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REVIEW: The Beatles remastered 1967-70
Part 2 of our expert guide to the box sets
Joe Bosso, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 1:10 pm UTC
The whacked-out crescendo is an utter joy in both versions, but I still can't detect the supposed 15 kilocycle tone that precedes the 'never can be any other way' run-out loop. Allegedly, only dogs can hear this frequency. I don't own a pooch, so I played it for my daughter's hamster, Jacob. He slept through the entire cut, so there you go.
The Beatles roll up...and stumble
With Sgt Pepper informing the Summer Of Love, one would think 1967 would be a non-stop party for The Beatles. Quite the contrary: Brian Epstein died just two months after Pepper's release, and The Beatles became rudderless.
Shaken to the core (though still under the spell of the Maharishi and various chemicals), they coped with their grief the only way they knew how: work.
Once again, McCartney took the helm and convinced the rest of the band to indulge him in an cinema verite project called Magical Mystery Tour. The plotless, hour-long spooler was first aired on the BBC on Boxing Day of that year and was met with a cavalcade of editorial brickbats. For the first time in their spectacular run of success, The Beatles had stumbled - big time.
Strange as the film was for people to wrap their heads around, there was the unorthodox soundtrack, in this case two EPs released in the UK on 8 December 1967 and a full vinyl edition in the States a few weeks prior.
Generally perceived as one of The Beatles' weaker offerings, Magical Mystery Tour is essentially a collection of stellar singles with a few numbers cut specially for the film.
The double A-sided Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane, released almost a year prior, is a Pop Art standout, and in a stereo vs mono slug-out, each wins for its respective track.
In stereo, Lennon's voice is placed in the center of the left-right pileup of mellotrons, churning guitars, sitars, strings, horns and a kitchen sink of other sonic goodies. While the drums lose some of their explosive punch, Lennon's vocal is the star here, and he sounds as if he's singing directly to you, in a variety of moods and guises.
