On Nov 16, 8:28=EF=BF=BDpm, Tom Sutpen <tomsut...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/16/paul-mccartney-hopes-to-r_n_...
>
> Does anyone here know anything about this? I'm particularly puzzled by
> the article's suggestion that The Beatles performed a piece entitled
> 'Carnival of Light' at some electronic music hootenany in 1967.
>
> Thanks and praises for all who straighten this out.
>
> Tom Sutpen
>
>From the Abbey Road Beatle news website:
A story by Vanessa Thorpe in Sunday's edition of the UK Guardian
re****ts that Paul McCartney is eager to release the much-rumored
"Carnival of Light," an avant-garde track that he and the other
Beatles recorded in 1967.
On a BBC 4 radio show, Front Row, to air this week, McCartney told
host John Wilson, "It does exist," he still has a master tape of the
song and says "the time has come for it to get its moment."
"I like it because it's the Beatles free, going off piste," he says.
The track was created for "The Carnival of Light Rave," an event held
at the Roundhouse Theater Jan. 28 and Feb. 4, 1967, and promoted by
underground designers Binder, Edwards and Vaughan, who had been hired
by Paul McCartney to decorate one of his pianos (similar to the
decorated piano seen on Paul's '89 tour).
McCartney described how "Carnival" was developed in the recording
studio. "We were set up in the studio and would just go in every day
and record. I said to the guys, 'This is a bit indulgent but would you
mind giving me 10 minutes? I've been asked to do this thing. All I
want you to do is just wander round all of the stuff and bang it,
shout, play it. It doesn't need to make any sense. Hit a drum, wander
to the piano, hit a few notes ... and then we put a bit of echo on it.
It's very free.' "
McCartney said it was inspired by the works of composers John Cage and
Karlheinz Stockhausen. Track three consisted of John and Paul
screaming like "demented old women", according to one account, with
John crying "Barcelona!" while Paul screams, "Are you alright?," with
added whistling and water gargling. Track four had more sound effects,
tambourine shaking and tape echo. The track ended with Paul shouting,
"Can we hear it back now?"
The 13-minute, 48-second track was mixed down to mono and a copy was
given to Binder, Edwards and Vaughan. It was used for this one event
and hasn't been heard in public since.
"Carnival" was considered and rejected for release on "The Beatles
Anthology," he says. 'We were listening to everything we'd ever
recorded. I said it would be great to put this on because it would
show we were working with really avant-garde stuff ... But it was
vetoed. The guys didn't like the idea, like 'this is rubbish'." George
Harrison, he said, dismissed this type of experimentation with his
typical humor by saying "avant-garde a clue".
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