Monday, October 2, 2017

Pink Floyd - The Massed Gadgets of Auximenes (upgrade)




Pink Floyd – The Massed Gadgets of Auximenes

(soniclovenoize “The Man & The Journey” studio reconstruction)

September 2017 Upgrade


Side A:
1.  Daybreak, Pt 1
2.  Work
3.  Afternoon
4.  Doing It!
5.  Sleeping
6.  Nightmare
7.  Daybreak, Pt 2

Side B:
8.  The Beginning
9.  Beset By Creatures of the Deep
10.  The Narrow Way
11.  The Pink Jungle
12.  The Labyrinths of Auximenes
13.  Behold The Temple of Light
14.  The End of The Beginning


After the release of Pink Floyd’s The Early Years anthology—especially the Dramatis/ation volume—I reevaluated this previous reconstruction, contemplating if it could be improved upon.  And I found I could!  This is an upgrade to a studio reconstruction of the never-recorded experimental performance piece of “The Man and The Journey”, often titled The Massed Gadgets of Auximenes.  This reconstruction attempts to present a version of the performance that would have taken the place of the More soundtrack and Ummagumma album, only utilizing studio recordings and condensing the performance down to two sides of a vinyl album. 

The upgrades to this September 2017 edition are:
  • “Careful of that Axe Eugene” is used for “Beset by Creatures of the Deep” instead of “Come In Number 51, Your Time Is Up”
  • “Main Theme” is used for “The Pink Jungle” instead of the live version of “Syncopated Pandemonium”
  • “The Grand Vizier’s Garden Party II” is used for “The Labyrinths of Auximenes” instead of the live version of “Interstellar Overdrive”
  • A new, longer edit of “Behold The Temple of Light was created.
  • “Cirrus Minor” is used for “The End of The Beginning” instead of the live version of “Celestial Voices”. 
   
Musical soul-searching was the predominant mindset in 1969 for Pink Floyd.  The previous year had seen the band attempt to mimic their former bandleader’s singles-oriented approach to psyche-pop with their second release A Saucerful of Secrets as well as the single releases “It Would Be So Nice” and “Point Me At the Sky”.  While both singles failed to make any significant chart impact, it was actually the latter’s instrumental b-side “Careful With That Axe Eugene” that garnished some underground FM-radio play, prompting the band to make it a live staple.  Following the cues of their audience’s reaction to the one-off track, Pink Floyd switched gears and focused on what the remaining four members could do the best without Syd Barrett: sprawling, experimental psychedelic jams. 

The perfect opportunity to test these waters came in February 1969, recording the soundtrack for the film More at Pyre Studios in London.  For several months, the band tracked a few songs and a number of musical themes for director Barbet Schroeder that ranged from Pink Floyd’s typical space rock to pastoral ballads, from exotic influences to even proto-metal hard rock.  The soundtrack album was released in June and while not a critical nor commercial success, several of the album’s highlights were added to their current set, including “Green is The Colour” and “Cymbaline”.  But More was not all; by then Pink Floyd had also been working on their own proper follow-up to A Saucerful of Secrets. 

That Spring, each member of Pink Floyd entered Abbey Road studios alone to record solo material, intended to be collected together as the next Pink Floyd album.  Although Nick Mason and Richard Wright’s material was largely instrumental and experimental, Roger Water’s and David Gilmour’s material each featured a song that had already been performed live with the full band, “Grantchester Meadows” and “The Narrow Way”.  Paired with exquisite live recordings from The Mothers Club on April 27th and the Manchester College of Commerce on May 2nd, Ummagumma was released in October and cemented Pink Floyd’s status as a cult band, prepared to push rock’s envelope, even without hit singles.

While both More and Ummagumma tell a story of Pink Floyd’s progress in 1969, it is not the complete story.  With new and original material spread across two separate albums essentially recorded simultaneously, as well as another two albums-worth of material in their back pocket, the band pondered how to present the material in a cohesive live setting beyond the typical rock band performance.  Choosing to cull the highlights from both projects as well as their favorite instrumental jams from The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and A Saucerful of Secrets (as well as the b-side that was the catalyst for it all), Pink Floyd designed a series of performances from April to June, sometimes entitled The Massed Gadgets of Auximenes but usually titled “The Man and The Journey”. 

“The Man & The Journey” was arranged as two 40-minute movements, and utilized the newly-built Azimuth Coordinator, a primitive incarnation of a surround sound system which played pre-recorded samples meant to fit into the performances itself.  The first set—called “The Man”—seemed to follow the events of a typical person throughout his mundane, British, post-Industrial life.  The set included the members of Pink Floyd actually building a table on-stage (to represent ‘Work’) and being served tea (to represent ‘Teatime’).  The concept, as explained by Gilmour, was inspired by graffiti near Paddington Station, which said “Get up, go to work, come home, go to bed, get up, go to work, come home, go to bed, [repeated]... How much longer can you keep this up?  How much longer before you crack?”

The concept of the second set is less clearly defined and seemed to be largely instrumental and improvisational.  Called “The Journey”, sketches from the performances’ playbill—and even the songs themselves—seem to suggest the piece follows a pilgrim’s quest.  A member of Pink Floyd’s crew even appeared in a sea creature’s costume, moving through the audience and appearing on-stage near the end of the set.  Is there some greater meaning or metaphor beyond this?  Is this the Man’s own spiritual journey through existence?  Knowing Pink Floyd’s conceptual pretensions, that very well might be the case. But Pink Floyd has never given any hints of what the journey nor its prize was, the task apparently left to the imaginations of the listeners.  My own interpretation is that “The Journey” is the evolution of agricultural mankind into industrial mankind, the quest for knowledge and technology; while there isn’t an actual Greek name Auximines, it could be stemmed from the Latin auxiliāris (to help) and the first pharaoh of Egypt, Menes (whose name translates to “he who endures”), literally a metaphor for the king (of humanity) who is assisted by gadgets (our technology) as he endures (history). 

After two seasons of performances of “The Man & The Journey” which concluded with a penultimate performance in Amsterdam on September 17th professionally recorded by VPRO Radio, Pink Floyd retired the conceptual pieces in time for Ummagumma’s release in October.  Unfortunately, the music assembled as “The Man & The Journey” was never formally recorded in the studio, suggesting that it was simply a way for the band to present the disparaging More and Ummagumma material in a live setting, rather than “The Man & The Journey” being the true genesis of either albums.  But is there a way to construct a studio version of “The Man & The Journey”, to condense and create some sort of conceptual order to Pink Floyd’s 1969 output? 

My reconstruction of “The Man & The Journey” will have two rules.  The first (which I regretfully broke when I originally reconstructed this album a few years ago) is that only studio material recorded in this era will be allowed.  This will exclude both live material and anything after 1969.  The problem that arises from this rule is that some of these pieces (“Work” and “Behold The Temple of Light”, for example) were never properly recorded by Pink Floyd.  The solution to this is in the second rule: we will substitute some unavailable tracks for other similar ones, assuming they are still from this same era.  Likewise we will try to avoid using previously-released tracks (“Pow R Toc H” or any section of “A Saucerful of Secrets”, for example) so that this album reconstruction can fit into any continuity you desire.  The Azimuth Coordinator sound effects are also omitted, as I believe it fits better for a live performance rather than a studio album.  I also chose to condense each set to fit on its own side of an LP, limited to 24 minutes. 

Side A—The Man—remains unaltered from my previous version of this reconstruction.  The Man wakes at “Daybreak” (“Grantchester Meadows” from Ummagumma) and then goes to “Work (since this musical piece was never recorded by Pink Floyd, we will use a similar-sounding track, “Sysyphus Part III” from Ummagumma).  “Tea Time” is omitted from my reconstruction, as it seemed more of a performance piece and less effective as an album recording.  “Afternoon” follows (“Biding My Time” from Relics), as well as the track “Doing It!” meant to represent sexual intercourse (often a Nick Mason drum solo, Pink Floyd often used either “Up the Khyber”, “Syncopated Pandemonium” or “The Grand Vizier’s Garden Party (Entertainment)” for this; here I use the later from Ummagumma).  Next the Man falls asleep (using an edited version of “Quicksilver” from More) and slips into a “Nightmare” (as represented by “Cymbaline” also from More).  The side concludes with the Man waking from his dream to the next day’s “Daybreak” (a short edit of "Grantchester Meadows"). 

Side B—The Journey—begins with the pilgrim leaving the British pastoral countryside (“Green is the Colour” from More) by sea, when they are soon “Beset By Creatures of The Deep” (depicted by “Careful With That Axe Eugene” from Relics).  The pilgrim’s ship plows through a 'horrid storm' (as depicted by “The Narrow Way III” from Ummagumma) and finally arrive on land, moving through a “Pink Jungle” (while Pink Floyd performed “Pow R Toc H” for this piece, here we will substitute a different ‘tribal’ track based around a rolling bass riff: an edit of “Main Theme” from More).  Our adventurers next creep through the “Labyrinth of Auximenes” (this piece often featured the bassline to the verses of “Let There Be More Light” juxtaposed with guitar effects and ominous drums; when stripped of the bass line, we are left with a track reminiscent of the first few minutes of “The Grand Vizier’s Garden Party II” from Ummagumma, which I used here) and “Behold The Temple of Light” (looping the chord sequence from “The Narrow Way II” also from Ummagumma).  “The End of The Beginning” is a problematic conclusion to the album, as any use of “Celestial Voices” would be reusing an old track, not to mention an anticlimax if using the subdued studio version that lacks the bombast of how it was performed for “The Man and The Journey”.  Here, we will substitute a different song that features a very similar organ passage: “Cirrus Minor” from More.  Not only are we then concluding the album on an actual song, but also it references a journey and features bird sound effects, a reoccurring motif of the performance.  


Sources Used:
Relics (1996 remaster)

Soundtrack to the Film ‘More’ (1987 remaster)
Ummagumma (1994 remaster)
 flac --> wav --> editing in SONAR and Goldwave --> flac encoding via TLH lv8
*md5, artwork and tracknotes included


130 comments:

  1. Another great one, thanks again Sonic.

    In case you still want to try for some Hip Hop albums that never were, here's a TON of unreleased Tupac material in lossless: https://mega.nz/#F!u14igDAJ!MZ2tgUTQvXChQ4Se7raeYw

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  2. Thanks Sonic... looking forward to the upgrade.

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  3. Hey have you ever considered making a reconstruction of the rivers cuomo solo project homie? Also have you thought of doing the original Tonight's the Night that was meant to be released in 1973?

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    1. Unfortunately we have, at best, 2 HOMiE tracks. This material is the Holy Grail.

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    2. Good point considering the material we have it would be a low quality live album

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  4. I dunno.... I know you make 'creative decisions' on these, but using "Cirrus Minor" instead of the intended "Celestial Voices" really spoils this for me. Pink Floyd would never have done that, especially since they were okay with releasing a second "Saucerful" so soon anyway.

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  5. Awesome as always man. And LOVED the last one. Cut My Hair is the shit. With Hitchhiker coming out, any plans for more Neil Young releases? Time Fades Away II, Old Ways I, Oceanside-Countryside, Tonight's The Night acetate, Toast.

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    1. Waiting for his online archive to happen. Then all that will be done.

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    2. You're a lot more optimistic about that than I am lol.. time moves a lot slower for Neil Young than the rest of us. Not sure how he does it.

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  6. Or, how could I forget, The Dead's unreleased follow-up to American Beauty, Ramble On Rose, would be your masterpiece!

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    1. I recently did this. Although I'm sure it is not what they intended. My goal was to make on unified 1972 album. I took the new songs from Europe 72 and the best songs from Bob and Jerry's respective solo albums. Came out as a double album but a worthy double album. Sequenced for vinyl, each side is between 22 and 23 minutes. And there are still a lot of good songs left.

      Side A
      01 Deal
      02 One More Saturday Night
      03 Jack Straw
      04 Mr Charlie
      05 To Lay Me Down

      Side B
      01 Greatest Story Ever Told
      02 Ramble On Rose
      03 Tennessee Jed
      04 Black-Throated Wind

      Side C
      01 Bertha
      02 Sugaree
      03 Looks Like Rain
      04 Loser

      Side D
      01 Cassidy
      02 He's Gone
      03 Playing In The Band
      04 Bird Song

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    2. Yeah it's hard NOT to go for a double album with so many damn good songs from that year. Where's "The Wheel" at though?!

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    3. I made a companion disc that gathers the left overs. You can call it a bonus disc for the expanded deluxe reissue or the 1973 follow up before Wake of the Flood. I just needed a vehilcle for They Love Each Other.

      01 Brown-Eyed Woman
      02 Walk In The Sunshine
      03 The stranger (Two Souls In Communion)
      04 The Wheel
      05 They Love Each Other
      06 Chinatown Shuffle
      07 Wharf Rat
      08 Mexicali Blues

      They Love Each Other is a bit of a cheat. The version I used is the studio version from Jerry's Reflections album but it is a Dead recording, They played it live for the first time in February '73. Two Pigpen songs. With the exception of Sunshine and Love Each Other the rest are live recordings. I was fine with the brass on most of the '72 solo recordings but Mexicali Blues was over the top so I found a live version from the Europe '72 recordings.

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    4. Very interesting...is it available somewhere? Thank you very much.

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    5. zippy links while they last.

      Ramble On 1972
      http://www80.zippyshare.com/v/i2A1eU9Y/file.html
      Two Souls in Communion
      http://www80.zippyshare.com/v/XxUCmHDY/file.html

      Quick and dirty constructions. Not the same attention to detail as Sonic but they came out nice.

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    6. Zippy links are gone - I waited too long.

      Possibility of a Dead re-up?

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    7. I redid them and they are now up on my new blog with downloads.
      https://whatif-misc.blogspot.com/search/label/Grateful%20Dead

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  7. Dude, you need to stop reading my mind. :P

    I made up a version of Gadgets... which includes a few Syd performances (in keeping with an imaginary continuity between an album I created called Rhamadan and your own Vantage Point). But more importantly, it uses Careful With That Axe, Eugene and Cirrus Minor in the same places you've used them! It must be a logical conclusion then. XD

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    1. Great minds think alike! ;)

      At one point in time I thought of combining the Syd Floyd continuity with this, and putting things like Golden Hair inbetween Doin It and Sleeping. I ultimately decided not to do it, but it was a fun idea.

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    2. I managed to pull together a track listing that I thought worked:

      "Afternoon" is "Here I Go"
      "Nightmare" is "No Good Trying"
      "The Beginning" is take 4 of "She Took A Long Cold Look At Me" (which is complete and, in my opinion, a better performance)
      "The Pink Jungle" is "Lanky Part 1"

      I also took a few liberties that are probably *most inappropriate*:

      "The Labyrinths of Auximenes" is "The Narrow Way Part 2" and it fades into "Cirrus Minor" at the chord just prior to "TNW Part 3"

      That aside, it's basically your reconstruction. I also added some ocean sounds to "The Beginning", some wind sound to "The Narrow Way", and some jungle sounds to "The Pink Jungle"; all of which I found on freesound.org

      Is it accurate or even possible a Syd-ful Floyd would do The Massed Gadgets of Auximenes, especially in this blasphemous configuration? Probably not. But it works really well, I think. And yeah, it is a fun idea.

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  9. Thanks for taking the time to put this together. Very nice indeed.

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  10. Wow fascinating as ever Thanks Sonic

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  11. Thnak you very much for this, your work is very appreciated. Have you any ideas for some reconstruction about Jimi Hendrix?

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    1. http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2014/10/jimi-hendrix-first-rays-of-new-rising.html

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    2. Just listened to "First Rays" last night...fantastic!

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    3. Thank you very much for Jimi Hendrix reconstruction, it's fantastic. Do you have intention to make some other stuff about him?

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  12. Excellent! Thanks for the upgrade. Much appreciated.

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  13. Hmmm, I genuinely think you original incarnation was better.

    Perhaps using elements of the recent boxset and doing an alternative More album would have been a better idea?

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  14. Mind giving my alternate take on a Yellow Submarine album a listen?

    https://mega.nz/#F!kgIEFTTD!flM5t6UBfXB7ech-FQIykQ

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  15. Idea for reconstruction: Eddie and the Cruisers - "Tender Years" album

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    1. I'm still holding out for the A Season In Hell tapes.

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    2. Not quite what you requested but then I tend to overthink things.
      https://whatif-misc.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-eddie-wilson-anthologhy.html

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  16. Last night I did a pre David Stewart version of Petty's "Southern Accents" less stand out songs, but a tighter album that works together.

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    1. I've put together that as well. Much more cohesive concept album.

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    2. Like to assemble my own - curious what your tracklist(s) are.

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    3. Mine is:
      Side A
      1. Rebels
      2. Trailer
      3. The Image of Me
      4. Cracking Up
      5. Southern Accents

      Side B
      1. The Apartment Song
      2. Big Boss Man
      3. Spike
      4. Dogs on the Run
      5. Mary's New Car
      6. The Best of Everything

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    4. Of the available non Stewart tracks, I ended up dropping "Mary's New Car" as it felt out of place and gave me more flexibility time-wise on which side to put tracks. I ended up swapping the sides on "Southern Accents" and the "The Best of Everything" as I felt it better ties the album together thematically. I particularly like the transition from "Spike" to "The Image of Me". I'm still not 100% settled on this order.

      Side A
      1. Rebels
      2. Trailer
      3. Big boss man
      4. Cracking up
      5. The best of Everything

      Side B
      1. Make it better
      2. Spike
      3. The image of Me
      4. The Apartment Song
      5. Southern Accents

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  17. Awesome album sonic! I still prefer the previous version of Beset By Creatures of the Deep instead of Careful With That Axe, Eugene. But it's still perfect, as always! Also, will you do an upgrade on Vantage Point too?

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    2. I did what's more or less considered the 'definitive' reconstruction of Opus 10 (plus an eventual overhaul of it, changing a couple things I disliked) - but I've always wanted to know Soniclovenoize's vision of it. :)

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    3. The tracklist of mine: [Side A] Under Attack / You Owe Me One / The Day Before You Came / Should I Laugh Or Cry / Opus 10 // [Side B] I Am The City / Cassandra / Every Good Man (re-edited) / Just Like That ('sax' version with HQ sections swapped in) / Givin' A Little Bit More (re-edited) // [Bonus Track] When The Waves Roll Out To Sea.

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  20. Very good, but I actually wanted someone to make an MP3 version.

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    2. I don't. I have the songs which game from the Singles 73-82 album, but not the rest. Where is there a Polar Music remastered version available?

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    1. Mind doing a 1971 Beatles album, without using any of the obvious choices?

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    3. My '71 Beatles album

      http://beatles-whatif.blogspot.com/2010/04/1971-through-many-years.html

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    4. I thought you dissapeared from the internet lol!

      I actually had this idea for a 1971 beatles rock opera

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    5. Yea, I'm a lurker. My Beatles site may seem dormant but I set out to write a story of sorts and the story is done. I do keep an eye one it though.

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    2. I took a different approach when I created my version of "A Doll's House." Keeping with the theme of the original title, I felt there was a nice concept album hiding on the White Album.

      SIDE A
      1. Glass Onion (Intro)
      2. Dear Prudence (Party Invitation)
      3. Birthday (Party starts)
      4. Savoy Truffle (Treats)
      5. Mother Nature’s Son (nursery rhymes and stories)
      6. The Continuing…Bungalow Bill
      7. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

      SIDE B
      1. Martha My Dear (Animals Suite)
      2. Piggies
      3. Blackbird
      4. Everybody’s Got…My Monkey
      5. Rocky Raccoon
      6. Cry Baby Cry (Bedtime)
      7. Good Night (Lullaby)

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    3. Ooo, I actually like that idea! What would be the follow up tracklist be?

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    7. Here's how my tracklist would go

      SIDE A

      1. Back In The USSR
      2. Yer Blues
      3. Why Don't We Do It In The Road?
      4. While My Guitar Gently Wheeps
      5. Sexy Sadie
      6. I Will
      7. Julia

      SIDE B
      1. Happiness Is A Warm Gun
      2. Honey Pie (With Wild Honey Pie as the coda)
      3. Don't Pass Me By
      4. Revolution 1
      5. I'm So Tired
      6. Helter Skelter
      7. Long Long Long

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    8. Perhaps it's a bit self indulgent, but I'm tempted to work Revolution (take 20) into a version

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    9. Posted my second blog entry with most of the White Album tracks:
      https://albumsbackfromthedead.blogspot.com/

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  27. what can i say but a huge "thank you" ???

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    1. Wow, the artwork is exceptional, great job!

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    1. Carnival of Light was not intended for Sgt. Pepper, nor is it available.

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    2. Three of the songs you list in the artwork are not included in the music file: Good Morning Good Morning, A Day In The Life and With A Little Help From My Friends

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  34. Back in the U.S.S.R.
    Dear Prudence
    While My Guitar Gently Weeps
    Happiness Is A Warm Gun
    I'm So Tired
    Don't Pass Me By
    Birthday

    Yer Blues
    Everybody's Got Something To Hide
    Sexy Sadie
    Helter Skelter
    Long,Long,Long
    Revolution I
    Cry Baby Cry

    Alt.White

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  35. I guess we'll never know what tracks George Martin would have picked for the lp. In an interview, he alluded to tracks he wouldn't have used, and said some were better saved for future projects. So I guess we'll never know what he may have intended. I personally think there's only 3 sides of decent stuff on the lp, and a bit of that is overtly solo stuff, which I'm not sure belongs on a Beatles lp ( i.e. Julia, Blackbird , etc. ) It's up to everyone to do their own , subjective version of what they like. My version would have G.H.'s 4 songs that made the lp, plus Not Guilty.

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    1. This is interesting because I just had this discussion on the SH forums last month (to little interest of course). What *would* George Martin approve for a single-disc White Album? Here's my post, which I still stand by:

      idk, the real question is "What would George Martin consider a quality song?" If you limit the album to 6 Paul songs, 6 John songs, 2 George and 1 Ringo, you can go through a process of elimination:

      JOHN
      Dear Prudence, Glass Onion, Bungalow Bill, Happiness is a Warm Gun, I'm So Tired, Julia, Yer Blues, Everybody's Got Something To Hide.., Sexy Sadie, Revolution 1, Cry Baby Cry, Revolution 9, What's The New Mary Jane.

      We know GM thought "Bungalow Bill" was a song to drop, and obviously "What's The New Mary Jane" was dropped anyways; scratch those from the list. What else? My instinct tells me GM would have been less interested about the songs that are overly meta and honestly meaningless (scratch off "Glass Onion"), or fun for fun's sake without much substance (scratch off "Everybody's Got Something To Hide..."). Although he praised "Revolution 9" in one interview, he did mention it as something to drop in another; due to time constraints, we should cut it as well. In contrast, I feel like he would have thought the songs of the most musical substance and interesting lyric of John's batch would be "Dear Prudence", "Happiness is a Warm Gun", "Julia", "Sexy Sadie" and "Cry Baby Cry". I feel like GM would have felt "Yer Blues" showed 'his boys' in the best light as the rock band they used to be. And of course in accordance to established Beatles lore, John always began the recording sessions for an album with one of his own songs as the flagship for the project: here it was "Revolution 1", a song someone must have felt good enough about in order to record it twice. There's seven John cuts.

      PAUL
      Back in the USSR, Ob-La-Di, Wild Honey Pie, Martha My Dear, Blackbird, Rocky Raccoon, Why Don't We Do It in The Road, I Will, Birthday, Mother Nature's Son, Helter Skelter, Honey Pie

      We know GM specifically called out "Birthday", (surprisingly) "Honey Pie" and (not surprisingly) "Wild Honey Pie" as songs to drop, and also implied "Helter Skelter" was just noise; you can scratch those off the list. As stated above, you'd think GM would want to drop any of the songs of little substance (scratch off "Why Don't We Do It...") and honestly meandering fluff (scratch off "Rocky Raccoon"). In contrast, I feel GM would have thought the strongest of Paul's batch would have been "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da", "Martha My Dear", "Blackbird", "I Will", "Mother Nature's Son", with "Back In The USSR" being what GM called 'the potboiler' to start the album. There's Paul's six.

      GEORGE
      While My Guitar, Piggies, Long Long Long, Savoy Truffle, Not Guilty

      Poor George. Judging by GM's comments, it was an issue of "Hey guys, this is what I got, can I possibly squeeze it one or two in through your 12 songs?" So assuming we leave room for two George songs, which two of those five can stand alongside John and Paul's above choice cuts? Obviously "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", but I also feel GM would have thought that "Piggies" had the most meaningful lyric and interesting musical content.

      RINGO
      Don't Pass Me By, Goodnight
      This one is unfortunately a no-brainer. "Sorry Ringo, I know you've been trying to write a song for three years now, and you've done a swell job, but John wrote you a much better one and I even have an elaborate score for it as well." "Goodnight" sweet prince...

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    2. So there you go. We have a shortlist of sixteen songs that total about 49 minutes... A bit long, so you could certainly cut another one or two or three songs if you want. For argument's sake, we'll cut one of John's 7 so it's equal to Paul's 6. I'd probably choose "Julia", the song literally recorded at the last minute of the recording sessions (and we also already have "Blackbird"). So, I'd say a theoretical George Martin-approved single White Album would be something like:

      SIDE A:
      Back in the USSR
      Dear Prudence
      Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
      Piggies
      Yer Blues
      Martha My Dear
      Happiness is a Warm Gun
      I Will

      SIDE B:
      Revolution 1
      Mother Nature's Son
      Sexy Sadie
      Blackbird
      Cry Baby Cry
      While My Guitar Gently Weeps
      Good Night

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    3. Makes great sense, and I like the way you went about it logically. It's unfortunate George was relegated to an inferior position, and his songs we so much better than McCartney's fluff at this point in time, but you have wisely considered the power source in the group, for better or worse. While I personally hate Obladi and Yer Blues, I think you were probably right to include them.
      Compliments on a job well done !

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    4. I took a different approach. What if instead they made solo albums using each other as backing musicians? Similar to KISS in 1978.

      John - http://beatles-whatif.blogspot.com/2010/04/1968-john-lennon.html

      Paul - http://beatles-whatif.blogspot.com/2010/04/1968-paul-mccartney.html

      George - http://beatles-whatif.blogspot.com/2010/04/1968-george-harrison.html

      Ringo - http://beatles-whatif.blogspot.com/2010/04/1968-ringo-starr.html

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    1. Um, sorry. Carnival of Light has never been released officially or unofficially. Any version found on the web is a fake. I did listen to yours and it is a good attempt at recreating it and sounds cool but it doesn't match the description given by Mark Lewisohn in his Recording Sessions book. Good job overall though.

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    2. What was the description then? If we could at least get close to the description as we can, that would be the version put on all these fantasy versions rather than having to make it up completely?

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    3. It's been a while since I read it and the book is home where I am not but the basic description is they took a half hour to an hour of studio time and just did random things. Taking a few passes overdubbing each onto the last. Making noises with instruments and percussion stuff and repeating random phrases. It was done on the studio floor, not in the control room. There may have been tape loops but as far as I remember no backward tapes of backing tracks like I heard in Rodvi's version. I seem to remember that John kept repeating the word Barcelona at the top of his lungs but I'm not sure if that was for this or another experimental piece. This is one of the last real "holy grail" Beatles tracks. Paul did pitch for it to be included on Anthology but he was outvoted.

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    5. Before I go any further let me say this. I've listened to the track several times. I have listened to several of your projects and enjoyed them. The fact that the track in question is not what you think it is does not diminish my enjoyment of the project as a whole. I also have a lot of respect for what Sonic has done and I apologize for dirtying up his comment section with this.

      I like to give folks the benefit of the doubt and want to believe you truly believe that the track is what you think it is. Either your source has fooled you or they were fooled.

      Now, about Carnival of Light itself. I'm home and looked at Lewishn's book and also looked up to see how Paul describes the session. Recorded Jan 5, 1967 early in the Sgt Pepper sessions Paul accepted the commission for a piece for a happening at The Roundhouse. They were already setup to record so they took 15 minutes to quickly record COL. They recorded straight to four track using all tracks then made a quick mono mix and it was done. On those four tracks are (from Lewisohn's book); track one, distorted, hypnotic drum and organ, track two, distorted lead guitar, track three, voices, various effects and a church organ, track four, various indescribable sound effects with heaps of echo and manic tambourine.

      The voices on track three as Lewisohn describes it were "John and Paul screaming dementedly and bawling aloud random phrases like 'Are you alright?' and 'Barcelona!'". At the end Paul gave one last shout up to the control room asking "Can we hear it back now?" Where is any of that on your track? If this is a remix why would they take that stuff out?

      What I hear on your track are what sounds like elements from the Sgt Pepper multi-tracks (available on the web almost everywhere bootlegs are found) slowed down and backwards with some other effects splashed on. There are at least a dozen similar tracks on YouTube alone, some more convincing than others. Impressive but not Carnival of Light.

      Again I like what you do and have the most respect and love for Sonic but a little research goes a long way.

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    1. I'm still confused, but I think Rodvi may have won this. Could we at least hear the original you have Rodvi?

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    2. Still not convinced. I would have to hear your original. I hear elements in the "remix" that could post date the recording date. At the time of recording only Strawberry Fields, Penny Lane and When I'm 64 had any work done. It wasn't until the 19th that real work on Sgt Pepper had begun. And I don't hear any of the elements described by Lewisohn or Paul. Why would they remix it if it was rejected? They did listen to it but then George said no. They only mixed what they wanted to use. If this is a remix I would think they would at least try to capture the essence and major elements of the original.

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  42. Yeah, "Cirrus Minor" DOES work a lot better than I expected. :) I never realized how similar the second half was to "Celestial Voices"!

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  43. Great job. I like what you've done.

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  44. empty3
    https://mega.nz/file/LoIXxCSJ#8-mh5P2Vj6QwmT7rbrvmCtK_xYzvlQxKHaIL9xnvJ6g

    listless
    https://mega.nz/file/OwIVnYCI#m7jZQhahr1eRdZg5dSQNxRYWJCjNO3gAxu_8cEcPpHY

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  45. i'll play: https://soundcloud.com/user-745878068/syd-floyd

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  46. Congratulation for the great post. Those who come to read your Information will find lots of helpful and informative tips. Dude Gadgets Discount

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  47. This has been included in a 4CD "High Definition" Ummagumma bootleg, it has been boosted but it is it... https://www.discogs.com/release/13733873-Pink-Floyd-Ummagumma-The-High-Resolution-Remasters

    You have been bootlegged, dude. Unless you are involved in the releases :p
    Rex.

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    1. Hmm, are you sure it's actually my reconstruction on that? Maybe it's just the same song titles?

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    2. It's yours, they also used your 'The Shape of Questions to Heaven' mix in their Saucerful of Secrets boxset... I have seen your name mentioned in the release notes somewhere too, I will link you up if I stumble across it again.

      I heard a rumour that they are doing a soundtracks version so expect your Zabriskie Point to turn up there too.

      They do sound good these high res remasters and your work sits alonside it nicely it has definitely been volume boosted but unsure if the have EQ'd it in any way? I found the full set on soulseek if your curious.
      Rex.

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    3. *you're

      Did you design the cover for Shape of Questions to Heaven? That is used on the cover stickers for the Saucerful set.

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  48. I too would really appreciate a re-up of this!

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  49. Rexy is right; it is in the Hi Def Ummagumma boot! no need to re-up , cheers

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  50. my final word ! : thank you so much for this reconstruction; it has become one of my favourite albums, i listen to it loads. if Floyd had released this it would be hailed as a classic,

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  51. NOTE to folks requesting a re-up:
    I'm in the process of upgrading this. You'll have to wait for that!

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    1. oooh! exciting. how can it be upgraded ?!

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    2. Hmm, let's see... I did a little editing to Grantchester Meadows, so the song is only four minutes... I was working on sampling the actual sound effects used in the live performances, as in hindsight, I think that's an important intent of the piece, that should be articulated on the theoretical studio album... Looks like I also rebuilt the whole Pink Jungle/Labyrinths more to my satisfaction, with different sources that make more sense.

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