The Styrous® Viewfinder: Magical Mystery Tour

On February 9th, 1964, the Beatles appeared on television on the Ed Sullivan Show; the appearance released pandemonium in the audience and the rest of the U. S. It opened a new door in the world of music and changed the face of it forever. In 2002, The Ed Sullivan Show was ranked #15 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

All You Need Is Love

(from Wikipedia)

Four and a half months later, on the 25th of June, 1967, 47 years ago today, All You Need Is Love was first performed by The Beatles on Our World; the first live, international, satellite television production. Watched by 400 million in 26 countries, the program was broadcast via satellite. The BBC had commissioned The Beatles to write a song for the United Kingdom's contribution. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it at #362 in their 500 greatest songs of all time. All You Need Is Love was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon/McCartney.

Opera singer, Maria Callas, and painter, Pablo Picasso, were amongst the many others representing nineteen nations that were invited to perform or appear in separate segments featuring their respective countries as well.

The Beatles were asked to come up with a song containing a simple message to be understood by all nationalities. "It was an inspired song and they really wanted to give the world a message," said Brian Epstein. "The nice thing about it is that it cannot be misinterpreted. It is a clear message saying that love is everything." According to journalist Jade Wright, "Lennon was fascinated by the power of slogans to unite people and never afraid to create art out of propaganda. When asked in 1971 whether songs like "Give Peace a Chance" and "Power to the People" were propaganda songs, he answered: 'Sure. So was All You Need Is Love. I'm a revolutionary artist. My art is dedicated to change.'"

The day before the Our World broadcast, The Beatles decided that the song should be their next single. Released in the UK on 7 July 1967, it went straight to number one and remained there for three weeks. It was similarly successful in the United States after its release on 17 July, reaching number one for a week.[citation needed] It was also included on the American LP version of Magical Mystery Tour in November.

The interviews on The Beatles Anthology documentary series reveal that Paul McCartney and George Harrison were unsure whether the song was written for Our World. However, George Martin and Ringo Starr assert it was. When asked, McCartney replied:

For the bollo, The Beatles were (except for Starr) seated on stools, accompanied by a small studio orchestra. They were surrounded by friends and acquaintances seated on the floor, many of whom were among the leading stars of the British pop scene, who sang with the refrain during the fade-out, including Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, Keith Richards, Keith Moon, Eric Clapton, Graham Nash, Pattie Harrison, Jane Asher, Mike McCartney, Gary Leeds and Hunter Davies.

The performance was not completely live: The Beatles, the orchestra, and guests were overdubbing onto a pre-recorded rhythm track mainly consisting of piano, harpsichord, drums, and backing vocals. The full Our World segment opens with the band and company listening to the raw backing track, as commentator Steve Race explained the process in voiceover. The live overdubs seem to include not only lead vocals, orchestra, and the improvised call-and-response, but also bass guitar, Harrison's guitar solo, and a second drum track — which seems to go out of time with the original track during the first few bars. At the beginning of the song, under "La Marseillaise," a tambourine is shaken, but this was mixed out and replaced with a drum roll before the single was released.

Lennon, affecting indifference, was said to be nervous about the broadcast, given the potential size of the international TV audience. Dissatisfied with his singing, he re-recorded the solo verses for use on the single. Starr also overdubbed drums before the single was released, fixing the aforementioned timing problems and adding the drum roll.

The programme was broadcast in 'black-and-white' (colour television had yet to commence broadcasting in Britain and most of the world). The Beatles' footage was colourised, based on photographs of the event, for The Beatles Anthology documentary.

~ ~ ~

I have two versions of the album, Magical Mystery Tour, on reel-to-reel tape; one is at 7½ ips and the other at 3¾ ips. Each has different packaging.

The Covers

The Beatles ~ Magical Mystery Tour

Artwork [Photo Editing], Research [Photo] – Aaron Bremner, Dorcas Lynn

Artwork [Photo Retouching] – Gavin O'Neill

7½ ips reel-to-reel tape box front

photo by Styrous®

The Beatles ~ Magical Mystery Tour

Artwork [Photo Editing], Research [Photo] – Aaron Bremner, Dorcas Lynn

Artwork [Photo Retouching] – Gavin O'Neil

The Beatles ~ Magical Mystery Tour

7½ ips reel-to-reel tape box back

The Beatles ~ Magical Mystery Tour

The Reels

The Beatles ~ Magical Mystery Tour

3¾ ips reel-to-reel tape

All You Need is Love lyrics

(Love, love, love)
(Love, love, love)
(Love, love, love)

There's nothing you can do that can't be done
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung
Nothing you can say but you can learn to play the game
It's easy

There's nothing you can make that can't be made
No one you can save that can't be saved
Nothing you can do but you can learn to be you in time
It's easy

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

(Love, love, love)
(Love, love, love)
(Love, love, love)

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

There's nothing you can know that isn't known
Nothing you can see that isn't shown
There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be
It's easy

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

All you need is love, all together now
All you need is love, everybody
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

Love is all you need
Love is all you need
Love is all you need
...

Songwriters
LENNON, JOHN / MCCARTNEY, PAUL

Published by
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

The Labels

The Beatles ~ Magical Mystery Tour

Track list:

Side 1:

1 Magical Mystery Tour - 2:50
2 The Fool On The Hill - 2:59
3 Flying (Written By Harrison*, Lennon*, McCartney*, Starr*) - 2:15
4 Blue Jay Way (Written By George Harrison) - 3:55
5 Your Mother Should Know - 2:28
6 I Am The Walrus ("No You're Not", Said Little Nicola) - 4:35

Side 2:

1 Hello Goodbye - 3:28
2 Strawberry Fields Forever - 4:07
3 Penny Lane - 3:00
4 Baby You're A Rich Man - 3:01
5 All You Need Is Love - 3:52

Personnel:

John Lennon: vocals, harpsichord, banjo
Paul McCartney: vocals, bass, double bass
George Harrison: vocals, guitar, violin
Ringo Starr: drums
George Martin: piano
Sidney Sax, Patrick Halling, Eric Bowie, John Ronayne: violin
Lionel Ross, Jack Holmes: cello
Rex Morris, Don Honeywill: tenor saxophone
Stanley Woods, David Mason: trumpet
Evan Watkins, Harry Spain: trombone
Jack Emblow: accordion
Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Marianne Faithfull, Jane Asher, Mike McCartney, Pattie Harrison, Eric Clapton, Graham Nash, Keith Moon, Hunter Davies, Gary Leeds and more: chorus
Mike Vickers: conductor

Credits:

Artwork [Photo Editing], Research [Photo] – Aaron Bremner, Dorcas Lynn
Artwork [Photo Retouching] – Gavin O'Neill
Coordinator [Project Co-ordinator] – Allan Rouse
Design [Album Redesign] – Drew Lorimer
Engineer [Principal] – Geoff Emerick, Ken Scott
Liner Notes [Historical] – Kevin Howlett, Mike Heatley*
Liner Notes [Recording] – Allan Rouse, Kevin Howlett
Producer – Big George Martin*
Remastered By – Guy Massey, Steve Rooke
Written-By – John Lennon-Paul McCartney* (tracks: 1, 2, 5 to 10)

All songs published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC.

Capitol - L 2835 - 7½ ips reel-to-reel tape
Capitol - YIT-2835 - 3¾ ips reel-to-reel tape

The Beatles discography

Music links on YouTube:

Magical Mystery Tour
The Fool On The Hill
Flying
Flying (Unreleased version)
Blue Jay Way (original 1967 video)
Your Mother Should Know
I Am The Walrus ("No You're Not", Said Little Nicola)
Hello Goodbye
Strawberry Fields Forever
Penny Lane
Baby You're A Rich Man
All You Need Is Love
All You Need Is Love (with live interview 9:48)
Magical Mystery Tour - 1967 (Full Album)

In addition to my 20,000 Vinyl LP collection I'm selling, I have reel-to-reel, pre-recorded tapes for sale as well (link below). If interested, contact me by email please, not by a comment.

~ ~ ~

reel-to-reel tapes on eBay

Except for All You Need Is Love (because it is the focus of this once in a life-time event) and the information about it, I'm not going to talk about any more of the music by this once in a life-time group. There has been so much written about this album and them, there is nothing new I can possibly add. As has been said so many times, the whole equaled more than the individual parts.

(Love, love, love)
(Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!)

Styrous® ~ Wednesday, June 25, 2014

101 Reel-to-Reel Tapes Archive
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June 4, 2014

The Styrous Viewfinder at 5

Today is the fifth anniversary of the Viewfinder. When I started this blog I never dreamed I'd be at it all these many years.

I used to write a monthly newsletter for the San Francisco Fashion Forum in the '90's called the Fashion Forum News which covered things fashion and art related; so, this blog is, I suppose, an online extension of it separated by twenty years or so.

It's been a long journey since my first entry in The Viewfinder, Robert Frank at SFMOMA, on June 4th, 2009, exactly five years ago today. I had no intention of going to many of the places I have in the blog; they just seemed appropriate at the moment. And that's been my modus operandi; writing about what interests me at the moment. However, none of the blog entries have been written 'spur of the moment'. Each and every one has been carefully thought out and researched; each has links to more info if one is interested in knowing more. I've throughly enjoyed the researching as I have learned an enormous amount of 'stuff' in the process; some of it useful, some of it not, all of it interesting.

When I started the Viewfinder, its focus was to be about photography with some art thrown in. Then music and fashion entered; things Ive been involved with professionally. It has kind of branched out from there and one might even say it's gotten out of hand. Well, that's the way it's developed and there's nothing to do about it now except enjoy it for what it's worth.

The Viewfinder has also turned out to be tiny glimpses of my life. I didn't intend that either, it just kind of happened; my life was a part of the subject written about. These glimpses are sporadic, not in any kind of order and definitely NOT chronological. It reminds me of the journeys/adventures of the character, Billy Pilgrim, in the Kurt Vonnegut novel, Slaughterhouse-Five. It randomly bounces around from one time/place/event to another.

I don't have any children (at least none I am aware of) to pass along stories of the crazy and the not-so-crazy times or the people and events in my life; so, this is it. They say before you die your life flashes before you in an instant. Well, I've had the fantastic luxury of the flashing happening for five years so far and I love it. I've remembered some of those people, places and events; sparkling and beautiful gems that have brightened my life as I've traveled down its road. Writing about them has brought them back to life and they now live on through this blog.

"In my life, I've loved them all."

I can hardly wait to see what the next five years will bring as I am having the time of my life on my very own Magical Mystery Tour.

Come, join me on the journey.

June, 1946

San Francisco

photo by Angel Morales

Misc.
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