In May 1973, three months before work would begin on John Lennon’s fourth solo album, Mind Games, John and Yoko Ono moved into their newly purchased apartment in the Dakota building on West 72nd Street in New York City, high above Central Park and with a beautiful view over the area, which would later be dedicated to John and named Strawberry Fields, where the now world-famous “Imagine” circle mosaic resides.
A new video out today pairs a series of extraordinary and intimate never-before-seen home movies filmed by John of himself and Yoko in their famous residence, paired with the new Ultimate Mix of “Aisumasen (I’m Sorry),” John’s aural apology to Yoko from his Mind Games album recorded just a few months later.
Shot entirely by John on an early Sony Portapak camera and reel-to-reel recorder, the black and white footage sees John filming himself (and the camera) in a mirror in the bedroom, playing in the Music Room with a transistor radio, Yoko giving press interviews on the phone for her well-received Approximately Infinite Universe album, with various perspectives from around their new apartment and views out of their windows on to the street below. It’s a riveting time capsule into the private lives of one of the world’s most famous couples. Although not evident in the footage, this was a time great of personal and political upheaval. Yoko’s daughter, Kyoko, had been abducted by her father, Tony Cox, and John’s years-long deportation battle with the U.S. continued to rage on while his high-profile anti-Nixon campaigning, anti-Vietnam war activism made him a target of a newly elected Richard Nixon, leading to surveillance by the FBI. He would eventually win the landmark immigration case, paving the way for many more creative people to legally work in the country.
The melancholic waltz “Aisumasen (I’m Sorry)” (“Aisumasen” is Japanese for “I’m sorry”), is John at his most vulnerable, with a beautiful acoustically remodeled guitar solo by David Spinozza. Newly mixed from the original tapes by producer Sean Ono Lennon with triple Grammy Award-winning producer/engineer Paul Hicks and engineering by Sam Gannon, the beautiful and deeply personal track sounds better than ever as the instrumentation, previously buried in a muddy and thin treble-heavy mix, has been made more prominent, allowing the playing of John Lennon (vocal, acoustic guitar, various percussion) and his sensational band of David Spinozza (electric guitar), Gordon Edwards (bass), Jim Keltner (drums), Ken Ascher (piano, organs), “Sneaky” Pete Kleinlow (pedal steel guitar) to shine through like never before. The new mix, like all of the Ultimate Mixes, is truly a revelation.
“Aisumasen (I’m Sorry)” (Ultimate Mix), which is also available stream now everywhere, is the third track to be released from the forthcoming Mind Games – The Ultimate Collection suite of releases, due July 12 via Capitol/UMe, celebrating and exploring John’s pivotal and intensely personal 1973 album, Mind Games. Available in a variety of formats, including 2CD, 2LP, a 6CD/2-Blu-ray audio Standard Deluxe Edition and an eye-popping, multi-format Super Deluxe Edition, limited to 1100 copies worldwide, John’s fourth solo record, Mind Games, has been completely newly remixed and expanded to offer 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 the aforementioned Paul Hicks, and mixers/engineers Sam Gannon and Rob Stevens, with production researched and managed by Simon Hilton.
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 Out-Takes 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 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.
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 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 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.
Among many of the unique elements included in the Super Deluxe Edition is a limited edition, 12-inch circular canvas reproduction of John’s artwork, You Are Here, 1968, with a Certificate of Authenticity, as well as a replica “You Are Here” badge.
John Lennon is arguably the greatest songwriter of his generation. As founder and leader of The Beatles and also as a solo artist, Lennon has won seven GRAMMY® Awards, including two Lifetime Achievement Awards, five BRIT Awards including two Special Awards for Outstanding Contribution to Music, 21 NME Awards, 15 Ivor Novellos and an Academy Award. He has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2008, Rolling Stone ranked Lennon in the Top 5 of the magazine’s “100 Greatest Singers Of All Time” list.
