How would you have released the Magical Mystery Tour-era songs?

Yeah, I agree - forgot that one. I wouldn't replace Revolution 9 though. Bye Rocky Raccoon!

 

That's almost identical to what I was going to suggest. Groups all the psychedelic songs together on one album, and holds back the more back to basics songs on what would have been a great e.p. (the White EP?) and puts PL/SFF back on the singles collection, where they belong.

 

LP - MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR

SIDE ONE
Magical Mystery Tour
The Fool On The Hill
Flying
Blue Jay Way
Your Mother Should Know
I Am The Walrus

SIDE TWO
Hello Goodbye
Only A Northern Song
Baby You’re A Rich Man
All Together Now
It’s All Too Much
All You Need Is Love


LP - A COLLECTION OF BEATLES OLDIES VOL. 2

SIDE ONE
Revolution
Lady Madonna
The Inner Light
Rain
Penny Lane
Strawberry Fields Forever

SIDE TWO
Hey Jude
Across The Universe
Hey Bulldog
Get Back
Don’t Let Me Down
You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)

 

That's very good. But I'd replace You Know My Name with Let It Be and add The Ballad of John & Yoko to side one of Oldies. It should fit as side two has longer tracks. I'd place it as track 3 side one.

 

I agree that SFF, PL and OANS should all go on Sgt. Pepper somehow, which would give George his usual two song allotment on that album, leaving the other '67 songs to flesh out MMT possibly as follows (I could re-jigger the running order):

Side A:
1. Magical Mystery Tour
2. The Fool On The Hill
3. Flying
4. Your Mother Should Know
5. Blue Jay Way
6. I Am The Walrus

Side B:
7. All Together Now
8. Baby You're A Rich Man
9. Hello, Goodbye
10. It's All Too Much
11. All You Need Is Love

I would then add the '68 sides (LM, ATU, HB, and TIL) plus the "Revolution/Hey Jude" single to The White Album, from which I would gladly sacrifice "Revolution 9" to make room for these if possible, relegating that track to B-side status along with "You Know My Name" to eventually surface on Past Masters (the Yellow Submarine album would simply be deleted). As for the other non-album or otherwise unreleased material from this period, I think at this point songs like "What's the New Mary Jane" and "Sour Milk Sea" would probably make the most sense being on a White Album bonus disc, which I am expecting some sort of "deluxe edition" type release to appear in 2018, as has happened this year with Sgt. Pepper.

Just my $0.02, and a fun exercise to boot!

 

I have the collection coming out after the Get Back single but before Abbey Road.....maybe mid May 1969.

 

Then it's perfect!

 

Maybe not exactly what the thread topic is asking for, but nevertheless here's Disc 1 (Mono) of my hypothetical super-duper-ultimate deluxe edition of MMT that I know will never happen, based on the UK Double EP:

Disc 1:

The Original Mono EP:

Side 1:

1. Magical Mystery Tour (1967 Mono Mix)
2. Your Mother Should Know (1967 Mono Mix)

Side 2:

3. I Am The Walrus (1967 Mono Mix)

Side 3:

4. The Fool On The Hill (1967 Mono Mix)
5. Flying (1967 Mono Mix)

Side 4:

6. Blue Jay Way (1967 Mono Mix)

Bonus Tracks:

7. All You Need Is Love (1967 Mono Mix)
8. Baby, You’re A Rich Man (1967 Mono Mix)
9. Hello, Goodbye (1967 Mono Mix)
10. Shirley’s Wild Accordion (1967 Mono Mix)
11. Jessie’s Dream (1967 Mono Mix)
12. You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) [1967 Version]

Alternate Mono Mixes:

13. I Am The Walrus (1967 Mono Mix) [Unedited Version]
14. All You Need Is Love (Live Broadcast) [Live at EMI Studio Two for “Our World”, Westminister, London, 25 June, 1967]

 

I had just posted a 2-LP of The Who Sell Out that I worked on for a long time and I did one for the Beatles 1967 material as well that I'll post here and on the other MMT thread. I used an idea that I don't think I've ever seen anyone try yet and includes a lot of tracks that people might not think of when putting together a compilation of this period. I don't have time yet to post though and I want to go through the material one more time first but if you have the all the tracks, it'll be worth hearing at least once.

 

(OK, I'd rather have their live 3LP featuring, Hendrix, The Who, Cream, Ravi Shankar etc., but)
leaving aside the need to supply music for films and restricting it to the urge to have an album for Xmas 1967, then perhaps something like this:

All You Need Is Love
Penny Lane
Strawberry Fields Forever
It's All Too Much
All Together Now

Hello Goodbye
Baby You're a Rich Man
Your Mother Should Know
Blue Jay Way
The Fool on the Hill
Only a Northern Song
I am the Walrus

with Walrus/Fool single.

 

Okay but which take?

 

Yeah, I would include Hey Jude / Revolution with the White Album, as that single was recorded in the same sessions [similar to how Penny Lane / Strawberry Fields Forever / Only A Northern Song were recorded at Pepper sessions].

The other '68 songs are kind of orphaned. They don't really belong to either WA or MMT. Perhaps an EP, as someone suggested previously. But barring that, I usually just lump them in with MMT, as side two is already a compilation of singles, and moving PL/SFF to SPLHCB leaves a bit of space there. Problem is there's just too darn many of them for a single side...

 

What did the Paperback Writer ever do to you?

EDIT: Ahh... got it. The song was on Oldies Volume 1.

 

I certainly get the logic of looking at when songs were recorded, along the thinking that the band was in a certain place musically at the respective series of sessions, and there is likely a commonality to those songs. But the problem with that is that these songs were subsequently released in the way they were. Which could have been for good or bad reasons or somewhere in between. We end up taking the way they were released into account.

Take Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane. It was the original intention these songs be put on Pepper's. Apparently though Capitol pressured them to release a single well before the album was going to be finished, and George Martin only had those two in the can at that point. In putting them out as a single they subsequently decided not to include them on Pepper's. Months later they did come out on MMT, which eventually became part of the cannon. And of course this year they were added to the second disc of the re-release of Pepper's, going full circle as it were.

The problem as a fan for me is that despite knowing full well the history of those two as a single, released even before Pepper's, I now think of them and am used to their being associated with MMT. Similarly the songs on Yellow Submarine, and the singles from 68, do not correspond to the songs on Pepper's, MMT or TWA.

Add in I consider Yellow Submarine their worst album release, and I end up liking the idea of making one's own cd with all the 67 songs put on YS added to the 68 songs not included on TWA, which ftr includes Across the Universe (if so inclined, use the version on Anthology 2). See Heaven's post above on this.

 

Here's my definitive version!

Side A
1. Magical Mystery Tour
2. The Fool On The Hill
3. Hey Bulldog
4. Flying
5. Blue Jay Way
6. Your Mother Should Know
7. I Am The Walrus (Who Happens To Be Paul)

Side B
1. Across The Universe
2. All Together Now
3. Only A Northern Song
4. Hello, Goodbye
5. Baby You're A Rich Man
6. It's All Too Much
7. All You Need Is Love

Sadly had to move Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane onto Past Masters, buuut I think I made a pretty satisfactory album

 

as they were and never to be remixed...

 

Just play along

 

I did...

 

I would add only a northern song for the second George song and give Ringo all together now for his song

 

In the USA, Capitol nixed the EP release. They never sold the earlier EP releases very well on the Beatles or the Beach Boys. They did the wise thing and released the LP they released. In the UK Parlophone issued the EP set, they did for them what was right for that market, they issued the Capitol LP on Parlophone in 1973, when it sold briskly as an import (only sin there was using the Capitol tapes when they had lower generation sources at Abbey Road on file)

 

One can only imagine what may have been released had the Beatles stuck to an all-soundtrack version of Magical Mystery Tour (had it been legally possible, of course):

Side One

1. "Magical Mystery Tour" (with spoken part)
2. "The Fool on the Hill"
3. "She Loves You" (instrumental)
4. "Flying"
5. "The Bus"
6. Traffic - "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush" (not used in film)
7. "All My Loving" (instrumental)
8. "I Am the Walrus"

Side Two

1. "Hello Goodbye" (only end part used in film)
2. "Jessie's Dream"
3. "Blue Jay Way"
4. Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band - "Death Cab For Cutie"
5. "Shirley's Wild Accordion" (not used in film)
6. "Your Mother Should Know"
7. "Magical Mystery Tour (reprise)"/"Hello Goodbye (reprise)"

 

Simply add "Hello Goodbye" to the "Magical Mystery Tour" side of the album.- since it was on a single with "I Am The Walrus" & appears in the end credits of the film, making a 7 song Side 1... and then you've got 7 songs from '67 on the other Side 2... 14 songs & 3 George Harrison songs too!!

Option A
Side 1:
Magical Mystery Tour
The Fool On The Hill
Flying
Blue Jay Way
Your Mother Should Know
I Am The Walrus
Hello Goodbye

Side 2:
Strawberry Fields Forever
Penny Lane
Only A Northern Song
All Together Now
Baby You’re A Rich Man
All You Need Is Love
It’s All Too Much

The other option, for better, more Beatles balanced, listening... is too rearrange side 1 a bit, making sure to add a Lennon track ("Baby You're A Rich Man" or "All You Need Is Love") rather than McCartney's "Hello Goodbye"

And set it up so you don't have 3 Paul Songs before the first Lennon ...
Either put "Your Mother Should Know" at the end Side 1...or...
... put "I Am The Walrus" earlier & end with "Your Mother Should Know" as the second to last track, which would be a Lennon track (think "Baby You're A Rich Man" works better on Side 1 myself)

Option B
Side 1:
Magical Mystery Tour
The Fool On The Hill
Flying
I Am The Walrus
Blue Jay Way
Your Mother Should Know
Baby You're A Rich Man



Side 2:
Strawberry Fields Forever
Penny Lane
Only A Northern Song
Hello Goodbye
All You Need Is Love
It’s All Too Much
All Together Now

Finally just treat it as a non-Pepper, rest of '67 material mix & mash & just put them in any order you'd like... Option C ... however you slice it the material leans a little McCartney, like Pepper did, but is the equal of Sgt. Pepper, song quality wise, without a doubt... What a year!!

Paul (6)- "Magical Mystery Tour", "The Fool On The Hill", "Your Mother Should Know", "Hello Goodbye", "Penny Lane", "All Together Now"

John (4)- "I Am The Walrus", "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Baby You're A Rich Man", "All You Need Is Love"

George (3)- "Blue Jay Way", "It's Only A Northern Song", "It's All Too Much"

Beatles (1) - "Flying"