The Magical Mystery Tour Recording Sessions Reconstructed
Outtakes and Outfakes
Disc 1
Apr 25th 1967 - Studio Three, 7:00pm-3:45am
1. MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR Coach sound effect.
2. MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR Take 3
Basic take of two guitars, piano and drums. The percussion track can be heard in the verses and middle 8, vocals are leakage from the next two days' overdubs. A reduction mix followed.
Apr 26th 1967 - Studio Three, 7:00pm-2:00am
3. MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR SI onto take 8
Overdubs of backing vocals and percussion, on two of the three remaining tracks. Bass was also recorded this day to the other free track, prior to the other two overdubs, according to Hunter Davies. Leakage of brass which was recorded later on May 3rd.
Apr 27th 1967 - Studio Three, 7:00pm-12:45am
4. MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR SI onto take 9
Lead vocal overdub, with bass overdub from the previous day, both heard center in the stereo and 5.1 mixes. Leakage of brass.
5. MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR Mono mix RM4
Acetate of RM4, cleaned up.
May 3rd 1967 - Studio Three, 7:00pm-12:15am
6. MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR SI onto take 9
Brass overdub.
May 4th 1967 - Studio Three (control room only), 7:00-11:15pm
7. MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR Mono mix RM7
May 9th 1967 - Studio Two, 11:00pm-6:15am
UNTITLED Take 1
Instrumental jamming with two guitars, drums and harmonium. No audio available.
May 11th 1967 - Studio One at Olympic Sound, 9:00pm-3:00am
8. BABY YOU'RE A RICH MAN Take 12
Basic take from the right channel of the stereo mix, with John on piano, Ringo on drums, and Paul and George on percussion.
9. BABY YOU'RE A RICH MAN SI onto take 12.
Bass with full lead vocal track. Bass could have been recorded before or after the vocals.
10. BABY YOU'RE A RICH MAN SI onto take 12.
Partial isolated lead vocals from the 5.1 mix C channel. A reduction mix into takes 1 and 2 followed, freeing up two tracks.
11. BABY YOU'RE A RICH MAN SI onto take 2 from take 12.
Clavioline, guitars, and percussion. There are two guitars on this track, one playing the chunky rhythm (George?) and the other playing lead lines (Paul?).
12. BABY YOU'RE A RICH MAN SI onto take 2 from take 12.
Backing vocals overdub from YS Songtrack right channel.
13. BABY YOU'RE A RICH MAN Mono mix RM1
May 12th 1967 - Studio Two, 7:00pm-12:30
14. ALL TOGETHER NOW Take 9
Basic take with Paul and George on acoustics, Ringo on drums and John on harmonica, plus additional percussion and probably Mal Evans on trumpet. The vocal bits from 1:23 to 1:30 might be on the backing track.
15. ALL TOGETHER NOW SI onto take 9.
Lead and backing vocals from right ch.
16. ALL TOGETHER NOW SI onto take 9.
The last two tracks had bass, percussion and more backing vocals including John's lead vocal in the bridges, all panned center in the stereo mix. Bass was likely recorded before both vocal tracks. From 0:20 to 0:29 Paul can be heard singing a low harmony part that must have been ducked out on the final mixes.
17. ALL TOGETHER NOW Mono mix
From The Lost Pepperland Reel.
May 17th 1967 - Studio Two, 7:00pm-2:30am
18. YOU KNOW MY NAME Part 1 take 9.
Center ch from the Anthology version, very raunchy sounding because of the vocal removal. Only Part 1 was recorded at this session.
May 25th 1967 - De Lane Lea Music Recording Studios, time unknown
19. IT'S ALL TOO MUCH Take 4
There were four takes of the rhythm track consisting of organ, guitar, bass, and drums, each probably on its own track; we know from the Songtrack and 5.1 mixes that the organ and guitar at least were on separate tracks, leading to speculation as to which of the three Beatle guitarists is playing the guitar part. Also heard here are the percussion overdub from the next day which is panned center in the stereo mix along with the rhythm track, as well as quite a bit of vocal bleed caused in part by ADT on the vocals.
May 26th 1967 - De Lane Lea Music Recording Studios, time unknown
20. IT'S ALL TOO MUCH SI onto take 2 from take 4.
Overdub of vocals and percussion, after reduction of take 4 into takes 1 & 2. Rhythm was reduced to one track, then percussion went on one track, trumpets are on one track, and yet we have two tracks of vocals. The two vocal tracks may have been combined to one to free up an extra track for the trumpets, either by an undocumented reduction or an internal bounce prior to the last two overdubs.
June 1st 1967 - De Lane Lea Music Recording Studios, time unknown
UNTITLED INSTRUMENTAL JAMS
"Untitled, unplanned, highly tedious and frankly downright amateurish instrumental jams" with bass, organ, guitar, drums and tambourine. No audio available.
June 2nd 1967 - De Lane Lea Music Recording Studios, 8:30pm-2:00am
21. IT'S ALL TOO MUCH SI onto take 2 from take 4.
Brass overdub, four trumpets and one bass clarinet. The reversed trumpet section at the end has been re-reversed to play forwards.
June 7th 1967 - Studio Two, 7:00pm-2:00am
YOU KNOW MY NAME SI onto take 9
-- ? overdub to part 1. No audio available.
June 8th 1967 - Studio Two, 7:00pm-1:00am
YOU KNOW MY NAME Parts 2, 3, 4, 5
All the parts were recorded separately then edited together the next day.
June 9th 1967 - Studio Two (control room only), 7:00-11:00pm
22. YOU KNOW MY NAME Final edit of rhythm track
Parts 1-5 from the Anthology version with an attempted (and not very successful) vocal cut. Vocals weren't recorded until 1969.
Disc 2
June 14th 1967 - Studio One, Olympic Sound, time unknown
1. ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE Take 10
The basic take had John on harpsichord, Paul on double-bass, George on violin and Ringo on drums. This isolation has John's harpsichord with some backing vocals and George Martin's piano from the 19th. From the LOVE 5.1 mix, faded early.
June 19th 1967 - Studio Three, 7:00pm-1:45am
2. ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE SI onto take 10
Backing vocals were overdubbed on tracks 3 and 4 along with John's lead in the choruses. Ringo's drums, George Martin's piano, and John on banjo (?) were supposedly overdubbed to track 2; however these instruments are all panned separately on the LOVE 5.1 mix, possibly indicating an undocumented reduction or internal bounce. This isolation has some of the backing vocals and percussive effects (Ringo? John's "banjo"?) as well as George's violin from the basic take.
June 21st 1967 - Room 53, 4:30-5:00pm and Studio Three (control room only), 7:00-11:30pm
3. ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE Mono mixes
Panned hard left in the stereo mix are all the elements recorded up to this point, an isolation of which should come close to how these mono mixes might sound, minus the slight lead vocal leakage on the verses.
June 23rd 1967 - Studio One, 8:00-11:00pm
4. ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE Takes 34-43 as SI onto take 10
First takes with the orchestra, for which we have no audio but represented by the SLSR channels of the 5.1 mix.
June 24th 1967 - Studio One, 5:00-8:00pm
5. ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE Takes 44-47 as SI onto take 10
More performances of the orchestra overdub, this time represented by the right channel of the stereo mix, which is the live recording of the orchestra.
June 25th 1967 - Studio One, 2:00pm-1:00am
6. ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE Our World performance, take 58
Paul, George and Ringo playing live, with John's live vocal in the background, from the Anthology 5.1 mix.
7. ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE SI onto above
Overdub of Ringo's snare roll at the beginning and John's redone lead vocal, from the LOVE C channel. It sounds like John has re-recorded the verses.
June 26th 1967 - Studio Two (control room only), 2:00-5:00pm
8. ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE Mono mix RM4
Aug 22nd 1967 - Chappell Recording Studios, time unknown
9. YOUR MOTHER SHOULD KNOW Take 8
From acetate. The rhythm guitar on the choruses is already present on this take 8 mix, and panned FR in the Anthology 5.1 mix, separate from the drums mixed C and the piano mixed FL, indicating the guitar was on a separate track on take 8; it's not on one of the two backing vocals tracks since those are mixed in the rears in the 5.1 mix. Since there are also two lead vocals on take 8, one has to wonder where the extra track came from.
Aug 23rd 1967 - Chappell Recording Studios, time unknown
10. YOUR MOTHER SHOULD KNOW SI onto take 9
After a reduction mix, two tracks of backing vocals were added to the two vacant tracks. This is the first partial backing vocal track from the 5.1 SL channel.
11. YOUR MOTHER SHOULD KNOW SI onto take 9
Second backing vocal track, partial, from the 5.1 SR channel. Brian Epstein visited during this session, and passed 4 days later.
Sept 5th 1967 - Studio One, 7:00pm-1:00am
12. I AM THE WALRUS Take 7
13. I AM THE WALRUS Take 8
14. I AM THE WALRUS Take 9
15. I AM THE WALRUS Rehearsal
16. I AM THE WALRUS Take 16+17
Take 16 is synced to the lead vocal overdub from take 17, from Anthology.
Sept 6th 1967 - Studio Two, 7:00pm-3:00am
17. I AM THE WALRUS SI onto take 17
Paul and Ringo add bass and snare, from the LOVE LFE channel.
18. I AM THE WALRUS Si onto take 17
John's lead vocal, from the LOVE C channel.
19. I AM THE WALRUS Mono mix RM4
A reference acetate.
20. THE FOOL ON THE HILL Demo version
Paul alone at the piano.
21. BLUE JAY WAY Take 1
The rhythm track had two organs; the second one could have been played by John or overdubbed by George since they were on separate tracks (as evidenced by the RS88 remix).
Sept 7th 1967 - Studio Two, 7:00pm-3:15am
22. BLUE JAY WAY SI onto take 2
A reduction mix combined the two organs to one track and the bass and drums to another. George recorded two lead vocals on the two remaining tracks.
23. BLUE JAY WAY SI onto take 3
After a reduction mix combining the lead vocals to one track and the instruments to another, backing vocals were overdubbed onto the new take 3. The cello was overdubbed a month later onto the last track, which remained empty for now.
Sept 8th 1967 - Studio Three, 7:00pm-2:45am
24. FLYING Take 6.
The basic take consisted of bass, drums, guitar and organ. Then 3 backwards organs were recorded to the other three tracks.
25. FLYING SI onto take 8
Following a reduction mix, mellotron and vocals were added to one of the vacated tracks. Also overdubbed (to a 3rd track?) were maracas and bongos (?) as well as piano presumably played by Paul and best heard 19 seconds in. The other track may have remained empty since further overdubs were done on take 8, or it may have contained the sounds on RM4 that aren't heard on any subsequent versions.
26. FLYING Mono mix RM4
For acetate cutting purposes.
Disc 3
Sept 16th 1967 - Studio Three, 7:00pm-3:45am
1. YOUR MOTHER SHOULD KNOW Take 27
Ten takes of a remake attempt, take 27 being the best and used on Anthology.
2. BLUE JAY WAY Demo mono mix for MMT film
RM1 from Acetates.
Sept 25th 1967 - Studio Two, 7:00pm-3:00am
3. THE FOOL ON THE HILL Take 3
Take 3 probably consisted of all the backing heard center in the Anthology stereo mix of take 4, heard here along with Paul's lead vocal from take 4.
4. THE FOOL ON THE HILL SI onto take 4
Rehearsals of recorder from the Rumi tape, edited to a two-minute segment.
5. THE FOOL ON THE HILL SI onto take 4
The first overdub track following the lead vocal is panned left in the stereo mix and has Paul on recorder again so George Martin must be playing the piano overdub. Ringo is playing a bit of drums and either John or George may add some tambourine.
6. THE FOOL ON THE HILL SI onto take 4
Paul plays recorder, Ringo hits a crash cymbal and either John or George plays tambourine.
Sept 26th 1967 - Studio Two, 7:00pm-4:15am
7. THE FOOL ON THE HILL SI onto take 5
Take 5 is a complete remake. All of the take 5 material went on track 1 during the reduction to take 6 and is panned far left in the stereo mix. Piano, acoustic guitar, drums and percussion were all probably played "live" while the recorder, celeste and 2nd piano were overdubs.
8. THE FOOL ON THE HILL SI onto take 6
Paul recorded double-tracked lead vocals on two of the three freed-up tracks, and punched in a recorder part on one of those tracks. John and George's bass harmonicas were recorded to the last free track later on.
Sept 27th 1967 - Studio One, 2:30-5:30pm
9. I AM THE WALRUS Take 20
A reduction was made of take 17 in order to provide three tracks for the orchestra overdub. From the LOVE rear channels edited with the FPW SLSR track.
Sept 27th 1967 - Studio Two, 7:00pm-3:30am
10. I AM THE WALRUS SI onto take 25
Following a reduction of take 20 into take 25 to free up a track, the Mike Sammes Singers performed George Martin's vocal arrangement, best heard in the rear speakers in the 5.1 mix from Anthology. After these backing vocals were added to take 25, the whole thing minus the take 17 "guide track" was bounced back down to the last free track on the take 17 multi the following day. The radio signal wasn't added until the mixing stage.
THE FOOL ON THE HILL SI onto take 6
Paul "adding another vocal" may have been double-tracking his lead vocal. No audio available.
Sept 28th 1967 - Studio Two, 4:00-5:30pm
I AM THE WALRUS Reduction of take 25 as SI onto take 17
Also some tape copying.
Sept 28th 1967 - Studio Two, 7:00pm-3:00am
I AM THE WALRUS Mono mixes 2-5 from take 17, RM2 being best
No audio available as new mixes were done the next evening.
11. FLYING SI onto take 8
Overdub of mellotron, guitar and percussion.
12. FLYING Overdub takes 1-5
Overdub of John and Ringo tape loops and effects.
13. FLYING Mono mix edit of RM6
Sept 29th 1967 - Studio Two, 7:00pm-5:00am
14. I AM THE WALRUS US mono mix RM23, edit of RM10 and RM22
15. KING LEAR Broadcast fed into the end of the mono mix.
16. YOUR MOTHER SHOULD KNOW SI onto take 52
Take 9 from Chapell was given a reduction mix to take 52 and Paul overdubbed bass on one of the free tracks. The RS88 mix at the 0:54 mark contain some bass notes which aren't present on the final version; listening closely a 2nd bass part is discernable throughout. It must have been added to take 9 but not used in the reduction to take 52.
17. YOUR MOTHER SHOULD KNOW SI onto take 52
John overdubs organ on the last available track while Paul plays the tambourine.
18. YOUR MOTHER SHOULD KNOW RM20 simulated
The first mono remix of this song was made with the tape running at 60.5 cycles and would have sounded similar to this 3 semitone slowdown of RM25 when the tape was played back at normal speed. Why the song was mixed at this speed in the first place is a bit puzzling. Maybe they wanted to use it to practice the dance moves for the film's finale? :]
Oct 2nd 1967 - Studio Two, 10:00pm-2:30am
19. YOUR MOTHER SHOULD KNOW Mono mix RM25
The real mono mix at the regular speed.
20. HELLO GOODBYE Take 1
This composite is from Purple Chick.
21. HELLO GOODBYE Take 14
All of the elements from take 14 were combined to one track in the reduction to take 16, and that track is panned hard left in the Anthology version of take 16 and isolated here.
Disc 4
Oct 6th 1967 - Studio Two, 7:00-12:00pm
1. BLUE JAY WAY SI onto take 3
Cello and tambourine overdub, from the '88 remix.
Oct 12th 1967 - De Lane Lea Music, 2:30-8:00pm
2. IT'S ALL TOO MUCH mono mix (replaced in '68)
The original mono mix is unavailable, the audio is the later mono mix.
Oct 12th 1967 - Studio Three, 6:30pm-2:00am
BLUE JAY WAY mono mixes RM2-9, unused
Most of the session was spent recording Shirley's Wild Accordion.
Oct 19th 1967 - Studio One, 7:00pm-3:30am
3. HELLO GOODBYE SI onto take 16
Paul's overdubs of double-tracked lead vocals.
4. HELLO GOODBYE SI onto take 16
Two guitar parts were played onto the last free track (Paul and George?), and backing vocals were also recorded to that track, but it's difficult to tell if the backing vocals (also Paul and George?) were punched in or recorded at the same time. A reduction into take 17 followed.
Oct 20th 1967 - Studio Three, 7:00pm-3:45am
5. THE FOOL ON THE HILL SI onto take 6
Overdub of flutes, plus John and George's bass harmonica parts.
6. HELLO GOODBYE SI onto take 17
Overdub of violas onto the track freed up by the reduction mix. Also heard is one of Paul's two lead vocals.
Oct 25th 1967 - Studio Two, 7:00pm-3:00am
7. THE FOOL ON THE HILL Mono mix RM12
8. HELLO GOODBYE SI onto take 21
Bass overdub, following reduction of take 17 into take 21.
Nov 1st 1967 - Room 53, 10:00am-1:00pm
9. ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE YS mono mix (13 seconds shorter than the 45)
10. LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS YS mono mix (with the Boob)
Nov 1st 1967 - Studio Three (control room only), 2:30-6:00pm
11. THE FOOL ON THE HILL RS5
Prior to this mix, another reduction of Hello Goodbye was done.
Nov 2nd 1967 - Studio Three, 2:30-6:00pm
HELLO GOODBYE SI onto take 22
A second bass part was supposedly recorded, but since only one bass part is heard on the final mixes one has to wonder just what this reduction was for.
12. HELLO GOODBYE Mono mix RM6
Nov 6th 1967 - Studio Three (control room only), 2:30-6:00pm
13. HELLO GOODBYE RS2
I AM THE WALRUS RS6-7 edit, all mixes from take 17 and RM22
A new stereo mix for the first half of the song was done on Nov 17th
14. YOUR MOTHER SHOULD KNOW RS2
MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR RS1-4
A new stereo mix replaced the best of these.
Nov 7th 1967 - Studio Two (control room only), 2:30-5:45pm
BLUE JAY WAY RS2 edited
This song was mixed again in the evening session and Ken's mix remains unheard.
15. FLYING RS1 edited
Both mixes were engineered by Ken Scott
Nov 7th 1967 - Studio One, 9:00pm-4:30am
16. BLUE JAY WAY Mono mix RM27 edited
17. BLUE JAY WAY Stereo mix RS12 edited
18. MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR Stereo mix RS6
From RS4 with new SI of Paul's intro vocal and sfx.
19. MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR Mono mix RM10
From RM7 with new SI. Plus tape copying for Capitol Records.
Nov 15th 1967 - Studio Two (control room only), 10:30-11:00am
HELLO GOODBYE RM10 promo film mix (no violas)
Plus more tape copying of Yellow Sub songs.
Nov 17th 1967 - Room 53, 10:00am-1:15pm
20. I AM THE WALRUS RS25
New stereo mix for the first half, edited into the master.