Speaking of mysteries . . . . . . 

 . . . . . .well just because really

MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR

On this day in music history: December 26, 1967 - “Magical Mystery Tour”, starring The Beatles airs on BBC1 in the UK. An hour long film directed by the band shows them on charabanc bus trip with numerous friends and other odd characters around the English countryside. The original idea for the film comes from Paul McCartney after a recent trip to the US. He creates an outline for his ideas on a sheet of paper, drawing a circle, and sketching out what should happen during a particular segment. When filming begins in September of 1967, it is largely unscripted, with the group simply driving around, and letting the cameras roll and hoping to capture any spontaneous moments. The band spent two weeks filming, and then eleven weeks in the editing room paring the ten hours of footage shot into the finished film. Though it is shot in color, the initial broadcast by the BBC is in black & white, greatly diminishing the film’s visual impact. When it is aired to a large UK viewing audience on Boxing Day, it is so poorly received by fans and critics, that plans for it to be aired on US TV by NBC are immediately withdrawn. However, the LP and double EP set containing music from the film is highly successful. Over the years, the film takes on cult status among Beatles fans. “Magical Mystery Tour” is fully restored and released on DVD and Blu-ray disc in 2012, nearly forty five years after its original broadcast.

thanks to Jeff Harris' blog Behind the Grooves

please don't be long, please don't you be very long  . . . . . . . . 

I though this film a work of genius when it was broadcast twice over one Christmas (who DOES that!?) and that may tell you more about my then state of mind but I still adored this song and album and film . . . . . . . . 

And round and round it goes and the music comes out here . . . . . . . .

On this day in music history: November 27, 1967 - “Magical Mystery Tour” by The Beatles is released in the US (UK release date is on December 8, 1967). Produced by George Martin, it is recorded at Abbey Road Studios and Olympic Studios in London from April 25 - November 7, 1967. The album serves as the soundtrack to an hour long film shown on the BBC on December 26, 1967. After receiving overwhelmingly negative reviews following its UK airing, plans for broadcast in the US are immediately canceled. While the record is issued in the UK as a six track double EP, it is released in the US as an eleven track LP duplicating the picture book included with the EP, except blown up to 12 x 12 size. The US LP also includes the A and B sides of all of the band’s singles released during 1967. It is the last Beatles album to be issued with separate mono and stereo mixes in the US, with the mono LP being pressed in small quantities, it becomes a rare and sought after collector’s item in later years. Three of the albums’ five songs “Penny Lane”, “Baby You’re A Rich Man”, and “All You Need Is Love” are originally presented on the original US pressing in “duophonic” re-channelled stereo since none of these had been mixed into true stereo at the time. Between 1969 and 1971, stereo mixes for these tracks are made and first surface on the German EMI release of the album in 1971. The US version of the LP is finally released in the UK in 1976 after years of strong import sales. The rare US mono version of the album makes its CD debut in September of 2009 on the “Beatles In Mono” box set, replicating the original vinyl LP artwork (in a mini LP gatefold jacket), with the vinyl being reissued in September of 2014. “Magical Mystery Tour” spends eight weeks at number one on the Billboard Top 200, and is certified 6x Platinum in the US by the RIAA.

Roll up . . . . . . . 

On this day in music history: December 26, 1967 - “Magical Mystery Tour”, starring The Beatles airs on BBC1 in the UK. An hour long film directed by the band shows them on charabanc bus trip with numerous friends and other odd characters around the English countryside. The original idea for the film comes from Paul McCartney after a recent trip to the US. He creates an outline for his ideas on a sheet of paper, drawing a circle, and sketching out what should happen during a particular segment. When filming begins in September of 1967, it is largely unscripted, with the group simply driving around, and letting the cameras roll and hoping to capture any spontaneous moments. The band spent two weeks filming, and then eleven weeks in the editing room paring the ten hours of footage shot into the finished film. Though it is shot in color, the initial broadcast by the BBC is in black & white, greatly diminishing the film’s visual impact. When it is aired to a large UK viewing audience on Boxing Day, it is so poorly received by fans and critics, that plans for it to be aired on US TV by NBC are immediately withdrawn. However, the LP and double EP set containing music from the film is highly successful. Over the years, the film takes on cult status among Beatles fans. “Magical Mystery Tour” is fully restored and released on DVD and Blu-ray disc in 2012, nearly forty five years after its original broadcast.

A seminal moment and broadcast twice around Christmas 1967 it had a profound effect upon me. I was fourteen and absolutely LOVED it! Lifelong fan of people in it like Ivor Cutler who I collected and went to see read his extraordinary poems on more than one occasion. It wasn't that it was about being a great story or some great theatrical statement, it was about ATTITUDE! those of us who GOT it stuck with it, those who didn't were 'square' obviously!

Roll up . . . . . . . 

Roll up . . . . . 

On this day in music history: November 27, 1967 - “Magical Mystery Tour” by The Beatles is released in the US (UK release date is on December 8, 1967). Produced by George Martin, it is recorded at Abbey Road Studios and Olympic Studios in London from April 25 - November 7, 1967. The album serves as the soundtrack to an hour long film shown on the BBC on December 26, 1967. After receiving overwhelmingly negative reviews following its UK airing, plans for broadcast in the US are immediately canceled. While the record is issued in the UK as a six track double EP, it is released in the US as an eleven track LP duplicating the picture book included with the EP, except blown up to 12 x 12 size. The US LP also includes the A and B sides of all of the band’s singles released during 1967. It is the last Beatles album to be issued with separate mono and stereo mixes in the US, with the mono LP being pressed in small quantities, it becomes a rare and sought after collector’s item in later years. Three of the albums’ five songs “Penny Lane”, “Baby You’re A Rich Man”, and “All You Need Is Love” are originally presented on the original US pressing in “duophonic” re-channelled stereo since none of these had been mixed into true stereo at the time. Between 1969 and 1971, stereo mixes for these tracks are made and first surface on the German EMI release of the album in 1971. The US version of the LP is finally released in the UK in 1976 after years of strong import sales. The rare US mono version of the album makes its CD debut in September of 2009 on the “Beatles In Mono” box set, replicating the original vinyl LP artwork (in a mini LP gatefold jacket), with the vinyl being reissued in September of 2014. “Magical Mystery Tour” spends eight weeks at number one on the Billboard Top 200, and is certified 6x Platinum in the US by the RIAA.

This film meant a great deal to me and still does! It was actually broadcast twice over the Christmas break in the UK after it was inadvertently broadcast in Black & white it was then re-shown the following day in full colour. I loved it and would have enjoyed anything I guess put out by the 'boys' but I still rate it and found it hilarious not least for who it included (a live long fan of Ivor Cutler! for example) for me it was a generational thing and if you didn't 'get it' clearly you were square!

thanks to the most excellent Jeff Harris' blog 'Behind The Grooves