Good Morning/Good Afternoon/Good Evening. Song of The Day. Carnival of Light is an unreleased experimental piece by the Beatles. It was recorded on 5 January 1967, after the vocal overdubbing sessions for the song Penny Lane. The track was created for The Million Volt Light and Sound Rave, an event held at the Roundhouse Theatre on 28 January and 4 February 1967. The genesis of the track came in December 1966 from designer David Vaughan (part of the designer trio Binder, Edwards & Vaughan), who had recently painted a psychedelic design on a piano owned by Paul McCartney.[disputed – discuss] About the same time as he delivered the piano to McCartneys Cavendish Avenue address, he asked if McCartney would contribute a musical piece for the upcoming The Million Volt Light and Sound Rave. To Vaughans surprise McCartney agreed to make a contribution. The Million Volt Light and Sound Rave (sometimes referred to as The Carnival of Light Rave) was an art festival organised by Binder, Edwards & Vaughan as a showcase for electronic music and light shows. It was held at the Chalk Farm Road Roundhouse Theatre and featured on the bill not only a public playing of Carnival of Light but performances by Unit Delta Plus, whose members included early electronic music pioneers Delia Derbyshire, Brian Hodgson from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and fellow electronic artist Peter Zinovieff. Carnival of Light was created for this event. Beatles expert Mark Lewisohn, who listened to the song in 1987 while compiling his book The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, says the song included distorted, hypnotic drum and organ sounds, a distorted lead guitar, the sound of a church organ, various effects (water gargling was one) and, perhaps most intimidating of all, John Lennon and McCartney screaming dementedly and bawling aloud random phrases like Are you alright? and Barcelona! McCartney biographer Barry Miles wrote in Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now that the song had no rhythm, although a beat is sometimes established for a few bars by the percussion or a rhythmic pounding piano. There is no melody, although snatches of a tune sometimes threaten to break through. I said all I want you to do is just wander around all the stuff, bang it, shout, play it, it doesnt need to make any sense. Hit a drum, then wander onto the piano, hit a few notes and just wander around, said McCartney in November 2008. The basic bed track of an organ playing bass notes and drums was recorded at a fast speed, meaning that when played back at a regular speed they are deeper in pitch and slower in tempo. There is also a huge amount of reverb used on the instruments and on Lennons and McCartneys vocals (the only two voices on the track); Lennon and McCartney also recorded Native American war cries, whistling, close-miked gasping, genuine coughing and fragments of studio conversation. Other overdubs to the song include bursts of guitar feedback, schmaltzy cinema organ, snatches of jangling pub piano and electronic feedback with Lennon shouting Electricity!. The track concludes with McCartney asking the studio engineer in an echo-soaked voice, Can we hear it back now? Also, according to Barry Miles, musically it resembles The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet from Frank Zappas Freak Out! album, except there is no rhythm and the music ... is more fragmented, abstract and serious. Dudley Edwards (one of the organizers of The Million Volt Light and Sound Rave and friend of McCartneys) said that an early take of Fixing a Hole (from Sgt. Peppers) with a piano appeared during the song.[3] It is unlikely that a sample of an early take was heard since the recording of Fixing a Hole did not commence until five days after the last The Million Volt Light and Sound Rave, but it is not impossible that McCartney played a few bars of the song on the track. Some reports indicate that it is around fourteen minutes long[4] and McCartney has said it was around fifteen minutes. In The Complete Beatles Chronicle it is listed as lasting 13 minutes and 48 seconds. Although Lewisohns book says that a rough mono mix was given to Vaughan, Miles claims that the mix down was made with full stereo separation, and is an exercise in musical layers and textures. Whether a second mix was made after the event or Vaughan was in fact given a stereo mix which was not logged in Abbey Road’s records is unspecified. Edwards has said the tape was taken to San Francisco by one Ray Anderson (who was brought over from the U.S. to assist with the light show). The master session tapes of Carnival of Light are still at Abbey Road Studios.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 23:51:28 +0000
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