Magical Mystery Tour (album)

Magical Mystery Tour is an album and double EP by English rock band The Beatles, first released in late 1967. The double EP was recorded at the end of an extremely creative 18 month period.

It is also a one-hour 1967 television film that originally aired in the UK. After critical and public response to the premiere proved negative, US plans to air the show on ABC Television were cancelled, and Magical Mystery Tour didn't appear in the US until 1976, as a theatrical release on the midnight movies and college circuits.

History of the project

After Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Paul McCartney wanted to create a film based upon the Beatles and their music. This film was to be unscripted; various "ordinary" people (including John Lennon's uncle Charlie) were to travel on a charabanc bus and have unspecified "magical" adventures, in the manner of Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters. The Magical Mystery Tour movie was made, but it turned out that no interesting adventures actually occurred. (At least, none that would have suited the original concept; during the shoot, more and more cars followed the hand-lettered bus to see what its passengers were up to, until a running traffic jam had developed. The spectacle ended after Lennon angrily tore the lettering off the sides of the bus.) This was the first Beatles film project to follow the death of manager Brian Epstein in August 1967, and there has been much speculation that the absence of Epstein's judgement contributed to its undisciplined production, such as the lack of a screenplay and professional direction.

The film, originally appearing twice on BBC-TV over the 1967 Christmas holidays, was savaged by critics on its release; however, it is often praised by filmakers like Steven Spielberg.

The soundtrack itself, released in both EP and LP form, was far more favorably received, released in December 1967 as a double EP in the UK.

The American version was released in late November 1967 as an LP; its cover depicts the original EP in an orange border, with a list of song titles above it. The LP Magical Mystery Tour was divided into two halves; the first side being the actual movie soundtrack, and the second side being a collection of A and B-sides released in 1967.

The first side, identical to the British EP, was a prime example of music from the psychedelic era, with "Flying", one of three Beatles instrumentals (the first being the often forgotten and very early "Cry for a Shadow", the second "12-Bar Original"); "Blue Jay Way", a George Harrison mood piece; and the title track itself. "I Am the Walrus", at the end of side one and full of crashing orchestras and dubbed vocals, was Lennon's response to learning that an English master at his alma mater Quarry Bank Grammar School was making his class analyze Beatles songs. Nonetheless, it is perhaps the Beatles' most startling, avant-garde creation.

The songs on the second side were the band's non-album singles from the period. To keep to its release schedule, Capitol Records used a stereo simulator on the monaural single master tapes, rather than wait for the stereo tapes to be sent from Britain. Even so, the seemingly random choice of songs shows the band at its creative peak. It included two starkly contrasting, semiautobiographical songs, Lennon's "Strawberry Fields Forever" and McCartney's "Penny Lane". Originally released as a double A-side single, Lennon's "Fields" was a dark and troubled account of a childhood memory, while his bandmate's "Penny Lane" was about the same subject, but light and poppy. Both songs were in fact recorded at the beginning of the Sgt. Pepper sessions, but had been left off that album, a decision that producer George Martin later regretted.

The remaining tracks on side two include McCartney's counter (and A-side) to "I Am the Walrus" with one of the brightest pop songs ever, "Hello Goodbye". John and Paul collaborated on "Baby You're a Rich Man" (actually the first song recorded specifically for the Beatles' animated Yellow Submarine, which would be released to theatres one year later). John's "All You Need Is Love", the anthem of the Our World program (and arguably, the anthem of the flower power movement), finishes the LP.

When standardizing the Beatles' releases for compact disc in the late 1980s, the American LP version (which had actually sold better in the UK as an import than the double EP, and was issued by Parlophone Records in Britain during 1976) was included with the British album lineups instead of the British EP, with true stereo recordings replacing the earlier processed ones. (The true-stereo version of the Magical Mystery Tour LP was first issued in Germany in 1971, but the 1976 Parlophone issue used the Capitol masters with the fake stereo.) Capitol quietly reissued the Magical Mystery Tour LP using the German masters in the USA with catalogue number C1-48061 in true stereo. The remaining Beatles non-LP single sides were compiled as Past Masters, Volume One and Past Masters, Volume Two.

Track listing (LP, CD)

All songs written by Lennon-McCartney, except where noted.

Side one

"Magical Mystery Tour" mysterytour.ogg
- Featuring Mal Evans and Neil Aspinall on percussion, David Mason, Elgar Howarth, Roy Copestake and John Wilbraham on trumpets.
"The Fool on the Hill"
- Featuring Christoper Taylor, Richard Taylor and Jack Ellory on flute.
"Flying" (Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starkey)
"Blue Jay Way" (Harrison)
"Your Mother Should Know"
"I Am the Walrus" iamthewalrus.ogg
- Featuring Sidney Sax, Jack Rothstein, Ralph Elman, Andrew McGee, Jack Greene, Louis Stevens, John Jezzard and Jack Richards on violins, Lionel Ross, Eldon Fox, Brian Martin and Terry Weil on cellos and Neil Sanders, Tony Tunstall y Morris Miller on horns, Peggie Allen, Wendy Horan, Pat Whitmore, Jill Utting, June Day, Sylvia King, Irene King, G. Mallen, Fred Lucas, Mike Redway, John O'Neill, F. Dachtler, Allan Grant, D. Griffiths, J. Smith y J. Fraser on backing vocals.

Side two

"Hello Goodbye"
- Featuring Ken Essex, Leo Birnbaum on violas.
"Strawberry Fields Forever" strawberryfields.ogg
- Featuring Mal Evans on percussion, Tony Fisher, Greg Bowen, Derek Watkins y Stanley Roderick on trumpets and John Hall, Derek Simpson, Norman Jones on cellos.
"Penny Lane" pennylane.ogg
- Ray Swinfield, P. Goody, Manny Winters y Dennis Walton on flutes, Leon Calvert, Freddy Clayton, Bert Courtley y Duncan Campbell on trumpets, Dick Morgan y Mike Winfield on English horns, Frank Clarke on double bass and David Mason on piccolo trumpet.
"Baby You're a Rich Man"
- Featuring Eddie Kramer on vibraphone.
"All You Need Is Love"
- Featuring George Martin on piano, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Marianne Faithful, Keith Moon, Eric Clapton, Pattie Harrison, Jane Asher, Mike McCartney, Graham Nash and wife, Gary Leeds and Hunter Davies on backing vocals, Sidney Sax, Patrick Halling, Eric Bowie and Jack Holmes on violins, Rex Morris and Don Honeywill on sax, David Mason and Stanley Woods on trumpets, Evan Watkins and Henry Spain on horns, Jack Emblow on accordion and Brian Martin on cello.

Track listing (double EP)

All songs written by Lennon-McCartney, except where noted.

Side one

"Magical Mystery Tour"
"Your Mother Should Know"

Side two

"I Am the Walrus"

Side three

"The Fool on the Hill"
"Flying" (Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starkey)

Side four

"Blue Jay Way" (Harrison)

Release history

Country	Date	Label	Format	Catalog
United States	November 27 1967	Capitol Records	mono LP	MAL 2835
United States	November 27 1967	Capitol Records	stereo LP	SMAL 2835
United Kingdom	December 8 1967	Parlophone	mono double EP	MMT 1-2
United Kingdom	December 8 1967	Parlophone	stereo double EP	SMMT 1-2
United Kingdom	November 19 1976	Apple Records, Parlophone	LP	PCTC 255
Worldwide reissue	August 8 1987	Apple, Parlophone, EMI	CD	CDP 7 48062 2
Japan	March 11 1998	Toshiba-EMI	CD	TOCP 51124
Japan	January 21 2004	Toshiba-EMI	Remastered LP	TOJP 60144

Trivia

The drum corps, Velvet Knights, used music from the album for 4 separate shows (1987, 1988, 1992, 1996) titling the shows "Magical Mystery Tour - Part I", "Magical Mystery Tour - Part II", "Magical Mystery Tour - Part III", and "Magical Mystery Tour in Space", respectively.

External links

Recording data and notes on mono/stereo mixes and remixes

The Beatles albums | The Beatles EPs | 1967 albums | Parlophone albums | Capitol Records albums

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Magical Mystery Tour (album)

History of the project

Track listing (LP, CD)

Side one

Side two

Track listing (double EP)

Side one

Side two

Side three

Side four

Release history

Trivia

See also

External links