FILTER REISSUES
Brain surgery
Lennon’s act of contrition; his fourth solo album gets a lavish, rejuvenating box-set treatment.
By David Fricke.
John Lennon ★★★★
Mind Games: Ultimate Collection
CAPITOL/UME. CD/DL/LP
ON APRIL 2, 1973, John Lennon and Yoko Ono held a press conference in New York City to announce their latest peace project: the birth of a nation. Nutopia was “a conceptual country”, they said in a statement, with “no land, no boundaries, no passports, only people.” Citizenship was awarded by declaring “your awareness of Nutopia.” The statement was actually dated April 1 – April Fool’s Day.
Nutopia was one of the couple’s “mind games”, Lennon admitted to the press corps. “We put the thought out, then we’ll react to whatever the reaction is.” There was underlying tension in the gag. Lennon was effectively stateless, fighting deportation from the US by the Nixon administration. The ex-Beatle was soon homeless as well, evicted by Ono from their newly purchased apartment in the Dakota as their marriage hit the rocks.