Magical Mystery Tour (Capitol SMAL2835 stereo)

 Magical Mystery Tour (Capitol SMAL2835 stereo)

Released in the U.S - 27th November 1967

Side One Matrix Number - SMAL2835-A

Side Two Matrix Number - SMAL - 2 - 2835


This disc is out of order with the rest of the U.K releases, but it has context. In the U.K, a double EP of the six songs on side one were released in December 1967 to accompany the Beatles' weirdly-psychedelic TV film. In America, Capitol combined the TV film songs with the other non-album tracks released in 1967 to create a genuine 12" album. I offer it here because I bought this copy from Alibaba Records on South Road in Waterloo around 1980. But the Beatles have included "Magical Mystery Tour" as part of their official canon since 1976.


This was the first full-priced Beatles album I purchased. The thing about the independent record shops, that are few and far between now, was they always got in odd, imported issues of records, probably because they were cheaper and easier to get hold of than the U.K issues. Alibaba stocked plenty of Greek EMI Beatles reissues, and I got a Dutch Parlophone version of "The John Lennon Collection" from here too. "Magical Mystery Tour" was no exception, this is a 1970s Capitol issue. I was only interested in getting the songs, regardless of where the record was manufactured.

I played this album to death, but it still sounds alright. I was beginning to look after records a little bit better now. This is the only release where you will find the original 1966 stereo mix of "Strawberry Fields Forever", every other release of this magnificent song is a 1971 remix.


As an import from America, this album sold 50,000 copies in the U.K during 1968, a rare example of a Capitol release that the Beatles, in time, approved of. Top track? The aforementioned "Strawberry Fields Forever".

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