The Who’s Pete Townshend Called 1 Beatles Album ‘Inconclusive’
TL;DR:
- The Who’s Pete Townshend had some criticisms of The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack.
- He had issues with the film Magical Mystery Tour as well.
- The Magical Mystery Tour album performed differently in the United States and the United Kingdom.
The Who’s Pete Townshend has some mixed things to say about the soundtrack of The Beatles‘ Magical Mystery Tour. He called the album “inconclusive,” comparing it to one of The Who’s albums. In addition, Townshend said the movie Magical Mystery Tour was similar to one of The Beach Boys’ albums.
Pete Townshend compared The Beatles’ ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ to The Who’s ‘The Who Sell Out’
In his 2012 book Who I Am: A Memoir, Townshend discussed the album The Who Sell Out. “The record company had to wait until December to get clearances for the commercial brands mentioned on The Who Sell Out,” he wrote. “Despite its ambition, some poor material — songs that lacked teeth — was included in the half-cooked package.”
Townshend compared the album to Magical Mystery Tour. “Like The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour, our album seemed potentially brilliant but ultimately inconclusive,” he opined. “When it was finally released. [The Who Sell Out] was The Who’s slowest-selling record in the U.K. so far.” Townshend felt his band “neglected” their U.K. fans with The Who Sell Out.
The Who’s Pete Townshend compared The Beatles’ movie to The Beach Boys’ ‘Smile’
Elsewhere in the book, Townshend discussed The Beach Boys and The Beatles. “Brian Wilson went on to attempt a masterwork he called Smile, but lost it to mental disorder and over-ambition,” he said. “The Beatles went on to work on the prematurely curtailed Magical Mystery Tour, which we supposed was meant to be the film version of Sgt. Pepper.”
Townshend had mixed things to say about both Smile and Magical Mystery Tour. “Both were wonderful, but both made clear that these pop alchemists had failed to produce anything but gold: they hadn’t produced the love or passion of Broadway, nor inspired the humor or hope of Beat poetry, Bebop or Pete Seeger’s Hudson River Peace Boat,” he wrote.
How the ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ soundtrack performed on the charts in the United States and the United Kingdom
Magical Mystery Tour became a hit in the United States. The album topped the Billboard 200 for eight weeks, staying on the chart for 93 weeks altogether.
The Official Charts Company reports Magical Mystery Tour became a hit in the United Kingdom, though it was far less popular there. In the U.K., the album reached No. 31, staying on the chart for 10 weeks.
Townshend had positive and negative things to say about Magical Mystery Tour — but the album was popular with the public.
