Why did the Magical Mystery Tour album become canon and Hey Jude didn't?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Pizza, Feb 13, 2018.

  1. NothingBrightAboutIt

    NothingBrightAboutIt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    If I didn't know, you couldn't convince me John was younger than 35.
     
  2. ohnothimagen

    ohnothimagen "Live music is better!"

    Location:
    Canada
    That is true:laugh:
    Couldn'ta said it better myself:cheers:
    I've told the story before about how, when I first heard Hey Jude when I was twelve I was dumb enough to think that it was a new 1969 version of "Can't Buy Me Love" and I knew nothing of the provenance of "I Should Have Known Better" at that time (I hadn't heard A Hard Day's Night yet)- so as far as I knew ISHKB was just a retro-sounding late period song.

    Of course, thirty years later I know differently:D
    Agreed, but we can't kid ourselves that artistic considerations or convenience were the motivating factors behind the Hey Jude LP. Like most things involving Allen Klein the main motivation was the bucks.
     
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  3. Changingman

    Changingman Forum Resident

    That's correct when thinking of the CD market (and cassette, probably). But you must have in mind that in 1988 the vinyl market was still huge. All major releases were available in the three main formats (LP, CD, MC). Past Masters would have still needed to be a 3-LP album. It was also put out for LP and cassette buyers to complete their collection of every officially released Beatle track.

    Arguably, if EMI hadn't repackaged all the Beatles catalogue for the CD market they wouldn't have thought of putting out Past Masters. But for me the double LP was a welcome addition to my collection back in 1988, as I could have all the original non-album tracks together on one album.
     
    Last edited: Feb 15, 2018
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  4. nikh33

    nikh33 Senior Member

    Location:
    Liverpool, England
    That's just not the case though. Second Album 11, Something New 11, Beatles 65 11, Beatles VI 11, Yesterday & Today 11, US Revolver 11, Magical Mystery Tour 11.
    The Hey Jude album fits right in with it's 10 songs, especially as Hey Jude at 7 minutes+ is twice as long as any of the other tracks.
     
    Last edited: Feb 15, 2018
  5. nikh33

    nikh33 Senior Member

    Location:
    Liverpool, England
    ...and all in stereo, as the singles had been in mono (except the three latest tracks). Hey Jude the song was particularly nice to have in stereo.
     
  6. Somerset Scholar

    Somerset Scholar Ace of Spades

    Location:
    Bath
    A very poor compilation indeed. You might as well stick any collection of Beatles tracks together. Deservedly dropped.
     
  7. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Not as old as these twenty-somethings: ;)

    [​IMG]
     
  8. Some people I know who dislike it often come up with the argument that "Can't Buy Me Love" and "I Should Have Known Better" are already on A Hard Day's Night. I have always liked it, but the Past Masters CDs now make this one unnecessary. The 2nd Past Masters disc basically covers the same period as this album, but with a chronological sequencing the flow is much better.
     
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  9. SJB

    SJB Beloved Parasitic Nuisance

    To me, MMT is canon because it's a logical, self-contained album, whereas Hey Jude is a mishmash with some redundant tracks relative to the UK catalog.

    I vividly recall buying the White Album on CD at a record store near my house, before going back to college in the fall. I remember MMT being released out of sequence, and the catalog number not fitting in. I surmised at the time that MMT had been belatedly added to the release schedule.

    The blue box is missing about half the single A-sides as well. The Rarities album compiled for the blue box doesn't have any 1967 material on it - and it does include the Long Tall Sally tracks, so clearly EP tracks were worthy of inclusion. The omission of MMT material from Rarities is a tacit acknowledgment of MMT's status as an album.

    The Very Together cover was a conscious effort to cash in on the Paul Is Dead hysteria, and boost sales of a compilation of relatively uninteresting Sheridan tapes.

    With room to spare for the four unique tracks from Yellow Submarine.

    Other Capitol albums at the time listed songs out of sequence. Some earlier US Beatles albums listed the tracks out-of-sequence on the front cover, and in order on the back. I think Hey Jude listed the tracks just once in keeping with the minimalist cover art. (And the photo on the back was originally intended as the front cover, so the out-of-order listing would have been consistent with the earlier practice of disregarding the track order when listing titles on the front cover.)
     

  10. I have asked this before but didn't get a satisfying answer. If the MMT album was supposed to be part of the canon before the advent of the CD format, then why is it absent from the BC-13 (blue box) LP collection (released in 1978)?
    The blue box is missing about half the single A-sides as well. The Rarities album compiled for the blue box doesn't have any 1967 material on it - and it does include the Long Tall Sally tracks, so clearly EP tracks were worthy of inclusion. The omission of MMT material from Rarities is a tacit acknowledgment of MMT's status as an album.

    True but my point is the blue box isn't supposed to be missing any album.


    Yes I have always wondered what came first, that Polydor album from November '69 (even if it was a non-US thing) or that Paul-is-dead rumour from the radio DJ...
    The Very Together cover was a conscious effort to cash in on the Paul Is Dead hysteria, and boost sales of a compilation of relatively uninteresting Sheridan tapes.

    Thanks for this! I figured it was part of the hoax but just didn't know exactly what came first. This front cover is really crazy... Talk about pushing the envelope! This went about as far as it reasonably could within the time frame...
     
  11. SJB

    SJB Beloved Parasitic Nuisance

    This is just a guess, but perhaps the blue box excluded MMT because it wasn't originally a British Parlophone album; it's something of an outlier. The exclusion of major hit singles shows that the blue box wasn't supposed to be a complete collection. With Rarities included, a blue box owner would have everything once they added MMT, 1962-1966 and 1967-1970 (the most efficient means of gathering the A-sides at that time).

    The original "clues" are kind of subtle because they aren't really "clues" at all. The cover of Very Together, on the other hand, was created after the story blew up. Unlike the other PID "clue" albums, Very Together was issued only in Canada, by Polydor rather than by Parlophone or Capitol; the Beatles would not have had any involvement in the album's compilation, packaging, or release. In America, Polydor released the same album with a tamer title and cover.
    [​IMG]
     
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  12. HfxBob

    HfxBob Forum Resident

    I think facial foliage tends to add age.
     
  13. Ah, but Paul is the only one here marked with a rope "cross"... :)
     
  14. Mike Visco

    Mike Visco Forum Resident

    Location:
    Newark, NJ
    What do the Avett Brothers have to do with this thread???:D
     
  15. ohnothimagen

    ohnothimagen "Live music is better!"

    Location:
    Canada
    And, as others have pointed out in the past, The Beatles' late period look -such as on the Hey Jude cover- could be interpreted as a nod to The Band, with their denims and facial fur in abundance...
     
  16. Mike Visco

    Mike Visco Forum Resident

    Location:
    Newark, NJ
    Even if you throw out Come and Get it, looking at left over studio stuff from 68-69, the Wildlife ATU sounds like a completely different version and was officially released. WMGGW acoustic and the alternate Ob-La-Di could have been offered up with polish that was clearly displayed in both Anthology and Love. Point being-a cool "new" LP could have been assembled rather than a hodgepodge (a later title of a Beatle boot). When Got to Get You Into My Life was released as a single 10 years after release, people treated it like a brand new Beatle song and it was a top 10 hit at least in the US. Imagine a bunch of alternate versions and unheard songs not far removed from their recording timeline, which in my opinion would have not detracted from either Abbey Road or Let it Be.
     
  17. Keith V

    Keith V Forum Resident

    Location:
    Secaucus, NJ
    Imagine the albums Past Masters 2 and 3 would have been had MMT not been made canon....and Mono Masters with the addition of Yellow Submarine songs.
     
  18. AFOS

    AFOS Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brisbane,Australia
    Also Paul is grouped to the right with Pete Best - both Ex Beatles[​IMG]
     
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  19. So it would have been for the Kings of the single... :O)
     
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  20. lemonade kid

    lemonade kid Forever Changing

    Me too. It was a kind of historical journey through their hits that had never been on any LPs. I love it still---every track. Love that cover too...Has a mystique about it, now & then.

    At the tender age of 20, I was already waxing nostalgic over the Beatles, so the Hey Jude LP was a perfect LP to my ol' ears.

    :tiphat:

    Great comments here, guys!
     
    Last edited: Feb 15, 2018
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  21. ShockControl

    ShockControl Bon Vivant and Raconteur!

    Location:
    Lotus Land
    Just give your Magical Mystery Tour CD boring cover art and a boring title, and it instantly becomes a volume of past masters. Problem solved.
     
  22. numer9

    numer9 Beatles Apologist

    Location:
    Philly Burbs
    New York Times February 25 1987:

    E.M.I. plans to release eight more Beatles albums by October -''Help,'' ''Rubber Soul'' and ''Revolver'' from 1965-66 in April, ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' on the 20th anniversary of its release in June 1967, ''The Beatles'' (1968, usually known as the ''White Album'') and the 1969 soundtrack of ''Yellow Submarine'' in August and ''Abbey Road'' (1969) and ''Let It Be'' (1970) in October. Those CD's will be in stereo. ''Magical Mystery Tour,'' which was released in the United States as an album, was an EP in Britain, and songs from it will be released on CD's later.
     
  23. lemonade kid

    lemonade kid Forever Changing

    Never seemed short to me either. Some of my favorites are the shortest and sweetest. Beatles '65 a fave that I love still and it clocks in at something like 29 minutes, both sides total. Vinyl of course. Love to play and flip those old discs.
     
    Last edited: Feb 15, 2018
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  24. Batears52

    Batears52 Senior Member

    Location:
    Near Baltimore, MD
    dlokazip is correct! Magical Mystery Tour was released on CD after The White Album & Yellow Submarine. I was a one-stop buyer when The Beatles CDs were released - I actually kept the original solicitation booklets for all of the CD releases:
    • Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night & Beatles For Sale: Street Date Feb 26, 1987
    • Help, Rubber Soul & Revolver: Street Date Apr 30, 1987
    • Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: Street Date Jun 1, 1987
    • The White Album & Yellow Submarine: Street Date Aug 25, 1987 (They actually mis-printed the catalog # for The White Album as 46442/46443. 46442 is Pepper. I even kept the correction memo - sigh - I guess I'm slightly OCD when it comes to The Beatles!)
    • Magical Mystery Tour: Street Date Sep 22, 1987
    • Abbey Road & Let It Be: Street Date Oct 20, 1987
    • Past Masters, Vol. 1 & Past Masters, Vol. 2: Street Date Mar 8, 1988
    All dates above are US street dates. If any of the titles were postponed, I don't have the revised dates.
     
  25. MarkTWIC

    MarkTWIC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bradford
    I'd love to buy The Beatles "Rock n Roll Music" vols 1 and 2 on CD. I bought it on Cassette with the nicer cover in the early 1980s in the UK and it was my first Beatles album. I still love the track choice and running order. I do know this isn't going to happen but I would buy it. It does have George Martin remixes that I presume have never been available digitally.
     
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