Magical Mystery Tour (LP) - Your reaction the first time you heard it?

1. Magical Mystery Tour
2. The Fool On The Hill
3. Flying
4. Blue Jay Way
5. Your Mother Should Know
6. I Am The Walrus
7. Hello, Goodbye
8. Strawberry Fields Forever
9. Penny Lane
10. Baby You're A Rich Man
11. All You Need Is Love

 

After the disappointment of Sgt. Pepper, I was pleasantly surprised by Magical Mystery Tour.

 

One of the most disappointing albums of all time.

 

The Beatles - the gift that keeps on giving

 

I like it more than Sgt. Pepper.

 

I loved it so much so I played it again and again. I still play this album lots.
I was amazed at the sound effects. Blown away

 

Believe it or not, I was disappointed by Fool On The Hill...I had been familiar with the hit single version by Sergio Mendez and Brazil '66 prior to getting the MMT album in late '68...to this day, I prefer it to The Beatles version and it's one of the extremely few Beatle covers I actually like. Other than that I loved the album to the last drop. Having all those 1967 singles collected on an album side was one of the great moves Capitol made (even though I never considered it a 'real" album).

 

I received Pepper and MMT for Christmas 1967 from my future sister in law. I was the proverbial kid at Christmas! I know from my 10 year old perspective at the time, MMT got far more time on the record player than the good Sgt. did. As I matured (that's a laugh), it went the other way.

 

It wasn't quite the game changer Sgt. Pepper was, but it's a fine album. "Flying" and "Baby,You're a Rich Man" are,IMO, rather substandard, but most of the songs are great, especially "I Am the Walrus", "Penny Lane", "Strawberry Fields Forever", and "The Fool On the Hill." I've also always had a strange fondness for "Blue Jay Way." Something eerily atmospheric about it.

 

I had this album growing up. With the big book. On the Apple label too.
Later I got it on 8 Track.
I loved it.
I didn't care for Flying or Blue Jay Way or Fool On The Hill though.
But, I played that album it a lot.
I thought it was a great album.


Also I had the EP? The two 45s with just the songs from the film and same book as the album but smaller.

 

i thought wow...for being a joke album this thing is terrific.

*please note i dont think this is a joke album anymore* i just thought it was at first when i saw the cover and knew about the walrus song.

 

Bad movie but great record.

 

This was the 2nd Beatles album I ever got back when I was a kid. I must have been 8 or 9, 1973 or 1974. I got Meet The Beatles one Christmas, then Magical Mystery Tour the next year. I often wonder why my parents chose that one. They grew up in the 50's, went to college in the early 60's. They were into Elvis and the usual American Bandstand hits, but were never too adventurous musically. When I remember what they used to play on the console when we sat down to dinner in the early-mid 70's it was Jack Jones, The Vogues, Johnny Mathis, stuff like that. When I started listening to the radio I'm sure I picked up on the early Beatles tracks that were being played, as a 7 year old those are the ones that are going to catch your ear more than Yesterday, Let It Be, etc. So I get why they got me MTB for my first album (along with an Elvis album and a KTel record). But how they chose MMT the next year, given where their tastes were and how freaky that cover is, that's a good question. And the lack of radio hits that they would have heard too, if they were going by which Beatles albums had songs they likely had heard they probably would have picked A Hard Days Night or Help.

First time I heard it, couldn't give you any specifics about the tracks, but I loved it. Well, I loved side 1 and liked side 2. All the songs on side 1, thought they were all great. Side 2 I remember Penny Lane was an early favorite. Plus the booklet, for a little kid that was so cool!!! Back then I only had a few albums and played MMT over and over. I wish it was still that way, where I would play an album over and over and learn it inside and out.

 

I didn't think the book made much sense and I wondered why it never mentioned any of the songs on side two.

After I saw the movie I realized it made even less sense than the book.

 

Many songs off MMT were played in one form or another before I heard the album completely. I liked it.

 

Two of Sgt. Pepper's best songs are on MMT.

 

Fantastic.

 

MTT actually works better as a theme/concept album than Pepper.

Magical Mystery Tour is about a magical trip/tour and Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane (both physical places) are perfect additions.

 

You're right. It's much more cohesive than Sgt. Pepper.

 

I absolutely loved it! I listen to it more than Sgt. Peppers.

 

I avoided it for years because of the album cover (And I mean the import Album cover).

 

Got it the day, or maybe weekend it was released. Didn't know the album was coming, was super excited to see it in the store. I thought the package was cool, but I was a little disappointed that I already had 6 of the cuts on singles. It's a really great album from an exciting Beatles era.

 

Reaction at the time:
I brought it to my college dorm and played for some friends. After Pepper we were expecting something extraordinary. Everyone was let down. I find it a pleasant if not memorable listen now but at the time we hated Rich Man, Your Mother Should Know, Hello Goodbye. Flying was filler. All You Need is Love seemed too obvious.
OK record but not the killer expected after Rubber Soul, Revolver, Pepper.

 

My copy was an 80s black label reissue. Maybe my (mostly second hand) albums until then were mostly mono but having the title track blast out of my speakers was pretty incredible.

Even today MMT sounds different than other Beatle albums...like the instruments were blended better in the stereo space as opposed to being crammed either left or right.

 

As I have posted in Joey's thread, it's one of my favorite albums of all time, so don't look for a balanced perspective from me about it.

Anyway, from Magical Mystery Tour and onwards, waiting for Beatles albums became an obsession for me. It sounds pretty fan boy, but it was a transcendent experience for me. It's hard to imagine now when we find out EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING in a minute on the internet, but Magical Mystery Tour was the first album that I knew the actual release date for, probably because by that time I had a subscription to the Beatles Monthly Book. Before that , albums just appeared at the record store unannounced. What a weird thought that is now,huh ?
Imagine walking into, say... Target these days and there is a new album out of nowhere from your favorite artist. It never happens now.

I heard the song "Magical Mystery Tour" for the first time previewed on WLS or WCFL sitting in my buddies Camaro waiting for his girlfriend to come out of her house because we were going on a double date.

On release day I skipped lunch at school and ran to the Sears at Six Corners ( in Chicago) , which was a pretty good run to get there, (about a mile) buy the album, and get back to school before the next period. Keep in mind, I could have bought the album AFTER school, but just knowing the album was sitting in a rack at Sears made me get it as soon as possible. Nuts.

I love "Magical Mystery Tour" (the song) beyond all reason. I know it's not one of their better songs, but it's absolutely one of my favorite tracks.
I especially love Paul's piano part in the outro. It's so meandering jazz/psych, off the top of his head, and he's never played it the same since.
I also love "Flying" more that is reasonably defensible.

The album was released when the entire Beatles EXPERIENCE was a Magical Mystery Tour for me. As amazing as all their earlier things were,
from Sgt.Pepper onward my love for their music rose to an uncomfortable level.

As I posted in Joey's thread, I have 16 or 17 copies of Mystery Tour so I'll spare you my track by track analysis.


Well...you asked.
Steve pays me by the word here, but I'm sure all you other guys have worked out the same deal.