Beatles Magical Mystery Tour CD

The Beatles: John Lennon (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, harmonica, piano, harpsichord, organ, clavioline, Mellotron, maracas, tambourine, tape loops); George Harrison (vocals, guitar, violin, harmonica, Hammond organ, timpani, congas, firebell, tambourine, tabla); Paul McCartney (vocals, guitar, flute, recorder, piano, acoustic & electric basses, bongos, congas); Ringo Starr (vocals, drums, maracas, tambourine, finger cymbals, tape loops).
Additional personnel includes: Dave Mason (piccolo, trumpet); Philip Jones (trumpet); George Martin (piano); Mal Evans (tambourine); Mick Jagger, Gary Leeds, Keith Richards, Marianne Faithfull, Jane Asher, Patti Harrison, Keith Moon, Graham Nash (background vocals).
Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, Olympic Sound Studios, De Lane Lea and Chappell Recording Studios, London, England between November 24, 1966 and November 7, 1967.
The U.S. version of the soundtrack for the Beatles' ill-fated British television special embellished the six songs that were found on the British Magical Mystery Tour double EP with five other cuts from their 1967 singles. (The CD version of the record has now been standardized worldwide as the 11 tracks found on the American version.) The psychedelic sound is very much in the vein of Sgt. Pepper, and even spacier in parts (especially the sound collages of "I Am the Walrus"). Unlike Sgt. Pepper, there's no vague overall conceptual/thematic unity to the material, which has made Magical Mystery Tour suffer slightly in comparison. Still, the music is mostly great, and "Penny Lane," "Strawberry Fields Forever," "All You Need Is Love," and "Hello Goodbye" were all huge, glorious, and innovative singles. The ballad "The Fool on the Hill," though only a part of the Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack, is also one of the most popular Beatle tunes from the era. ~ Richie Unterberger
The first six songs on MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR were the soundtrack to the Beatles' TV movie of the same name. The film was an experimental mess, but the experimental pop of the album included some of their most memorable productions. The soundtrack side was dominated by Paul McCartney pop tunes, including the bittersweet piano ballad "Fool On The Hill" and "Your Mother Should Know," an impossibly catchy bit of Vaudevillian pop. But it also featured George Harrison's mystical "Blue Jay Way" (about his house in Hollywood) and John Lennon's "I Am The Walrus," which wedded a stream-of-consciousness lyric to a fierce drum beat, layers of strings, odd voices and some dialogue from Shakespeare's "King Lear."
McCartney's "Hello Goodbye," which led off the assorted singles, featured some neatly arranged contrapuntal vocals, and may well have been about the dissolving partnerships (songwriting and otherwise) between McCartney and Lennon. Lennon's strangely arranged "Strawberry Fields Forever," whose two halves blend different takes of the same song, one slowed down to match the pitch of the other, was a trippy reverie; its bridges, orchestrated with horns, cellos, and backward cymbals, are sheer brilliance. "Penny Lane," a wistful fantasy featuring a beautiful trumpet solo, was McCartney at his melodic best, the AM foil to Lennon's FM headiness.Q (8/89) - Included in Q Magazine's "Best Psychedelic Albums of All Time" issue.
Q (8/99, p.138) - "...the weirdest beast in the entire Beatles catalogue....As good an indicator as any that all the madness was about to end. It had to."
Paste (magazine) (p.60) - "With much better material and no forced concept to weigh down the proceedings, Martin's production work shines, particularly on the Lennon tracks."