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SIDE ONE "Magical Mystery Tour" "The Fool on the Hill" "Flying" "Blue Jay Way" "Your Mother Should Know" "I Am the Walrus"
SIDE TWO "Hello, Goodbye" "Strawberry Fields Forever" "Penny Lane" "Baby You're a Rich Man" "All You Need Is Love"
In recent years, critics have said that MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR is in many ways the perfect flipside to SGT. PEPPER, a companion piece that as a whole represents an incredible musical year for The Beatles.
In England, Parlophone released the soundtrack not as an album, but as a double 7" EP. The 7" EP format was somewhat of a failure in the 1960's, so Capitol put together the songs, slapped together the two singles they released in 1967 ("Strawberry Fields Forever"/"Penny Lane" and "Hello Goodbye"/"I Am The Walrus") and out came an album. The Capitol album managed to do well in other countries that didn't have their own pressing of it, including Japan. The album featured a color booklet, as the cover and booklet was simply mirroring the cover and booklet found in the British double EP.
However, Americans did not see MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR (the movie) until well into the mid-70's, when it would become a major part of "midnight showings" at college campuses. The album and music was recorded after the group had taken a break from SGT. PEPPER. There was no need to tour, no pressure. They went to meditate in India, but when they found that their manager had overdosed and died, they went back home to England and found a need to regroup. By all intents and purposes, Paul became their unofficial manager, and would lead the way for the next year until they would find someone to manage them in their last year. To get away from the madness, the group decided to hire a film crew and have them take a wonderful trip to the countryside. They filmed whatever happened, and make shit up along the way.
The movie, shot in color, was filmed for the sole purpose of being shown on British television. When it did air, it was broadcast in black & white. Critics bashed it and said the group had gone too far. "I Am The Walrus" had already been out for a month before the movie was shown, and it lead many to believe that the weird side of the group had taken its toll. When the movie was reshown, this time in proper color, the damage had been done. The group more popular than Jesus Christ was now lower than doo doo shingles. Nonetheless, the group moved on.
Nonetheless, with an album with new songs and two singles (because again, it was important to be able to buy the singles on an album), Americans ate it up, moving up to #1 and staying there for 8 weeks. In the late 70's, the booklet from the album was removed, and with VCR's it was possible for fans to see the film for the first time. It wouldn't be until the late 80's when the film was properly released from a quality print.
Now, is it true that at the end of "Baby, You're A Rich Man" they're singing "baby you're a rich fag Jew", meant to be a stab at their now dead manager, Brian Epstein? Perhaps urban legend, perhaps not.
=========== In the U.S., this would be the last album to be released both in mono and stereo. On the stereo pressing, some songs were "electronically reprocessed for stereo", and two songs did not have a proper stereo mix. If you wanted proper stereo mixes of those songs, you had to hunt down the German pressing (which is good, BTW). That lead to other countries finally releasing MMT as an album.
JOHN BOOK'S MYSPACE http://www.myspace.com/crutmusic
THE RUN-OFF GROOVE http://www.musicforamerica.org/node/114473
BOOK'S MUSIC Podcast http://booksmusic.podomatic.com/
THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND http://www.allmanbrothersband.com/index.php?vst=45730
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