I hate Magical Mystery Tour.




That's not to say I don't love the songs on it. I do.


But why is it released as an official UK Beatles album when it most certainly was not? It was a U.S.-only creation, just as all of those Capital Records anthologies were. Perhaps the American creation was released in the UK at some point, but it was NOT during the Beatles actual lifetime as a band.


Side One is indeed the (for the most part wonderful songs which were featured on the truly (for the most part) awful movie of the same name, but they are not featured on this album in the same running order as they were released in the UK - on an E.P. (extended play record).

The E.P. was an oddity (to us) of Brit music distribution. A single-sized record containing, typically, four songs. The Beatles released several of these, mostly containing songs that were on their albums. But there were a handful of songs before the Magical Mystery Tour EP that were not on any of their albums. (Many of the songs on Beatles singles were also not on any of their albums). I believe Magical Mystery Tour was their last E.P. -- but the E.P. features the "correct" running order of the authentic British release, and the album version is simply wrong.


The flip side of the L.P. is a mish-mash of mostly unreleased material from that time period ... but the notable songs, Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever, were long-standing hits that had been released on a single several months before Sgt. Pepper, and well over a year before the Magical Mystery Tour compilation L.P. was cobbled together.


I'm not noting this to debunk flippy's great review. It just bugs me that it's "now" considered part of the authentic UK releases, when it is nothing of the sort.

I rather like the psychedelic-groovy songs from this bizarre period of the Beatles' work. Many of the other songs from this era are on the similarly cobbled-together Yellow Submarine LP released yet another year or so later. (But at least that one was really released in the U.K.)


It's too bad The Beatles' recording habits fell apart after Sgt. Pepper. Maybe it was the loss of their manager Brian Epstein, maybe it was the decision to stop touring, who knows? But they never really put together another LP until the White Album, almost 3 years later ... and even that was more a collection of solo projects than an actual Beatles album. (Ironic that the "real" name of the White Album is "The Beatles.")



Anyway, Amazon ... where's my box set???

Thank you Flippy for the trip down memory lane re The Magical Mystery Tour. I've never seen the film/tv show, but I always loved this album, have not heard it in years and your descriptions brought it all right back to me.

According to the liner notes - The US album "was released in the UK in November 1976 and was added to the "core" Beatles catalogue when their music was transferred to CD in 1987." It's the only US compilation to have been "adopted" as the official version.

...and the US LP version was imported into the UK, where it actually charted.

With all due disrespect for revisionist history, you can make it "official" all you want ... but you cannot change the fact that it was not released in the U.K. by The Beatles.

It's bogus. All the songs should be on the Past Masters compilations of amazing hits and several klunkers that were never released on a Beatles album in Great Britain.


Curmudgeon says Bah. :p

Awesome review, Flippy! I'm going to listen to my cruddy old version ASAP.

MMT also turned me on when I first discovered the Beatles. I actually put the LP on for my friends and freaked them out with I Am The Walrus. I happened to already be in high school, however, and I'm the type to read things up, so I always heard "cranberry sauce", among other things.

Dredging this up to see if anyone caught Great Performances PBS show this week on The Magical Mystery Tour? I enjoyed the documentary though I wished they'd talked more to John and George before they died about it.

The film itself was fun and I did love some of the camerawork and can totally see why the establishment in Britain hated it and the younger gebneration loved it. Interesting Xmas release, to be sure. While I doubt I'll buy the DVD of it, it was sure fun to see in quality rather than the various stinky youtube clips I've watched.

So now I am back into wanting some of the 2009 remasterings. Still sadly lacking in some of the core Beatles releases on CD. Guess it's time to use that amazon gift card!

Oh, I did not catch that. Might it be repeated?

Ironically, I just yesterday finally stated to watch the Martin Scorcese documentary about George Harrison that I got from Netflix over 3 months ago and has been sitting on my shelf all that time while my queue gathers dust and my monthly billing gets me nothing.

I realize I've listened to the CD remasters (stereo versions) that this thread is about only ONCE, but I'd still love to find a used mono set for sale on the cheap.

Amazon has a used MONO set for about $125, just sayin

iSm, check your local PBS station, I'm sure they will repeat it.

Info from the PBS site

How about, animated?