The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour (Album)

Magical Mystery Tour was originally meant to be released as an EP (and it was released as a 6 track EP in the UK) but some songs that had been previously released as singles were added to the new songs recorded for the movie by the same name to make it a full album (it was released as an 11 track LP in the US.)

Eventually the album version was released in the UK (1976) due to heavy demand for the US LP version.

When the "official discography" was set with the CD releases in 1987, the album version was used and when the 2009 remastered box sets came out, they both contained the album version (in mono and stereo respectively.)

This is still an area of debate for some Beatles purists, but at this point most people just accept Magical Mystery Tour as an album and move on. After all none of the songs on the album version except for "All You Need Is Love" appear on any other Beatles album (and that's only because "All You Need Is Love" was added to the Yellow Submarine LP release in '69.)

The EP included only the six songs featured in the movie (which got bad reviews at the time, but has become a psychedelic cult classic with time.)

The six songs:

"Magical Mystery Tour"
"Your Mother Should Know"
"I Am the Walrus"
"The Fool on the Hill"
"Flying"
"Blue Jay Way"

These are also the first six songs on the album version (although not in this order.) 

The remaining five songs (to make it to the 11 songs on the album version) were taken from previously released singles.

"Penny Lane" / "Strawberry Fields Forever" (2/7/67)

Considered by many to be the "greatest single ever."

I don't really get why people get so upset about these two songs being included on the Magical Mystery Tour album considering these songs are not featured on any other Beatles album.

The only alternative would be to include them on the Past Masters double CD collection of non-album tracks, and to me it seems like these songs fit much better within the psychedelic framework of Magical Mystery Tour than among their singles which were never included on a proper album.

"All You Need Is Love" / "Baby You're A Rich Man" (7/7/67)

I've always felt like "All You Need Is Love" is actually quite an awkward way to end this album. On the other hand, "Baby You're A Rich Man" is a great fit.

"Hello Goodbye" / "I Am The Walrus" (11/27/67)

Actually, "I Am The Walrus" is kind of a special case as it was included on this "previously released single" and also included in the movie (the "I Am The Walrus" scene in the movie is one of my favorites.) Plus this single was really released around the same time as the album so it doesn't really make sense to think of it as "previously released" in the same sense that the others.

1. "Magical Mystery Tour" - I think this song is a great bit of psychedelic fun. I love the way it's constantly changing throughout. And the bit at the end reminds me a lot of The Doors. 
2. "Fool on the Hill" - The great thing about Magical Mystery Tour is the way so many of the songs don't fit into the usual categorization of songs. They were really at a place in 1967 where they were coming up with entirely new ways of approaching song composition and recording on a regular basis. I mean, what kind of song is "Fool on the Hill"? It's hard to categorize. I guess it's a "ballad" but the instrumentation is totally tripped out and the subject is certainly not romantic.
3. "Flying" - I've always loved this little instrumental. Yeah there's not a lot to it, but it's a very pleasant little trip. Until the end bit with the swirling backwards noises which is my favorite part of the recording.
4. "Blue Jay Way" - I'll admit that this isn't among The Beatles best compositions, but I still enjoy listening to this George Harrison song because of the completely over the top tripped out production. Everything's phased and filtered and there's the backwards vocals slipping out over top of the mix (which are not in the mono version, by the way.) It's gloriously insane.
5. "Your Mother Should Know" - To me this song is just as trippy as the first four tracks (especially in the mono version with the phased drums.) I've written elsewhere in my hubs about how you have to approach these types of Paul McCartney songs from the perspective that he was really like the first member of Ween. These songs are totally tongue in cheek. Understand that context and you will understand how awesome they really are. And think about how bizarre this song sounds considering what comes before it and after it. A real "trip" takes you to all kinds of unexpected places in the past, present, and future. 
6. "I Am The Walrus" - This is the centerpiece of Magical Mystery Tour to me so it's perfect right in the middle of the album. One of my all time favorite Beatles recordings (and that's saying quite a lot.) There's just so much going on. You can listen to it a 1000 times and still be hearing new elements. 
7. "Hello Goodbye" - Catchy as a cold. I love the bits with lots of echo on the vocals and the great outro. 
8. "Strawberry Fields Forever" - Of course this is among The Beatles greatest songs and I think this is a fine home for it. It doesn't really feel quite legitimate as an album track for this album because I know that it was really originally intended for what ended up being Sgt. Pepper and then was released as a single because the record company wanted something to put out between Revolver and Pepper.
9. "Penny Lane" - I could pretty much just copy/paste what I said about "Strawberry Fields Forever" here.
10. "Baby You're A Rich Man" - Such a weird song. I love it. To me it perfectly fits into the "surreal trip" quality that seems to be the basic aim of the Magical Mystery Tour album. 
11. "All You Need Is Love" - I like this song, don't get me wrong, but it just feels out of place here. To me it's really what makes this album sound like less of an album and more like a compilation (which, as the purists are sure to point out, is what it really is.) I think it's because I associate this recording so much with that live satellite performance. It just seems kind of tacked on at the end. On the other hand, "Baby You're A Rich Man" probably wouldn't have worked as an ending song either. If I was doing the sequencing I'd have wanted them to drop this and move "Flying" to the end. Or maybe "Hello Goodbye."