Mixing "Penny Lane"
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- Album Songs recorded during this session officially appear on the Magical Mystery Tour Plus Other Songs LP.
- Studio:
- AIR Studios, London, UK
About
In September and October of 1971, George Martin undertook a project to remix several Beatles songs into stereo. On September 30, “Penny Lane” was mixed, followed by “Baby, You’re A Rich Man” on October 22, and “Strawberry Fields Forever” on October 26.
These newly-mixed stereo versions were initially released on the German pressing of “Magical Mystery Tour Plus Other Songs“. The stereo mix of “Penny Lane” was released on the UK version of the Blue album in 1973. The stereo mix of “Strawberry Fields Forever” was released in the UK on some reissues in 1976. The three stereo mixes were included in the CD releases from 1987 onwards.
On this day, September 30, George Martin worked on “Penny Lane“. From beatlesebooks.com:
A true stereo mix was finally created on September 30th, 1971 by George Martin in his AIR Studios in London. While this mix still did not include the ending trumpet flourish from David Mason, it did include a trumpet flourish not heard before, which appears just after the phrase “clean machine.” While this new mix appeared on the UK version of the compilation album “The Beatles/1967-1970” (“The Blue Album”), it apparently didn’t find its way to Capitol in the US. They, instead, created yet another mock stereo version from the mono mix they previously had, using this new mix for the American “Blue Album” release, this version having a little less treble-bass separation than the one they created for the “Magical Mystery Tour” album.
The true stereo mix finally appeared in the US on the 1980 released album “Rarities,” although Capitol artificially inserted the ending trumpet flourish to make this version a true rarity. Future Beatles compilation albums that appeared in the states, as well as all CD releases, feature the unadulterated stereo mix as created by George Martin in 1971, with a few notable exceptions as detailed below.
From The Usenet Guide to Beatles Recording Variations:
[c] stereo 30 Sep 1971 at AIR.
Germany: Hor Zu SHZE 327 (later Odeon and Apple 1C 062-04 449) Magical Mystery Tour 1971.
Australia: Apple TVSS 8 Essential Beatles 1972.
UK: Apple PCSP 718 1967-1970 1973, Parlophone TC-PCS 3077 (cassette) Magical Mystery Tour 1976.
US: Capitol SV-12245 20 Greatest Hits 1982.
CD: EMI CDP 7 48062 2 Magical Mystery Tour 1987, EMI CDP 7 97039 2 The Beatles 1967-1970 1993.
Last updated on April 20, 2023