The Beatles
Magical Mystery Tour

THE REVIEW

Just after finishing "Pepper", McCartney realized that the euphoria of the early years had vanished, and that George and John wanted to do something else. So, Paul decided to come up with a new project to get them working and reinvigorate their enthusiasm for the group. Thus, he invented the film "Magical Mystery Tour". A truly pointless film, which I can only remember for a few funny scenes (like the one where Lennon shovels pasta).

Today, this work has been reevaluated. Even Spielberg said: "It has a small place in film history. We studied it in film school". Spielberg, like many other celebrated directors, took a long time to understand that a film isn't judged solely based on how the director moves the cameras …

The album is more or less like the film. Musically imaginative, but lacking in substance, meaning the songs, some of which really lack depth.

The title track is functional to the film. An insignificant song, although very well arranged. The lyrics are a clear/veiled ode to marijuana and LSD. "Your Mother Should Know," "Baby, You're a Rich Man," "Hello Goodbye," are three bad songs (though well produced), taking the Beatles back to the amateurism and immaturity of "Please, Please Me." "Hello Goodbye," for its lyrics, is undoubtedly the lowest point of McCartney's work with the group.

"All You Need is Love." A musically pleasant song, with lyrics that say something magnificent: "You can learn to be yourself with time," along with a heap of nonsense worthy of a "mental scrap" (as Ian MacDonald describes Lennon at the time): "There's nothing you can do that can't be done. Love is all they need." "Blue Jay Way." A good song, but secondary.

"The Fool on the Hill" is one of Paul's most beautiful ballads. The lyrics are excellent (greatly appreciated by John as well), saying that sometimes wisdom means solitude. The saddest part is that this song was written by Paul during the making of "Pepper." Paul played it to John while they were working on "With a Little Help from My Friends." If they had believed in it and worked on it, it would have been included in the album. "Pepper" could have had, not two, but three more masterpieces.

"Penny Lane" was written by Paul to challenge John, who had just finished "Strawberry Fields." Even though it's a great song, "Penny Lane" is not certainly McCartney's piece that can challenge Lennon's masterpiece. The difference between the two is vast. That said, the piece is excellent. Listening to it, you can notice the very compact "treated" drum sound (as Ian MacDonald points out), and the beautiful trumpet solo, inspired by classical music. McCartney played it to Martin on bass, and then the producer wrote the score for a professional trumpet player. Even the lyrics, though not very deep, are very beautiful in the imagery, and in the last verse that cleverly ties the first three together. The idea to write something about "Penny Lane" came to Paul from a paper of Lennon's, where John had sketched the initial lyrics for "In My Life."

"I’m the Walrus." I prefer other Lennon songs, but this remains one of his greatest masterpieces. Even though the masterful arrangement was by Martin, it was John who gave him the instructions. The lyrics mean nothing or almost nothing. When John learned that a teacher was looking for hidden meanings in his lyrics, he decided to write a nonsense lyric to mock those who over-analyzed his texts. Unfortunately, he did it with the wrong song, because a piece like this shouldn't be wasted on such lyrics. "I’m the Walrus" was Frank Zappa's favorite Beatles song, which he covered in concert several times. To smile a bit: the single "I’m the Walrus" was placed as the B-side of "Hello Goodbye."