The Beatles: Magical Mystery Tour

The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour was originally released in the UK as an EP in 1967 to go along with the film by the same name which was played on television in the UK. It was padded out with some previously released singles to make a full album in the US and that album version is the one that is now available for purchase on CD and for mp3 download (if that's how you get down.)

This a track by track trip through the album.

#1 "Magical Mystery Tour"

This whole album is probably the most purposely psychedelic that Beatles ever got and this is certainly a great example of that. Everything about the way this song sounds is designed to play tricks with your elevated consciousness. There is so much going on in this tune and the little segue to the "mystery trip" part. Just wow. It's not really a song so much as it is a triumphant introduction to crazy land. Or crazy bus as is the case in the film version. I love the outro of the song as well. It's very Doors-esque.

#2 "The Fool on the Hill"

This is a great example of The Beatles just making music. They weren't making ballads, or rock songs or any other sort of easy to define music. The musical creativity in this song is causing it to nearly burst at the seams. There's a ton of different layers of sound going on. It's really hard to believe it was recorded on a four track.

#3 "Flying"

This song gets a lot of flack from people but I think it's super groovy. It's a super laid back ride but there are a lot of cool things going on and the "la la la la" vocal is deliciously insane. Plus the whole ending sound effect deal is absolutely killer. That sounds like it was influenced by Piper at the Gates of Dawn.

#4 "Blue Jay Way"

"Blue Jay Way" is actually one of The Beatles most "studio as an instrument songs." The amount of crazy effects going on probably sounds completely over the top for some folks. But if you are in the right state of mind, it's just what the Doctor ordered. The drums are all flanged. There's backwards voices & other sound effects coming in from all over the place. There's some completely mad cello. I just don't even know how to describe everything that's going on in this song. It's absolute madness. I love it.

#5 "Your Mother Should Know"

People don't often think of songs like this as "psychedelic" but I do. The whole thing is it's completely out of place. It sounds like someone put another album on from an entirely different band from an entirely different era. Yet it all works together too. It's taking you to these different worlds that The Beatles were so great at. And Paul McCartney really deserves the most credit for that aspect of The Beatles. You never know whats going to come next on a Beatles album, but whatever it is, it will be done well. Again it's astonishing that this was recorded on a four track.

#6 "I Am The Walrus"

Track #6 is actually the first John Lennon song from that you can really tell that Paul was taking over creatively at this time but as this song attests to that doesn't mean that John wasn't also coming up with some brilliant music during this time, he just wasn't coming out with as much of it. "I Am The Walrus" is one of my all time favorite Beatles songs. It's just so ridiculously brilliant (and also just flat out ridiculous) that it makes most other music look like child's play in comparison. The complete change in atmosphere during "Sitting in an English Garden" is absolutely mind melting. My brain actually just melted. Excuse me while I collect it and put it back in my skull. Thank you.

#7 "Hello Goodbye"

Probably the most obvious attempt at a "hit single" that was recorded for Magical Mystery Tour and fittingly enough, it was a hit single. It's not one of my biggest favorites but it has some really cool musical bits in it and the end is killer.

#8 "Strawberry Fields Forever"

Was released as a single previously. This was added to the album to fill it out. And well, if your "filler" is "Strawberry Fields Forever" you know you are in good shape. As it was not released on any other album, it seems fair enough to consider it a Magical Mystery Tour song and if you do this album shoots up from being merely great to being one of the all time greats. It really comes down to whether or not you count these previously recorded songs as part of the album proper or not. The song is obviously one of the highlights of the Beatles career. To me it goes hand in hand with "I Am The Walrus" in that it's brilliant and it shows The Beatles really pushing every limit to see what can be done that no one else had ever done before. What's really kicking my butt on this particular listen is the drumming. It's really wild. And that's what's so great about these songs, no matter how many times I hear them, I'm always picking up on new things that are interesting. That's the difference between mere pop fluff and true art. Does it have any depth? Does it have anything to offer on repeat listens? If not then I'm probably not too interested in hearing it. Sure the Beatles tunes were great and would have been big hit singles even if they have so much going on in their music but the thing is, if that's all it was, it would have faded a long time ago. The reason it lasts forever is the depth.

#9 "Penny Lane"

This was of course also released previously (on the same single as "Strawberry Fields Forever." The song is almost too perfect in a way. It's a very clean sounding song especially compared with some of the more noisy tracks that are on this album. That's not to say it's a simple tune. It's definitely not. There's a lot going on, but it all fits together very smoothly. Beautiful song. And another example of how the Beatles were just creating music. They were not trying to fit into any particular genre or make any particular type of song. They created new genres of music precisely because they weren't concerned about that sort of thing.

#10 "Baby You're A Rich Man"

I've always thought this was one of the coolest Beatles songs that doesn't get much credit. Totally bizarre song with a lovely weird as hell vibe. I dig it, yes I do. It was original the b-side to the "All You Need Is Love" single.

#11 "All You Need Is Love"

Well maybe I was being too hard on John earlier. He finishes with 4 of the last 6 songs and they are all brilliant.