The Beatles – Magical Mystery Tour [2009 Stereo Remaster] (EMI/Capitol)

The following is a conversation between two guys who’ve been yammering about music together for over 20 years. We no longer live a bike-ride away from each other, but fortunately technology allows us to still have virtual record parties. The third in a series. Previously: Pepper, Revolver.

[12:59] Phil: I haven’t done Help! yet

[13:00] Jake: i didn’t rip the official stereo one yet

[13:00] Jake: i just have the mono and the 1965 stereo mix from the mono cd

[13:00] Phil: what else you got then?

[13:00] Jake: magical mystery tour?

[13:01] Phil: Sure, that’s an album I almost never listen to. Could be fun

[13:01] Jake: yeah

[13:01] Phil: I am cued up

[13:01] Jake: go

Magical Mystery Tour

[13:01] Phil: OH!

[13:01] Jake: roll up roll up

[13:01] Phil: the horns sound good

[13:02] Phil: ok, more of the depth I’ve been loving

[13:02] Jake: john’s vocals.

[13:02] Jake: you can hear him roll his r’s

[13:02] Phil: yeah

[13:02] Jake: yep

[13:02] Phil: I dig that

[13:02] Jake: this is deep

[13:02] Phil: Oh man, John’s vox sound great

[13:02] Jake: space.

[13:02] Phil: the break down: that bass is the shit

[13:03] Jake: ringo!

[13:03] Jake: fucking a. he’s awesome

[13:03] Phil: oh yeah

[13:03] Phil: I really want to do a Ringo’s Best article

[13:03] Phil: he deserves it

[13:04] Phil: More stuff in the outro I’d never heard before

Fool on the Hill

[13:05] Phil: see, this album sounds great again

[13:05] Jake: yes

[13:05] Jake: recording tech?

[13:05] Phil: Yeah, I don’t know

[13:06] Phil: associated memory: Dubridge singing this (with his own made up lyrics) along with my cassette of Blue Album on the way to Granby

[13:06] Jake: i’ve never cared about this song, but it sounds good.

[13:06] Phil: It sounds great

[13:07] Phil: This song may make it back into my catalog

[13:07] Phil: the green acres “huff huff” noise in the right ear

[13:07] Phil: I love that

Flying

[13:07] Phil: This album is soo associated to me trying to get with Stephanie V.

[13:07] Jake: wow. that guitar sounds cool

[13:08] Phil: I like hearing the keys crack on that synth

[13:08] Jake: in speech class, i used this song as the background to a 30-second “ad” we had to write

[13:08] Phil: awesome

[13:09] Phil: in the Eiserloh tapes, this was the b-side of Pepper, no?

[13:09] Jake: oh yes

[13:09] Phil: I thought so

[13:09] Jake: of course it was!

[13:09] Jake: what else?

[13:09] Phil: forever coupled

[13:09] Jake: i’m still pissed that paperback writer and rain aren’t actually on revolver

[13:09] Phil: yes

[13:10] Jake: they were on the eiserloh tape

[13:10] Phil: oh!

[13:10] Jake: which is the official

[13:10] Phil: of course

[13:10] Phil: see, I would nominate him as a Beatles archivist

Blue Jay Way

[13:10] Jake: this is spooky

[13:10] Jake: THIS is psychedelic

[13:10] Phil: George is a spooky guy

[13:10] Jake: listen to that flanged whatever that is

[13:11] Jake: over there in my left ear

[13:11] Phil: yeah, flange on drums is creepy

[13:11] Phil: george’s vox through a leslie speaker

[13:11] Phil: scary

[13:12] Jake: oooh, the backwards stuff!

[13:12] Phil: yeah, I still love backwards masking

[13:12] Jake: this is not a very happy album

[13:13] Phil: I wish we still had that weird tape and book your mom gave you

[13:13] Jake: i have the book

[13:13] Jake: wish i had the tape

[13:13] Phil: and that f-ed up walkman

[13:13] Jake: “backmasking in rock and roll”

[13:13] Phil: if you have the book, see if you can ebay the tape

Your Mother Should Know

[13:13] Phil: sounds good

[13:14] Jake: the tape, if i recall, was called “hidden and satanic messages in rock and roll”

[13:14] Jake: the book was backmasking unmasked.

[13:14] Phil: awesome

[13:14] Phil: great titles

[13:14] Jake: again, paul with his dad issues

[13:14] Phil: yes

[13:14] Jake: like the organ

[13:14] Phil: yeah

[13:14] Phil: I like this dopey song

[13:15] Jake: yeah, me too

[13:15] Jake: sounds good, great melody

[13:15] Jake: the vox just got way louder

[13:16] Phil: yeah

I Am the Walrus

[13:16] Phil: the foundation of our friendship

[13:16] Phil: pay attention

[13:16] Jake: this was my favorite beatles song.

[13:16] Jake: when all i had was the blue album

[13:18] Jake: it just switched to mono

[13:19] Jake: i read about this

[13:19] Phil: so weird

[13:19] Jake: the effects were added during mastering, or some such shit

[13:19] Jake: they’re not on the two-track masters.

[13:19] Jake: or something

[13:19] Phil: granted, this is a very weird song but…

Hello Goodbye

[13:23] Phil: never been a fan of this song

[13:23] Phil: still not

[13:23] Phil: great drumming from Ringo though

[13:24] Jake: and i love the bg vocals

[13:24] Jake: “and you can stay til it’s time to go”

[13:24] Phil: I do love the outro

[13:24] Jake: oh yeah

[13:25] Jake: does the bass sound distorted to you?

[13:25] Jake: or is it my rip?

Strawberry Fields

[13:26] Jake: guitar sounds great.

[13:26] Jake: mellotron sounds warmer than ever

[13:26] Phil: yes

[13:26] Phil: again, more depth

[13:26] Phil: which I am loving

[13:26] Phil: and Ringo’s drums!

[13:26] Jake: the drums CRACK too

[13:26] Phil: can really hear the double-tracked drums

[13:26] Jake: that is a dope beat

[13:26] Phil: two drum parts

[13:26] Phil: I love it

[13:26] Jake: is that what it is?

[13:26] Phil: yes

[13:26] Jake: wow

[13:27] Jake: cool

[13:27] Phil: John’s vox get all slowed down and weird

[13:27] Phil: trippy

[13:28] Jake: yes

[13:29] Jake: fake ending

[13:29] Phil: trippy

[13:29] Phil: “Cranberry Sauce”

[13:29] Jake: i buried paul!

Penny Lane

[13:29] Phil: damn that bass ounds fat

[13:30] Jake: dad issue? or was paul just a nostalgic young man?

[13:30] Phil: both

[13:30] Phil: clearly

[13:30] Jake: for all their avant garde affectations, they sure embraced the retro

[13:30] Phil: but also clearly influenced by the show tunes and tin pan alley stuff his old man listened to

[13:31] Phil: it’s all over his stuff

[13:31] Jake: with their victorian blouses, et al.

[13:31] Phil: yes

[13:31] Phil: ha

[13:31] Jake: piano and horns

[13:31] Jake: ha

[13:31] Jake: never noticed that

Baby You’re a Rich Man

[13:33] Phil: another fave

[13:33] Jake: yes

[13:33] Jake: why are the drums so low in the mix? turn up RINGO

[13:33] Phil: yes

[13:34] Phil: John’s vox sound great though

[13:34] Jake: that guitar is cool too

[13:34] Jake: in your left ear

[13:35] Phil: and that weird synth

[13:35] Phil: that sounds like an oboe

[13:35] Phil: an oboe freak out

All You Need Is Love

[13:36] Jake: wow, this sounds fat

[13:36] Phil: yes

[13:36] Phil: big

[13:37] Phil: I like to think of Jagger sitting on the floor beaming at John

[13:37] Phil: hero worship from a Rolling Stone

[13:37] Phil: John was a king

[13:37] Jake: yep

[13:37] Jake: this sounds great

[13:37] Phil: yes

[13:39] Jake: again, john with the album closing big statement

[13:39] Phil: it’s his job

[13:40] Phil: he is always the final word (on these albums)

[13:40] Phil: that changes

[13:41] Phil: Ringo closes the White Album, but only after John obliterates the whole deal with Rev #9

[13:42] Phil: Paul’s song closes Let It Be but John tacks on the iconic statement with the “Passed the audition” line

[13:43] Phil: But then Paul gets the actual final word with the second side of Abbey Road

[13:43] Phil: interesting, ain’t it?

[13:44] Jake: totally

[13:45] Phil: Paul finally, ultimately gets the final word…and then John spends the next 5 years bashing him in the press and in songs

[13:46] Jake: the amount of anger in john is wild

[13:46] Phil: yeah, he had some rage

[13:46] Phil: Who knows if it’s true but I love the story of him beating the shit out of the guys who jumped Stu

[13:46] Phil: I can see it

[13:47] Jake: great story, regardless

[13:47] Phil: indeed

[13:47] Jake: it’s true, whether it’s factual or not

[13:47] Phil: ‘zactly

Video: The Beatles – “All You Need is Love”

 

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