Sgt. Pepper Cumple 40 (parte 9)

Piero Dall'Orso continúa con el relato de la grabación más importante de la historia de la música rock. Esta vez hace hincapié en una canción jamás lanzada por los Beatles, muy avanzada a su tiempo.

Carnival Of Light

Esta canción fue grabada el 5 de enero de 1967 después de que The Beatles grabaran el doblaje de voces durante las sesiones para Penny Lane. Su nombre original era “Untitled”.

La canción fue creada para The Million Volt Light and Sound Rave, un evento que se llevo a cabo en el Teatro Roundhouse el 28 de Enero y el 4 de febrero de 1967. Algunas personas dicen que esta canción dura aproximadamente 13 minutos. Paul McCartney ha dicho que dura alrededor de 15 minutos. (Nota: en el libro The Complete Beatles Chronicles menciona un tiempo de 13 minutos con 48 segundos).

La historia de este tema data de diciembre de 1966 cuando el diseñador David Vaughan (parte del trío de diseñadores Binder, Edwards y Vaughan,) quien habia pintado un diseño psicodélico del piano de McCartney -por la misma época que llevaba el piano a la casa de Paul en Cavendish Avenue- le preguntó si le gustaría contribuir con una pieza musical para The Million Volt Light y Sound Rave , para sorpresa de Vaughan, Paul aceptó participar.

The Million Volt Light y Sound Rave o tambien llamado The Carnival Of Light Rave era un festival de arte. El cual era organizado por Binder, Edwards y Vaughan donde se mostraba la música electrónica y espectáculos de luces. Este espectáculo se llevaba a cabo en The Chalk Farm Road Roundhouse Theatre y figuraba en el programa no soló tocar en publico Carnival Of Light, sino también actuaciones por Unit Delta Plus, cuyos integrantes incluían a los primeros pioneros de la música electrónica como Delia Derbyshire y Brian Hodgson del Taller Radiofónico de la BBC y al artista electrónico Peter Zinovieff.

Menciono todo esto para que se tenga en claro cual fue el origen de la pieza musical Carnival Of Light.

Las personas que han podido escuchar Carnival Of Light

El experto Beatle Mark Lewisohn quien escucho la canción en 1987 mientras recopilaba información en su libro “The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions” dice que la canción incluye: “distorsión, batería hipnótica, sonidos de órgano, una guitarra principal distorsionada, el sonido de órgano de iglesia, varios efectos (gorgojeos de agua era uno) y posiblemente lo mas intimidante de todo John Lennon y Paul McCartney gritando y aullando dementemente frases como “Are You Alright?” (¿Estas bien?) y “Barcelona!”.

Otra de las personas que ha tenido el privilegio de oir este tema es el escritor oficial de la biografía de Paul McCartney : Barry Miles.

En su libro “Many Years From Now” describe a la canción diciendo que “no tiene ritmo, aunque el compás es establecido por algunas barras por la percusión o el martilleo rítmico del piano. No hay melodía, aunque pedacitos de una tonada algunas veces amenazada con romperse enteramente”.

La base de la canción es un órgano tocando notas de bajo y batería fueron grabadas a velocidad menor dándole un sonido de profundidad. Allí hay una gran cantidad de sonidos de eco usado en los instrumentos y voces de John y Paul (las dos únicas voces en la canción), quienes grabaron lloros de la guerra de la India, silbidos, jadeos cerca al micro, tocidos genuinos y fragmentos de conversación en el estudio. Otros doblados de la canción incluyen estallidos de efectos de guitarras, órgano de cinema, pedacitos de un piano de pub acompañante y efectos electrónicos con John gritando “Electricity!” (¡Electricidad!)

La canción concluye con McCartney preguntando al ingeniero del estudio con una voz embebida “Can we hear it back now? (¿podriamos escucharlo de nuevo?)”

Según lo que dice Barry Miles musicalmente se asemeja a “The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet” del álbum de Frank Zappa Freak Out! excepto que no hay ritmo y la música es mucho mas fragmentada, abstracta y seria.”

Dudley Edwards (uno de los organizadores de The Million Volt Light and Sound Rave y amigo de Paul McCartney) nos dice que una toma temprana de “Fixing a Hole” (del Pepper) con piano aparece durante la canción. Esto no esta demostrado ya que la grabación de "Fixing a Hole" no comienza hasta el 9 de febrero, 5 días después de la última presentación de The Million Volt Light and Sound Rave, sin embargo puede que McCartney hubiera podido tocar algunas líneas de la canción en el tema.

En el libro de Lewisohn dice que una mezcla tosca en monaural se le dio a Vaughan, Miles asegura que la mezcla “fue hecha con separación completa de estereo y que es un ejercicio musical de estratos y texturas.” Se dice que hubo una segunda mezcla después del evento o que a Vaughan se le dio una mezcla en estereo la cual no se sabe si fue registrada en Abbey Road. Edwards dice que la cinta fue enviada a Estados Unidos con Ray Anderson (quien fue traído desde Estados Unidos para asistir con el espectáculo de luces) . El master de Carnival se encuentra en los Estudios Abbey Road.

Por último "Carnival of Light" no ha aparecido en ningún lanzamiento oficial o grabación
pirata de The Beatles.

Sin embargo apareció un fragmento de un minuto “se dice” de la canción que contenía cintas al revés, velocidad de sonidos de guitarras eléctricas en varios sitios donde comparten archivos de Internet los cuales han sido desmentidos ya que todo esto se trata de una farsa.

En 1996 Paul McCartney trato de que esta canción apareciera en la compilación The Beatles Anthology 2, pero fue George Harrison quien se opuso a su publicación según lo que McCartney dijo en aquella época : “la razón fue que el (refiriéndose a Harrison) no le gusta la música avant garde.”

George sentía que era mas una canción de John y Paul que un tema de The Beatles. Es por esto que se explica la aparición en Anthology 2 de las pistas instrumentales de "Eleanor Rigby" y "Within You Without You" en lugar de Carnival of Light.

En agosto de ese mismo año, Mc Cartney confirmó (en una entrevista en la revista Mojo) que el estaba trabajando en una película con collage de fotos de Los Beatles muy similar a la película acerca de Grateful Dead en 1995 llamada Grateful Dead – A Photo Film. Paul estaba planeando usar "Carnival" en la película. Sin embargo desde el año 2002 McCartney no ha hecho ningún comentario acerca de la película.

Quizás algún día en un futuro no muy lejano aparezca dicho tema. Por ahora seguiremos esperando.

Try to see it my way

Usually, I don't care too much about what the tabloids might say about McCartney and my other music idols, but in this case I sense a little bit of good intentions in this warm hearted article about kiss and make-up. Instead of giving the press and the papparazzis a nasty divorce, Paul McCartney and his ex wife Heather Mills are acting like civilized human beings and having a friendly relationship. Even tho Paul is pressing Heather to stay in the U.K. instead of start a career in the U.S. (Well, that's something that is This note is taken from the May 20th edition of the U.K. tabloid News Of The World.


ON TOP is the astonishing picture you thought you'd never see in the Macca vs. Mucca divorce war.

It's a case of I Thaw Her Standing There as Sir Paul gets an ice-breaking SMILE from Heather. He lifts daughter Bea into the air to wave goodbye to Mummy after a friendly meeting at a restaurant. And today we can reveal the pair have secretly hammered out a TRUCE in their bitter multi-million-pound battle—because they are WORRIED about the effect it's having on their three-year-old. At their ten-minute summit on Friday at a London bistro they chatted amicably while Bea played—a far cry from past scenes. Just a few months ago nannies were sent to do the handovers because the child's parents couldn't stand the sight of each other.
The details of their We Can Work It Out settlement include:

A PLEDGE from Paul that his lawyers will push through a divorce deal in the next year that will leave Heather happy.
A PLAN to celebrate his 65th birthday next month TOGETHER at a special party with Bea.
A PROMISE from Heather, 39, that she'll ditch plans to forge a new career in America, easing Macca's fears she might fight to take Bea with her. A source close to the couple told us: "It's an amazing about-turn but they've both looked at their behaviour and vowed to get along for Bea's sake. They were becoming really worried that their rows and the tension between them would have an emotional effect on her.

This week Sir Paul said he felt there was light at the end of the tunnel over his divorce. "I'm going through great struggles, but I'm feeling pretty good. I have a lot of good support, particularly from my family," he said.

"In difficult moments like this, it's when a loving family shines through. We're pretty close anyway, but when you go into something difficult, it does actually bring you closer together."
He revealed how their shared love of Bea was ensuring he and Heather were giving peace a chance. "I've talked to a lot of people and everyone says you want to look at the positive ...my beautiful baby daughter," he said. "Both parents know there is something great that came out of our marriage even though it didn't work."
That was evident at Friday's rendezvous in St John's Wood. An onlooker said: "They sat there chatting away—everyone was astonished, especially considering how bitterly they've fought over their divorce. When they left they were side by side and seemed very friendly."
It was in sharp contrast to their last public meeting in October where the sour-faced pair barely spoke to each other at Bea's third birthday party.
Our source told us: "Paul has promised he'll settle the divorce by next spring and he's given her a £1 million interim payment. That's a huge relief for Heather who had debts to clear and was afraid that it would rumble on for years.

Chilled

"Now she wants to do a family thing for Paul's birthday with Bea. When this was suggested a few weeks ago, Paul had a really negative view on it. But he's chilled out about things now, and is considering it.
"He does feel that as a dad it would be the right thing to do for Bea."
Heather has also set his mind at rest about moving to the US where she appeared on reality show Dancing With The Stars. "He was worried she'd try to settle there and take Bea," said our source. "But she's assured him she'll stay here."
So at last it seems the McCartneys are coming together, right now, over Bea.

The Return of The Power Of The Vote

The following text appeared on the original Live At Carnegie Hall LP box set by Chicago (now available as a 3 CD set)

History repeating itself. In 1971 the Nixon administration was planning to win the 1972 election no matter what, and a strategy planned by "The System" (according to the unknown author of this text) was to make it very dificult for teens to register to vote after reducing the voting age to 18. Chicago At Carnegie Hall featured a table of the requirements and conditions for vote registration in each U.S. state. The table was organized in rows for States and columns for the conditions:

Register by this Deadline, or You Can't Vote In your Primary Election
Register by this Deadline, or You Can't Vote in The Nov. 1972 General Election
Here's how long you have to live in your state, county and precint before they'll let you vote
You have to be 18 by this date to vote in the primary and general elections
Can you register "absentee" by mail?
If all this looks weird and you want to know MORE, here's who you write or phone for information from your state.

With all those complications for teens, it was easy for Nixon to win. Sounds familiar?

Al-Mickey

This video is one of the funniest things I've ever seen. I don't know if it was done on purpose as a political comedy about how screwed this world is or if it was for real. I heard it was a real broadcast in Palestine and the show was cancelled afterwards (hopefully by the TV executives and not under the pressure of Israel or the CIA.) Anyways, this rant on Israeli occupation in Palestine and the U.S. fighting in Iraq is completely weird, sick and South Park worth.

Mickey Mouse -an American icon, for sure- praises Allah and calls for Jihad against Bush and Condoleeza while kids call the show singing chants against the Israeli occupation. The little girl seems to be the host of the show and she actually knows what she talks about. It's a mixture of Sesame Street, The Mickey Mouse Club and a David Lynch directed scene. Funny because it's wrong, wrong because it's real.

40 years ago, Argentinian cartoonist Quino called the Palestinian-Israeli situation a "Tom And Jerry" cartoon. Year by year, decade by decade, the world is getting tired of this war between brothers and, when not getting any response of peace commitment from neither parts, the world is just not paying attention anymore and becoming numb. It doesn't matter who's right if nobody wants to negotiate an end of bloodshed.

Again, real or not, let's see this video as what it really is: an ironic statement of a war already lost by both parts.

Best Of Foghat, presented by Zits

I weep for a generation, the next one, that has teenagers capable of doing a thing like that to a band like Foghat!

I felt a little bit disgusted the way Jeremy treated a masterpiece like Best Of Foghat and dared to criticized his father's musical taste. However, I thought It was an interesting idea to introduce this band to young ears, specially people who never heard songs like "Slow Ride."

If you want to think of the seventies as a decade of liberation and deception of the government, think of it with music from bands like Foghat, Peter Frampton, Steve Miller Band, War, Bob Seeger, Springsteen, and of course The Rolling Stones.

Jeremy should have known better. His favorite music, what's playing now in the radios, soon will be forgotten... as Foghat's 30 years ago. It doesn't matter. True music lives in our hearts.

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