Light On Dark Water

The Beatles: Magical Mystery Tour

I did listen to this over the weekend, as I had hoped to do. I loved it.

Most of the first side is great, and it does have a kind of unity, though maybe that's an illusion created by the Sergeant-Pepper-style intro. "The Fool On the Hill" is as beautiful a tune as McCartney ever wrote. "Blue Jay Way" is haunting. And "Flying" connects them very evocatively. I think "Your Mother Should Know" would have been better placed as the second cut, and it could have used a bit more in the lyric department, but it's an engaging contrast. I agree with Robert Gotcher that "I Am the Walrus" is seriously damaged, almost ruined, by its lyric, which is mostly nonsensical and unpleasant, without the resonance that Dylan was able to get into his equally obscure lyrics. But musically it's very strong. 

And the second side contains five of the very best tracks the Beatles recorded during their psychedelic phase, or for that matter ever. Each one is at least as good as anything on Sergeant Pepper. They had been released as singles, but their juxtaposition here only increases their appeal and the impression of something like genius at work within the limits of pop music (much of that no doubt the work of George Martin). They make the album feel like two distinct suites of related songs, each one very strong.

As my reference to "sides" indicates, I listened to my LP copy, which is not a relic of the '60s but of the '80s, my original copy having vanished somewhere along the way, and which had only been played a few times. I was a little disappointed in the quality of the recording, in some songs more than others, and would like to hear some of the remastered ones. I realize most people these days won't hear the "sides" I referred to, at least unless they make a conscious decision to. But the division really works. This is definitely one of my three or four favorite Beatles albums.

Maclin Horton

34 responses to “The Beatles: Magical Mystery Tour”

  1. Craig

    I also listened to it this past weekend. Though I more or less enjoyed it, it seems I didn’t like it as much as you did. For me Side 2 was much the stronger; “Hello, Goodbye” and “Penny Lane” were both running through my mind all weekend. The more experimental material on Side 1 didn’t appeal as much to me. It didn’t appeal much to me at all. Even the “circus act” of the title track seemed like a lesser re-hash of the Sgt. Pepper songs.
    Having said that, I also listened this weekend to Neil Young’s debut album (also from 1968), and setting the two side by side really threw the inventiveness and likeability of the Beatles into strong relief. I have to be careful not to be disappointed with a record simply because I don’t like it as well as I like Bob Dylan! (Especially since, as the calendar pages turn on my pop music odyssey, even Dylan is going to start falling short of Dylan pretty soon.)
    Although I am not a Beatles afficianado, I have for years thought that their “great” records were, by general consensus, Sgt. Pepper, The White Album, and Abbey Road. But as I have been talking to people about them over the past few months, and hearing good things said about Revolver and Magical Mystery Tour and so on, I begin to suspect that there might not be a consensus after all — or, if there is, I have misapprehended it.

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  2. Craig

    Oops. I imply above that Magical Mystery Tour is from 1968; it was actually released in December 1967.

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  3. Mac

    Well, it’s 1968 as far as I’m concerned. I’m sure I didn’t hear it until at least a bit into the new year.
    I banged out that little review in a hurry, being anxious to get nighttime chores out of the way so I could go to sleep on time, and left out some things I had meant to say, one of them being that it’s entirely possible that nostalgia plays a part in my liking for the first suite. But I do think the suite of singles is terrific by any pop music standard.
    The consensus you describe is certainly not my opinion, and I know there are a significant number of people who put the albums immediately preceding Sgt. Pepper at the top. I do like SP, and I do like the second side (there I go again) of Abbey Road, though it seems a little less impressive now than it once did. But I don’t care if I never hear the white album or the first side of AR again. I could probably select from the white album enough tracks to comprise an album I’d enjoy, but it wouldn’t be a favorite. If the Beatles’ work ever becomes available on a per-track mp3 basis I might do that. But I actively dislike a fair amount of it.
    I am one of what’s apparently a pretty small number of people who really liked at least the first side (up through “Old Laughing Lady”, which I think is a masterpiece) of Neil Young’s first album.

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  4. Louise

    “The Fool On the Hill” is as beautiful a tune as McCartney ever wrote.
    I agree. 🙂

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  5. Craig

    Yes, I don’t know where I came up with that “consensus” in the first place. Probably from reading Rolling Stone or something when I was a teenager. The classic rock station (back when I used to listen, many years ago) used to have tracks from WA and AR in steady rotation, but nothing from Revolver or Rubber Soul that I remember. That might be part of the reason for my malformed view of things.
    I think you must be in a minority with that opinion of Neil Young’s debut. Sonically it is pretty tough to bear, and the songs are mostly pretty limp, although I agree that “The Old Laughing Lady” is the best of them. I like Neil Young a lot; his debut, I think, doesn’t show him at his best.

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  6. Mac

    I’m sure I am. No argument that the songs are mostly pretty limp, but there’s sort of an atmosphere that I like. And it’s really only the first side. That long last song seemed like it was going to be so good, but it just isn’t.
    There was probably a time when Beatles fans at large, including a lot of critics, thought Sgt. Pepper was the greatest piece of art in the history of the world, but later on one started to hear people say things like “Well, you know, it is sort of gimmicky, and the songs on Revolver actually hold up better.”

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  7. Robert Gotcher

    MMT was issued as an EP in the UK. It was the American release that had the singles on Side 2. Later they released the full album in the UK.
    MY White Album:
    “Dear Prudence”
    “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
    “Martha My Dear”
    “I’m So Tired”
    “Blackbird”
    “I Will”
    “Julia”
    “Yer Blues”
    “Mother Nature’s Son”
    “Cry Baby Cry”
    “Lady Madonna” (It was a single, but it is the same era)
    “Hey Jude” (Same as “Lady Madonna”)
    Songs that would be bonus tracks on a CD, but aren’t THAT great:
    “Back in the U.S.S.R.” (Too clever by half)
    “Rocky Raccoon” ( debated about whether to put it in the A list)
    “Birthday” (I think its fun, but I know people think of it as a throw-away)
    “Helter Skelter” (“I’ve got blisters on my fingers!”)
    “Revolution 1” (I like the single version better, though)
    Songs I’d just as soon never hear again:
    “Glass Onion”
    “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”
    “Wild Honey Pie”
    “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill”
    “Happiness Is a Warm Gun”
    “Piggies” (Harrison)
    “Don’t Pass Me By” (Richard Starkey)
    “Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?”
    “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey”
    “Long, Long, Long” (Harrison)
    “Savoy Truffle” (Harrison)
    “Revolution 9”
    “Good Night”
    Let It Be would barely make it as a 4-track EP. As a matter of fact, it wouldn’t.
    “Let It Be”
    “The Long and Winding Road”
    “Get Back”
    Side one of AR:
    “Come Together”
    “Octopus’s Garden”
    “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”
    I don’t uniformly like the Side 2 medley. Like I can’t stand “Mean Mr. Mustard” and “Polythene Pam.” “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window” isn’t much better, but it is saved by the Joe Cocker version.

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  8. Robert Gotcher

    I still have etched in my memory the image of a totally, completely stoned Neil Young in The Last Waltz.

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  9. Mac

    I remember that, too. I’d sort of like to see that movie again. It probably has some really good music.
    Yeah, I knew MMT was not a “real” album, so any coherence I see in it is pretty accidental.
    My white album would look a lot like yours. Probably at least a 70% match. I seem to remember liking “Long Long Long” a good deal but haven’t heard it for a long time. I never did like “Hey Jude” very much–the long outro just got on my nerves.
    I noticed while looking at something on Wikipedia that the Beatles’ stuff is available on iTunes. I dumped iTunes long ago when they were still DRMed. If they’re not anymore, and I could get specific Beatles tracks, that might be enough to cause me to buy from them.

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  10. Rob G

    Interesting discussion. I’m wondering if I might be just a tad younger than you all. I was born in ’61 and didn’t really start seriously paying attention to music until the mid 70’s. I’m not a Beatles (or Dylan) fan at all, and I haven’t liked much 60s and early 70’s music that I’ve gone back and listened to.
    I confess to being a CCR fan (Creedence Gold was the first rock LP I ever bought), and I do like a fair amount of the Van Morrison stuff from that period. Also Yes, from the ‘Close to the Edge’ and ‘Relayer’ period.
    I’m wondering if this is more of an age thing than anything — coming to the scene a little later than y’all, and missing the impact of Dylan and the Beatles.
    Having said all that the first band that I really, really got into was E.L.O., the mid-70’s manifestation (I was 13 or 14 at the time). I still listen to that stuff a lot. And of course Jeff Lynne is a huge Beatles guy, was in the Traveling Wilburys with Dylan and Harrison, etc.

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  11. Craig

    Robert’s short version of WA sounds good to me, although I’d put “Back in the USSR” and “Helter Skelter” onto it with few reservations. Looking at that list of deletions: there are an awful lot of them.
    I’m disappointed to hear that Let it Be is fairly weak. I’ve never heard it, but I was looking forward to it.
    Rob G, I was born in the mid-70s, so, like you, I didn’t get to experience this music “at the time”. But Dylan has been my pop music pole-star since I first heard him; I can’t help it!

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  12. Mac

    Well, you’re all significantly younger than I am, and it’s certainly true that music heard in youth has a way of sort of imprinting itself on one. But as Craig’s example shows, there are plenty of people who didn’t grow up on those ’60s greats who nevertheless take to the music.
    My high school and college years coincided more or less exactly with the Beatles’ career, but I actually didn’t listen to them all that much. I liked them but was way more into, for instance, Dylan. I guess I was something of an enthusiast for the two or three years following Sgt Pepper, but that was partly a cultural thing. After their fadeout I really didn’t listen to them much, or follow their solo careers past the first album or two. So I’m hearing them with somewhat fresh ears now, and being impressed.
    Creedence was always a band I sort of liked but never wanted to hear any more than I got from the radio or somebody else’s stereo. Seemed (still seems) like it wouldn’t wear well at album length.
    Similarly, I was wearied of ELO by the radio without ever hearing anything but their hits.

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  13. Robert Gotcher

    I was born in 1959. The Beatles were certainly on my radar screen growing up, but I didn’t become an enthusiast until the mid 1970s, during my hs years.
    As you may have gathered, Dylan isn’t my cup of tea. I didn’t listen to him at all as a kid, although we used to sing some of his early protest songs when our Church would go to the projects for social justice/community action-type stuff. I can remember setting on the stoop with a bunch of black kids singing Kumbaya and Green, Green, the Grass is Green and Blowin’ in the Wind.
    In the late 1980s I was in a Dylan imitation contest at the 400 Bar in Minneapolis. I “sang” “Big Yellow Taxi” ala Dylan. I didn’t win, although I think my imitation was pretty good.
    I also imitated Dylan singing “Tambourine Man” at a seminary talent show in the early 2000s. There is actually a recording of that one. I hope it never shows up on YouTube.

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  14. Mac

    I want to hear the “Big Yellow Taxi” one. That could be as good as Dylan himself singing “The Boxer.”

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  15. Robert Gotcher

    Here’s the Dylan version. He does him doing it better than I do.
    http://vimeo.com/25474946

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  16. Mac

    A truly touching rendition.
    Wonder when this was recorded. Sort of has a Basement Tapes feel, and that sure sounds like Garth Hudson on organ, but the sound quality is too good, and the backup singers make it probably a studio recording.

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  17. Rob G

    Of course I heard the ELO hits first too, but when I bought the albums I found that I really liked the other stuff also.
    As far as CCR goes, I’m happy with the two best-of’s — “Gold” and “More Gold,” or whatever it’s called. I don’t listen to Yes much anymore. At this point they’re more of a nostalgia thing for me than anything else. I might throw “Close to the Edge” on once every two or three years.

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  18. Mac

    Hmm, I seem to have missed this comment earlier.
    I rather like Yes, and in fact am a very late-blooming fan of progressive rock. I never liked it in the late ’60s-early ’70s when it was big. But some fifteen or so years ago I bought one of my children a copy of Fragile, thinking it might be at least less harmful than a lot of the other stuff she listened to. She didn’t much like it, but I sorta did, and ended up buying a couple of others. I agree that Close to the Edge is their best.

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  19. Rob G

    The lineup on CTTE was their best. You could argue that they were at that time the most talented band in the world, given that each of the four instrumentalists was considered one of the two or three best at their individual game.

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  20. Mac

    I didn’t even realize the lineup changed. I think it was the same on those three or four big albums of the early ’70s, wasn’t it?
    It was the instrumental virtuosity that won me over to my latter-day appreciation of them and other prog-rock groups. I thought back in their day that it was empty technique that really didn’t have any place in pop music, and it can’t be denied that there’s an awful lot of pretentiousness in prog. I had to make a conscious decision to ignore that.

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  21. Rob G

    Chris Squire (bass) and Steve Howe were there at the beginning of the 70s but Rick Wakeman replaced Tony Kaye somewhere along the line — maybe right before ‘Fragile’? — and Bruford left right after CTTE to join King Crimson. I think there were only 2 albums that had that Howe-Bruford-Wakeman-Squire lineup.
    Also somewhere in that period, Wakeman left and was replaced by Patrick Moraz, but just for the one record — ‘Relayer’ I think.
    I feel the same away about prog — lots of pretention. I was never really into it as a genre, but I did like Yes, and also the early Genesis stuff too.

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  22. Robert Gotcher

    Wakeman joined with Fragile and left after Topographic Oceans. I like The Yes Album best, even though Wakeman isn’t on it. I think Wakeman added a darkness to the music that I don’t appreciate, even though he is certainly a keyboard genius. Compare the tone of the Yes Album to Fragile. Besides, I really like Howe and he esp. shines on The Yes Album.

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  23. Rob G

    Haven’t heard ‘The Yes Album’ in ages. My faves were always CTTE, Relayer and Fragile. I never liked Topographic Oceans much at all. Going for the One was ok, but by the time Drama came out (79? 80?) I had pretty much lost interest.

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  24. Mac

    Here’s something I wrote about Yes when I was making my tour of ’70s prog a while back–eight years, to be precise. Hard to believe it’s been that long. I haven’t heard any of those recently, but I don’t remember Fragile and the others being darker than The Yes Album.

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  25. Mac

    I haven’t heard Relayer. As I recall, Topographic is kind of interesting as instrumental brilliance, but there’s a definite dearth of good material.

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  26. Robert Gotcher

    I think much of rock (distinguished from rock’n’roll) is dark. That is one of the reasons I like the Beatles–their music isn’t as unrelentingly dark as others. I mean, there is a Mozartian impishness about it. Rock is not impish.

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  27. Stu

    I sort of love I Am the Walrus + the entirety of The White Album. Close to the Edge is my favorite Yes.

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  28. Mac

    It seems to be a really widely held view that Close to the Edge is the best Yes album. I like a lot of Fragile and The Yes Album, but they seem very uneven to me.
    There’s just something oppressive to me about the white album, taken as a whole. I can’t really put my finger on it, but I felt that way from the beginning (and for me “the beginning” is its initial release). Btw one can apparently buy individual Beatles songs on iTunes, so I may construct my white album.
    Robert, can you describe that darkness any more specifically? I thought at first you might mean the blues element, but that’s at least as present in rock-and-roll. And it’s practically non-existent in Yes’s music.

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  29. Robert Gotcher

    I once heard an interview on NPR with someone about the blues. He said what people often don’t get is that the blues is joyful music. I don’t know what to make of that, but it seems plausible, even if ironic. Deep beneath the sadness and the sin, there is irrepressible human dignity. Or something like that.
    Anyway, I think rock has lost that part of the blues. It reminds me of your comment, Maclin, about Led Zepplin. Technically brilliant, but there is a heaviness (I call it darkness) because this hidden spark in the blues is missing. I think of Lynard Skynard like that. Ugh.
    I’m almost tempted to say that white guys, esp. of German origin (and I’m one of them), ain’t got no soul, but I’m not sure that can be demonstrated. There are white guys that have that twinkle even when they sing about sad things or evil. Certainly Mozart had it. The Beatles had it, but then, they were Catholic (sort of). I think Freddie Mercury had it (but he was Parsi).
    This is why I like Mozart(Austrian, not German!) better than Beethoven (and I like Beethoven a lot) and I like Vivaldi better than Bach. And Tchaikovsky better than Brahms.
    That spark is what makes Jewish humor funny.

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  30. Robert Gotcher

    I think John Lennon was good at the blues. Thinking of “Yer Blues” and “I want you/She’s so heavy.” “Come Together” would be good, if the words weren’t so stupid.

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  31. Robert Gotcher

    By the way, perhaps John was already on smack by the time of the White Album. That would have an effect.

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  32. Mac

    Yes, it would. And Lennon is definitely bluesier than the other Beatles.
    The blues is musically dark in a sense, but more often than not (as I was saying a few weeks ago re Blind Willie Johnson) it’s humorous to some degree, ranging from a tinge to outright comedy.
    I was lying in the bed, I was cold and numb.
    I heard the rats tell the bedbugs, “Give the roaches some.”
    or
    Nobody loves me but my mama,
    And she could be jivin’, too.
    But rock bands tend to lose that, and take all the playfulness out of it. Not just rock bands, actually, but white folk singers who were doing blues earlier.

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  33. Robert Gotcher

    I do think a Teutonic grimness can ruin the playfulness. Maybe the Beatles were able to escape it to a certain extent because they all have Irish heritage (except Ringo, I guess).

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  34. Mac

    I don’t think of it as Teutonic especially, though I’m not sure what to call it. It’s a different sensibility, for sure.

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