Carnival of Light
| Carnival of Light | |
|---|---|
| The Beatles | |
| publication | previously unpublished |
| length | ~ 14 min |
| Genre (s) | Avant-garde music |
Carnival of Light is a to date unreleased piece by the Beatles . Except for the closest collaborators, no one has heard of this obscure work. The official studio records only guarantee that on January 5, 1967, after an overdub session for Penny Lane under the direction of Paul McCartney , the Beatles recorded a nearly fourteen- minute sound collage without form, time, key or melody.
A four-track tape recorder was covered with all sorts of noises and tape loops, as well as heavily distorted guitars, drums and organ tones. Working with ribbon bows had been known to the Beatles since Tomorrow Never Knows . It is noteworthy, however, that already 18 months before John Lennon's Revolution 9 experiments were carried out with absolutely free sound forms.
The piece emerged from an informal commission for a mixed media event organized by the artist trio Douglas Binder, Dudley Edwards and Dave Vaughan, which was to take place on January 28 and February 4, 1967 at the Roundhouse Theater in London .
Sound engineer at the time, Geoff Emerick, recalled the session as follows:
“When they had finished George Martin said to me 'This is ridiculous, we've got to get our teeth into something a little more constructive'.”
McCartney's proposal to publish it on Anthology 2 was rejected not only because of the length of the piece , but also because George Harrison said at the time that he did not like avant-garde music. Paul McCartney plans to release the song if Ringo Starr and the Lennon and Harrison estate trustees agree.
literature
- Olaf Benzinger: Masterpieces in a nutshell - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band of the Beatles . ISBN 3-492-23137-3 .
- Mark Lewisohn : The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions . London: Hamlyn 1988.
- Ian MacDonald: The Beatles - Das Song Lexikon ISBN 3-7618-1426-7 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b McCartney wants to publish mythical Beatles song. Report by Spiegel Online from November 17, 2008