bus sounds. Release "Magical Mystery Tour" was released as the title track to a six-song double EP in the United Kingdom on 8 December 1967. It was the first example of a double EP in Britain. The format was chosen over a single-disc EP playing at 33⅓ rpm because the Beatles were unwilling to accept the loss of audio fidelity inherent in the latter option. In the United States, the double EP was stretched to an LP by adding five songs previously released as singles. Although Billboard magazine announced that the US release was to take place in mid December, the album was issued on 27 November. The song plays over the opening scene in the Magical Mystery Tour film, which was broadcast on BBC1 in the UK on 26 December, and as a reprise at the end. Although the television film was savaged by critics, earning the Beatles their first public and critical failure, the soundtrack record was highly successful. With regard to the unusual format, Nick Logan of the NME referred to it as "the Beatles' new six-track EP, mini-LP or extended single, whatever you like to call it!" In the UK, it peaked at number 2 on the singles chart compiled by Record Retailer (later adopted as the UK Singles Chart) while the band's "Hello, Goodbye" held the top position. The EP was number 1 on Melody Makers singles chart, demoting "Hello, Goodbye" for a week. The song itself reached number two on Sweden's Tio i Topp chart. "Magical Mystery Tour" later appeared on the Beatles' 1973 greatest hits compilation 1967–1970 and their 1982 themed compilation Reel Music. During the CD era, the LP version of Magical Mystery Tour was issued on CD in all markets. Critical reception In Melody Maker, Bob Dawbarn cited the sound quality of the EP as an example of why singles should be available in stereo in the UK, and he described "Magical Mystery Tour" as "a massive storming piece with Paul singing lead over a tom-tom beat. The effect is mainly of guitars and brass with piano taking over at the end." Hit Paraders reviewer said that the soundtrack showed the Beatles extending their supremacy over "80 scillion other groups" and displaying a self-discipline in their arrangements and production that was absent on the Rolling Stones' new album, Their Satanic Majesties Request. The writer concluded: "In the opening song, the Beatles