Mind Games Reviews

Okay, I'm going to try to say this.

I give a '10' to every album that the Beatles ever did, except for 'Revolver' and 'Beatles for Sale'. ('Sgt. Pepper' is pretty great, but, he wouldn't be on my list of Top Ten Beatles Albums, if you'll excuse the expression.) And to everything that the individual Beatles did, a '9', I think-- from "McCartney", to "Sentimental Journey", to 'Officially Certified Trippy-Super'.... I'm sorry, was that what it was called? How many words were there, in the title....

But the problem with John's solo stuff is that.... it's not that good, seems like. Even "Imagine" isn't that good as a song-- it's just good at being John Lennon.

I mean, there *are* times when you say, 'That is SUCH a John Lennon thing', and it's not really a compliment.

I'M A LOSER. I'M A LOSER. And I'm not what I appear to be.

Even in 1964, that was a little.... stupid.

John, you're stupid. (Nobody likes you, not even Paul.)

And you can't even do that raga rock shit, right. Hell, Jim McGuinn could do that better than you.

I mean, it's like-- The Beatles. The Beatles are better than God and America and my parents.... they're better than the Byrds, they're better than the movies.... Owen Wilson: *sad voice* They're even better than the Beach Boys.

*Russian accent* And John Lennon, part of this, rock group?

Like our boy Roger-- he's part of a rock group too. ("Yeah, why don't you just go home, man-- just.... get out of here!") *deaf old lady serving tea* You know, not *everyone* is, you know....

I don't know. I mean, I tried to pick the John Lennon (solo) album that had SOME merit, at least. Like Gene Clark, you know-- mental.....

But, God-- he's such a loser. And he's not what he appears to be.

(But, beneath this mask, he's doing what he planned, so to do.)

I guess that he's really just typical of that class of funnymen you get with that Liverpool lot-- not like our lads here in Yorkshire....

From whence cometh all good.

..........

John Lennon: So, what was the idea with the Byrds?
Gene Clark: *blinks* Well, the idea was that instead of an 'i'--
John Lennon: *laughs* Go listen to the birds.
Gene Clark: *turns his head towards the camera* And buy my new studio album, "White Light".
John Lennon: *laughs* *rests his head against his arm, propped up on the table* Yeah, everybody, go buy Gene Clark's new album.

*An unemployed man named Vyacheslav Molotov is watching at home* *he laughs*

"The Poles like to call it 'światło białe', where they dwell, so far towards the west."

*Michael Clarke, also sorta unemployed, thinks that this is funny*

"Bright and colorless-- like light. Like Gene Clark's new studio album."

*Molotov is eating a sandwich*

"Don't talk to me-- funny man with an odd Nordic look to you."

*Michael Clarke starts laughing so hard, and Molotov smiles*

I mean-- seriously, though. John Lennon wanted people to love *peace*, more than his discography, even.

I mean, by the middle of 1964, he was pretty much set for money, you know.

John Lennon: *bites his lip subconsciously*
Gene Clark: *waves his arms as though in magic spell* I'll set you free this time.
John Lennon: *laughs* But only because you don't like me.
Gene Clark: *laughs with genuine pleasure*

..............

*A black guy looks at this very black bodybuilder who looks like he weighs like 700 lbs. He thinks, Okay, that's cool. Whatever.*

*He listens to, "Set You Free This Time". He makes that, certain, *MMMMM*, sound, like, Huh. He really thought about that, only, like, *MMMMM*, and in a certain black kinda way*

*Then he listens to "Mind Games", a studio album by John Lennon and Yo-no, Oh-no*

"I guess this is okay too."

............

P.S. I love you--

And one other thing.

*John Lennon is talking with Gene Clark*

John Lennon: *sarcastic* Oh, that's a nice car.
Gene Clark: Wait, my Toyota Avalon?
John Lennon: No, not your car, Gene. *When you're talking to someone, sometimes you see things they don't because they're faced the other way*
Gene Clark: *darkly* A Volkswagen....
John Lennon: Don't even say it.
Gene Clark: *theatrically* You know, I think that it's funny that there's an intellectual aspect to music.
John Lennon: *they continue theatrically* Because, in a way, how can there be.
Gene Clark: But they do have theory and everything-- it's very involved.
John Lennon: I don't suppose that I ever understood the theory, though.
Gene Clark: One aspect of it always interested me, though. How could you *explain* to someone-- if you had to-- that this is, "C"
John Lennon: Of course you could call it anything.
Gene Clark: Of course. It's not *really* the same way to use the letter 'c'-- that's just what you call it.
John Lennon: Yes, that is what you call it.
Gene Clark: But *how*, how on Gaia's green earth, could you *explain* to anyone-- if someone tried to make you-- that "this" is "C", and "this" is "C", Middle C and High C and Low C-- all "C". It has a certain sameness.
John Lennon: All C.
Gene Clark: How could you explain that to someone.
John Lennon: There'd be no way to explain it to me, if I didn't already know, somehow.
Gene Clark: There'd be no way to *explain* music-- no way to *explain* to Denzel Washington "Oh! Susanna!"--
John Lennon: No. It's a gift. And everyone has it.
Gene Clark: So, you could almost say-- that that's how you know that that other man is a person.
John Lennon: Pardon?
Gene Clark: Well, *I* can't explain it, John. But there *is* no way to explain it. A person can understand basic musical notes-- "C" and "c"-- because that is simply their nature as a person. The people in the most distant countries have this understanding....
John Lennon: By Intuition.
Gene Clark: And simply because they are all people-- *all* of them.

*Erich von Manstein gets out of the Volkswagen*

*with extreme rudeness* "Hey! I thought that you guys were dead!"

"Funny the way that man speaks, isn't it, John."
"I'm not quite sure that he learned how to speak our language very correctly."
"A pity we can't speak *his* language."
"Oh, no-- it's *not* a very great pity. I study the Japanese language, but perhaps I wouldn't study just anything."
"Perhaps we should address his question, though, wouldn't you say."
"For politeness."
"John, when did you die?"
"In 1980. Gene, how about you."
"In 1991. Are we still here, John?"
"I suppose that we're still around, more or less where we've always been-- in mostly the same places."

"Yeah, well, I died in 1973--"

John Lennon: *the bearded intellectual* *smartly* With full military honors. In the Federal Republic of, West, Germany.

..............

"Mom, it's fine-- I'm eating a sandwich. You don't have to freak out making lots of food."
"John, dear, what are you up to?"
*and he thought, Deliberately making an average album, but, he said something different*

(8/10)