its a great album of course, not as cohesive as pepper---- might have been said before (what isn't, right?) but.....i think the highs (sff, penny lane, walrus, all you need is love, fool on the hill) are as good as anything on sgt pepper, while the lows (flying, mother should know, blue jay way, etc) are probably a bit lower then the 'lows' of sgt pepper. does that make sense? (and yes, i know, sff and penny lane are from the pepper sessions) its such a shame that abbey road studios didn't invest in 8 track tape machines back in early 66, or even late 65 (didn't the american studios in LA have them by then, I read somewhere) We could have had revolver thru mmt in even better sound then they are.
Yep, this. Will add that hundreds of listens later, it's their one record that, start to finish, still sounds fresh to me.
This thread started with the OP saying he felt this album is somehow "underrated", and then lists a number of hit singles that you could have had in your hands before you could even buy MMT. Now, look at the release from the standpoint of a person who would already have these songs anyway, and what's left on there to discover. Probably not the proper way to judge an album in terms of "overrated" or "underrated", but...you could certainly make a case for less value for the buck, if you wanted to be cynical about it.
It's been suggested in other threads(I can't find right now) but I think the best way to celebrate the MMT material now in 2022/2023 etc, is to put together a beautiful psychedelic box set on par with the Pepper one, a set that includes all the non-Pepper material recorded late 1966 - early 1968. New remixes of the masters, outtakes of every track, demos if available, and a few unreleased curiosities! At the least, such a box could feature these two CDs with a third CD of outtakes and demos, and a blu-ray... And I love this track list: CD1 1. Strawberry Fields Forever 2. Penny Lane 3. Only A Northern Song 4. All Together Now 5. All You Need Is Love 6. Hello Goodbye 7. Baby You're A Rich Man 8. Magical Mystery Tour 9. Flying (previously unreleased original length version)** 10. It's All Too Much (previously unreleased original length version)** 11. Mellotron Piece (previously unreleased on audio disc MMT instrumental)** 12. Jessie's Dream (previously unreleased on audio disc MMT instrumental)** CD2 1. I Am The Walrus 2. The Fool on the Hill 3. Blue Jay Way 4. Your Mother Should Know 5. The Inner Light 6. Lady Madonna 7. Hey Bulldog 8. Across The Universe (previously unreleased Hums Wild '68 version)** 9. You Know My Name (Look Up The Number - previously unreleased stereo full length version)** 10. Carnival of Light (previously unreleased)**
And LP1 Side A 1. Strawberry Fields Forever 2. Penny Lane 3. Only A Northern Song 4. All Together Now 5. All You Need Is Love 6. Hello Goodbye Side B 7. Magical Mystery Tour 8. Baby You're A Rich Man 9. Flying (previously unreleased original length version)** 10. It's All Too Much (previously unreleased original length version)** 11. Mellotron Piece (previously unreleased on audio disc MMT instrumental)** 12. Jessie's Dream (previously unreleased on audio disc MMT instrumental)** LP2 Side A 1. I Am The Walrus 2. The Fool on the Hill 3. Blue Jay Way 4. Your Mother Should Know 5. Hey Bulldog 6. Lady Madonna Side B 7. The Inner Light 8. Across The Universe (previously unreleased Hums Wild '68 version)** 9. You Know My Name (Look Up The Number - previously unreleased stereo full length version)** 10. Carnival of Light (previously unreleased)**
I listen to a custom configuration of this album, which I discovered semi-accidentally. In my digital collection, I append the singles/EPs to the albums (either at the beginning or end, as appropriate). I find that these songs act as perfect prologues and/or epilogues when I play an album digitally. Because Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields are moved to the top of Pepper, I'm left with a much more cohesive sounding "Magical Mystery Tour," as follows: All You Need is Love Baby, You're A Rich Man Hello Goodbye I Am the Walrus Magical Mystery Tour Fool On the Hill Flying Blue Jay Way Your Mother Should Know All Together Now It's All Too Much Hey Bulldog Lady Madonna The Inner Light Oddly, it sounds like a more proper Pepper follow-up than the official config, and accidentally comes in at 14 songs, 46 minutes. And it kind of rescues the Yellow Sub songs.
For me Hey Bulldog and Lady Madonna sound closer to white album, being kind of more straight rock band instrumentation songs without adventurous production of 1967 songs.
I don't think Magical Mystery Tour is underrated. The CD and subsequent generations of listeners know it as a core album (canon as it's fatuously named nowadays for some reason) and the EP set is regarded as a 60s curio. In 1967 we had the EPs, watched it on TV, and in January 1968 I bought, at great expense, a Capitol import, mono. It was the coolest album I had that spring. In 1971 I bought an Apple import, this time stereo, and literally carried it round with me for weeks. In some way having the extra five singles sides made it seem exponentially more impressive than the rather thin tracklist of the EP edition.
