John Lennon's 'Mind Games' to get lavish deluxe reissue treatment in July

On July 12, The John Lennon Estate and Capitol/UMe will reissue John Lennon’s 1973 album, Mind Games, with newly remixed and expanded Ultimate Collection editions. 

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 GRAMMY®-Award winning engineer Paul Hicks, and mixers/engineers Sam Gannon and Rob Stevens. 

Yoko Ono Lennon says: “John was trying to convey the message that we all play mind games. But if we can play mind games, why not make a positive future with it – to be a positive mind game? ‘Mind Games’ is such an incredibly strong song. At the time, people didn't quite get the message because this was before its time. Now, people would understand it. I don't think in those days people knew they were playing mind games anyway.”

Mind Games – The Ultimate Collection offers six different listening experiences, ranging from the brand new Ultimate Mixes of the album, which put John’s vocals front and center 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 Ono Band laid to tape, mixed raw and live without vocals effects, tape delays or reverbs.

The Evolutionary Documentary is a 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 Out-Takes allow listeners to hear different takes of each song while the Elemental Mixes, a new set created especially for the Mind Games – Ultimate Collection, is 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 of the 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 a variety of formats, ranging from digital and 2CD and 2LP versions to a Deluxe box set featuring 6CDs and 2 Blu-ray discs. The 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.

Listen to “Mind Games” (Evolution Documentary): https://JohnLennon.lnk.to/MindGamesED

Pre-order: https://JohnLennon.lnk.to/MindGames50

DELUXE 6CD TRACK LISTING:

CD1: THE ULTIMATE MIXES (45 mins)
1. Mind Games
2. Tight A$
3. Aisumasen (I’m Sorry)
4. One Day (At A Time)
5. Bring On The Lucie (Freeda Peeple)
6. Nutopian International Anthem
7. Intuition
8. Out The Blue
9. Only People
10. I Know (I Know)
11. You Are Here
12. Meat City

CD2: THE ELEMENTAL MIXES (52 mins)
1. Mind Games
2. Tight A$
3. Aisumasen (I’m Sorry)
4. One Day (At A Time)
5. Bring On The Lucie (Freeda Peeple)
6. Nutopian International Anthem (Elemental Mix)
7. Intuition
8. Out The Blue
9. Only People
10. I Know (I Know)
11. You Are Here
12. Meat City

CD3: THE ELEMENTS MIXES (51 mins)
1. Mind Games
2. Tight A$
3. Aisumasen (I’m Sorry)
4. One Day (At A Time)
5. Bring On The Lucie (Freeda Peeple)
6. Nutopian International Anthem
7. Intuition
8. Out The Blue
9. Only People
10. I Know (I Know)
11. You Are Here
12. Meat City

CD4: THE EVOLUTION DOCUMENTARY (74 mins)
1. Mind Games
2. Tight A$
3. Aisumasen (I’m Sorry)
4. One Day (At A Time)
5. Bring On The Lucie (Freeda Peeple)
6. Nutopian International Anthem
7. Intuition
8. Out The Blue
9. Only People
10. I Know (I Know)
11. You Are Here
12. Meat City

CD5: THE RAW STUDIO MIXES (49 mins)
1. Mind Games
2. Tight A$
3. Aisumasen (I’m Sorry)
4. One Day (At A Time) (Raw Studio Mix)
5. Bring On The Lucie (Freeda Peeple)
6. Nutopian International Anthem
7. Intuition
8. Out The Blue
9. Only People
10. I Know (I Know)
11. You Are Here
12. Meat City

CD6: THE OUT-TAKES (55 mins)
1. Mind Games (Out-take, Take 7)
2. Tight A$ (Out-take, Take 6)
3. Aisumasen (I’m Sorry) (Out-take, Take 2)
4. One Day (At A Time) (Out-take, Take 18)
5. Bring On The Lucie (Freeda Peeple) (Out-take, Take 15)
6. Declaration Of Nutopia (Out-take, Take 1
7. Intuition (Out-take, Take 12)
8. Out The Blue (Out-take, Take 15)
9. Only People (Out-take, Take 12)
10. I Know (I Know) (Out-take, Take 22)
11. You Are Here (Out-take, Take 5)
12. Meat City (Out-take, Take 16)