Are there people who don't love "I Am the Walrus"? Truly, this is absolutely new knowledge for me, and I'm surprised. It's simply one of my top five Beatles songs, full stop.
@@SimonAgree-sb1ol They are two of his most successful "Stream of consciousness" lyrical offerings. You could include "Happiness is a Warm Gun" too, I suppose.
My dad was one of the very few people on the rooftop in 1969. If you watch the video he's the guy joking around wearing the blue sweater. Before he passed away he told me the story "I was working and we heard noise coming from the roof so we went up, and the Beatles were playing. After 10 minutes we went back to work" Such understatement!
It was my favorite album as a kid! Still high on the list of Top Ten All-Time faves! But some notes, dear Abby: 1. It's "goo goo g'joob", look at the lyrics. "Coo coo k-choo", which everybody and their walrus says, including Bono when singing it in Across the Universe, is from "Mrs. Robinson". 2. Side 2 are all singles and their B-sides, "Hello Goodbye" being the B-side to IAtW, much like Yesterday and Today and The Beatles Again/Hey Jude. 3. Speaking of Hey Jude, that was another album/LP of unreleased singles and stereo mixes of songs released on the US United Artists LP AHard Day's Night. It was not an EP but a full LP. 4. Baby, You're a Rich Man and All You Need is Love was the recent single and they weren't yet mixed in stereo (along with Penny Lane, all of which were mixed by Capitol in "mono reprocessed for stereo"... did you catch the Todd reference there?). AYNiL was mixed for stereo for the Yellow Submarine album, but BYaRM and PL were not mixed in stereo until the EMI German label Odeon wanted to release the US version in 1971 but wanted true stereo mixes, so George and Geoff obliged. Unfortunately, when MFSL released their half-speed master version, they used the US master with the fake stereo mixes. 5. BYaRM included a clavioline, not mellotron. John rolled an orange up and down its keyboard for effect. George also plays a FABTASTIC chunky guitar part... gotta listen to the stereo version left channel for full effect!!! It is indeed my all-time favorite Beatles song, up there with It's All Too Much and Dear Prudence. 45rpm version is 3:09, as is ORIGINAL mono and fake stereo LPs, but the stereo mix and all subsequent releases are 3:03. 6. Listen again to the snippet of She Loves You in AYNiL:"She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah, She loves TO, yeah yeah yeah." Very cheeky!
I spotted one boob - Lennon was annoyed they chose Macca's song as the A side leaving I Am The Walrus on the flip but as it turned out Hello Goodbye was the more commercial. Pity! 🤡
Paul is like finding a fine bottle of wine and a dozen red roses--John is like finding a doorway in a field to another way of being----George is like coming upon an undiscovered Mystic revealing pathways to Love and Understanding---and Ringo, Ringo is like you picked up the wrong laundry, but the clothes are way better than yours
In my top 3 for sure. It is such a tired cliche that this is an inferior hodge-podge that followed the "indisputable masterpiece" Sgt. Pepper; even at my most rabid Beatles obsession as a grade school kid discovering them in the late 70s, 'Pepper' never even made my top 5 best Beatles album list. MMT on the other hand, retains its powerful spooky/funny aura (and has vastly better songs overall).
I LOVE Flying. It’s such an oddity, unlike any other Beatles song. Short, simple, and wordless, but it creates such a strong atmosphere and pulls you all the way into it, briefly, before you’re unceremoniously dropped right back out.
The crazy thing about Flying is that it's just an instrumental 12 bar blues thing but look how different it is to 12 Bar Original. Amazing what a couple of years and a lot of drugs can do. Also the vocals at the ned are awesome.
@@rhwinner Well... They're both instrumentals, I'll give that to you. Different time signatures, completely different instrumentation, and completely different melodies, but sure.
Yellow Submarine has 3 of the best tracks in the Beatles catalog. It's Only A Northern Song, Hey Bulldog, It's All Too Much. Worth the price of the album
only a northern song is so underrated! george definitely tapped into something with those dark psychedelic tracks. I get why Abby's not doing a video on yellow submarine, though- half of it is george martin compositions
The "Yellow Submarine" Song track album features 15 songs remixed by Peter Cobbin in 1999. "Only A Northern Song" is in true stereo for the first time. ( no George Martin orchestrated material ) .
I did LSD 3 times....first 2 were great....3rd time was too intense...started freaking out....my older brother who was experienced....helped me through it.
I was on a Beatle's binge last night...my Marantz 2275 receiver and Cerwin Vega speakers still sound awesome....back in the 60s/70s having a big stereo was a status.
What's my choice? Hmmm... Lessee... I could have a truly amazing home stereo system that keeps me in one place... or I can listen to shit sound while traveling about. I know what Millennials and Gen Z'ers would choose.
Singles were as important as albums back in the 60's. The Beatles always released very strong singles: Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever All You Need Is Love/Baby You're A Rich Man Hello Goodbye/I Am The Walrus 3 singles in that year(plus Pepper)and look at them! Each one a microcosm. These 6 songs are why this (MMT) collection is a favorite of many.
Still have the original Mono EP. I was 9 years old when this came out and is a huge part of my musical DNA. I’ve mentioned my late older brother before and he was transfixed with this and Pepper, and it all rubbed off on me too. I have quite vivid memories of sitting down to watch the MMT film on the BBC on Boxing Day…in black and white no less. Didn’t understand it at all at the time, but have grown to love it’s English eccentricity/surrealism. I eventually bought the ‘full length’ album when it finally got a proper release here in the UK in 1976. On a holiday to NYC in 2017, I just had to visit Strawberry Fields, and it was as expected a highly emotional experience. Thanks so much for compiling this excellent deep dive into a record that still means so much to me.
Love it Abby...! You nailed it, this album was a great psychedelic trip back in the day, and still is...! I was 7 yrs old when it came out. When The Beatles released anything new, a single or an LP, it was a "sit down and take notice" event in our house. It had great ear candy, great wacky Lennon compositions, swirling mysterious sounds such as on Flying and Blue Jay Way, and so much more to fill your ears and mind with. As to who sang "She Loves You" on the broadcast of All You Need is Love, it's like you said, Paul's mic is knocked away not once, but twice, and it ends up near John's face. So most of what we hear is just John's voice singing it, when in fact, Paul was signing it too, but the mics never picked it up. A You-tuber named "You Can't Unhear This" did a good video unpacking this mystery. It's a little hard to see Paul singing on the video, but clearly John is singing it. I wonder if the dufus who bumped into the mic was sacked for his infamous misdeed...!
Yeah, I think John crushes on this album with all of his songs. It’s kinda funny how I’ve always thought that even though Paul was the one kinda driving the project ideas in the latter half of their career, John was still coming up pound-for-pound with a lot of the better songs!!
i absolutely adore mmt, its my comfort album (including and ESPECIALLY Walrus). The endearing charm of every song, however redundant they may become, is something you don't often find in music, and for that, I love it. and you covered it very well 😊
This was the first time I saw your channel; and probably the only reason I decided to go there was because...Magical Mystery is my favorite of the "trippy quartet" of "Pepper", "Mystery", "The Beatles", and "Abbey Road". All these records came out while I was in High School -- a time when I was listening constantly to my FM radio receiver -- where I heard the incredible range of music which was changing me from a straight-arrow student into a counterculture poster boy. Your show was so good (album review, commentary on the times, the writing and the presentation) that I immediately subscribed. Wow! Great stuff. By the way, we all are the Walrus.
I realized a few years back that MMT is indeed my favorite Beatles album. Before that, I thought it was Revolver. But, being a total John guy, and the fact that Strawberry Fields Forever is my all-time favorite song by anyone, I realized that this is it. Strawberry Fields, Walrus, All You Need Is Love and Baby You're A Rich Man, all on the same record? YES please! I agree that Your Mother Should Know is the weakest track (Paul's "granny shit" as John called it). I also love Flying, such a cool groove and I dare anyone not to end up singing "La la la la laaaaaaa!" along with it LOL. Great episode, thanks! :)
Along with The Rolling Stones, Now!, one of those rare occaisions where the US album comfiguration got it right. Thankfully it was kept for all the later CD reissues, as that is still my preferred format. I'll take it over Sgt Pepper's any day. Up there with the ''White Album'' and Revolver as their best for me.
I was a young kid when this album was release in 1967.I love to hear "Hello Godbye"one of my of favorite of this album.How can you deny the great impact of all those memorable songs of this album?Magical Mystery Tour is a classic album and beloved by the people around the world.
This is the album that got me into the Beatles at the ripe age of 14, along with vintage and acid rock, in general. Was also the album that inspired me most to begin to explore the outer realms of my psyche with psychoactive exploration all the more, and time and time again. At 14, I never knew the Beatles had been psych-heads, once upon a time, but my dear old dad informed me otherwise. And wow, were my eyes opened from then on...and in more ways than many...
Strawberry Fields Forever is my favorite song of all time and has been since I was a child so this album is quite special to me. I love I Am The Walrus, Blue Jay Way and of course Penny Lane as well. There are a few duds but boys were firing on all cylinders in those heady days and to have so much material available to release just months after the biggest album of the 60's is nothing short of amazing. Just thinking about their output from 63-70 is mind blowing. I never thought I'd be looking forward to Mondays so much but your channel did it. Informative, fun and in depth, its really something special!
Being born in '67 I have a bit of an attachment to Sgt. Pepper and MMT, and while I Am The Walrus may not be my favorite all time Beatles song, it is the song that influenced/inspired me the most. I started in jr. high playing in orchestra (viola), so the orchestra in rock music in Walrus really hit my ear. The idea of a backing orchestra was so cool. I also noodled around with the piano growing up so the intro to Walrus also struck me. It's such a simple little riff, but the sound of the Hohner EP was like nothing I'd ever heard before. By the time I got into HS, I became full on interested in the keyboards and synths sounds of the early/mid 80s new wave bands and became a synth player. I probably firsts heard this song when my older siblings baby-sat me. I can still remember listening to it when I was 3 in 1970! The lyrics were as strange and magical as any other kids bedtime story, even if I had no idea what John was talking about. Between the orchestra, the opening Pianet intro (which prompted my love for the Hohner Pianet I now have) and those insane lyrics, this song is probably the reason I'm a musician/keyboardist today. This, and of course Schroder/Beethoven/Peanuts cartoons I also grew up on. LOL So, even though the walrus was the villain, I AM THE WALRUS!!!!
In the mid 70's, I heard a friends copy of MMT and was SHOCKED to hear at the end of Strawberry Fields "I buried" and that's all !!! Just those two words ! It had been edited out !!!! AND I just listened to it on RUclips and it's ALSO NOT THERE!!! Love your outfit by the way! :)
The title track Magical Mystery Tour is such a gloriously good piece. Those beats, those trumpets, those harmonies... can be looped for hours just lifting you away and never letting you down.
I love "Your Mother Should Know" - one of Pauls best songs. It is a very clear and not complicated song (like "I Am The Walrus" for example) with a VERY strong, nice and simple "melody-line".
The album comprises the rest of their 1967 output apart from SP. That is, the MMT soundtrack plus the three singles: well, they were singles in the UK. Three singles - FIVE tracks? No: all six A and B sides are there, because I Am The Walrus also appeared on the B-side of Hello Goodbye, which was the Christmas No.1 on our singles chart. Hope that makes sense! I think as an album it's a great set of songs, pure 1967 Beatles. Thanks for your review Abby.
The UK soundtracks for "A Hard Day's Night" and "Help!" were both movie songs on Side A and extra tracks not in the film on Side B. In the US... both of those albums have the movie songs by The Beatles with a bunch of George Martin Orchestra instrumentals scattered in-between them. Finally the US got it right with MMT... putting the 6 film songs on Side A and the remaining single A's and B's on Side B... while the UK got that ridiculous double-EP package of only the 6 film tracks. They weren't even normal EPs having 2 songs on each side. What were they thinking with that one? And then *everybody* got the "Yellow Submarine" soundtrack with Beatles songs on Side A and more George Martin Orchestra instrumentals on Side B. On their own, the GMO instrumentals are fine if you want to hear 'em but not when they come across like commercials on TV interrupting a favorite movie every few minutes.
This album reminds me of going to Strawberry Fields for a school trip on the Magical Mystery Tour Bus, great album that I also love for nostalgic reasons. Also, yesterday was Global Beatles day so, happy Global Beatles Day everyone!
Nicely done, young lady. MMT is one of my favorite Beatles albums... Top 3 for sure. So many outstanding songs. Also, there's a video of the band practicing for this performance and shows John singing She Loves You. That plus the tonality of his voice has me convinced it's John on the final version as well.
It's weird for you to do this today. Since My 72nd B-day on the 19th, I've been listening to psych music. It turns out I have over 200 psych albums. This Beatle album you've chosen is their most psy record. I love it. Thank you. love your channel.
Haha, Half-baked! I'm sure they were half baked themselves...I LOVE this record! Roll UP, What more do you need to say, ROLL another joint is what they are implying! But overall you nailed it, this record is FUN......Excellent review!!
MMT being the antithesis of a concept album, it complemented Sgt. Pepper especially well. I *totally* agree re. It's All Too Much and Baby You're A Rich Man, both so brilliant... Great work Abby, as usual! ♥
Cheers, well done. I'm always amazed when someone dismisses songs that I like and praises those that I don't, but that's what makes music, music, I guess.
Love your sixties demeanour. You remind me of Jane Asher. You have covered quite a lot in one of my favourite Beatles LPs. I don't know if anyone has mentioned this, and I hope you don't mind me correcting you, but there are several sources that state it was George Harrison's "Only a Northern Song" that didn't make it on Sgt. Pepper and ended up in Yellow Submarine.... Not "It's All Too Much" which was written afterwards.... I have only just discovered your videos on RUclips, so I'm looking forward to seeing them all. I love the Magical Mystery Tour film, which is now seen at its best on blu (Jay) ray in a superb print and 5:1 surround sound. A complete contrast to its first transmission on BBC on a small black and white TV in tinny mono! xx
I'm still playing catch up with VM episodes. This was brilliant! Like current day Mexican rockers, The Warning, you could have been born 40 years earlier and fit right into my generation, maybe as a writer for RollingStone in the 1970s. You GET rock. I grew up with The Beatles. This was probably the third or fourth of their albums I bought. The film was a magical mystery until MANY years later when I found it on YT and watched it. The show was an utter waste of time. But I damned near wore out the album a long time ago. It was my 8th grade preview of psychedelia. Turn on the black lights, turn up the stereo, and watch the Peter Max posters glow. The jet setters' world of commercial rock in '67 to '77 was so amazingly cross-pollinated with talent… So much good music landed then. But the Magical Mastery Tour film and the Yellow Submarine album were low points in The Beatles' history. I know I saw the YS film once, but have no recollection of it, as I'd just smashed my thumb in a car door. The pain killers knocked me out in the theater and friends woke me up when it was over. Probably just as well...
Hey, Abby, another brilliant review! Being from the UK, I never considered this as being a "proper" Beatles album. However, I cannot fault the music, I love every single track, including such often under-rated gems as Flying and Blue Jay Way. The only part of your review I disagreed with was over the track 'Your Mother Should Know', as, for me, it's nostalgic lyrics and beautiful chord changes make it one of Paul's very best tracks. Another great Vinyl Monday!
First time I'm writing. I really enjoyed this video, Abigail, as well as all the others you have done. This album was my number one Christmas present of 1967. Your insights and comments are excellent and provide good info that I was not aware of, like the info on The Fool. Hope you approve of my call sign as you obviously know the origin.
I love your enthusiastic insights on each album. Great job!!! I totally agree that ITS ALL TOO MUCH should have been on this album. It is one of my top five Beatles songs. Great guitar feedback to open it up. Love this song. Thanks for all the great reviews that you do I really enjoy them.
The Magical Mystery Tour coach tour goes past the bottom of my road, Abby, ;0 ;) in fact I saw it today! Probably visiting Ringo's old house or something, hehe. This 'll be a good watch, Best
For me, i keep going back to my favorite album, and on that is my favorite song, Strawberry Fields Forever. I cant describe how profoundly this hits me. It's unique, catchy, conplex, and i absolutely love it more each time i hear it.
Personally my favorite Beatles album. Absolutely an amazing album. 100/10. I will say however I could be bias. Because I’ve been a fan since I was 7 (20 now) and when I was getting into them I had an IPod that had Abby Road, Sargent Peppers, the White Album, and Magical Mystery Tour. For some reason, I always was drawn to MMT. Mostly because to this day, the album contains 3 of my top 5 Beatles songs of all time. Strawberry Fields, Penny Lane, and Hello Goodbye. As my music taste got broader I started to look at Sargent Peppers more and I realized I tend to listen to more of the early stuff nowadays. But a couple years ago I rediscovered MMT and was just in awe of how much I love every single song. One of those albums I can just put it on and have a smile not leave my face for the entire thing. Great review Abigail.
Thank you Abby for another great video. I agree that this album has always been truly underrated. There's really not a bad song on it! And you do such a fantastic presentation with your knowledge, insight, and enthusiasm!! You know the age old question of "If you could have dinner with anyone - living or dead - throughout history - who would it be?" For the first time in my life, I have an answer to it - Talking over classic albums with you over dinner would be so cool!! But returning to reality, keep up the great work!!
When I first listened to MMT in middle school, it blew my 12 year old mind. Today, it still wows me with how inventive and unhinged it is, moreso even than Sgt Pepper.
Aged 12 I took this on cassette on a Scout camp. A good friend, played and played and played it, the entire week! I think it totally changed his outlook on music!
How I Learned to Love the Yellow Submarine Soundtrack by Sun Fellow I had to do a little extra begging to get my mother to buy me this in 1969. She rarely hesitated when it came to The Beatles, but this was one of those times. Like most people, I was a little ho-hum about it, but I did ADORE the two Harrison tracks. I never played side two. However, when iPods came along (no, I'm not a vinyl devotee even though I like the large size album cover art), I started making these AMAZING folders on iTunes. I'd combine Wonderwall Music, Sgt Pepper, Yellow Submarine, truckloads of psychedelic tidbits from bootlegs and poetry readings, AND THEN HIT SHUFFLE! It created a swirl of metaphysical poetry, music, and flower power! This was also how I learned to love the orchestral music by George Martin on the Yellow Submarine soundtrack. It's now among my favorite Beatles-related music. And by the way, I disagree with Martin regarding "Only a Northern Song." It would have made a great addition to Sgt Pepper in place of mediocre songs like "Lovely Rita" or "Good Morning." P.S. Recommendation of the day: The new YES album Mirror to the Sky! A VERY new agey exploration of the stars. Yesworld dot com even has a purple vinyl edition! I bought the 3 disc art book edition (2 CDs and 1 Blu-ray) because it has a long essay on the making of the album as well as Roger Dean's process of creating the cover. There's also a boxed set that isn't too expensive that has everything-- check ebay.
I Love this record. Not an award winning film, but it does have two things going for it, imo. 1. It is footage of the Beatles together. 2. As Paul pointed out, it's the 'only' footage of John doing Walrus, anywhere, Period. Best Beatles album Capitol ever put out after chopping up the bands previous British release's. Side 1, show tunes. Side 2, singles and B-sides, not on LPs yet. And side 2?!! Hello Goodbye, Strawberry Fields,etc. The whole album is fantastic! The cover? I've had a couple of t-shirts. Thank you, Ms. Devoe
You're exactly right that this album is underrated. I think the main reason is that it comes after Sgt. Pepper, which is so acclaimed that anything that came after it would be seen as 'weaker'. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that both Magical Mystery Tour and the White Album are both criminally underrated by fans and non fans alike.
I'm a big fan of MMT USA, and I love to sing its praises. Side A has the Beatles at their weirdest, and they are hitting the psychedelic sounds promised on Pepper's (which you cover!). I like the fact that Side A is kinda wandering around, like a weird soundtrack to a hazy summer's day. Then you got Side B, which might be the best singles collection of all time. When you're listening to the album in full, it seems like the Beatles got stoned during the title track, then kinda regained consciousness by the time Side B hits. You can also listen to the album in multiple ways: you can either bask in the wooziness of side A, get all the killer singles of side B, or treat it all as one big album. Firmly in my top 3 Beatles albums. "Accidental greatness" is the perfect way to describe it. Great review!
My dad said he’d by me a tape and asked which one I wanted. He bought me the 8-track tape of MMT in 1967 when I was 11 yrs old. I loved it and the sequencing was perfect for me. I knew nothing about the movie at that time and it was a cannon Beatles album for me. I agree with everything you said and learned a few things. Great review and analysis! The funny thing was my dad was only a lover of country music, but he let me listen to MMT in the car. I always wondered what he thought about about it.
Weird but true fact. I used to think of Magical Mystery Tour (the opening track) as some throw away lightweight least interesting Beatles song. As time's gone by, it's become something of a philosophy of life. When life throws me some curveball thing ("life's what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" to quote Mr Lennon much later) MMT has become my go to track. Life, it reminds me, is a magical mystery tour. Roll up, roll up, step this way. The joyous exuberance is always there to remind me that sure life has some stuff, but hey it is what it is and let's just enjoy the ride. Who knew that of all the Beatles tracks in the world, it's THIS one that would have such an uplifting effect. 🙂
Oh man, as if the Abbey Road and Paul Quits videos weren’t enough to help me decide to announce my undying love for your channel and awesome way of dissecting records that I grew up with, this was the kicker!! You are so intelligent and funny AH, awesome, and could have dropped in on a Time Machine from 1967, lol! I’ve loved this record ever since college, when my girlfriend and I won a dance competition, which was a campus sponsored all-night event in which the last couple on their feet could walk away with a cash prize… after which I pocketed the $ and (OF COURSE! 😁) chose the Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack LP from the local Campus record store )this was the mid 1980s, (talk about being in-tune with the music scene of the times) -for which I had the clerk place a special order for this record, as they didn’t have it on hand!
Hi Abby! Thank you so much for talking about ''it's all too much'', which is one of my top 5 favourites songs by the Beatles! By the way, have you ever heard the complete 8 minutes version?...
Not sure why you think people will complain because you like 'Walrus'.... it's a classic, favourite Beatles track, and has been for decades! 😆 Anyway, great review of a brilliant album; being English, for a while I only knew the EP version, but even when still young in the early 1970s I adored Blue Jay Way - it just had such an eerie, creepy sound, and it got me interested in listening to more Georges' compositions; both earlier, and later, and you can always hear a common sort of 'sound' - like he's always going for the minor rather major notes (limited knowledge of music notation!), but I liked has more 'melancholic' (?) sound ('If I Needed Someone' was a great favourite of mine at that time; bright, sparkly, but still somewhat 'melancholic' in it's tune structure, and then I first heard 'Blue Jay Way'...Wow!! 🤩 ). You are SO right to say that "All Too Much' would be a perfect fit for this album - it'd never occurred to me before, once I'd picked up the eventual 1979 Parlophone UK release; in all the decades that I loved the Beatles!! Of course it would've.... it's got that George sound again, and that wicked, gorgeous VERY electric guitar sound that I adore, with all its feedback and grumblings...... this track would have been a great side 2 inclusion, without a doubt! wink 😉 👍 In fact, as the side closer, if you'd had 'Strawberry Fields' with it's fantastic drum ending then fade into the opening crescendo of Georges guitar into 'All Too Much' would have been an awesome way to finish: leave 'em breathless and wanting more!! 😆
I love this show. I’d say I have about 90% of the records you feature. Great minds think alike and all that jazz. I’m 54 and I have done deep dive research on a lot of rock classics (psychedelic, visual) and I must say you have a great sense of the music, history, and grandeur of my favorite genre. Love it. Any thoughts on Robert Fripp or King Crimson? Favorite Fripp solo album: Exposure
I really enjoyed this video! When you mentioned about how fans wanted Strawberry Fields Forever on Sgt Peppers album and you think Penny Lane can't fit on there, hear me out! During the 50th Anniversary of Sgt Peppers, I decided on my ipod, put Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane on the album. To keep the running time around 45 minutes, I did some edits: Side 1 1. Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band 2. With A Little Help From My Friend 3. Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite 4. Getting Better 5. Fixing A Hole 6. Strawberry Fields Forever (without the "Cranberry sauce" jam) 7. She's Leaving Home Side 2 1. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds 2. Only A Northern Song 3. When I'm Sixty-Four 4. Lovely Rita 5. Penny Lane 6. Good Morning Good Morning 7. Sgt Peppers Reprise/A Day In The Life You might of noticed that I removed Within You Without You and replaced it with Only A Northern Song because not only Within You Without You is a longer song, but Only A Northern Song fits really well and was recorded during these sessions. Don't worry, I did move Within You Without You to Magical Mystery Tour tracklisting!😉 I will tell you that one after you read this. It's alot to read!
As a Brit, I say the US got it right and gathered the material into a satisfying Beatles album. The moment in Get Back when Paul says he's become 'second leader'does he say, belies the fact that he was pushing hard in 67 with ideas. Favourites are to do with circumstance, individual psychology. Strawberry Fields might be one of the greatest pieces of music by anyone, any collective in any time in any genre but Penny Lane is the song I wish to God I'd written. I think it's the yearning in the melody and lyric combined 'beneath the blue suburban skies'. (How did religion get in there?) You did this music and yourself proud Abby. This is THE channel.
21:26 This album IS like a whitman's box of The Beatles throughout 1967 because it contains all of the singles and their respective b-sides through the entire year, plus the movie soundtrack (which is only on Side A). it really is a time capusle or sample of the entire year on a single disc. i never thought of it that way, nice observation!
It is an absolute pleasure...to see someone from a much younger generation...show love for the greatest band of all time...The Beatles. (And for anyone interested...the second greatest band of all time...is....Pink Floyd).
Wow, so great that you did this one! Thanks. My intro to the record was a happy accident. Back in the mid '70s when I had just weaned myself off strictly classical, the brother who was studying in another city came back through for Christmas holidays and brought a mass of records (along with his customary friends and camp followers, long story). I picked out the ones that looked like lolly wrappers as I was still a 13 year old. So, I heard this and Pepper just as records, knowing no more than the name of the band. Australia had the US version and to me, while I instantly liked Pepper, this one just caught my attention from go to woah. I had no idea it wasn't meant to be a Beatles album or any of the history, I just had the songs and the weirdo storybook inside. It's the first rock album I actually sat down to listen to (usually through outsize headphones) so it wasn't just the songs but the details: the spooky piano noodling at the end of the title track, all of the bits and bobs from everywhere in Walrus, the organ in Mother that sounds like bowed glass, the cello in Blue Jay Way that seemed to emerge from the dark like a vampire in bat form, and too much more, all swooshed around my little scone in overload. And that's before you get to side two which I didn't know was just the singles from that year. My sister told me that Strawberry Fields was a type of LSD which made it feel weird and (along with Revolution #9 a little later) acquainted me with how much I liked the shiver of feeling scared to listen to music. It's an everything album, a perfect deluxe psychedelia as well as a band flying free in a cubby house turning all their whims into futureproof art. From the fanfare of the title track, through the harlequin nightmare of Walrus, to the euphoria of All You Need is Love, it has never been far from my ears. And yes, it is more psychedelic than Pepper. Thanks again.
“Flying” was one of the cinematic highlights of the movie. It went well with the trippy Icelandic footage. “MMT” makes sense as setting up the opening premise of the movie. Sadly the movie didn’t keep pace with “MMT” and got bogged down and listless. That said, I still like the movie and I agree with McCartney’s analysis of the film.
Wow your passion and enthusiasm is just amazing. Your videos are so well done and some of the richest content album dives on RUclips. You got a sub from me! Keep up the good work!
While watching this i quietly fell into a dream...I was on a magical mystery tour, in a psychedelic trip eating marshmallow pies with the Beatles in a yellow submarine in the middle of strawberry fields forever. I became the walrus and they became the eggmen singing...I read the news today oh boy, four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire. And though the holes were rather small, they had to count them all, now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall... 🎶
I would agree with your thought that MMT was a 2nd chapter of SPLHCB. In my mind, they are two discs of the same album/a double album, if you will. When I listen to one, I always listen to the other. There are many reasons for this, as you articulated throughout, but most of all I associate the songs together. Many were played on the radio during the same period of that time. Great job, as always, and I think Flying is very cool.
MMT opened up a concert at the San Diego Sports Arena w/ Iron Butterfly. " LSD for you and me " ACID COMMERCIAL and lead in to the tune ' Thursday ' from Country Joe and the Fish LP ' Feel like i'm Fixin to Die ' circa 1967....Aloha
@@alembic65 Nah, MMT is basically all the songs that couldn't make it to Sgt Pepper because they weren't good enough. MMT is literally diet Sgt Pepper, for the normies who can't handle Sgt Pepper but want to feel like they are part of the club
The music is epic and I do sing several of the songs. I bought my copy of the record the day after John Died. Thanks for your clear thoughts on the subject.
Love it that you’ve done a review of MMT. I also have an original press of this one. Although it’s not my absolute favorite album from the Fab, it’s still very special for me because it’s initially the one converting me into a fan. I’ve always loved George’s Blue Jay Way, and thanks to you I finally know what it’s about. And I totally agree that it’s like a second coming of Sgt.Peppers. The Walrus is also a significantly cool tune, especially considering those repeated lyrics at the tail end. It’s as if the Fab knew that someday Mary Jane would be so readily available 😆. Plus I love your take on “ It’s all too Much. “ It definitely is an underrated gem and would have been an awesome addition to MMT. I could go on all day about this magical album but enough said. Great episode Abby !!
Your thumbnail is SO SUPEERIOR to the Beatles' own album cover for this Capitol Records compilation/spellbindingly sorcerous soundtrack/album. I vote let's make it the new cover!🎸
so who was the walrus?? (WRONG ANSWERS ONLY)
Walrus was Jagger 😎
liam
The real walrus was the friends we made along the way
the girl reading this
David Crosby
Are there people who don't love "I Am the Walrus"? Truly, this is absolutely new knowledge for me, and I'm surprised. It's simply one of my top five Beatles songs, full stop.
In 8th grade Walrus was my favorite song!! It blew my mind totally.
"I Am The Walrus" is a pretty good companion to "Come Together" lyrically, when you think about it.
@@SimonAgree-sb1ol They are two of his most successful "Stream of consciousness" lyrical offerings. You could include "Happiness is a Warm Gun" too, I suppose.
Im wondering the same. It's actually my favorite track on MMT
@@SimonAgree-sb1ol you're right, i've never thought of that
My dad was one of the very few people on the rooftop in 1969. If you watch the video he's the guy joking around wearing the blue sweater. Before he passed away he told me the story "I was working and we heard noise coming from the roof so we went up, and the Beatles were playing. After 10 minutes we went back to work"
Such understatement!
I confess that on occasion I have let my knickers down...
It was my favorite album as a kid! Still high on the list of Top Ten All-Time faves!
But some notes, dear Abby:
1. It's "goo goo g'joob", look at the lyrics. "Coo coo k-choo", which everybody and their walrus says, including Bono when singing it in Across the Universe, is from "Mrs. Robinson".
2. Side 2 are all singles and their B-sides, "Hello Goodbye" being the B-side to IAtW, much like Yesterday and Today and The Beatles Again/Hey Jude.
3. Speaking of Hey Jude, that was another album/LP of unreleased singles and stereo mixes of songs released on the US United Artists LP AHard Day's Night. It was not an EP but a full LP.
4. Baby, You're a Rich Man and All You Need is Love was the recent single and they weren't yet mixed in stereo (along with Penny Lane, all of which were mixed by Capitol in "mono reprocessed for stereo"... did you catch the Todd reference there?). AYNiL was mixed for stereo for the Yellow Submarine album, but BYaRM and PL were not mixed in stereo until the EMI German label Odeon wanted to release the US version in 1971 but wanted true stereo mixes, so George and Geoff obliged. Unfortunately, when MFSL released their half-speed master version, they used the US master with the fake stereo mixes.
5. BYaRM included a clavioline, not mellotron. John rolled an orange up and down its keyboard for effect. George also plays a FABTASTIC chunky guitar part... gotta listen to the stereo version left channel for full effect!!! It is indeed my all-time favorite Beatles song, up there with It's All Too Much and Dear Prudence. 45rpm version is 3:09, as is ORIGINAL mono and fake stereo LPs, but the stereo mix and all subsequent releases are 3:03.
6. Listen again to the snippet of She Loves You in AYNiL:"She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah, She loves TO, yeah yeah yeah." Very cheeky!
I spotted one boob - Lennon was annoyed they chose Macca's song as the A side leaving I Am The Walrus on the flip but as it turned out Hello Goodbye was the more commercial. Pity! 🤡
I have such a soft spot for MMT. I love the whimsical-psyc feel of this album. It’s just so fun and never fails to put me in a good mood.
Paul is like finding a fine bottle of wine and a dozen red roses--John is like finding a doorway in a field to another way of being----George is like coming upon an undiscovered Mystic revealing pathways to Love and Understanding---and Ringo, Ringo is like you picked up the wrong laundry, but the clothes are way better than yours
Great analogy!!
i hope Ringo wont see it
My favorite Beatles album 🌈
Probably their most underrated for sure.
In my top 3 for sure. It is such a tired cliche that this is an inferior hodge-podge that followed the "indisputable masterpiece" Sgt. Pepper; even at my most rabid Beatles obsession as a grade school kid discovering them in the late 70s, 'Pepper' never even made my top 5 best Beatles album list. MMT on the other hand, retains its powerful spooky/funny aura (and has vastly better songs overall).
Same dude!
I LOVE Flying. It’s such an oddity, unlike any other Beatles song. Short, simple, and wordless, but it creates such a strong atmosphere and pulls you all the way into it, briefly, before you’re unceremoniously dropped right back out.
Whe I heard _Lets go Away for a While_ off Pet Sounds I realized the Beatles had ripped off Brian once again. 😂
That song almost has a little break beat. Way ahead of its time.
The crazy thing about Flying is that it's just an instrumental 12 bar blues thing but look how different it is to 12 Bar Original. Amazing what a couple of years and a lot of drugs can do.
Also the vocals at the ned are awesome.
Take an extended trip with Aerial Tour Instrumental
@@rhwinner Well... They're both instrumentals, I'll give that to you. Different time signatures, completely different instrumentation, and completely different melodies, but sure.
Yellow Submarine has 3 of the best tracks in the Beatles catalog. It's Only A Northern Song, Hey Bulldog, It's All Too Much. Worth the price of the album
Only a Northern Song is a top 10 song by the Fabs for sure. Or in the top 5 probably.
I totally agree!
only a northern song is so underrated! george definitely tapped into something with those dark psychedelic tracks. I get why Abby's not doing a video on yellow submarine, though- half of it is george martin compositions
me too@@Mandrake591
The "Yellow Submarine" Song track album features 15 songs remixed by Peter Cobbin in 1999. "Only A Northern Song" is in true stereo for the first time. ( no George Martin orchestrated material ) .
I did LSD 3 times....first 2 were great....3rd time was too intense...started freaking out....my older brother who was experienced....helped me through it.
It is good to see a young person who is articulate and has great taste in music. Restores my faith in the young.
WOW! I'm with you on "It's All Too Much" being a great chocolate for this box. Never thought of that before. Good one!
I was on a Beatle's binge last night...my Marantz 2275 receiver and Cerwin Vega speakers still sound awesome....back in the 60s/70s having a big stereo was a status.
What's my choice? Hmmm... Lessee... I could have a truly amazing home stereo system that keeps me in one place... or I can listen to shit sound while traveling about. I know what Millennials and Gen Z'ers would choose.
Singles were as important as albums back in the 60's.
The Beatles always released very strong singles:
Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever
All You Need Is Love/Baby You're A Rich Man
Hello Goodbye/I Am The Walrus
3 singles in that year(plus Pepper)and look at them! Each one a microcosm.
These 6 songs are why this (MMT) collection is a favorite of many.
Still have the original Mono EP. I was 9 years old when this came out and is a huge part of my musical DNA. I’ve mentioned my late older brother before and he was transfixed with this and Pepper, and it all rubbed off on me too.
I have quite vivid memories of sitting down to watch the MMT film on the BBC on Boxing Day…in black and white no less. Didn’t understand it at all at the time, but have grown to love it’s English eccentricity/surrealism.
I eventually bought the ‘full length’ album when it finally got a proper release here in the UK in 1976.
On a holiday to NYC in 2017, I just had to visit Strawberry Fields, and it was as expected a highly emotional experience.
Thanks so much for compiling this excellent deep dive into a record that still means so much to me.
Love it Abby...! You nailed it, this album was a great psychedelic trip back in the day, and still is...! I was 7 yrs old when it came out. When The Beatles released anything new, a single or an LP, it was a "sit down and take notice" event in our house. It had great ear candy, great wacky Lennon compositions, swirling mysterious sounds such as on Flying and Blue Jay Way, and so much more to fill your ears and mind with. As to who sang "She Loves You" on the broadcast of All You Need is Love, it's like you said, Paul's mic is knocked away not once, but twice, and it ends up near John's face. So most of what we hear is just John's voice singing it, when in fact, Paul was signing it too, but the mics never picked it up. A You-tuber named "You Can't Unhear This" did a good video unpacking this mystery. It's a little hard to see Paul singing on the video, but clearly John is singing it. I wonder if the dufus who bumped into the mic was sacked for his infamous misdeed...!
LOVE MMT - just the start lets you know that you're in for a treat ! I've always loved Your Mother Should Know - Paul at his effortless best !
Yeah, I think John crushes on this album with all of his songs. It’s kinda funny how I’ve always thought that even though Paul was the one kinda driving the project ideas in the latter half of their career, John was still coming up pound-for-pound with a lot of the better songs!!
Paul wrote more songs. John wrote more iconic songs.
@@stitchgrimly6167 They say Paul put more effort into John's songs than his own. What would 'Baby You're a Rich Man' be without that bass line?
i absolutely adore mmt, its my comfort album (including and ESPECIALLY Walrus). The endearing charm of every song, however redundant they may become, is something you don't often find in music, and for that, I love it. and you covered it very well 😊
Solid analysis! Well done.
This was the first time I saw your channel; and probably the only reason I decided to go there was because...Magical Mystery is my favorite of the "trippy quartet" of "Pepper", "Mystery", "The Beatles", and "Abbey Road". All these records came out while I was in High School -- a time when I was listening constantly to my FM radio receiver -- where I heard the incredible range of music which was changing me from a straight-arrow student into a counterculture poster boy. Your show was so good (album review, commentary on the times, the writing and the presentation) that I immediately subscribed. Wow! Great stuff. By the way, we all are the Walrus.
The Magical Mystery Tour movie is on the mandatory watch list whenever I partake in any trip.
I realized a few years back that MMT is indeed my favorite Beatles album. Before that, I thought it was Revolver. But, being a total John guy, and the fact that Strawberry Fields Forever is my all-time favorite song by anyone, I realized that this is it. Strawberry Fields, Walrus, All You Need Is Love and Baby You're A Rich Man, all on the same record? YES please! I agree that Your Mother Should Know is the weakest track (Paul's "granny shit" as John called it). I also love Flying, such a cool groove and I dare anyone not to end up singing "La la la la laaaaaaa!" along with it LOL. Great episode, thanks! :)
Along with The Rolling Stones, Now!, one of those rare occaisions where the US album comfiguration got it right. Thankfully it was kept for all the later CD reissues, as that is still my preferred format. I'll take it over Sgt Pepper's any day. Up there with the ''White Album'' and Revolver as their best for me.
The sequence of songs starting with “Walrus” through “All You Need…” are among the strongest in their discography
I was a young kid when this album was release in 1967.I love to hear "Hello Godbye"one of my of favorite of this album.How can you deny the great impact of all those memorable songs of this album?Magical Mystery Tour is a classic album and beloved by the people around the world.
The cello part in Blue Jay Way was played by session musician Peter Willison.
"I also am 'The Walrus.' Coo coo ca-choo." Love it! Shawn R., Mo-Mutt Music/Sacred & Secular (and Beatles fan)
This is the album that got me into the Beatles at the ripe age of 14, along with vintage and acid rock, in general. Was also the album that inspired me most to begin to explore the outer realms of my psyche with psychoactive exploration all the more, and time and time again. At 14, I never knew the Beatles had been psych-heads, once upon a time, but my dear old dad informed me otherwise. And wow, were my eyes opened from then on...and in more ways than many...
Another great video. Keep up the good work, Abby!
Hi, I have not had a chance to watch vinyl Mondays so when I did I binged a bunch. Great as ever.
“A tuna casserole where your soul should be” is now part of my permanent lexicon, so thank you for that.
25k subs... LET'S GO!
Great ep, Abby!
Strawberry Fields Forever is my favorite song of all time and has been since I was a child so this album is quite special to me. I love I Am The Walrus, Blue Jay Way and of course Penny Lane as well. There are a few duds but boys were firing on all cylinders in those heady days and to have so much material available to release just months after the biggest album of the 60's is nothing short of amazing. Just thinking about their output from 63-70 is mind blowing. I never thought I'd be looking forward to Mondays so much but your channel did it. Informative, fun and in depth, its really something special!
Being born in '67 I have a bit of an attachment to Sgt. Pepper and MMT, and while I Am The Walrus may not be my favorite all time Beatles song, it is the song that influenced/inspired me the most. I started in jr. high playing in orchestra (viola), so the orchestra in rock music in Walrus really hit my ear. The idea of a backing orchestra was so cool. I also noodled around with the piano growing up so the intro to Walrus also struck me. It's such a simple little riff, but the sound of the Hohner EP was like nothing I'd ever heard before. By the time I got into HS, I became full on interested in the keyboards and synths sounds of the early/mid 80s new wave bands and became a synth player.
I probably firsts heard this song when my older siblings baby-sat me. I can still remember listening to it when I was 3 in 1970! The lyrics were as strange and magical as any other kids bedtime story, even if I had no idea what John was talking about.
Between the orchestra, the opening Pianet intro (which prompted my love for the Hohner Pianet I now have) and those insane lyrics, this song is probably the reason I'm a musician/keyboardist today. This, and of course Schroder/Beethoven/Peanuts cartoons I also grew up on. LOL So, even though the walrus was the villain, I AM THE WALRUS!!!!
In the mid 70's, I heard a friends copy of MMT and was SHOCKED to hear at the end of Strawberry Fields "I buried" and that's all !!! Just those two words ! It had been edited out !!!! AND I just listened to it on RUclips and it's ALSO NOT THERE!!! Love your outfit by the way! :)
The title track Magical Mystery Tour is such a gloriously good piece. Those beats, those trumpets, those harmonies... can be looped for hours just lifting you away and never letting you down.
Very interesting. Thanks for all the background info. Much appreciated.
I love "Your Mother Should Know" - one of Pauls best songs. It is a very clear and not complicated song (like "I Am The Walrus" for example) with a VERY strong, nice and simple "melody-line".
The album comprises the rest of their 1967 output apart from SP. That is, the MMT soundtrack plus the three singles: well, they were singles in the UK. Three singles - FIVE tracks? No: all six A and B sides are there, because I Am The Walrus also appeared on the B-side of Hello Goodbye, which was the Christmas No.1 on our singles chart.
Hope that makes sense! I think as an album it's a great set of songs, pure 1967 Beatles. Thanks for your review Abby.
The UK soundtracks for "A Hard Day's Night" and "Help!" were both movie songs on Side A and extra tracks not in the film on Side B. In the US... both of those albums have the movie songs by The Beatles with a bunch of George Martin Orchestra instrumentals scattered in-between them. Finally the US got it right with MMT... putting the 6 film songs on Side A and the remaining single A's and B's on Side B... while the UK got that ridiculous double-EP package of only the 6 film tracks. They weren't even normal EPs having 2 songs on each side. What were they thinking with that one? And then *everybody* got the "Yellow Submarine" soundtrack with Beatles songs on Side A and more George Martin Orchestra instrumentals on Side B. On their own, the GMO instrumentals are fine if you want to hear 'em but not when they come across like commercials on TV interrupting a favorite movie every few minutes.
Hey Abby!😀👋 great choice, magical mystery tour !
This album reminds me of going to Strawberry Fields for a school trip on the Magical Mystery Tour Bus, great album that I also love for nostalgic reasons.
Also, yesterday was Global Beatles day so, happy Global Beatles Day everyone!
Thanks Abby.Another fantastic review.MMT is one of my favourite Beatle's albums.
I love this album, i still have it on vinyl,thank you Abigail for that review.
Nicely done, young lady. MMT is one of my favorite Beatles albums... Top 3 for sure. So many outstanding songs.
Also, there's a video of the band practicing for this performance and shows John singing She Loves You. That plus the tonality of his voice has me convinced it's John on the final version as well.
It's weird for you to do this today. Since My 72nd B-day on the 19th, I've been listening to psych music. It turns out I have over 200 psych albums. This Beatle album you've chosen is their most psy record. I love it. Thank you. love your channel.
Amazing review!!! My personal Beatles favorite album!!
Haha, Half-baked! I'm sure they were half baked themselves...I LOVE this record! Roll UP, What more do you need to say, ROLL another joint is what they are implying! But overall you nailed it, this record is FUN......Excellent review!!
MMT being the antithesis of a concept album, it complemented Sgt. Pepper especially well.
I *totally* agree re. It's All Too Much and Baby You're A Rich Man, both so brilliant...
Great work Abby, as usual! ♥
Great video! Great album! Sgt. Peppers II
Cheers, well done.
I'm always amazed when someone dismisses songs that I like and praises those that I don't, but that's what makes music, music, I guess.
Love your sixties demeanour. You remind me of Jane Asher. You have covered quite a lot in one of my favourite Beatles LPs. I don't know if anyone has mentioned this, and I hope you don't mind me correcting you, but there are several sources that state it was George Harrison's "Only a Northern Song" that didn't make it on Sgt. Pepper and ended up in Yellow Submarine.... Not "It's All Too Much" which was written afterwards.... I have only just discovered your videos on RUclips, so I'm looking forward to seeing them all. I love the Magical Mystery Tour film, which is now seen at its best on blu (Jay) ray in a superb print and 5:1 surround sound. A complete contrast to its first transmission on BBC on a small black and white TV in tinny mono!
xx
I'm still playing catch up with VM episodes. This was brilliant! Like current day Mexican rockers, The Warning, you could have been born 40 years earlier and fit right into my generation, maybe as a writer for RollingStone in the 1970s. You GET rock. I grew up with The Beatles. This was probably the third or fourth of their albums I bought. The film was a magical mystery until MANY years later when I found it on YT and watched it. The show was an utter waste of time. But I damned near wore out the album a long time ago. It was my 8th grade preview of psychedelia. Turn on the black lights, turn up the stereo, and watch the Peter Max posters glow. The jet setters' world of commercial rock in '67 to '77 was so amazingly cross-pollinated with talent… So much good music landed then. But the Magical Mastery Tour film and the Yellow Submarine album were low points in The Beatles' history. I know I saw the YS film once, but have no recollection of it, as I'd just smashed my thumb in a car door. The pain killers knocked me out in the theater and friends woke me up when it was over. Probably just as well...
Hey, Abby, another brilliant review! Being from the UK, I never considered this as being a "proper" Beatles album. However, I cannot fault the music, I love every single track, including such often under-rated gems as Flying and Blue Jay Way. The only part of your review I disagreed with was over the track 'Your Mother Should Know', as, for me, it's nostalgic lyrics and beautiful chord changes make it one of Paul's very best tracks. Another great Vinyl Monday!
Always have that one in mono version
First time I'm writing. I really enjoyed this video, Abigail, as well as all the others you have done. This album was my number one Christmas present of 1967. Your insights and comments are excellent and provide good info that I was not aware of, like the info on The Fool. Hope you approve of my call sign as you obviously know the origin.
I love your enthusiastic insights on each album. Great job!!! I totally agree that ITS ALL TOO MUCH should have been on this album. It is one of my top five Beatles songs. Great guitar feedback to open it up. Love this song. Thanks for all the great reviews that you do I really enjoy them.
"I know you know what you know but you should know by now that you're not me." - Ron Nasty, 1968
The Magical Mystery Tour coach tour goes past the bottom of my road, Abby, ;0 ;) in fact I saw it today! Probably visiting Ringo's old house or something, hehe. This 'll be a good watch,
Best
For me, i keep going back to my favorite album, and on that is my favorite song, Strawberry Fields Forever. I cant describe how profoundly this hits me. It's unique, catchy, conplex, and i absolutely love it more each time i hear it.
Personally my favorite Beatles album. Absolutely an amazing album. 100/10.
I will say however I could be bias. Because I’ve been a fan since I was 7 (20 now) and when I was getting into them I had an IPod that had Abby Road, Sargent Peppers, the White Album, and Magical Mystery Tour. For some reason, I always was drawn to MMT. Mostly because to this day, the album contains 3 of my top 5 Beatles songs of all time. Strawberry Fields, Penny Lane, and Hello Goodbye. As my music taste got broader I started to look at Sargent Peppers more and I realized I tend to listen to more of the early stuff nowadays. But a couple years ago I rediscovered MMT and was just in awe of how much I love every single song. One of those albums I can just put it on and have a smile not leave my face for the entire thing. Great review Abigail.
Thank you Abby for another great video. I agree that this album has always been truly underrated. There's really not a bad song on it! And you do such a fantastic presentation with your knowledge, insight, and enthusiasm!! You know the age old question of "If you could have dinner with anyone - living or dead - throughout history - who would it be?" For the first time in my life, I have an answer to it - Talking over classic albums with you over dinner would be so cool!! But returning to reality, keep up the great work!!
Or we could book a big hall with a long table, Abby at the head...er that's not how you were imagining it is it.
Lennon was at the top of his game with "Walrus."
100% agreed such a banger
When I first listened to MMT in middle school, it blew my 12 year old mind. Today, it still wows me with how inventive and unhinged it is, moreso even than Sgt Pepper.
Distinctly more powerful and fresh-sounding than Pepper.... and love every song on MMT while not so with Pepper
Aged 12 I took this on cassette on a Scout camp. A good friend, played and played and played it, the entire week!
I think it totally changed his outlook on music!
Great takes and lovely review of an iconic album, Abby
My former spouse was named Abigail, and boy, does she hate being called Abby. OK with Gail, though.
Thank You Abby ..I enjoyed the tour ✌️
How I Learned to Love the Yellow Submarine Soundtrack
by Sun Fellow
I had to do a little extra begging to get my mother to buy me this in 1969. She rarely hesitated when it came to The Beatles, but this was one of those times. Like most people, I was a little ho-hum about it, but I did ADORE the two Harrison tracks. I never played side two.
However, when iPods came along (no, I'm not a vinyl devotee even though I like the large size album cover art), I started making these AMAZING folders on iTunes. I'd combine Wonderwall Music, Sgt Pepper, Yellow Submarine, truckloads of psychedelic tidbits from bootlegs and poetry readings, AND THEN HIT SHUFFLE! It created a swirl of metaphysical poetry, music, and flower power! This was also how I learned to love the orchestral music by George Martin on the Yellow Submarine soundtrack. It's now among my favorite Beatles-related music.
And by the way, I disagree with Martin regarding "Only a Northern Song." It would have made a great addition to Sgt Pepper in place of mediocre songs like "Lovely Rita" or "Good Morning."
P.S. Recommendation of the day: The new YES album Mirror to the Sky! A VERY new agey exploration of the stars. Yesworld dot com even has a purple vinyl edition! I bought the 3 disc art book edition (2 CDs and 1 Blu-ray) because it has a long essay on the making of the album as well as Roger Dean's process of creating the cover. There's also a boxed set that isn't too expensive that has everything-- check ebay.
I Love this record. Not an award winning film, but it does have two things going for it, imo. 1. It is footage of the Beatles together. 2. As Paul pointed out, it's the 'only' footage of John doing Walrus, anywhere, Period. Best Beatles album Capitol ever put out after chopping up the bands previous British release's. Side 1, show tunes. Side 2, singles and B-sides, not on LPs yet. And side 2?!! Hello Goodbye, Strawberry Fields,etc. The whole album is fantastic! The cover? I've had a couple of t-shirts.
Thank you, Ms. Devoe
As much as I enjoyed this, I am excited for next week already. I love the amount of research that you do.
You're exactly right that this album is underrated. I think the main reason is that it comes after Sgt. Pepper, which is so acclaimed that anything that came after it would be seen as 'weaker'. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that both Magical Mystery Tour and the White Album are both criminally underrated by fans and non fans alike.
Yes, you named my 2 favorite Beatles albums... 'Pepper' much further down the list
I'm a big fan of MMT USA, and I love to sing its praises. Side A has the Beatles at their weirdest, and they are hitting the psychedelic sounds promised on Pepper's (which you cover!). I like the fact that Side A is kinda wandering around, like a weird soundtrack to a hazy summer's day. Then you got Side B, which might be the best singles collection of all time. When you're listening to the album in full, it seems like the Beatles got stoned during the title track, then kinda regained consciousness by the time Side B hits. You can also listen to the album in multiple ways: you can either bask in the wooziness of side A, get all the killer singles of side B, or treat it all as one big album. Firmly in my top 3 Beatles albums. "Accidental greatness" is the perfect way to describe it. Great review!
This was my intro to the Beatles when I was a kid in the 70s. Man, I wore this _out!_
I love this channel!!! This young lady...is awesome. She gets a "like", and a new subscriber. Love "Magical Mystery Tour".
My dad said he’d by me a tape and asked which one I wanted. He bought me the 8-track tape of MMT in 1967 when I was 11 yrs old. I loved it and the sequencing was perfect for me. I knew nothing about the movie at that time and it was a cannon Beatles album for me. I agree with everything you said and learned a few things. Great review and analysis! The funny thing was my dad was only a lover of country music, but he let me listen to MMT in the car. I always wondered what he thought about about it.
Loved this video and your outfit is damn groovy to boot!
67 was a very good year. Debut albums from VU & Nico and the Doors
Weird but true fact. I used to think of Magical Mystery Tour (the opening track) as some throw away lightweight least interesting Beatles song. As time's gone by, it's become something of a philosophy of life. When life throws me some curveball thing ("life's what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" to quote Mr Lennon much later) MMT has become my go to track. Life, it reminds me, is a magical mystery tour. Roll up, roll up, step this way. The joyous exuberance is always there to remind me that sure life has some stuff, but hey it is what it is and let's just enjoy the ride.
Who knew that of all the Beatles tracks in the world, it's THIS one that would have such an uplifting effect. 🙂
Oh man, as if the Abbey Road and Paul Quits videos weren’t enough to help me decide to announce my undying love for your channel and awesome way of dissecting records that I grew up with, this was the kicker!! You are so intelligent and funny AH, awesome, and could have dropped in on a Time Machine from 1967, lol!
I’ve loved this record ever since college, when my girlfriend and I won a dance competition, which was a campus sponsored all-night event in which the last couple on their feet could walk away with a cash prize… after which I pocketed the $ and (OF COURSE! 😁) chose the Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack LP from the local Campus record store )this was the mid 1980s, (talk about being in-tune with the music scene of the times) -for which I had the clerk place a special order for this record, as they didn’t have it on hand!
Sgt. Pepper was the big one, but when I pull out my vinyl, I always pick MMT! Great review!
Hi Abby! Thank you so much for talking about ''it's all too much'', which is one of my top 5 favourites songs by the Beatles! By the way, have you ever heard the complete 8 minutes version?...
Not sure why you think people will complain because you like 'Walrus'.... it's a classic, favourite Beatles track, and has been for decades! 😆
Anyway, great review of a brilliant album; being English, for a while I only knew the EP version, but even when still young in the early 1970s I adored Blue Jay Way - it just had such an eerie, creepy sound, and it got me interested in listening to more Georges' compositions; both earlier, and later, and you can always hear a common sort of 'sound' - like he's always going for the minor rather major notes (limited knowledge of music notation!), but I liked has more 'melancholic' (?) sound ('If I Needed Someone' was a great favourite of mine at that time; bright, sparkly, but still somewhat 'melancholic' in it's tune structure, and then I first heard 'Blue Jay Way'...Wow!! 🤩 ).
You are SO right to say that "All Too Much' would be a perfect fit for this album - it'd never occurred to me before, once I'd picked up the eventual 1979 Parlophone UK release; in all the decades that I loved the Beatles!! Of course it would've.... it's got that George sound again, and that wicked, gorgeous VERY electric guitar sound that I adore, with all its feedback and grumblings...... this track would have been a great side 2 inclusion, without a doubt! wink 😉 👍 In fact, as the side closer, if you'd had 'Strawberry Fields' with it's fantastic drum ending then fade into the opening crescendo of Georges guitar into 'All Too Much' would have been an awesome way to finish: leave 'em breathless and wanting more!! 😆
I love this show. I’d say I have about 90% of the records you feature. Great minds think alike and all that jazz. I’m 54 and I have done deep dive research on a lot of rock classics (psychedelic, visual) and I must say you have a great sense of the music, history, and grandeur of my favorite genre. Love it. Any thoughts on Robert Fripp or King Crimson? Favorite Fripp solo album: Exposure
I really enjoyed this video! When you mentioned about how fans wanted Strawberry Fields Forever on Sgt Peppers album and you think Penny Lane can't fit on there, hear me out! During the 50th Anniversary of Sgt Peppers, I decided on my ipod, put Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane on the album. To keep the running time around 45 minutes, I did some edits:
Side 1
1. Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
2. With A Little Help From My Friend
3. Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite
4. Getting Better
5. Fixing A Hole
6. Strawberry Fields Forever (without the "Cranberry sauce" jam)
7. She's Leaving Home
Side 2
1. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
2. Only A Northern Song
3. When I'm Sixty-Four
4. Lovely Rita
5. Penny Lane
6. Good Morning Good Morning
7. Sgt Peppers Reprise/A Day In The Life
You might of noticed that I removed Within You Without You and replaced it with Only A Northern Song because not only Within You Without You is a longer song, but Only A Northern Song fits really well and was recorded during these sessions. Don't worry, I did move Within You Without You to Magical Mystery Tour tracklisting!😉 I will tell you that one after you read this. It's alot to read!
Works for me.
As a Brit, I say the US got it right and gathered the material into a satisfying Beatles album.
The moment in Get Back when Paul says he's become 'second leader'does he say, belies the fact that he was pushing hard in 67 with ideas.
Favourites are to do with circumstance, individual psychology. Strawberry Fields might be one of the greatest pieces of music by anyone, any collective in any time in any genre but Penny Lane is the song I wish to God I'd written. I think it's the yearning in the melody and lyric combined 'beneath the blue suburban skies'. (How did religion get in there?)
You did this music and yourself proud Abby. This is THE channel.
21:26
This album IS like a whitman's box of The Beatles throughout 1967 because it contains all of the singles and their respective b-sides through the entire year, plus the movie soundtrack (which is only on Side A).
it really is a time capusle or sample of the entire year on a single disc. i never thought of it that way, nice observation!
It is an absolute pleasure...to see someone from a much younger generation...show love for the greatest band of all time...The Beatles. (And for anyone interested...the second greatest band of all time...is....Pink Floyd).
I Love your channel ❤
And you're the best ❤
My name is Tiffany ❤
I Love The Beatles ❤❤❤❤
Wow, so great that you did this one! Thanks. My intro to the record was a happy accident. Back in the mid '70s when I had just weaned myself off strictly classical, the brother who was studying in another city came back through for Christmas holidays and brought a mass of records (along with his customary friends and camp followers, long story). I picked out the ones that looked like lolly wrappers as I was still a 13 year old. So, I heard this and Pepper just as records, knowing no more than the name of the band. Australia had the US version and to me, while I instantly liked Pepper, this one just caught my attention from go to woah. I had no idea it wasn't meant to be a Beatles album or any of the history, I just had the songs and the weirdo storybook inside. It's the first rock album I actually sat down to listen to (usually through outsize headphones) so it wasn't just the songs but the details: the spooky piano noodling at the end of the title track, all of the bits and bobs from everywhere in Walrus, the organ in Mother that sounds like bowed glass, the cello in Blue Jay Way that seemed to emerge from the dark like a vampire in bat form, and too much more, all swooshed around my little scone in overload. And that's before you get to side two which I didn't know was just the singles from that year. My sister told me that Strawberry Fields was a type of LSD which made it feel weird and (along with Revolution #9 a little later) acquainted me with how much I liked the shiver of feeling scared to listen to music. It's an everything album, a perfect deluxe psychedelia as well as a band flying free in a cubby house turning all their whims into futureproof art. From the fanfare of the title track, through the harlequin nightmare of Walrus, to the euphoria of All You Need is Love, it has never been far from my ears. And yes, it is more psychedelic than Pepper. Thanks again.
When I first heard the half of the album not on the blue compilation it was from the 7" EP a newly immigrated british classmate loaned me in 1977.
“Flying” was one of the cinematic highlights of the movie. It went well with the trippy Icelandic footage.
“MMT” makes sense as setting up the opening premise of the movie. Sadly the movie didn’t keep pace with “MMT” and got bogged down and listless.
That said, I still like the movie and I agree with McCartney’s analysis of the film.
Wow your passion and enthusiasm is just amazing. Your videos are so well done and some of the richest content album dives on RUclips. You got a sub from me! Keep up the good work!
Throwaway songs ..so be it. These guys throw aways are gold compared to most artists greatest hits.
While watching this i quietly fell into a dream...I was on a magical mystery tour, in a psychedelic trip eating marshmallow pies with the Beatles in a yellow submarine in the middle of strawberry fields forever. I became the walrus and they became the eggmen singing...I read the news today oh boy, four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire. And though the holes were rather small, they had to count them all, now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall... 🎶
Very much enjoyed this review. There are several excellent Beatles songs on this album.
I would agree with your thought that MMT was a 2nd chapter of SPLHCB. In my mind, they are two discs of the same album/a double album, if you will. When I listen to one, I always listen to the other. There are many reasons for this, as you articulated throughout, but most of all I associate the songs together. Many were played on the radio during the same period of that time.
Great job, as always, and I think Flying is very cool.
MMT opened up a concert at the San Diego Sports Arena w/ Iron Butterfly. " LSD for you and me " ACID COMMERCIAL and lead in to the tune ' Thursday ' from Country Joe and the Fish LP ' Feel like i'm Fixin to Die ' circa 1967....Aloha
“MMT is like a second course of Sgt Pepper” well said Abigal! Absolutely agree about ‘Its all too much’ an awesome Psychedelic freak out!
Actually far superior to the perpetually over-rated Sgt Pepper.... much more powerful songs in general.... less dated too
@@alembic65 - My sentiments exactly. I'd rather have a root canal than have to listen to 'Getting Better' again.
@@alembic65 Nah, MMT is basically all the songs that couldn't make it to Sgt Pepper because they weren't good enough. MMT is literally diet Sgt Pepper, for the normies who can't handle Sgt Pepper but want to feel like they are part of the club
The music is epic and I do sing several of the songs. I bought my copy of the record the day after John Died. Thanks for your clear thoughts on the subject.
Love it that you’ve done a review of MMT. I also have an original press of this one. Although it’s not my absolute favorite album from the Fab, it’s still very special for me because it’s initially the one converting me into a fan. I’ve always loved George’s Blue Jay Way, and thanks to you I finally know what it’s about.
And I totally agree that it’s like a second coming of Sgt.Peppers. The Walrus is also a significantly cool tune, especially considering those repeated lyrics at the tail end. It’s as if the Fab knew that someday
Mary Jane would be so readily available 😆. Plus I love your take on “ It’s all too Much. “ It definitely is an underrated gem and would have been an awesome addition to MMT. I could go on all day about this magical album but enough said. Great episode Abby !!
Your thumbnail is SO SUPEERIOR to the Beatles' own album cover for this Capitol Records compilation/spellbindingly sorcerous soundtrack/album. I vote let's make it the new cover!🎸