Magical Mystery Tour
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| Magical Mystery Tour | |||||
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| Studio album (originally Double EP) by The Beatles | |||||
| Released | 27 November 1967 | ||||
| Recorded | 24 November – 21 December 1966, Abbey Road Studios, London, United Kingdom ("Strawberry Fields Forever"); 29 December 1966 – 17 January 1967, Abbey Road Studios ("Penny Lane"); 25 April – 7 November 1967, Abbey Road Studios and Olympic Sound Studios, London | ||||
| Genre | Rock, psychedelic rock | ||||
| Length | 36:49 | ||||
| Language | English | ||||
| Label | Parlophone, Capitol | ||||
| Producer | George Martin | ||||
| Professional reviews | |||||
| The Beatles American chronology | |||||
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| Singles from Magical Mystery Tour | |||||
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| Alternate cover | |||||
Original double-EP sleeve
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| Alternate cover | |||||
1971 German MMT LP with every track in true stereo
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Magical Mystery Tour is the name of the 11-song album and 6-song double EP by the English rock band The Beatles, first released as an LP on 27 November 1967 and on 8 December 1967 as a double EP. It is the soundtrack to a one-hour television film of the same name that was filmed in color, but originally aired in black and white in the UK, in 1967. Initially packaged as a double EP in the UK, the recording was expanded to a full album on concurrent U.S. release, adding several recent singles to the B-side. This has since been adopted by Apple and EMI when the Beatles' discography was being put on Compact Disc, and is the only US release of theirs for which this was done.
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[edit] History of the project
[edit] Magical Mystery Tour film
After Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Paul McCartney wanted to create a film based upon the Beatles and their music. The 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 the hoped-for "magical" adventures never happened. During the filming, an ever greater number of cars followed the hand-lettered bus, hoping to see what its passengers were up to, until a running traffic jam developed. The spectacle ended after Lennon angrily tore the lettering off the sides of the bus.
Magical Mystery Tour was the first Beatles film project following 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, as seen, for instance, in the absence of a screenplay and professional direction. The film originally appeared twice on BBC-TV over the 1967 Christmas holidays (first in black and white, then in colour on BBC2), but was savaged by critics on its release[1]; it was, however, noted by Steven Spielberg in film school (according to McCartney in one of the interviews for The Beatles Anthology: "I've read that people like him have sort of said, 'When I was in school that was a film we really took notice of...' like an art film, you know, rather than a proper film.)
[edit] Film soundtrack
The movie's soundtrack was far more favourably received, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for best album in 1968.[2] and reached number 1 in the U.S for eight weeks. It was released in the UK in December 1967 as a double EP housed in a 24-page book featuring pictures from the film and a comic strip based on events of the film. The American version was released in late November 1967 as an LP; its cover depicts the EP's artwork in an orange border, with a list of song titles above it, and the album included, until the 1980s, the EP set's 24-page photo/comic booklet blown up to LP-size. Capitol Records released Magical Mystery Tour as full-length album because EPs were not as popular in the US as they were in the UK. The Magical Mystery Tour LP was divided into two halves: The first side was the film soundtrack, and the second side was a collection of A- and B-sides released in 1967, with the songs "Penny Lane", "Baby You're a Rich Man" and "All You Need Is Love" presented in fake "processed" stereo. In addition, all stereo versions, from both the LP and EPs, of "I Am the Walrus", were in true stereo only through the second verse, after which the song "reverts" to fake stereo.[3]
[edit] Release
When standardising The Beatles' releases for Compact Disc in the late 1980s, the American LP version (which was imported into the UK, peaked on the British album charts at #31 as an American import, and was issued by Parlophone Records in Britain in 1976) was included with the British album line-up instead of the British EP, with true stereo recordings replacing the earlier processed ones (except for the portion of "I Am the Walrus"). (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 US with catalogue number C1-48061 in true stereo. The remaining Beatles non-LP single sides were compiled in the two-volume Past Masters compilation.
[edit] Track listing
All songs credited to Lennon/McCartney, except where noted.
[edit] LP release
- Side one
- "Magical Mystery Tour" – 2:51
- "The Fool on the Hill" – 3:00
- "Flying" (Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starr) – 2:16
- "Blue Jay Way" (Harrison) – 3:56
- "Your Mother Should Know" – 2:29
- "I Am the Walrus" – 4:36
- Side two
- "Hello Goodbye" – 3:31
- "Strawberry Fields Forever" – 4:10
- "Penny Lane" – 3:03
- "Baby You're a Rich Man" – 3:03
- "All You Need Is Love" – 3:48
[edit] Double EP release
- Side one
- "Magical Mystery Tour" – 2:51
- "Your Mother Should Know" – 2:29
- Side two
- "I Am the Walrus" – 4:36
- Side three
- "The Fool on the Hill" – 3:00
- "Flying" (Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starkey) – 2:16
- Side four
- "Blue Jay Way" (Harrison) – 3:56
[edit] Personnel
- The Beatles
- George Harrison – guitar, vocals, harmonica on "The Fool on the Hill"
- John Lennon – guitar, vocals, harmonica on "The Fool on the Hill"
- Paul McCartney – bass guitar, piano, vocals, recorder on "The Fool on the Hill"
- Ringo Starr – drums, vocals
- Additional musicians
- "Magical Mystery Tour" – Mal Evans and Neil Aspinall on percussion, David Mason, Elgar Howarth, Roy Copestake and John Wilbraham on trumpets
- "The Fool on the Hill" – Christoper Taylor, Richard Taylor and Jack Ellory on flute[4]
- "I Am the Walrus" – 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 and 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 and J. Fraser on backing vocals
- Hello Goodbye" – Ken Essex, Leo Birnbaum on violas.
- "Strawberry Fields Forever" – Mal Evans on percussion, Tony Fisher, Greg Bowen, Derek Watkins and Stanley Roderick on trumpets and John Hall, Derek Simpson, Norman Jones on cellos.
- "Penny Lane" – Ray Swinfield, P. Goody, Manny Winters and Dennis Walton on flutes, Leon Calvert, Freddy Clayton, Bert Courtley and Duncan Campbell on trumpets, Dick Morgan and Mike Winfield on English horns, Frank Clarke on double bass and David Mason on piccolo trumpet
- "Baby You're a Rich Man" – Eddie Kramer on vibraphone
- "All You Need Is Love" – George Martin on piano, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Marianne Faithfull, Keith Moon, Eric Clapton, Pattie Boyd Harrison, Jane Asher, Mike McCartney, Maureen Starkey, 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
[edit] Critical reception
While the songs on the EP proved popular, critical and popular response to the television film proved negative. Plans to air it on ABC television in the U.S. were cancelled, and Magical Mystery Tour was first shown in the United States only in a special showing as a fundraiser for the Liberation News Service in 1968. This was held at the Fillmore East in New York City.[citation needed] There was no other showing in the U.S. until 1974, as a theatrical release on the midnight movies and college circuits, both of which were mainly underground. In hindsight, the album has been called one of the band's best, and a worthy follow-up to Pepper .
[edit] Release history
| Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 27 November 1967 | Capitol | mono LP | MAL 2835 |
| stereo LP | SMAL 2835 | |||
| United Kingdom | 8 December 1967 | Parlophone | mono double EP | MMT 1-2 |
| stereo double EP | SMMT 1-2 | |||
| New Zealand | 1970 | World Record Club | LP | SLZ 8308 |
| United Kingdom | 19 November 1976 | Apple, Parlophone | LP | PCTC 255 |
| Worldwide reissue | 21 September 1987 | Apple, Parlophone, EMI | Compact Disc | CDP 7 48062 2 |
| Japan | 11 March 1998 | Toshiba-EMI | CD | TOCP 51124 |
| Japan | 21 January 2004 | Toshiba-EMI | Remastered LP | TOJP 60144 |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt & Company. pp. 368–369. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6.
- ^ "The Beatles' Grammy and Academy and Emmy Award Nominations". abbeyrd.best.vwh.net. http://abbeyrd.best.vwh.net/grammy.htm. Retrieved on 2007-11-20.
- ^ Rarities (U.S.), Capitol Records, liner notes, both original and revised versions
- ^ MacDonald, Ian (1994). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties. New York: Henry Holt and Company. pp. 217–218. ISBN 0-8050-2780-7.
[edit] External links
- Beatles comments on each song
- Recording data and notes on mono/stereo mixes and remixes
- The real Blue Jay Way
| Preceded by Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. by The Monkees |
Billboard 200 number-one album 6 January – 1 March 1968 |
Succeeded by Blooming Hits by Paul Mauriat and His Orchestra |
