UK album release: Mind Games by John Lennon

John Lennon’s fourth solo album, Mind Games, was released on 16 November 1973 in the United Kingdom.

In contrast to the heavily political Some Time In New York City, Mind Games was well received by the public. The album reached number 13 in the United Kingdom, and was certified gold in May 1974. It spent a total of 12 weeks in the UK album charts.

In the United States it had been released on 2 November 1973. It peaked at number nine on the Billboard 200, was certified gold, and spent 31 weeks on the chart.

Tony King, who worked as a promotions executive for Apple Records in Los Angeles, encouraged Lennon to give several print and radio interviews in support of Mind Games.

While he had been with Yoko he had been involved with all these semi-subversive activities, which had not given him a great reputation in America. He said to me at the time, ‘Look, I’ve got this album, what do you think I should do?’ I said, ‘Honestly, you’ve got to go out and make a few friends, because you’ve lost a bit of support because you’ve been involved with things of a controversial nature.’ So he said, ‘Fine, you organise it, I’ll do it.’ And he did.