The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
The summer of 1967 had been eventful for the Beatles to say the least. The Summer of Love was in full swing, and the Beatles had played "All You Need Is Love", a new composition, for the Our World satellite broadcast (which would later be released as a single). While the four of them were attending a Transcendental Meditation class held by the Maharishi in Wales (Bowie decided not to attend), they got the news that their long-time manager Brian Epstein had died by apparent suicide. Devastated, the band decided to take a short break before continuing recording of their follow-up to From Liverpool.
Paul McCartney wanted the Beatles' next film to be psychedelic in nature, taking influence from the Merry Pranksters in the United States. It was to be totally unscripted and follow a psychedelic bus ride across the countryside with the Beatles going on "magical" adventures. Following Epstein's death, recording for the film started almost immediately (Epstein had given the ok for the film before his death). It was clear from filming that McCartney never had any clear direction for the movie, and a majority of it was ad-libbed. Yet, McCartney was happy with how the movie came out once production had finished.
While the album was originally going to be a soundtrack album with only songs from the film, the clear abundance of songs from the four songwriters transformed it into a true successor for From Liverpool. They changed the cover from a shot from the film to something completely original. While originally it was to be released as a double EP in the UK, it would now be released as a single LP. Similar to the albums accompanying their last two films, it would have songs from the film on Side A and other original songs recorded around the same time on Side B. Side B would include "Hello, Goodbye", a single released a few days before the album that was included in the end credits of the film, "Getting Better" and "When I'm Sixty-Four" which were released as a single in early 1967, "Fixing a Hole", a outtake from From Liverpool, and "Sell Me a Coat" and "All Together Now", outtakes from this album's sessions.
The album, Magical Mystery Tour was released on November 27, 1967 to generally favorable reviews. While not as grand and eclectic as From Liverpool, it still performed extremely well with tons of positive reviews about it. The same could not be said about the film, which flopped horribly. It was the Beatles' first real failure as a group, and it haunted them into the new year of 1968 where they would have to start fresh.
All songs are sourced from Magical Mystery Tour, with the exception of "Getting Better", "When I'm Sixty-Four", and "Fixing a Hole" from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and "All Together Now" from Yellow Submarine. As with From Liverpool, both of Bowie's songs are from his self-titled 1967 album.
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