Magical Mystery Tour film discussion

I did fix my post for a bit of clarity while you were typing. But I take it you are saying that the Magical Mystery Tour film has merits beyond the fact that it's the Beatles? And even a non-Beatle fan should appreciate the artistry? OK

 

I have heard Sir Paul make the same argument. I would agree if the PERFORMED Walrus. But they don't. The mime to the record. In animal costumes.

 

Not even that - the record was unfinished at the time of shooting, being at that point little more than the basic track without any orchestrations or funny voices etc.

 

Magical Mystery Tour made lemonade from lemons. I can just imagine the pitch; "Hey mates," said Paul. "I've got a great idea! Let's rent a bus, hire some actors and a film crew, bring along some friends and family, go down to the West Country and film whatever happens. It will be smashing Boxing Day television!"

Having said that, there are still moments of charm; "I Am the Walrus", "The Fool on the Hill", "Blue Jay Way", Aunt Jessie and Bloodvessel on the beach, John singing "There's No Business Like Show Business", the pub sing-a-long with Shirley Evans on accordian, the Bonzos and the grand finale of "Your Mother Should Know"

 

One of a kind! He was one of my teachers in my junior school in the late 1950s in Kentish Town, North London. He taught us poetry, drama etc. I remember a lot of parents complained to the school about his avant-garde approach to teaching. My mum though he was weird!

 

I worship the Beatles but don't let Sir Paul hoodwink you, MMT is a piece of hot garbage and will always be

 

Picked up the MMT box set for $45 the other day, half price from $90!

The remixes sound great, dat complete stereo I Am The Walrus...

 

The next thing you'll be telling me is the backing vocals are done by The Mike Sammes Singers.

 

Woke up fell out of the bed ... badly it seems.

 

Let's face it, MMT was a product of the times.
It's simply misdirection, acid, and ego on celluloid.

 

Actually if you had a VHS HiFi deck the sound was in stereo! Real stereo not reprocessed. I believe Ron Furmanek did the remix of the film's soundtrack for the VHS release.

 

Miming is still a form of performing you know! The Beatles weren't playing live at the time, so why would you expect them to play a live version of Walrus (a song they wouldn't have been able to replicate on stage at the time anyway?). You might as well say the version on the record should have been a live-in-the-studio take with no overdubs because that would be more 'authentic'. The Beatles were experimenting in the studio at the time and I'm glad they took the same approach to their films as well rather than boring us all to tears with a stripped down worthy 'Unplugged' style slog through 'Walrus'.

 

Did this ever come out on DVD like the George Martin Special a few years back?

 

Not sure. But they showed it at Beatle fest in New Jersey last month and I watched it there and enjoyed it.

 

Do you still have that mono LP? Do you know how rare it is? Have you ever heard "Blue Jay Way" in stereo? I only knew the stereo version for years until a friend of mine (the biggest Beatles fan I know) who had the mono version played me the mono version (or maybe it was in the theater seeing MMT for the first time). There is a part missing (or added, depending on your perspective) where the verse lines repeat in reverse. Only heard on the stereo record mix. The mono records as well as the film soundtrack does not have the "back-masking". The VHS has a stereo mix that matches the mono.

 

That's another thing, even if you had a colour TV in England the day it first aired, the broadcast was in black & white. Totally ruined the "Flying" sequence (or at least made it less psychedelic).

 

I have attempted to watch MMT in it's entirety but never made it...until 2 years ago when the television entertainment on the new years eve specials was so bad we turned MMT on and watched it instead. Yes, the TV that night was that bad.

 

Nah, I just have standards

 

Just as well it's not the MMT 50th Anniversary release. They'd be no buyers in this thread, sheesh.

 

As well as "Your Mother Should Know".

 

I doubt that the Python's Colonel character was in any way inspired by Magical Mystery Tour. Beyond being in the military, the two characters are not similar in any way (Spinetti's character spouts nonsense, whereas the Colonel's express purpose is to bring an end to anything he deems "too silly"). Mocking the military was not exactly a novel idea at that point, and it's most likely that both characters had common antecedents like The Goon Show and Beyond the Fringe, of which both the Beatles and the Pythons were fans.

I would say though that it's quite likely the Beatles were inspired by the Bonzo Dog Band, particularly in the case of the "I Am The Walrus" sequence. The Bonzos used signs, props, costumes, and masks onstage, some of which is demonstrated in this promo clip for "The Equestrian Statue":

 

I actually thought that it worked better when I saw it in a cinema than it ever had done at home. Few people in the UK had colour TV sets at the time and even for those only the "minority" channel BBC2 was available in colour, so it was always going to be seen in b&w by most viewers if it was to be shown on TV.

Some editing in the non-musical sequences could have resulted with a shorter, better, film

 

At the time, yes, though it was not made solely with British TV in mind There was always an intention to sell to the US but it didn't happen. Nevertheless, the framing and visual composition of the film were designed with the dimensions and aspect ratio of 1960s television in mind, rather than those of a cinema screen.

All of this does mean that the significance/experience of the music on either side of the Atlantic was very different. In the UK MMT was half a dozen tracks which were the soundtrack to the rather odd little movie the Beatles showed on TV over Christmas. In the US it was a fully fledged album, the follow up to Sgt Pepper but had no visual accompaniment. Culturally it occupies entirely different positions in people's memories/consciousness depending on where they lived.

 

I have the LP, not in pristine shape but very playable. I first heard the stereo version in high school. I remember thinking the flute was absurdly loud in "Fool on the Hill." "Blue Jay Way" threw me a curve. At first I thought it was cool, but the backwards thing got old after a while. I was briefly tempted to buy the reissue of the MMT LP in mono, but I will probably never play it again. That ship has sailed.

 

Ken Kesey did it better...