THE BEATLES
Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
Parlophone/Capitol
Produced by GEORGE MARTIN

The Beatles' unimaginably odd TV special had a double-EP's worth of new material. In the U.S., this was fleshed out into a sort of companion to SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND, completing the picture of the Beatles' unique work in 1967. The resulting package was popular enough that it eventually became accepted as the definitive release of the MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR songs and is generally regarded as a full studio album of sorts between PEPPER and the White Album.

The film songs would be filler in any other context save one each from John and Paul. Little need be said about the silly-clever-funny "I Am the Walrus," resembling a passage from In His Own Write set to music, but in the case of Paul's "The Fool on the Hill" it bears pointing out that he produces a surprisingly dark character sketch that is as sophisticated as any of John Lennon's. Away from the comfort of "Eleanor Rigby," McCartney casts a pall over his stark portrait with an unforgiving circular melody.

"Unforgiving" is a good word for the Beatles' output for the next year or so through the beginning of 1969. Ignorant of audiences and quickly outgrowing the fashions of the day, the band would use its impeccable stature to move outside of typical commercial territory entirely, not so much musically but in the respect that their work in this period doesn't really give anything to its audience straightforwardly. You either get it or you don't.

Even if it seemed like elevator music in 1967, "Flying" is rather innovative and may have had some impact on the New Age industry decades later... but the Moog drone that closes this instrumental would be far too oppressive for easy-listening audiences.

George's appallingly repetitious "Blue Jay Way" is the most menacing cut here, in a crop of nothing but songs that attempt either menace or vindictive satire -- exemplifying the latter is Paul's "Your Mother Should Know," not half as funny as it thinks it is. At least "Blue Jay Way" has its atmosphere; "Mother" is just labored, obviously more thought out than, say, "Hello Goodbye," but also lacking any sense of discovery or fun. The Beatles are bored.

Bored enough to already be making fun of their own PEPPER aesthetic in the title track; like the corresponding cut on PEPPER and its "reprise," "Magical Mystery Tour" is useless outside of its existence here and has the Beatles creating instantly-disposable music with alarming proficiency. The garish cover design confirms a ludicrous identity crisis in the wake of Brian Epstein's death; either Paul's bombastic humor has taken over or everyone just needs to have a lie down.

Like the film, then, MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR is harmless fluff that will strike most Beatles fanatics as cold and forced to a degree unheard of even on SGT. PEPPER, which gives a similar impression on the heels of RUBBER SOUL and REVOLVER but is A HARD DAY'S NIGHT compared to the TV songs here. Sonically, at least, you can still count on them; George Martin's production is a delight from start to finish, consistently surprising and entertaining. But that's the kind of thing you expect from a TV series, not a rock album, and in terms of their direct emotional connection to the listener, the Beatles are all but entirely aloof.

Two songs are exceptions, but "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" date from before PEPPER even commenced recording. They are part of side two, which fills out the LP with all other non-album material released by the Beatles this year. The rest of it is not even a hundredth as impressive as those two stupendous compositions.

"Hello, Goodbye" is pure day-glo stupidity, with the substance of a circus sideshow act, and an equal amount of shame. A promo film had the Beatles, with no apparent irony, performing the song in their Sgt. Pepper outfits while acrobats and jugglers paraded around behind them. The song's lyrics are no better than Wings' maligned "Bip Bop." You wonder how this existed on the flip side of "Walrus" without causing a combustion of some sort.

One more single makes the cut, "All You Need is Love" backed with "Baby You're a Rich Man." John contributes both, but the dire title of the A-side speaks for itself, and the song is Lennon at his worst, preaching and philosophizing with an empty-headed slogan at his side. "Baby You're a Rich Man" seems to be a satire of the same thing, which doesn't help him make his point. Both songs amount to novelty numbers, though they don't have the enthused heart of even "Yellow Submarine."

The film is more fun, but even it is best in small doses and amounts to a long music video with some nightmarish, twisted tomfoolery in between. (That's the best part.)

Although there's too much essential work here for MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR to be remotely one to skip ("Strawberry Fields" and "Penny Lane" alone up it from *** to ****), I wouldn't put it at the top of your Beatles list. It leaves me very, very cold.