "echo" vocal on Meat City sounds more prominent than I recall. The title track has some previously unheard harmonics on the last third of the song (around 2:05) which I first thought was whistling but probably is a keyboard. Out The Blue comes through strongly with the guitar lead and piano sounding more upfront and clear. The rest of the tracks fall into the "mid range" area, which isn't at all bad - just not the standard one would expect from John Lennon. The album is appended with three bonus tracks: "Aisumasen (I'm Sorry)" alternates the title with the original lyric of "I'll ease your pain, girl" ; a demo version of "Bring On The Lucie (Freda Peeple)" specifies the song's (ironic) origin: "Free the people now, jail the judges now, set the people free" - in a similar vein to "Attica State".  The biggest disappointment: the fade to Meat City still cuts off prematurely (right after "Who is that...who is that") ....."and.....why.....are.....they doing ...those ...... strange.............things" is still missing in action. That alone (unfortunately) prevents this from being the definitive version of Mind Games.

A bonus disc with demos from the Mind Games sessions (which have a more direct, less overproduced quality than the actual album) would have provided a valuable contrast.