Deviations from Select Albums 4: 117. John Lennon

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This work combines the artwork of two album covers namely, Mind Games and Imagine, both by John Lennon. I'm not a great fan of John Lennon (alone), but I can dare say that Imagine is the
better album musically, but Mind Games has a better artwork. Combining the two wasn't much of a hassle; there are the two faces to combine and the clouds naturally unite them. The album
titles say it already - there are as much mind games to imagine as there are imaginable things to play mind games with.

"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one."

John Lennon designed the artwork for Mind Games himself. The front cover pictured him alone in a wilderness, overshadowed by a mountain-
sized rendering of Yoko Ono. The meaning was obvious: he was adrift without Ono, although her influence was still the dominant force in his life.

The image also featured two suns were in the sky, symbolising the spirits of the pair. The same image was repeated on the rear cover, but with
Lennon's figure slightly larger and with a rainbow in place of the suns. The Beatles Bible

The front cover (on Imagine) was a Polaroid taken by Andy Warhol. The back cover photograph was taken by Yoko Ono. A quote from Ono's book
Grapefruit (which the Lennons were in the process of promoting the re-release of in the UK) was also included on the back cover: "Imagine the
clouds dripping. Dig a hole in your garden to put them in." wikipedia

Mind Games:

Cover art by John Lennon, copyright by Yoko Ono. Album produced by John Lennon. Apple 1973.

Imagine:

No. 80, Rolling Stone, The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time; No. 128, The Virgin All-Time Album Top 1000.

Photo by Andy Warhol, copyright by Yoko Ono. Album produced by John Lennon, Yoko Ono & Phil Spector. Apple 1971.

Mind Games captured this state of flux in Lennon's life. The songs ranged from aimless fillers ("Intuition", "Bring On The Lucie", "Only People") to up-tempo rockers ("Tight A$", "Meat City").
The lack of a unifying theme hadn't prevented Lennon from producing great work in the past, as demonstrated on Imagine, but Mind Games lacked enough great moments to mask the sense
that this once-great composer and performer was treading water.

The title track, along with "Bring On The Lucie (Freeda Peeple)" and "Only People", showed that Lennon hadn't lost his belief in peace or the power of people to change the world, even if
the results lacked the conviction and drive of his earlier solo work. The three-second silent track "Nutopian International Anthem", meanwhile, showed that even if he hadn't lost his skill at
subverting expectations, there was little radical spirit to back it up. The Beatles Bible

The track "Imagine" became Lennon's signature song and was written as a plea for world peace. Years later he gave credit to his wife Yoko Ono who co-wrote the song. "Jealous Guy" has also
had enduring popularity; it was originally composed as "Child of Nature" during the songwriting sessions in India in 1968 that led to The Beatles' double album The Beatles. "Oh My Love" and
the song "How?" were influenced by his experience with primal therapy: "How?" contains the questions he was facing while going through the changes produced in him during the ongoing
process of primal therapy, while "Oh My Love" was written to communicate the joy and growth Lennon was experiencing as a result of the therapy.

Lennon would later express his displeasure with the more commercial sound of the album, even going so far as to say that the title track was "an anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-
conventional, anti-capitalistic song, but because it's sugar-coated, it's accepted." In a November 1971 interview for Melody Maker, McCartney spoke positively of Imagine, considering it to be
less political than Lennon's previous solo albums. In a subsequent edition of the same publication, Lennon rebuked his former bandmate, saying, "So you think 'Imagine' ain't political? It's
'Working Class Hero' with sugar on it for conservatives like yourself!!" Imagine was voted as Radio Luxembourg's "Album of the Year" on 24 December 1971. wikipedia

Mind Games:

(A) Mind Games - Tight A$ - Aisumasen (I'm Sorry) - One Day (at a Time) - Bring It on the Lucie (Freda Peeple) - Nutopian International Anthem

(B) Intuition - Out the Blue - Only People - I Know (I Know) - You Are Here - Meat City

Imagine:

(A) Imagine - Crippled Inside - Jealous Guy - It's So Hard - I Don't Want to be a Soldier

(B) Gimme Some Truth - Oh My Love - How Do You Sleep - How? - Oh, Yoko