[102], Reviewing the EP a month before the film's screening, Nick Logan of the NME enthused that the Beatles were "at it again, stretching pop music to its limits". [54] "Blue Jay Way" features extensive use of three studio techniques employed by the Beatles over 1966–67:[55] flanging, an audio delay effect;[56] sound-signal rotation via a Leslie speaker;[57] and (in the stereo mix only) reversed tapes. The U.S. version of the soundtrack for the Beatles' ill-fated British television special embellished the six songs that were found on the British Magical Mystery Tour double EP with five other cuts from their 1967 singles. [128], Magical Mystery Tour was issued in the UK on 8 December, the day after the opening of their Apple Boutique in central London, and just over two weeks before the film was broadcast by BBC-TV. Pepper as the highpoint of the Beatles' application of sound "colorisation", musicologist Walter Everett says that the band introduced some effective "new touches" during this period. [188] In his book The Ambient Century, Mark Prendergast describes it as "the most psychedelic album The Beatles ever released" and, along with Revolver, an "essential purchase". 1. 1 – 50 of 2,279 . For the song, see. The packaging includes the 24-page booklet from the original, reduced in size in the case of the CD. [67] It was compiled by Barrow, with input from McCartney. [90] In Everett's interpretation, the fool's innocence leaves him adrift from and unwilling to engage with a judgmental society. [181] Given its experimental qualities, he deemed it "the other half of the double-album that Sgt. [121], Writing in The Rolling Stone Album Guide, Rob Sheffield said that the album was "a lot goopier than Sgt. Pepper, though lifted by the cheerful 'All You Need Is Love' and the ghostly 'Strawberry Fields Forever.' "[119] In line with the band's wishes, the packaging reinforced the idea that the release was a film soundtrack rather than a follow-up to Sgt. Recording then took place alongside filming and editing, and as the Beatles furthered their public association with Transcendental Meditation under teacher Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. However, they remained undisputed kings of the charts, as the soundtrack album Magical Mystery Tour topped the Billboard 200 album chart in the United States. All of the packages contain a host of special features, packed with unseen footage. Bemused by this, Lennon set out to write a lyric that would confound analysis from scholars and music journalists. [68][114] The record's cover featured a photo of the Beatles in animal costumes, taken during the shoot for "I Am the Walrus", and marked the first time that the band members' faces were not visible on one of their EP or LP releases. View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 1977 Vinyl release of Magical Mystery Tour Plus Other Songs on Discogs. [67][108] The first side contained the film soundtrack songs, although in a different order from the EP. [18] According to Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn, the Magical Mystery Tour sessions "began in earnest" on 5 September; filming started on 11 September, and the two activities became increasingly "intertwined" during October. [101] It consists of three rounds of the 12-bar pattern, led first by guitars, then Mellotron and organ, and finally a chanted vocal chorus. Pepper should have been". Lyrics by Chauncey Olcott and George Graff. Pepper, inadvertently brought an end to psychedelic pop. Editors’ Notes Though wedged between the comparatively giant Sgt. In the UK, it topped the EPs chart compiled by Record Retailer and peaked at number 2 on the magazine's singles chart (later the UK Singles Chart) behind "Hello, Goodbye". [114] The cover design was done by John Van Hamersveld,[121] the head of Capitol's art department, working from the artwork sent from EMI in London. Barrow also said that McCartney was concerned that if the others travelled to India to study with the Maharishi, it would mean the end of the Beatles. Further to the Beatles' desire to experiment with record formats and packaging, the EP and LP included a 24-page booklet containing song lyrics, colour photos from film production, and colour story illustrations by cartoonist Bob Gibson. The film had been scheduled for broadcast in the US over the Easter weekend. The EP was issued in the UK on 8 December 1967 on the Parlophone label, while the Capitol Records LP release in the US occurred on 27 November and featured an additional five songs that were originally released as singles that year. [40] Harrison and Lennon promoted Transcendental Meditation with two appearances on David Frost's TV show The Frost Programme, and Harrison and Starr visited the Maharishi in Copenhagen. "[38], During this time, the band's commitment to the Maharishi's teachings remained strong. [44] In the case of "Shirley's Wild Accordion", the scene was cut from the film. Despite widespread media criticism of the Magical Mystery Tour film, the soundtrack was a critical and commercial success. Pepper’s and 1968’s White Album, Magical Mystery Tour nevertheless played a part in The Beatles' story, and put a cap on a year in which the band made yet more music nobody was totally prepared for them to make. Pepper[50] and the psychedelic sound they had introduced in 1966 with Revolver. Today, the film is much more appreciated for its unorthodox approach, colorful imagery, and for the transition it represented in The … Magical Mystery Tour is an album by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a double EP in the United Kingdom and an LP in the United States. Pepper "the effects were chiefly sound and only the album cover was visual", on Magical Mystery Tour "the visual side … has dominated the music", such that "[e]verything from fantasy, children's comics, acid (psychedelic) humour is included on the record and in the booklet. Magical Mystery Tour, an Album by The Beatles. [128] Due to the lyrics' inclusion of the word "knickers", according to author John Winn, the song "remained unofficially prohibited from BBC playlists for the time being". [128][129] Lennon discussed the studio effects used on the new songs, including "I Am the Walrus",[129] which received its only contemporary airing on BBC radio when disco jockey Kenny Everett played it as part of the interview broadcast on 25 November 1967. [62] The song's sequence in Magical Mystery Tour involved a dedicated film shoot, featuring McCartney on a hillside overlooking Nice, in the South of France,[95] which added considerably to the film's production costs. Certified Reiki Master Teacher in Usui & Tara Mai Reiki, professional singer, vocal coach, and the owner of the Music Junction music schools, serving 400 students in Burbank, CA, and creator of Burbank Singing Star- A charity for school music programs. [123], In Gould's description, the LP cover "had the garish symmetry of a movie poster" through the combination of the Beatles' animal costumes, the "rainbow" film logo, and the song titles rendered in art-deco lettering "amid a border of op-art clouds". SMAL 2835; Vinyl LP). Pepper in emotion and depth, and "distinguished by its description of the Beatles' acquired Hindu philosophy and its subsequent application to everyday life". [58] In the case of the latter technique, a recording of the completed track was played backwards and faded in at key points during the performance,[59] creating an effect whereby the backing vocals appear to answer each line of Harrison's lead vocal in the verses. [189] He ranks the album at number 27 in his list of "Twentieth-century Ambience – the Essential 100 Recordings". The mono album was reissued as part of The Beatles in Mono CD and LP box sets in 2009 and 2014 respectively. The psychedelic sound is very much in the vein of Sgt. The only specific thought they seemed to have in their mind was to be different. [52] In addition to the song's string and horn arrangement, Martin wrote a score for the sixteen backing vocalists (the Mike Sammes Singers), in which their laughter, exaggerated vocalising and other noises evoked the LSD-inspired mood that Lennon sought for the piece. Alternatively, Everett considers "Blue Jay Way" to be related to the Carnatic raga, The EP credits read, "Book Edited by Tony Barrow", while, Van Hamersveld recalled working on the cover alongside his psychedelic poster for the first. These post 2009-CD-based vinyl pressings are an abomination. [70] Musicologist Russell Reising says that the songs variously further the Beatles' exploration of the thematic links between a psychedelic trip and travelling, and address the relationship between travel and time. Reed said that exchanging drugs for meditation as their subject matter had left the Beatles "totally divorced from reality", and he especially ridiculed "I Am the Walrus" on an LP he deemed a "platter of phony, pretentious, overcooked tripe". [237], This article is about the Beatles' EP and LP. Pepper" and "I Am the Walrus" providing the "weighty end" in the manner of "A Day in the Life". Van Hamersveld therefore augmented the "underground graphic" cover image with a design concept that highlighted the songs. [116] In Record Mirror, Norman Jopling wrote that, whereas on Sgt. One idea considered was to issue an EP that played at 33⅓ rpm, but this would have caused a loss of audio fidelity that was deemed unacceptable. Pepper recording sessions of 1967 as aimless and undisciplined. [143][nb 14] It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1969. [155] In 1968, jazz musician Bud Shank released the album Magical Mystery, which included five of the EP's tracks and "Hello, Goodbye". Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) and the psychedelic sound they had pursued since Revolver (1966). Pepper,[140] as individual creative agendas were increasingly pursued over 1968. [194][195], When standardising the Beatles' releases for the worldwide compact disc release in 1987, EMI issued Magical Mystery Tour as a full-length album in true stereo. [92][nb 8] A piano ballad, its musical arrangement includes flutes and bass harmonicas,[94] and a recorder solo played by McCartney. [65] In MacFarlane's description, the songs reflect the Beatles' growing interest in stereo mixes, as "remarkable sonic qualities" are revealed in the placement of sounds across the stereo image, making for a more active listening experience. "[164][nb 15], Having been one of the few critics to review Sgt. [72], "Magical Mystery Tour" was written as the main theme song shortly after McCartney conceived the idea for the film. Exploring Magical Mystery Tour . [9] During a band meeting on 1 September, McCartney suggested they proceed with Magical Mystery Tour,[11] which Epstein had given his approval to earlier in the year. [35], According to musicologist Thomas MacFarlane, Magical Mystery Tour shows the Beatles once more "focusing on colour and texture as important compositional elements" and exploring the "aesthetic possibilities" of studio technology. [105] The composition marked a rare example of the Lydian mode being used in pop music[106] and, in Reck's view, incorporates scalar elements from the South Indian (or Carnatic) raga Ranjani. Remarking on how the Beatles and their producer "present a supreme example of team work", the reviewer compared the album with Their Satanic Majesties Request and opined that "I Am the Walrus" and "Blue Jay Way" alone "accomplish what the Stones attempted". Any resentment or hostility that the watching audience might have felt towards the Boxing Day broadcast of, Albums in the core catalogue are marked in, The album (along with the Beatles' entire UK studio album catalogue) was remastered and reissued on CD in 2009. [57], Although he recognises Sgt. Label: Parlophone - PCTC 255 • Format: Vinyl LP, Compilation Yellow • Country: UK • Genre: Rock, Stage & Screen • Style: Soundtrack, Psychedelic Rock He continued: "The four musician-magicians take us by the hand and lead us happily tripping through the clouds, past Lucy in the sky with diamonds and the fool on the hill, into the sun-speckled glades along Blue Jay Way and into the world of Alice in Wonderland … This is The Beatles out there in front and the rest of us in their wake. Magical Mystery: Soundtrack der 90er Diesen Sound hört ihr in „Magical Mystery“. [85] In addition to drawing on Carroll's imagery and Shakespeare's King Lear, he reworked a nursery rhyme from his school days,[86] and referenced Edgar Allan Poe[87] and (in the vocalised "googoogajoob"s) James Joyce. at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962, The Beatles (The Original Studio Recordings), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Magical_Mystery_Tour&oldid=1004393660, Albums with cover art by John Van Hamersveld, Psychedelic rock albums by English artists, Short description is different from Wikidata, Album articles lacking alt text for covers, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2020, Certification Table Entry usages for Argentina, Pages using certification Table Entry with shipments figures, Certification Table Entry usages for Australia, Certification Table Entry usages for Canada, Certification Table Entry usages for Germany, Certification Table Entry usages for United Kingdom, Certification Table Entry usages for United States, Pages using certification Table Entry with shipments footnote, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz release group identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, "The Fool on the Hill" – Christoper Taylor, Richard Taylor and, "Blue Jay Way" – unidentified session musician on cello, "Hello, Goodbye" – Ken Essex and Leo Birnbaum on violas. "[191], In 1968 and 1971, true-stereo mixes were created for "Penny Lane", "Baby, You're a Rich Man" and "All You Need Is Love",[67] which allowed the first true-stereo version of the Magical Mystery Tour LP to be issued in West Germany in 1971. [183] Chris Ingham, writing in The Rough Guide to the Beatles, says that the soundtrack's reputation suffers from its association with the film's failure, yet while three of the tracks are rightly overlooked, "The Fool on the Hill", "Blue Jay Way" and "I Am the Walrus" remain "essential Beatlemusic". All this is eerie and makes one want to close with a blanket over his head and to be trembling. "All You Need Is Love" – George Martin on piano; This page was last edited on 2 February 2021, at 11:20. [13][14] His view was at odds with his bandmates' wishes, with George Harrison especially eager to pursue their introduction to meditation. [46] "Jessie's Dream" was taped privately by the Beatles and copyrighted to McCartney–Starkey–Harrison–Lennon,[35] while the third item was a brief Mellotron piece used to orchestrate the line "The magic is beginning to work" in the film. [103] It was the only example of an American reconfigured release being favoured over the EMI version. [67] In 1981, the soundtrack EP was reissued in both mono and stereo as part of Parlophone's 15-disc box set The Beatles EP Collection. Prev; Next [190] In 2007, the album was included in Robert Christgau and David Fricke's "40 Essential Albums of 1967" for Rolling Stone. FRENCH DEEP JAZZ. The story follows a bus load of eccentric characters on a magic journey through the English countryside. [20] The latter sessions marked the Beatles' first in close to two months[21][22] and took place at a facility new to the band – Chappell Recording Studios in central London – since they were unable to book EMI at short notice. [142] It was number 1 on Billboard's Top LPs listings for eight weeks at the start of 1968 and remained in the top 200 until 8 February 1969. [146] In Britain, the EP peaked at number 2 on the national singles chart,[147] behind "Hello, Goodbye",[148][149] and became the Beatles' ninth release to top the national EPs chart compiled by Record Retailer. McCartney contributed three of the soundtrack songs, including the widely covered "The Fool on the Hill", while John Lennon and George Harrison contributed "I Am the Walrus" and "Blue Jay Way", respectively. Nick Holywell-Walker, Natalie Barowitz. Nope. He similarly views "The Fool on the Hill" as the "Fixing a Hole"–style "cool, contemplative ballad", just as Harrison provides "another droning epic" and McCartney offers "another archaic number" in "Your Mother Should Know", which he finds a "halfhearted attempt at satiric nostalgia". After the Beatles completed Sgt. [8] It was savaged by reviewers,[135][136] giving the Beatles their first public and critical failure. [132] It retailed at the sub-£1 price of 19s 6d (equivalent to £18 today). [82][nb 7], "I Am the Walrus" was Lennon's main contribution to the film and was primarily inspired by both his experiences with LSD and Lewis Carroll's poem "The Walrus and the Carpenter"[83] from Through the Looking Glass. Magical Mystery School ~ Awa Oasia It was originally released in Europe as a double EP with six songs that served as the soundtrack to the film of the same name. The remastered stereo CD features a mini-documentary about the album. Strangelove. [71] Ethnomusicologist David Reck comments that despite the Beatles' association with Eastern culture at the time, through their championing of the Maharishi, just two of the EP's songs directly reflect this interest. Print instantly, or sync to our free PC, web and mobile apps. The record consists of the six-song soundtrack to a one-hour television movie of the same name originally aired in 1967. [67] It was their thirteenth British EP and only their second, after 1964's Long Tall Sally, to consist of entirely new recordings. Goldstein concluded: "Does it sound like heresy to say that the Beatles write material which is literate, courageous, genuine, but spotty?