Thursday, April 27, 1967
Recording "Magical Mystery Tour" #3
For The Beatles
Last updated on April 16, 2023
Thursday, April 27, 1967
For The Beatles
Last updated on April 16, 2023
Recording the "Magical Mystery Tour" soundtrack
Apr 25 - May 3 and Aug 22 - Nov 17, 1967 • Songs recorded during this session appear on Magical Mystery Tour (US LP - Mono)
Recording studio: EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road
Session Apr 25 - May 3 and Aug 22 - Nov 17, 1967 • Recording the "Magical Mystery Tour" soundtrack
Session Apr 26, 1967 • Recording "Magical Mystery Tour" #2
Session Apr 27, 1967 • Recording "Magical Mystery Tour" #3
Interview May 1967 • Paul McCartney interview for The Beatles Monthly Book
Interview May 1967 • Paul McCartney interview for Hit Parader
Next session May 03, 1967 • Recording "Magical Mystery Tour" #4
Some of the songs worked on during this session were first released on the "Magical Mystery Tour (US LP - Mono)" LP.
In April of 1967, Paul McCartney spent two weeks vacationing in the United States before boarding a flight back to London on April 12. During the flight, he borrowed a notepad from a stewardess and defined a rough plan for a Beatles television film. Later, on April 25, the Beatles recorded the basic track of the theme song for their upcoming project “Magical Mystery Tour,” although the writing of the song was still unfinished. On April 26, they added various overdubs to the song.
The Beatles continued working on “Magical Mystery Tour” from 7 pm to 12:45 am that day, focusing on vocals added onto Take 9. Paul recorded his lead vocals, while John Lennon and George Harrison contributed additional backing vocals. To achieve a higher pitch on playback, they recorded the backing vocals at a slower than normal speed with frequency control.
All that ‘Roll up, roll up for the Magical Mystery Tour’ bit was taped very slow so that it played back very fast. They really wanted those voices to sound different.
Richard Lush – From “The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions” by Mark Lewisohn, 1988
Four mono mixes (labelled Remix Mono 1 to 4) were then made for demo purposes and cut onto acetates, presumably for George Martin to write a score for trumpets, in anticipation of the May 3 session. Those mixes treated Paul’s vocals with artificial double tracking.
Recording • SI onto take 9
Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 1 from take 9
Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 2 from take 9
Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 3 from take 9
Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 4 from take 9
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions • Mark Lewisohn
The definitive guide for every Beatles recording sessions from 1962 to 1970.
We owe a lot to Mark Lewisohn for the creation of those session pages, but you really have to buy this book to get all the details - the number of takes for each song, who contributed what, a description of the context and how each session went, various photographies... And an introductory interview with Paul McCartney!
The Beatles Recording Reference Manual: Volume 3: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band through Magical Mystery Tour (late 1966-1967)
The third book of this critically - acclaimed series, nominated for the 2019 Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) award for Excellence In Historical Recorded Sound, "The Beatles Recording Reference Manual: Volume 3: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band through Magical Mystery Tour (late 1966-1967)" captures the band's most innovative era in its entirety. From the first take to the final remix, discover the making of the greatest recordings of all time. Through extensive, fully-documented research, these books fill an important gap left by all other Beatles books published to date and provide a unique view into the recordings of the world's most successful pop music act.
If we modestly consider the Paul McCartney Project to be the premier online resource for all things Paul McCartney, it is undeniable that The Beatles Bible stands as the definitive online site dedicated to the Beatles. While there is some overlap in content between the two sites, they differ significantly in their approach.
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