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Summary: The Beatles, "Magical Mystery Tour", The Beatles 1967
Comment: The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour often is not mentioned due too the fact Sgt. Peppers came out that same year. On this album The Beatles are obviously becoming more experimental and using many more affects and trying too be more psychedelic. Well it worked on songs such as, "Flying", and "Blue Jay Way", are extremly psychedelic songs using lots of affects. This album was also the last of The Beatles making really acid rock albums and after 1967 The Beatles started too fall apart. The songs on here have all remained classics, "Hello Goodbye", "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Penny Lane", and "All You Need Is Love". This album is for any of those who have a taste for psychedelic music buy today and is for any Beatles fan.
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Summary: One of My Fav.s
Comment: A lot has been said about the Beatles, and it leaves little to add. I enjoyed this piece when I first bought it back in 1972, which was 5 years after it's initial release.
It blew me away then and it still does to this day. All ages will identify with this. Simply enjoyable to listen to.
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Summary: In memory of my brother
Comment: Introduction: My brother, Marc, was a great fan of the Beatles. He was almost nine years older than me, and his music was what I listened to (not always by choice!) when I was a kid. My brother died, suddenly and unexpectedly, on 8/6/2002. Today, 8/10/08, would have been his fifty-seventh birthday.
Magical Mystery Tour was the first album I bought, as a cassette tape, that might not have thrilled my parents. They saw The Beatles as hippies and a bad influence, but they did not openly object. I listened to it over and over again, way back when, and still enjoy the songs, for the most part. I now see the album as a mixed bag, quality-wise. Of course, all of this is just my opinion of the album.
The songs are:
1. Magical Mystery Tour - Where else to start but with the title song? Not every album does, but it makes perfect sense to me. This is a very cheerful, somewhat silly song, and I like it, for the most part, but feel that it has a somewhat weak ending. It is like a tour guide inviting you along for a ride, and the ride is the rest of the album. ****
2. Fool on the Hill - This song seems somewhat of a lyrics-melody mismatch, as the instrumental is cheerful, but the words tell a melancholy tale. It has some real depth to it, as the Fool could be someone under the influence, someone mentally ill, someone who is so rapt up in recreation that he becomes oblivious, or something else entirely. It is interesting to listen to, and is one of my favorites on this album. *****
3. Flying - Hmmm, how did this get here? It is a nice, if not memorable, almost-completely-instrumental piece, with the only vocals not involving any words. It is okay, but no more than that. ***
4. Blue Jay Way - This is easily my least favorite song on this album. Even though I have listened to the album many time, starting decades ago, I keep forgetting it. When I listen to it again, I groan and say, "Why did they do this one?" I find it depressing and shallow, and not worth my time. Maybe I keep forgetting it is that I very much want to forget it. *
5. Your Mother Should Know - This one, as far as mood goes, reminds me a bit of When I'm Sixty-Four, except it is not as catchy or memorable. As far as fitting in with the album, it almost feels like someone said, "We need one more song," and The Beatles complied, similar to when a book feels like the author was writing it to fulfill a contractual obligation to a publisher. ***
6. I Am the Walrus - This is another one from this album that I dislike. It is nonsensical, it meanders, and it is replete with phrases and terms that sound symbolic but, after a while, I get the feeling that The Beatles were just trying to sound inscrutable and enigmatic, to give the impression of depth and profundity, but it has no real depth or meaning to it, as far as I am confirmed. The instrumental part of it is pretty good, though. **
7. Hello Goodbye - Just when you start looking for a towel to throw in, giving up on this album, this gem begins a string of the three best pieces on the album. It is interesting to hear, both musically and lyrically, with a theme of two lovers being completely at odds, without animosity, and drifting away from one another. *****
8. Strawberry Fields Forever - This song is a prime example of me liking something I would not expect to like. If you just read the lyrics, I think the song does not make much sense. But, when I listen to it, I like it. I think it is not a song telling a story, which is what I usually like, but a song meant only to create a feeling or set a mood. It does that, for me, very well. ****
9. Penny Lane - I usually like songs that are about something meaningful and, at first glance, this one is not. It is about ordinary life on a street named Penny Lane. That sounds very mundane and boring. It is not! It sings of neighborhood, home, and community. The melody is cheerful and flowing. Every time I hear this song, I want to stop whatever I am doing and sing along. It is not meaningless. It is about life itself. *****
10. Baby You're a Rich Man - I do like the music and the sound of this song. For some reason, I do not find it memorable. When I listen to it, though, I like it each time, as it talks about how people change when they become wealthy, and how other people might see them. It does get a bit repetitive at the end, though. ****
11. All You Need Is Love - It would have been good to end this album, and this review, on an upbeat note, but it was not meant to be, I guess. This is an odd song, that starts with a brassy fanfare, includes very simplistic lyrics that get repetitive, and I have some concerns about the message. Love is an essential part of life, in my opinion, but if you understand the terms of formal logic, there is a big difference between necessary and sufficient. Air and food are necessary parts of human life, but we die without water, a strong and stable immune system, shelter, and many other things. In other words, air is necessary to life, but it is not sufficient. This song repeatedly forwards the idea that "love is all you need," which means it is a necessary and sufficient ingredient. Maybe I am being way too picky, and I can be, at times, but if you put a point on the table, over and over again, it better stand up to scrutiny. This song does not do so, and it just annoys me. The instrumentals are good, and the voices do sound good, but thumbs down on the message. **
Overall: Many albums have an underlying, connective message, or theme, like chapters in a book. That is not necessary, but I like it, when it is there. This album is at the opposite end of the spectrum. It is a hodgepodge compilation of songs that vary markedly in quality, mood, depth, and message. I still have very fond memories of it from childhood, but that does not make it a good album. It is redeemed, somewhat, by the second, seventh, and ninth songs, and Penny Lane is one of the best work by the group. As an album, it earns thirty-eight of a possible fifty-five stars, or an average rating of 3.45 stars.
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Summary: The Walrus
Comment: I have always loved this album. So underrated. So many Beatle albums are good, this one is great. I could listen to this forever, and trust me, I will.
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Summary: This was my first Beatles' album--and it still sounds good!
Comment:
Yep, I'd heard plenty of Beatles' songs. But when my brother gave me the LP (vinyl) of this album after it had come out, this was my first Beatles' recording. I wore it out playing it on my cheap record players and too-long-used needles. But it was a lot of fun while it lasted!
The sound is a lot different from the early Beatles albums. There are some glorious songs on this CD--as well as a few idiosyncratic items.
The CD begins with the title song, "Magical Mystery Tour." A pleasing composition, with repetitive (almost hypnotic) lines. A sampling:
"Roll up--Roll up for the Magical Mystery Tour,
Roll up Roll up for the Mystery Tour.
I've got an invitation to make a reservation."
Psychedelic music that is still musical!
This is followed by "The Fool on the Hill," a simple tune with good keyboard work. Some lines:
"And nobody seems to like him they can tell what he wants to do.
And he never shows his feelings but the Fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down. . . ."
Then, the late Beatles' classic, "I Am the Walrus."
Remember the tag line?
"I am the eggman, they are the eggmen
I am the walrus goo goo ga joo."
The CD closes out with a series of neat songs, one after the other--"Hello Goodbye," "Strawberry Fields Forever" (I really like that song!), "Penny Lane (Another neat tune), "Baby You're A Rich Man," and "All You Need Is Love" (a classic Beatles' work).
Maybe not as well known or as well reputed as works recorded at about the same time (think Sgt. Pepper. . .), but an estimable work nonetheless.
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