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Restored 4K Version of John Lennon’s ’Mind Games’

Dave Rahardja on Mastodon:

John Lennon’s 1974 music video of Mind Games was remastered to 4K, featuring Lennon meeting fans around Central Park and New York City. The original was shot on film, so a ton of details were recovered. I love how vivid this footage is. It really transports you to a bygone time.

I missed this video when it was released in August; my thanks to Dave for sharing it.

It captures a very ’70s vibe (color palette, clothing, hairstyles) I remember when I first visited New York, and which still permeated the city when I moved there in 1981. I can practically taste those Marino’s Real Italian Ices Lennon was checking out around minute 1:15.

I’m not sure this type of video—a massive star wandering around a city, meeting fans who were respectful even in their obvious excitement—could be made today. At least, not without a massive security apparatus.

An aside: I especially appreciated seeing Lennon goofing around in the Central Park Bandshell, a place where I also goofed around as a youth actor with the New York Parks’ Shakespeare Company—and where Lennon’s death six years later was mourned by over two hundred thousand people.