magical mystery tour album

Magical Mystery Tour

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Magical Mystery Tour

Though wedged between the comparatively giant Sgt. 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. The album was released as a companion to a meandering, band-directed movie, and its first half is probably one of the lowest-stakes sides in the band’s catalog—a relief, in a way, from how high-stakes their music had become. Still, this was The Beatles in 1967—momentum was strong. What had started out as a string of acid playground rhymes turned into Lennon’s angriest song this side of 1970 (“I Am the Walrus”), while McCartney’s simple sentimentality had taken on a quality that felt stoic, almost abstract (“The Fool on the Hill”). There was a rare instrumental (“Flying”), a foggy Harrison drone (“Blue Jay Way”), and an invocation of the past by McCartney that blurred lines between sweet and eerie (“Your Mother Should Know”). While the band had helped rechristen the album format as an artistic statement unto itself, they were still releasing singles—as in tracks that weren’t associated with any album. Designed primarily as a consumer service, the second half of Magical Mystery Tour collected what they’d offered in 1967. The yin-yang of McCartney’s “Penny Lane” and Lennon’s “Strawberry Fields Forever” (originally released on the same 7-inch record) arguably says more about what ground the band covered in seven minutes than any other two songs in their catalog—the former baroque, charming, and upbeat; the latter dense and melancholy—variations on a theme of seemingly simple pasts refracted, dreamlike, through the present. And if “I Am the Walrus” was Lennon’s dark foray into contradiction and surreality, McCartney’s “Hello, Goodbye” was its bright counterpart. “Baby, You’re a Rich Man” probably doesn’t get the credit it deserves. “All You Need Is Love,” debuted to an estimated 400 million people in the world’s first live international satellite TV production (Our World), did receive wide acclaim, and while cynicism and embarrassment about 1967’s Summer of Love would set in as soon as a few years later, it probably deserves more. As for the movie that gave the album its name, press coverage of it was so uniformly hostile (not to mention viewer feedback to the BBC switchboard so sustained) that McCartney went on the BBC the day after it first aired to defuse the tension. Asked why he thought people didn’t like it, McCartney said he wasn’t sure—he liked it fine.

November 27, 1967 12 Songs, 40 minutes This Compilation ℗ 2009 Calderstone Productions Limited (a division of Universal Music Group)

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‘Magical Mystery Tour’: Inside Beatles’ Psychedelic Album Odyssey

By Douglas Wolk

Douglas Wolk

The year leading up to the release of the Magical Mystery Tour album in November 1967 was turbulent but fantastically fertile for the Beatles – they were working on its songs more or less simultaneously with the ones that ended up on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and the Yellow Submarine soundtrack. With touring no longer a question, they had the luxury of fine-tuning their songs at length in the studio; the same band that had recorded its first album in a single day was now tinkering with individual recordings for weeks on end. 

If Sgt. Pepper was a blueprint for the Beatles’ new utopianism – a culture of vivid sensory experience, for which they could be the entertainers and court jesters – the Magical Mystery Tour project was an attempt to literally take that idea into the world. Paul McCartney ‘s concept was that the Beatles would drive around the British countryside with their friends, film the result and shape that into a movie over which they would have total creative control. But like a lot of Sixties attempts to turn utopian theory into practice, the movie fell on its nose: The Beatles simply weren’t filmmakers.

“You gotta do everything with a point or an aim, but we tried this one without anything – with no point and no aim,” McCartney admitted the day after it premiered. The Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack, on the other hand, did what the movie was supposed to do – despite being a grab bag of the group’s 1967 singles and songs recorded specifically for the film, it holds together surprisingly well as an addendum to Pepper , giving us an image of the psychedelic Beatles refining their enhanced perceptions into individual pop songs so potent that they changed the whole landscape of music.

The songs that would end up on Magical Mystery Tour began taking shape in late 1966, well before McCartney was struck by his cinematic vision. From November 24th, 1966, to mid-January 1967, the Beatles worked extensively on a pair of new songs, intended for what would become Sgt. Pepper : John Lennon ‘s “Strawberry Fields Forever” and McCartney’s “Penny Lane,” both reminiscences of the Liverpool of their childhood. By the end of January, though, EMI was demanding a new Beatles single – there hadn’t been one since “Yellow Submarine” the previous August, an impossibly long gap in those days. George Martin wasn’t happy about pulling “Penny Lane” and “”Strawberry Fields Forever” off the album-in-progress, but there wasn’t much else in the can. Released on February 17th, the single was a worldwide hit, and a statement of purpose for the rest of the Beatles’ recordings that year: reflective, druggy, a little nostalgic, and more inventively orchestrated and arranged than anything else around.

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Why the Beatles’ ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ Was Scattered, but Essential

The Beatles  were on a roll in 1967.

They not only had released what many fans consider their best-ever album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band , they also were writing and recording new songs at such a pace that those fans – not to mention radio and retailers – could hardly be expected to keep up with them.

In fact, six weeks after Sgt. Pepper's came out in late May 1967, the Beatles released a new single, "All You Need Is Love," backed with "Baby, You're a Rich Man." Those two songs, along with a pair of tracks recorded at the start of the Sgt. Pepper's sessions and other more recent tracks, ended up on the U.S. edition of Magical Mystery Tour , which was released on Nov. 27, 1967.

In the U.K., the 11-song LP was pared down to a six-track double EP that came out almost two weeks later, on Dec. 8, and included only the songs recorded specifically for the Magical Mystery Tour film project the group aired on British television that Christmas. The remaining five cuts, pushed to Side Two of the U.S. release, were released as singles between February 1967 and all the way up to just a few days before the album came out.

It's a tricky release history that suits the scattershot nature of Magical Mystery Tour in general.

Following the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on May 26, 1967, the Beatles – no doubt feeling invincible after the rapturous reception to the album – wanted to make a movie about themselves that included new music. The idea was to load a whole bunch of people onto a bus (including the four Beatles, John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr ) and take them on a day-long trip. Along the way, they would stop so the group could perform, or rather lip-sync to, some of those new songs.

The movie, a 52-minute special that aired on the BBC on Dec. 26, 1967, was a notorious mess . There was no script, no director to speak of and no discernible point to the self-indulgence on display. There were new Beatles songs, however, and that was enough to salvage the project.

Still, as an album ,  Magical Mystery Tour  feels like a letdown after the recent creative landmarks Rubber Soul , Revolver and Sgt. Pepper – and the ones to come, like the White Album (their next proper LP released the following year) and Abbey Road . And that's mainly because it was never intended as an album, but an EP designed to tie in to a holiday TV special.

Watch the Beatles' 'Penny Lane' Video

So, while Side One of the album – which includes the title track, "The Fool on the Hill," "Flying," "Blue Jay Way," "Your Mother Should Know" and "I Am the Walrus" – flows as an occasionally spotty soundtrack, Side Two sounds like what it is: a hodgepodge of recordings the group assembled over the past year. They're all great songs, but within the LP's context, "Hello, Goodbye," "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Penny Lane," "Baby, You're a Rich Man" and "All You Need Is Love" come off like one of those sketchy Beatles albums Capitol Records put together in the States from leftover U.K. singles and album tracks.

Still, Magical Mystery Tour completed fans' collections by gathering some great songs that weren't previously available on any album – especially "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane," both of which were recorded for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band but released five months before the LP came out to satisfy record-company demands for new product.

And it is an essential collection of Beatles songs, even if the concept and context is occasionally flawed when measured alongside the band's other albums from the era. Not that it mattered much to fans.  Magical Mystery Tour  shot straight up the U.S. chart and stayed at No. 1 for two months. And these days it's considered a part of the Beatles' core catalog; the U.S. album has been remastered and reissued along with the group's 11 original U.K. albums.

It belongs there. Just don't expect it to fall together as seamlessly as the others.

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Magical Mystery Tour

By Scott Plagenhoef

September 9, 2009

After the death of manager Brian Epstein, the Beatles took a series of rather poor turns, the first of which was the Magical Mystery Tour film. Conceived as a low-key art project, the Beatles were oddly nonchalant about the challenges of putting together a movie. They'd assembled records, they'd worked on A Hard Day's Night and Help! -- how hard could it be? Without Epstein to advise, however, things like budgeting and time management became a challenge, and this understated experimental film turned into a sapping distraction.

Musically, however, the accompanying EP was an overwhelming success. The EP format apparently freed the band to experiment a bit, not having to fill sides of a 45 with pop songs or make the grand statements of an album. The title track is a rousing set piece, meant to introduce the travelogue concept of the film. The remaining four songs released exclusive to the EP are low-key marvels-- Paul McCartney's graceful "The Fool on the Hill" and music-hall throwback "Your Mother Should Know", George Harrison's droning "Blue Jay Way", and the percolating instrumental "Flying". Few of them are anyone's all-time favorite Beatles songs, only one had a prayer of being played on the radio, and yet this run seems to achieve a majesty in part because of that: It's a rare stretch of amazing Beatles music that can seem like a private obsession rather than a permanent part of our shared culture.

As a more laid-back release, the EP suggested the direction the band might have taken on the White Album had it remained a full band, happy to shed the outsized conceptualism and big statements and craft atmospheric, evocative pieces. In the U.S., the EP was paired with three recent double-sided singles, ballooning Magical Mystery Tour into an album-- the only instance in which a U.S. release, often mangled by Capitol, became Beatles canon. With only the EP's title track married specifically to the film's themes, the overall effect of a title track/album sleeve as shell game was in line with Sgt. Pepper ' s Lonely Hearts Club Band .

Of the three singles, the undisputed highlight is "Strawberry Fields Forever"/ "Penny Lane", John Lennon and Paul McCartney's tributes to their hometown, Liverpool. Slyly surreal, assisted by studio experimentation but not in debt to it, full of brass, harmonium, and strings, unmistakably English-- when critics call eccentric or baroque UK pop bands "Beatlesesque," this is the closest there is to a root for that adjective. There is no definitive Beatles sound, of course, but with a band that now functions as much as a common, multi-generational language as a group of musicians, it's no surprise that songs rooted in childhood-- the one experience most likely to seem shared and have common touchpoints-- are among their most universally beloved.

The rest of the singles collected here are no less familiar: Lennon's "All You Need Is Love" was initially completed up for an international TV special on BBC1-- its basic message was meant to translate to any language. Harrison's guitar solo, producer George Martin's strings, and the parade of intertextual musical references that start and close the piece elevate it above hippie hymn. Its flipside, "Baby You're a Rich Man", is less successful, a second-rate take on John Lennon's money-isn't-everything theme from the considerably stronger "And Your Bird Can Sing". It's the one lesser moment on an otherwise massively rewarding compilation.

Much better from Lennon is "I Am the Walrus", crafted for the Magical Mystery Tour film and EP but also released as a double-sided single with McCartney's "Hello Goodbye". One of Lennon's signature songs, "Walrus" channels the singer's longtime fascinations with Lewis Carroll, puns and turns of phrase, and non sequiturs. "Hello Goodbye" echoes the same contradictory logic found in the verses of "All You Need Is Love", a vague sense of disorientation that still does little to balance its relentlessly upbeat tone. McCartney excelled at selling simplistic lyrics that risk seeming cloying, though, and he again does here-- plus, the kaleidoscopic, carnival-ride melody and interplay between lead and backing vocals ensure it's a much better record than it is a song.

In almost every instance on those singles, the Beatles are either whimsical or borderline simplistic, releasing songs that don't seem sophisticated or heavy or monumental (even though most of them are). In that sense, they're all like "All You Need Is Love" or childhood memories or Lewis Carroll-- easy to love, fit for all ages, rich in multi-textual details, deceptively trippy (see Paul's "Penny Lane" in particular, with images of it raining despite blue skies, or the songs here that revel in contradictions-- "Hello Goodbye"'s title, the verses in "All You Need Is Love"). More than any other place in the band's catalogue, this is where the group seems to crack open a unique world, and for many young kids then and since this was their introduction to music as imagination, or adventure. The rest of the Magical Mystery Tour LP is the opposite of the middle four tracks on the EP-- songs so universal that, like "Yellow Submarine", they are practically implanted in your brain from birth. Seemingly innocent, completely soaked through with humor and fantasy, Magical Mystery Tour slots in my mind almost closer to the original Willy Wonka or The Wizard of Oz as it does other Beatles records or even other music-- timeless entertainment crafted with a childlike curiosity and appeal but filled with wit and wonder.

On the whole, Magical Mystery Tour is quietly one of the most rewarding listens in the Beatles' career. True, it doesn't represent some sort of forward momentum or clear new idea-- largely in part because it wasn't conceived as an album. The accompanying pieces on the EP are anomalies in the Beatles oeuvre but they aren't statements per se, or indications that the group is in any sort of transition. But if there was ever a moment in the Beatles' lifetime that listeners would have been happy to have the group just settle in and release songs as soon as possible, it was just before and after the then-interminable 10-month gap between the Revolver and *Sgt. Pepper'* s . Without that context, the results could seem slight-- a sort-of canonized version of Past Masters perhaps-- but whether it's an album, a collection of separate pieces, or whatnot matters little when the music itself is so incredible.

[ Note : Click here for an overview of the 2009 Beatles reissues, including discussion of the packaging and sound quality.]

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“MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR”

(SMAL 2835)

Released November 27th, 1967

The Beatles had raised the bar to new heights with the release of their June 1967 album masterpiece “ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band .” The music, artwork, album packaging, and even the look of the group themselves had changed so dramatically with that release that no one would be surprised by anything else the group might have up their sleeves for the future.

Meanwhile, The Beatles were hard at work on a brand new project designed to further "turn on" their world audience, although a major portion of this audience would never experience it until many years later. The project was a new film entitled “Magical Mystery Tour,” which was debuted on British Television on December 26th, 1967. Plans to release it for American audiences were cancelled because of the overall critical slamming it received in the UK. Since American television didn't acquire the rights for broadcast, as far as the US market was concerned, there was no such thing as a “Magical Mystery Tour” movie. Most American fans didn’t know it existed until about a decade later.

What they did know, however, was the music. They knew that very well! With the echoes of “ Sgt. Pepper ” still ringing through the EMI studios, The Beatles took great pains to record six amazing psychedelic songs as the soundtrack to the film. The production values were still very high as they took their time to perfect these new audio creations.

According to the November 25th, 1967 issue of Billboard magazine, Capitol Records made a “decision to issue the six soundtrack recordings from The Beatles’ forthcoming TV fantasy spectacular, ‘Magical Mystery Tour,’ on an album in the US” These six songs would comprise side one, and the five tracks the group released as singles that year would make up side two. This decision was deemed a wise one since, on the coat-tails of the incredible success of “ Sgt. Pepper ,” American audiences were sure to jump on with both feet.

And jump they did. With an elaborately packaged fold-out album cover, complete with a 24-page booklet featuring costumed Beatles in a variety of ‘far-out’ poses as well as storyboard cartoon comics that tell the story of their "mystery" journey, the album was viewed as an incredibly imaginative follow-up to “ Sgt. Pepper ” that seemed to take the “summer of love” to yet another level. While the liner notes explained that the music was “from a color television film,” this apparently went unnoticed for most American fans. The music, along with the vivid imagery of the elaborate packaging, was more than enough for what the senses could handle. What better follow-up to “ Pepper ” could there possibly be?  

Origin Of The Album

To explain the origin of the album is to actually explain the origin of the film, which was the primary objective of what was to be their next project. “Privately, I’d got a camera and I would go out in the park and make films,” explains Paul McCartney. “We’d show our little home movies to each other, and we’d put crazy soundtracks on them. I used to do a bit of editing at home – I had a little machine and I was getting very into it. So for the next Beatles project, I thought: ‘Let’s go and make a film – what a great thing to do.’ It was all done on whims.”

Album Packaging

All in all, the artwork was colorful and the packaging much more elaborate than that of the usual '60s pop album. As with their music, The Beatles raised the bar very high when it came to album covers which made the competition think of ways to top what they were offering their fans. As for The Beatles, after the “ Pepper ” and “Magical Mystery Tour” sleeves, how could they possibly top it? Maybe just a plain white jacket with nothing on it at all!

The idea of converting the film’s soundtrack into a full album was copied throughout the world, even Britain succumbing to the concept in December of 1976. Nine years later, the era of EP’s was dying out in the UK so Parlophone had to recognize that the album format for “Magical Mystery Tour” was a good one after all.

Success Of The Album

“Magical Mystery Tour” eventually went on to sell over six million copies in America alone, which showed Capitol to have made a very smart move in packaging the film’s music as an album instead of an EP. While their recently renegotiated contract with The Beatles stipulated that future released albums were to contain the same amount of material in the US as in Britain, American fans didn’t feel "ripped off" by the album only containing eleven songs. Most of the Capitol Beatles albums up to this point only featured eleven anyways, and most fans in the states were not aware that this was a makeshift album. Having fewer tracks than “ Sgt. Pepper ” surely didn’t affect album sales.

  Written and compiled by Dave Rybaczewski

CLICK ON THE SONG TITLES BELOW TO READ THE IN-DEPTH HISTORY OF THE SONGS ON "MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR"

• MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR
• THE FOOL ON THE HILL
• BLUE JAY WAY
• YOUR MOTHER SHOULD KNOW
• I AM THE WALRUS
• HELLO GOODBYE
• STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER
• BABY YOU'RE A RICH MAN
• ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE

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Magical Mystery Tour (album)

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Magical Mystery Tour is an album by The Beatles , recorded between 25 April – 3 May and 22 August – 7 November 1967, which was made to correspond to the film, Magical Mystery Tour . Its first side contains most songs from the movie such as " I am the Walrus ", and " The Fool on the Hill ".

The album was released as a double EP in the UK, which only contained the songs in the film. In the United States, the EP was expanded into an album, which contained non-album singles such as " Strawberry Fields Forever ", " Penny Lane ", and " All You Need Is Love " as well as the songs from the film. Although the Beatles disapproved of the US album upon its release (due to their "no already released singles on albums" policy), it was added to the core catalogue in 1988.

• 2.1 Side one — soundtrack
• 2.2 Side two — 1967 singles
• 4 Personnel
• 5.1 Engineers
• 5.2 Additional Musicians
• 7 Covers/Parodies
• 8 External links

Magical Mystery Tour contains songs from the movie of the same name , and the album version (which replaced the UK double-EP version as the international canonical version in 1976) also contains other singles. This movie/album was made to take you away on a "magical" journey with Paul , Ringo , John , and George , or the four magicians.

The cover art portrays the band in costumes, as seen in the I am the Walrus musical segment of the film. John is the walrus, Ringo is a chicken, Paul is a hippo and George is a bunny.

The project of Magical Mystery Tour and the album are considered to be the Beatles' only failure. (It is often said that instead of the unscripted "happenings" on the coach, what ought to have been filmed was the disruption and chaos the project unwittingly caused, as this was often more entertaining than what was actually filmed.)

Side one — soundtrack [ ]

Side two — 1967 singles [ ].

All songs written by Lennon/McCartney , except where noted otherwise.

• Side 1: "Magical Mystery Tour" , "Your Mother Should Know"
• Side 2: "I am the Walrus"
• Side 3: "The Fool on the Hill" , "Flying"
• Side 4: "Blue Jay Way"

Total length: 19:08

Personnel [ ]

• John Lennon — rhythm guitar
• Paul McCartney — bass guitar
• George Harrison — lead guitar
• Ringo Starr — percussion

Credits [ ]

• John Lennon — lead and backing vocals, rhythm guitar ( 1964 Gibson J-160E ), piano, organ, harmonica, cowbell, tambourine, maracas, handclaps, tape-loops, sound effects
• Paul McCartney — lead and backing vocals, bass ( 1964 Rickenbacker 4001S ), lead guitar on " Strawberry Fields Forever " and " The Fool on the Hill " ( 1964 Fender Esquire and 1967 Martin D-28), piano, organ, handclaps, tape-loops, sound effects
• George Harrison — lead and backing vocals, lead guitar ( 1961 Fender Stratocaster , 1965 Epiphone ES-230TD Casino ), acoustic guitar ( 1962 Gibson J-160E ), sitar, tambura, organ, maracas, handclaps
• Ringo Starr — lead vocals, drums, tambourine, maracas, congas, chimes, piano, handclaps
• George Martin — producer and mixer, harpsichord, Lowrey organ, harmonium, piano, Hammond organ, pianet and glockenspiel
• Geoff Emerick — recording engineer
• Mal Evans — bass harmonica and piano
• Neil Aspinall — tambura and harmonica

Engineers [ ]

• Geoff Emerick & Ken Scott

Additional Musicians [ ]

• "Magical Mystery Tour" - Mal Evans and Neil Aspinall on percussion, David Mason, Elgar Howarth, Roy Copestake and John Wilbraham on trumpets
• "The Fool on the Hill" - Christoper Taylor, Richard Taylor and Jack Ellory on flute
• "I am the Walrus" - Sidney Sax, Jack Rothstein, Ralph Elman, Andrew McGee, Jack Greene, Louis Stevens, John Jezzard and Jack Richards on violins, Lionel Ross, Eldon Fox, Brian Martin and Terry Weil on cellos and Neill Sanders, Tony Tunstall and Morris Miller on horns, Peggie Allen, Wendy Horan, Pat Whitmore, Jill Utting, June Day, Sylvia King, Irene King, G. Mallen, Fred Lucas, Mike Redway, John O'Neill, F. Dachtler, Allan Grant, D. Griffiths, J. Smith and J. Fraser on backing vocals
• "Hello, Goodbye" - Ken Essex, Leo Birnbaum on violas
• "Strawberry Fields Forever" - Mal Evans on percussion, Tony Fisher, Greg Bowen, Derek Watkins and Stanley Roderick on trumpets and John Hall, Derek Simpson, Norman Jones on cellos
• "Penny Lane" - Ray Swinfield, P. Goody, Manny Winters and Dennis Walton on flutes, Leon Calvert, Freddy Clayton, Bert Courtley and Duncan Campbell on trumpets, Dick Morgan and Mike Winfield on English horns, Frank Clarke on double bass and David Mason on piccolo trumpet
• "Baby, You're a Rich Man" - Eddie Krammer on vibraphone
• "All You Need is Love" - George Martin on piano, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Marianne Faithfull, Keith Moon, Eric Clapton, Pattie Boyd Harrison, Jane Asher, Mike McCartney, Maureen Starkey, Graham Nash and wife, Gary Leeds and Hunter Davies on backing vocals, Sidney Sax, Patrick Halling, Eric Bowie and Jack Holmes on violins, Rex Morris and Don Honeywill on sax, David Mason and Stanley Woods on trumpets, Evan Watkins and Henry Spain on horns, Jack Emblow on accordion and Brian Martin on cello

Gallery [ ]

Covers/Parodies [ ]

• Beatallica parodied the album (along with the title track and "The Fool on the Hill") with their 2009 album, Masterful Mystery Tour . "All You Need is Love" was parodied earlier as "All You Need is Blood" (which was translated into 12 different languages).
• The Rutles parodied the album (and film) in the 1978 television film, All You Need is Cash, as "Tragical History Tour".
• The Simpsons spoofed the name of this album/movie with the Season 15 episode " Margical History Tour ".
• My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic spoofed the name of this album/movie with the Season 3 Finale "Magical Mystery Cure".

External links [ ]

• This album is in the Paul McCartney Project at this page.
• 1 Jim McCartney
• 2 The Long One
• 3 The Silver Beetles

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Magical mystery tour.

Release date: 27 November 1967

(Spoken lyric) Roll up, roll up for the Magical Mystery Tour. Step right this way!

Roll up, roll up for the mystery tour. Roll up, roll up for the mystery tour.

Roll up, and that's an invitation, Roll up for the mystery tour. Roll up, to make a reservation, Roll up for the mystery tour.

The Magical Mystery Tour is waiting to take you away, Waiting to take you away.

Roll up, we've got ev'rything you need Roll up for the mystery tour. Roll up, satisfaction guaranteed, Roll up for the mystery tour.

The Magical Mystery Tour is hoping to take you away, Hoping to take you away.

The mystery trip.

The Magical Mystery Tour. Roll up, roll up for the mystery tour.

The Magical Mystery Tour is coming to take you away, Coming to take you away.

The Magical Mystery Tour is dying to take you away, dying to take you away, take you today.

"Magical Mystery Tour" is a song by the Beatles, the opening track and theme song for the album, double EP and TV film of the same name. Unlike the theme songs for their other film projects, it was not released as a single.

Related Articles

US album release: Magical Mystery Tour

In the UK The Beatles chose to issue the six songs from the Magical Mystery Tour film as a double gatefold EP with a 28-page booklet. EPs, however, were far less popular in America, and Capitol chose to turn it into a full LP, with added tracks from singles released in 1967.

Magical Mystery Tour was issued on 27 November 1967 as Capitol MAL 2835 (mono) and SMAL 2835 (stereo). The package was a huge hit with the public, generating the highest level of initial sales of any album to date, and netting the label more than $8 million in just three weeks.

Realising the Capitol had created a product too popular to ignore, EMI imported a number of copies to the United Kingdom. It wasn’t officially released there, however, until 1976.

In 1987 the US format of Magical Mystery Tour became the standard issue worldwide, when The Beatles’ back catalogue was issued on compact disc.

Also on this day...

• 2011: Paul McCartney live: Mediolanum Forum, Milan
• 1993: Paul McCartney live: Foro Sol, Mexico City
• 1989: Paul McCartney live: Forum, Inglewood
• 1974: George Harrison live: Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis
• 1970: US album release: All Things Must Pass by George Harrison
• 1969: John Lennon is interviewed about returning his MBE
• 1967: US single release: Hello, Goodbye
• 1966: John Lennon films a sequence for Not Only… But Also
• 1964: UK single release: I Feel Fine
• 1963: The Beatles live: Rialto Theatre, York
• 1962: Radio: The Talent Spot
• 1961: The Beatles live: Cavern Club, Liverpool (lunchtime)
• 1960: The Beatles live: Kaiserkeller, Hamburg

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just curious if you know the value of a 1967 Capitol records release of the beatles magical mystery tour smal2835 with a red sticker?

No idea. I’m sure some other sites give values for releases, but I won’t be doing so here.

does the 1969 release contain abooklet

Do you happen to know or can you recommend where I might find the answer to this question: what was the manufacturer’s suggested list price for Magical Mystery Tour in the U.S. when released in 1967? Thanks very much! Darriel

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Harper's Bazaar

Just a Few of the Biggest Concert Tours of 2024, from Olivia Rodrigo to Bad Bunny

Posted: April 14, 2024 | Last updated: April 14, 2024

Listening to your favorite musician at home is fun, but there's nothing quite like the experience of singing along with them, and tons of more fans, live. And as luck would have it, 2024 is shaping up to be a massive year for some of the world's top musical acts, so chances are your favorite performer might be stopping at a city near you soon.

Ahead, we rounded up some of the biggest concert tours of 2024, ranging from Taylor Swift's mega-popular Eras Tour to Drake and J. Cole's exciting It's All A Blur Tour - Big as the What?—set to kick off this winter. You can also expect tour dates from classic icons like Stevie Nicks, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, and more.

1) Taylor Swift

Undoubtedly one of the biggest concert tours ever, Taylor Swift's Eras Tour will continue right through 2024. The international leg of the tour kicked off in Japan, where she played four shows in Tokyo. She'll also stop in Melbourne, Singapore, Paris, Madrid, London, Milan, and more before returning to the States to play in the fall.

There's nothing like seeing T. Swift IRL, but don't fret if you're unable to nab tickets—the Eras Tour movie is now available to stream from the comfort of your home.

2) Olivia Rodrigo

This is not a drill—"Drivers License" singer Olivia Rodrigo will be hitting the road on tour starting at the end of February. The Guts World Tour runs from February through mid-August and has dates in Nashville, Toronto, Chicago, and New York City, among others. Even cooler? Rodrigo will have a stacked list of special guests—like PinkPantheress, Remi Wolf, The Breeders, and Chappell Roan—with her.

3) Red Hot Chili Peppers

Did you hear the good news? The Red Hot Chili Peppers have extended their global tour through summer 2024. The buzzy stadium tour, which kicked off in June 2022, will now run until July 2024 and bring the California-based band to places like Los Angeles, Tampa, Toronto, and Salt Lake City.

4) Bad Bunny

It's fitting that "Monaco" rapper Bad Bunny titled his tour Most Wanted —it's slated to be one of the year's hottest tours. Planned to help promote his latest studio album, Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana , Most Wanted will kick off in Salt Lake City on February 21 and run through May 26.

5) Billy Joel

If you haven't yet seen Billy Joel perform live, there's still time! The Piano Man has added more tour dates to his schedule, stopping in cities like Tampa, New York, Denver, and St. Louis this year. Even more exciting? He'll share the stage with fellow iconic performers Sting and Stevie Nicks for some of these dates.

Mitski recently announced that she's expanding her North American tour dates , and we couldn't be more excited. The months-long tour, which supports her 2023 studio album The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We, has a long list of stops, including Miami Beach, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and Paris.

There's nothing quite like a Madonna concert, that's for sure. The singer's Celebration Tour , which started last October, continues straight through the spring with dates in Seattle, San Francisco, Mexico City, and more. Besides her eye-catching sets, chart-topping songs, and impressive choreography, concertgoers also get a glimpse of the performer's fantastic costumes, which include looks from Versace and Jean Paul Gaultier.

8) Bleachers

The New Jersey-founded rock band, which is fronted by Jack Antonoff—known for producing albums for top acts like Taylor Swift, Lorde, and Lana Del Rey—not only has announced a new album but a new tour , too. The tour will start in the UK in March, ending fittingly in the band's home state of New Jersey in mid-June. Check out their newly released music video for "Tiny Moves" if you need a Bleachers fix in the meantime.

9) Nicki Minaj

Nicki fans rejoice: the rapper and singer might be coming to a city near you soon as part of her Pink Friday 2 World Tour. The massive tour will include performances in Brooklyn, Oakland, and Baltimore, with stops at Dreamville Festival and Rolling Loud California along the way.

10) Blink 182

Live out all of your nineties and early aughts pop-punk dreams with one of Blink 182's One More Time Tour dates. The tour, which supports the band's ninth studio album, One More Time..., will bring the trio to cities all over the globe, including Sydney, Santiago, Portland, and Boston. The tour's supporting act is Pierce the Veil, which is also worth checking out.

11) Stevie Nicks

The oh-so-magical Stevie Nicks continues her touring streak with a bunch of 2024 concert dates . Set to begin in Atlantic City, NJ on February 10, Nicks will visit a dozen cities throughout the U.S. this year, such as New Orleans, Omaha, and Chicago. "Let's keep this party going in 2024," the singer-songwriter posted on her Instagram in September to announce the newly added tour dates.

12) The 1975

The 1975 is showing no signs of slowing down. The British band, famous for hits like "Somebody Else" and "Robbers," has extended their 2023 tour through 2024. Titled Still...At Their Very Best , the 22-date tour will open in Glasgow on February 8 and conclude in Amsterdam on March 24.

13) Drake and J. Cole

Rap greats Drake and J. Cole come together for the It's All a Blur Tour – Big As the What? which is guaranteed to be a good time. Drake, fresh off his 2023 It's All a Blur tour with 21 Savage, is set to hit dozens of cities starting in February, many of which J. Cole will also be in tow for. Scoop up tickets ASAP, as Drake's shows are known to sell out.

14) Janet Jackson

Superstar Janet Jackson is also extending her 2023 tour, Together Again , into 2024 with dates in Anaheim, Austin, New Orleans, and Hartford. Even cooler? Jackson's supporting act is the 2000s southern rap legend Nelly.

15) Rolling Stones

If you've ever dreamed of seeing the Rolling Stones perform live in person, now's your chance. The iconic rockers, who released their studio album Hackney Diamonds this past fall, are returning on the road for a 16-date tour with shows throughout the United States and Canada. Concertgoers can expect a mix of new tunes and Stones classics.

16) Bruce Springsteen

Famous for countless listenable hits like "Born to Run" and "Glory Days," Bruce Springsteen is set to embark on a massive world tour this year with his band, The E Street Band. The much-anticipated tour will take the Boss and his crew to cities such as Phoenix, San Diego, Dublin, and Madrid, from March through November.

17) John Mayer

Be sure to catch John Mayer's solo tour this year, which will bring the guitarist and crooner to cities throughout Europe. This leg, an extension of his popular 2023 solo tour, will kick off in Stockholm on March 13 and finish in Dublin on March 29.

18) Shania Twain

Okay, this one is technically a residency , but we're excited nonetheless. Shania Twain, most known for her incredible outfits (her hooded leopard print look, anyone?) and hits like "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" is setting up shop in Vegas starting May 10. Twain's residency will take place at the Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood on and off throughout December 2024.

All good things must come to an end. The Eagles, known for "Hotel California" and other amazing rock songs, began their final concert tour this winter. It launched in Phoenix on January 20, with March 16 as its last date in the United States. Eagles fans won't want to miss this one.

20) Alanis Morisette: The Triple Moon Tour

Alanis Morisette joins forces with Joan Jett and the Blackhearts for their 2024 Triple Moon Tour , which has dates in North America and Canada. This tour is a great one to catch this summer, as it's slated to run from June through August.

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