Rare Footage Of John Lennon + Yoko Ono “You Are Here” Video Highlights From New ‘Mind Games Ultimate Collection.’
“Previously never-before-seen footage of John Lennon and Yoko Ono has been earthed to accompany the new “Ultimate Mix” edition of “You Are Here,” a preview of the upcoming Ultimate Collection edition of Mind Games, Lennon’s 1973 solo album that came out after the dissolution of the Beatles.
Shared on Thursday, this rare footage of Lennon and Ono was filmed at John’s first major art show, which was titled You Are Here (To Yoko From John Lennon, With Love) and took place at London’s Robert Fraser Gallery in July 1968 as Lennon was working on what would be come the Beatles’ vaunted White Album:
At the time, John would have been in the midst of writing and recording The Beatles’ eponymous album, more popularly known as The White Album, which released just a few months later in November 1968.
“It consisted of a bare gallery and a big white canvas that was round and it just had my writing on it: ‘you are here’ and I dedicated it to Yoko,” said John of the “You Are Here” exhibition which also contained an assortment of charity collection boxes. “I wrote to a lot of charities telling them about the exhibition,” he said at the time. “I had a lot of nice letters and a lot of charity boxes back. There are no hidden secrets. My art is in fact displaying these boxes for charity.”
The film crew, which was set up behind a dark window in the style of the hidden camera “Candid Camera” TV show, filmed people’s honest and at times humorous reactions as they walked through the gallery and encountered the various donation boxes which led up to the huge circular canvas with John’s handwritten message: “you are here.” Next to the minimalist artwork was a hat to put money in for “the artist” and a large jar filled with small white badges so attendees could take the poignant proclamation with them.
This special new video previews the Ultimate Collection version of Mind Games. The massive revisiting of the album will feature a wealth of material from this record, a deeply personal creative statement from John Lennon and one that came during the peak of his post-Beatles vitality as a musical and cultural icon.
Per a news release:
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 triple GRAMMY®-Award winning engineer Paul Hicks, and mixers/engineers Sam Gannon and Rob Stevens. 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.
Yoko Ono Lennon says: “John was trying to convey the message that we all play mind games. But if we can play mind games, why not make a positive future with it – to be a positive mind game? ‘Mind Games’ is such an incredibly strong song. At the time, people didn’t quite get the message because this was before its time. Now, people would understand it. I don’t think in those days people knew they were playing mind games anyway.”
And a bit more context about where Mind Games landed in Lennon’s career, as well as the era that spawned its music (per a news release):
A years-long deportation battle with U.S. immigration continued to rage on while his high-profile anti-Nixon campaigning, anti-Vietnam war activism, as well as the overtly political messages on his polarizing 1972 album, Sometime in New York City, made him a target of a newly elected Richard Nixon, leading to surveillance by the FBI.
This was the dramatic backdrop as John entered NYC’s Record Plant in August ’73 with a select band of world-class session musicians (jokingly named The Plastic U.F.Ono Band), including their friend drummer Jim Keltner who along with guitarist David Spinozza assembled pianist Ken Ascher, bassist Gordon Edwards, pedal-steel player “Sneaky” Pete Kleinow, saxophonist Michael Brecker, drummer Rick Marotta, backing vocalists Jocelyn Brown, Christine Wiltshire, Angel Coakely and Kathy Mull, and, to make his fourth post-Beatles solo album in just three years. John would channel this period of extraordinary activity to make a deeply personal and engrossing album of self-reflection that explored themes of love, heartbreak, peace, spirituality and social injustice, giving us yet another window into his life and soul, and some of his best solo songs, on Mind Games.
