Tonight's Wednesday review is for the book Mind Games by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. This is an absolutely beautiful book. Sean and whoever else was behind the book did a fantastic job. It is full of vibrant photographs and rare documents from John Lennon's life from 1972-1974. It is wild to think that some of the artifacts have been around for 50 years, but I am glad they are and that they have been included in this book.
The book goes through what John and Yoko did during the "Mind Games" era of late 1972-early 1974. It has the lyrics to each song, interviews with John and Yoko, and insights from people who were there. Some of the interviews with John were new to me, or I had only read parts of them and not the entire interview. John was so insightful and made many good points. Reading through the interviews almost made me feel like John was still alive and talking to us right now. There are also some re-prints of things Yoko wrote during the time that I also enjoyed reading. I especially found the things about John and Yoko and the feminist movement, along with the feminist conference they went to in Massachusetts, to be enlightening. I have seen photos from that event, but never knew really what it was about and that section cleared it all up.
There are some letters that John wrote to different people that I want to look at more deeply. The print was hard for me to read on those. Is it because I have bad eyesight? Most likely -- but I took scans of the letters on my phone to make them bigger on my desktop and read them. One letter to his father really stood out to me.
The one thing that bothered me in the Mind Games book is the downplaying of May Pang's role in John's life during this time. If you are a fan of John, then you know the story -- in 1973, Yoko set John up with May while they were separated for over a year. I understand that it isn't a romantic story and it isn't something Yoko wants to talk about, but still, it is part of John's life story. And while John was promoting the Mind Games album, he was with May Pang. You can't erase her from the story. She was there. One of the few mentions of her was about the commercial made to promote the album with Tony King dressed as the Queen. The text calls May John and Yoko's PA. That just bugged me to read. Will we ever see Walls and Bridges get the treatment Mind Games has received? May can't be removed from that time -- John wrote a song about her and she can be heard on the album.
With that issue aside, the Mind Games book is a must-have for anyone who is a John Lennon fan. It is physically a large book, and I hate holding coffee table books and reading them, but it was worth the hassle. It isn't a cheap book, but it was worth the money, and it is a book that I will be looking at often.
By the way -- if you look at the references in the back, you will see that meetthebeatlesforreal.com was used as a reference!!! I am beyond excited about this. My silly little Beatles site was used as a reference in an official John Lennon book???? Unbelievable!
If you would like to purchase the Mind Games book, please help out this site by using the Amazon Affiliate Link. Any purchase using the link earns a very small percentage of money, which I use to go back to keep the domain name going and keep the site online. Thank you to whoever recently ordered a subscription to something on Amazon through the link. I usually earn less than a dollar when things are ordered, but this subscription earned the site $3.00! That is huge and gets me very close to being able to pay for the domain for another year come March 1. Thank you Thank you!
Sara you are right. Yoko trying to sanitize history to her advantage -- sadly that beats goes on and on.
ReplyDeleteThe mention to your site, i believe would be Sean. He's been going through a lot of blogs and Youtube accounts (mostly Youtube music reviewers). I do hope May Pang would be mentioned on the Walls and Bridges. Yoko was touring during that time. Yoko was there during the Mind Games sessions. Just not for the promotion of his album.
ReplyDeleteI think it's time to stop beating the "Yoko sanitizes history" drum. I strongly doubt Yoko had anything whatsoever to do with this book. She's nearly 92 and has withdrawn from public life. There are rumours she had a serious stroke some years back, and was last seen in a wheelchair. Whatever the reason, she's not made any personal public statements in a long while, handing the reins of the family business to Sean. I thought it was interesting that there was nothing from her when "Now And Then" was issued; she was conspicuous by her absence.
ReplyDeleteNot to say that perhaps Sean is the force behind whitewashing May Pang from his father's history. He may feel that she was an interloper, perhaps seeing her as a threat to his mother and now hawking her connection for money. I can't speak for the man, but he's entitled to his feelings.
But after more than half a century, I'm tired of the Yoko bashing. With all due respect to Cyn, etc., Yoko was the love of John's life; deal with it.
I know that Yoko is no longer the one making the decisions but someone is erasing part of John's history and publishing things Yoko has said in the past that go along with the same narrative.
DeleteNo one in their inner circle has done more to whitewash Beatles history -- she has brought it on herself. The criticism is/remains valid. Agree, Sean has an opinion, like the rest of us do. Maybe you need some thicker skin so you can deal with it.
Deleteagree w/ mcarp
DeleteTo Anonymous 7:14 - Citations needed. Yoko gets the blame, but specifics seem hard to come by. The undisputed king of "whitewashing Beatles history" is in fact their bassist, who has taken credit for a great number of things, including the orchestra on "A Day In The Life", Ringo's drum solo on "The End" and many other things over the years. I love the man, but he's never been above a little personal promotion when possible.
DeleteMcarp, don't put everybody on the same scale. Most of us love Yoko, and completely disagree with the bashing that this woman has received since she married John. The man loved her and she's Sean's mother. But then she was no saint either.😇 Let's not put her on a pedestal. 😕
DeletePaul has said more than once that Yoko didn't break up the Beatles. So what exactly are you implying here? Fans like you, first you have to label Paul with this and that, and then you feel the need to finish your comment: "Oh don't get me wrong, I do like the man"!!!! 😁🙄
ReplyDelete