Review Summary: One of the more interesting releases from The Beatles
Artist: The Beatles
Album: Magical Mystery Tour (US LP Version)
Date: November 27, 1967
Genre: Rock/Pop/Psychedelic
Label: Apple Corps
Magical Mystery Tour is one of the more interesting releases in The Beatles history; In the UK it was released as a 6 song Double EP soundtrack to the television movie of the same name, while in the US it was released as a full LP that’s first half contained the 6 songs from the soundtrack and the second half was composed of 5 previously released non-album singles from 1967. The US version was later adopted as the official version of the record when The Beatles catalogue was updated for the CD format. While the movie was a critical and commercial disaster, the soundtrack was quite the opposite reaching number 1 on the charts in the US and staying there for 8 weeks, while the American version even reached number 31 in the UK despite never being officially released (they did however give it an official import release which meant British record shops could order it from the US). In the first 3 weeks after the album’s release it passed sales of 8 million dollars, the biggest initial sale of any album at the time, and eventually got nominated for a Grammy Award for best album of 1968.
The Beatles previous release,” Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, was a rock masterpiece that proved to be groundbreaking, incorporating elements of other genres into their songs which ended up sounding very different from anything ever heard before (with the exception of “Revolver”). While Magical Mystery Tour isn’t as groundbreaking as Sgt. Pepper, it does maintain the experimentation and the psychedelic atmosphere best exemplified on tracks such as “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “Penny Lane”, “All You Need is Love”, and in some parts it becomes even crazier and more bold than its predecessor, (especially on” I Am The Walrus” which is unlike anything ever recorded before or since.)
The first part of the album (the soundtrack) proves to be reasonably strong, with its clever opener, and great standout tracks including; “The Fool on the Hill”, which became one of the more popular Beatles songs of the era, the previously mentioned “I Am the Walrus”, and the rare instrumental “Flying”, which was the first song by the band to be written by all 4 members. The second part of the album consists entirely of previously released non-album singles, some of which were left over from the Sgt. Pepper sessions. While it’s considerably stronger than the first part in that every song is great and memorable, it also produces the main flaw of the album; Unlike Sgt. Pepper, there’s no overall concept or theme that unites the songs together which makes it not only suffer in comparison but also suffer as an individual piece. On Sgt. Pepper there seemed to be a connection throughout the album, where all the songs sounded like logical conclusions to the previous song, building on momentum until the end when all came to a grand finale, Here however, the albums first six songs hold a vague connection before the final five songs disrupt any momentum the album might have had. By no means does this ruin the album but it does make it a frustrating listen where the momentum lies within the individual songs rather than in the album as a whole.
Despite lacking focus and an overall theme, Magical Mystery Tour is a superb Beatles release thanks in large part to its collection of classic singles such as, “Penny Lane”, “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “All You Need is Love”, “Hello Goodbye”, and other standout tracks like “The Fool on the Hill” and “I Am the Walrus”. The Beatles were still on top of the world and even though this has its flaws, it is, nevertheless, an essential Beatles release that any fan of the band or genre should own.
Highlights
• The Fool on the Hill
• I Am The Walrus
• Hello Goodbye
