"Roll Up!"; 50th Anniversary of Magical Mystery Tour - The Beatles

you bet...

 

One reason might be that they are inferior to every other song that was included on Side 2.

 

Simple answer. Those 3 songs (plus Hey Bulldog was added later in 1968) were pulled aside specifically for the Yellow Submarine film and soundtrack. So they were off-limits for Capitol to touch (thus, precluding their being added to Magical Mystery Tour).

 

Do we know that for certain? I'm picturing an alternate reality where Capitol pestered George Martin for new, unreleased material to pad out their planned Magical Mystery Tour album and Big George handed over "Northern Song" or "All Together Now"...he could have done that, couldn't he?

 

I'm pretty sure they were already slated for YS by then, which at the time was supposed to be an EP. So they had a "home" already.

 

Yes. Those songs were already reserved for the Yellow Submarine movie, and I believe that this deal was done while Brian Epstein was still alive.

 

Supposedly, that was one of the last deals Mr. Epstein worked out.

 

When I first saw the LP for sale in early December 1967,there were mono and stereo copies on displayed. All my albums were mono up to this point but I bought the stereo version because my older sister had a new Zenith portable stereo. My first stereo LP. And this was the first time I heard the Fabs in stereo. And I loved it. Especially Strawberry Fields which was crazy back then. I realized in my 16 year old mind that stereo could not only be a realistic soundfield but a completely imaginative soundfield out of the normal. I wish that mix would be reissued on CD.

I played the album to death and the booklet and photos were treasured. I still own that beat up copy but now also have both stereo and mono first issue Capitol in my collection, as well as the original UK EP stereo version with the blue page of lyrics inserted in the middle of the booklet. And the 2009 reissues. And the Blu-ray and the deluxe box set. The Blu-ray surround mix of the songs and film made me appreciate the film much more as it is very immersive. Have to play it this year on Boxing Day.

And Strawberry Hills is very near Blueberry Hill where I lost my thrill.

 

We certainly know that U.S band The Residents had heard of MTB.

 

Well Arnie I'm sure that's partly true, but there's a bit more to it. For example originally Baby You're A Rich Man was slated to be one of ( I suppose ) 5 songs earmarked for Yellow Submarine. Yet as we know it was a B side & then part of the Mystery Tour album. So changes in the plan did happen.

The only reason I brought it up, is because obviously, All Together, Only A Northern & It's All Too Much have that Pepper-Mystery Tour 67 vibe.. Usually A Beatles studio album has about 14 tracks. I realize the Capitol versions are usually about 10-11. But in this case, it just seems like expanding Mystery Tour with those three, & then offering say Lady Madonna, Inner Light, Across Universe & You Know My Name might've served about the same purpose... Of 4-5 'new' Beatles songs or of course by the films release date, they had Not Guilty, Sour Milk Sea, Junk , New Mary Jane, Step Inside Love, Circles & Happy Christmas Micklemoose available. Just to name 7 later 68 songs... They actually had at least 5-6 more beyond those, Mr Mustard, Polythene Pam, Long Winding Road, Hey Jude & Revolution.....


So the whole those 4 songs were set aside in stone for Yellow Sub is kinda not totally Believable to me.. coming up with 4 archival songs for Yellow Sub wasn't hard to do, especially since it didn't come out till early 69.

The Beatles lost a free album in there, there's easily an album of 68 stuff not on the White album. It's fine, I'd like to see a correction. Go back officially maybe expand Mystery Tour to 13-14 tracks & expand Yellow Submarine to 10-13 new tracks also, by using Lady Madonna, Inner Light & Across The Universe.

 

Regarding "Baby You're A Rich Man": It does make a brief appearance in the Yellow Sub film. But I don't know if the song was specifically proposed to be one of the exclusive songs for the soundtrack. People have assumed that, and have printed that in books, but does Lewisohn say that was indeed the case? If he does, then Lewisohn should be trusted. BUT if he does not, then I think we'll need to see what he says in the future in his next two books.

In my opinion, "Baby You're A Rich Man" might have been among many songs that could have been exclusively given over to the Yellow Sub soundtrack. For whatever reason, the Beatles decided on All Together Now, Only A Northern Song, and It's All Too Much (in 1967), as well as Hey Bulldog (in 1968).

 

The songs had to be animated for the mid-1968 film. Hey Bulldog was a late addition, but I think the other songs must have been animated (and therefore chosen) before then.

 

Correct. The film itself came out in July 1968 in the UK. It was delayed until November 1968 for its USA premiere. And then the soundtrack LP came out last in January 1969.

 

That's certainly right, they'd absolutely need that time.

 

This also points to how different things were business-wise in the "entertainment" industry back then. Can you imagine a blockbuster Beatles film today getting such a spread apart release schedule as back in 1968-69? For maximizing of publicity, promotion, and profits, the film would have been released at an approximately similar date in both the UK and USA, along with a soundtrack LP at the same time. There would not have been a 4-5 month wait for the USA film to be released after the UK film, and the soundtrack would not have been released another 2 months later.

I wonder: If Brian Epstein had lived, would he have allowed such a thing to happen? Or would he have insisted on a much tighter and coordinated scheduling of the film and the soundtrack LP?

 

Since it was pulled to be the B side of "All You Need is Love", it was no longer a film exclusive. However, a bit of the tune was used...in the US edit. (A different excerpt was included in '99 probably to justify its place on the Songtrack.)

 

I received this album 41 years ago today for my birthday. I was 14 years old. I was so excited!!!

 

Arnie we all realize the early intent was to have 4-5 "new" songs for the film soundtrack. But by the time they got fairly close to the release of the soundtrack album.

Why didn't the Beatles release a full new Beatles album at least on Capitol. Instead of just the 4 songs. Because they had a lot of material available, that hadn't been released at all, or had only been released as non album or specialty tracks.

If the Beatles did 2 studio albums for the year. Capitol would generally try & expand that to 3 albums by using singles, B sides & lifting 2-3 tracks from another album. If the Beatles only had 1 full studio album like 66 & 67. Capitol expanded Mystery Tour from EP to LP, & in 66 where they only had Revolver. Capitol lifted 3 Revolver tracks, & the Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out single. Along with a few Rubber Soul & Help tracks to create Yesterday & Today... Of course the Beatles hated it hence the infamous "Butcher cover".

But by later 68 when the soundtrack album was getting close, they had tons of songs either unreleased or not released on a proper album. The Beatles contract starting Apple gave the Beatles more control. But there was no need to "lift" steal or borrow anything from the White album.

1. Lady Madonna
2. Inner Light
3. All Together Now
4. Only A Northern
5. Across Universe
6. Hey Bulldog
7. You know my name
8. Xmastime is here again
9. Paperback Writer
10 Rain
11 Not Guilty
12 New Mary Jane
13 Shirley's Accordian
14 Junk
15 It's All Too Much
16 Revolution single
17 Hey Jude

Plenty of material, they had just done it with Mystery Tour & they were about to do it again with the Capitol Hey Jude-Beatles again comp album.

The White album came out in November 1968 ? Why not assemble 10-14 songs for a Yellow Submarine album in April, May or June ?

It's all water under the bridge, I've harped on this point in several threads over the past few weeks. Forgive me people. It's just that it's 99% obvious, there's a pretty decent 11-13 song album of unreleased & non LP only songs.

Maybe contractually United Artists caused a problem. Some of the available songs weren't in the movie. But in hindsight we can see all those tunes were "Free" nothing pulled from another album. Except Beatles Again.. Which hadn't happened yet.

Someone the other day even suggested I'm Down should be considered. Great song, it's 1965, but it's the type of Rock N Roll track that's timeless. It was also suggested for Yesterday & Today by someone, instead of lifting 3 of Lennon's Revolver tracks.

I'd be happy if Apple corrected all this. Even at this late date. Fix the Y&T tracklist & compile the "FREE" Yellow Sub full Beatles LP without taking from another album.

Any reasonable reason why the Beatles, Capitol EMI didn't issue a 12 song "New" Yellow Sub Beatles album ?

 

All we can do is surmise about this. I hope though that Lewisohn will explain it all eventually.

But if I had to guess: I think that after the pretty steady sessions for Pepper (from November 1966 to Apri 1967), the Beatles didn't want to commit to the recording of a full album. They wanted a break of sorts, although they still wanted to do something. They did agree to the All You Need Is Love/Baby You're A Rich Man single, and the worldwide satellite film link-up, which kept them fully in the limelight. Plus through Paul's instigation, they got the idea of Magical Mystery Tour. And they decided to contribute 6 new songs to that project. Why though not a full album? Who knows? Maybe they thought the idea of a double-EP was a brilliant idea, one that no other rock band had done before, and that they could finish it quicker without the need to flesh it out with a full 12-14 songs.

Same for the February 1968 sessions that produced Lady Madonna, Across The Universe, Hey Bulldog, and The Inner Light (vocals). Why not record a full album BEFORE they went to India, instead of just doing one 45 single (Lady Madonna/The Inner Light)? This too was a possibility, but the band decided in both cases to keep things simpler and wouldn't commit to a full album project until after India.

Lots of possibilities, and Lewisohn might have detailed paperwork indicating certain meetings in mid-1967 wherein the band and/or Brian Epstein met and decided when and how to proceed with these music/film projects. As mentioned, much of the initial setting up of the Magical Mystery Tour film and the Yellow Sub film was done while Brian was still alive. So whatever terms that he entered into with the BBC (for Magical Mystery Tour film) and with United Artists (for the Yellow Sub film) may have been the determining factors about why they did not go all-out and record full albums at that time.

 

I don't think they had the material for any more than what they recorded then. And both of their previous films had used 6 or so new songs. John Lennon wasn't exactly prolific in the second half of 1967; he basically had one song, Walrus and the verses of Baby You're A Rich Man.

 

Yes, that is true. I was just hypothesizing though why they might have made their decision to not make a full album. For example, they could have initially decided in mid-1967 to make a full album, but then changed their minds later on and only devoted enough material to a double-EP. But that was not the case. It seems that they never wanted to do a full album at this time.

 

I love bass. That's why I love the German DMM white vinyl copy of the White Album!!

Beave

 

As I understand it, the Fabs and powers that be were going to release yellow Sub as an EP. that’s was discouraged because of US market.

 

the MFSL WA suits me just fine...

 

I was born a bit late, so I first heard this album circa 1977. Loved it right from the start! Saw the movie about a year later and was completely bewildered

Stereo vs. Mono? I have definite opinions on the other Beatles albums, but this one...I really can't say definitively.

JQ