Jan & Dean - Carnival of Sound - 1968

CARNIVAL OF SOUND — WARNER BROS., 1968 [UNRELEASED]

Recorded at United, Western, and Goldstar . . . 1966-1968

Master tapes owned by Warner Bros. . . .

Publishing . . . Screen Gems (EMI)

This is one of the last mysterious unreleased albums from the Psychedelic Era . . . What Jan Berry was working on while Brian Wilson was losing his handle on SMiLE.

DISCUSS . . . (This stuff needs to see the official light of day).


SIDE 1:

BLOWIN' MY MIND
(Jan Berry - Paul Freese - Steve Gaines)

ONLY A BOY
(Jan Berry - Don Altfeld - Fred Weider)
This one was started in early '66, before Jan's accident. Thus, the only Jan Berry lead vocal on Carnival of Sound.

STAY
(Maurice Williams)

MULHOLLAND
(Jan Berry - Roger Christian)

I KNOW MY MIND
(Jan Berry - Roger Christian)

IN THE STILL OF THE NIGHT
(Fred Parris)
Spoken Interlude by Davy Jones



SIDE 2:

CARNIVAL OF SOUND
(Jan Berry - Roger Christian - David Weiss)

HAWAII
(Jan Berry - Jill Gibson)

LOUISIANA MAN
(Doug Kershaw - Billy Deaton)

LOVE & HATE
(Jan Berry - Jill Gibson - Jan Hirsch)

FAN TAN
(Jan Berry - Jill Gibson - Don Altfeld)

LAUREL & HARDY
(Jan Berry - Roger Christian)
Demo version of "Laurel & Hardy" features Davy Jones on vocals


Singers: Tom Bahler, Ron Hicklin, Jill Gibson, Glen Campbell, among others.

Musicians: Top flight cats who played on all the original J&D tracks . . . Hal Blaine on drums, etc.

Arranged & Produced by Jan Berry (with assistance)







A few sound files to follow . . .

M.

 

Nice idea for a thread, Mark. Look forward to some sound files, and your take on "Carnival Of Sound".

There's no doubt that Warner Brothers (WEA?) needs to release this.

 

LOVE & HATE
(Jan Berry - Jill Gibson - Jan Hirsch)

Released on "Jan & Dean 11" in the summer of 1967 (the fabled "Summer of Love")

Also released on Warner Bros. single 7151 (along with "Only A Boy") in December 1967.

This is one of the "Jan & Dean Label" recordings that was slated for inclusion on WB's Carnival of Sound (1968).

A couple of audio examples . . .

Love & Hate — partial sound file.

Love & Hate — backing track without the complex string arrangement, and without vocals. Awesone tack (honky-tonk) piano and guitar, with a nice bass line.

M.

 

This would be a great opportunity for Handmade.

 

Exactly . . . and I have the goods on this project, as part of my larger research on Jan Berry and Jan & Dean.

I have AFM data, studio invoices, diaries, company correspondence . . . Jan Berry's personal stash of documentation . . . everything I need to write some awesome liner notes for an official release . . . plus lots of good visuals for the packaging.

M.

 

I never much cared for the "Love And Hate" vocals, but the backing track is beautiful.

Is the acetate shown the only version in existence? There is a different tracklisting out there, 10 tracks and not in the same order.

 

This WAS considered for a Handmade ( I saw the tracklist years ago--it was extensive), but for reasons I don't know, it was vetoed. I doubt it will ever be resurrected.

 

There were two acetates . . . a 10-track version and a 12-track version.

I like the "Love & Hate" vocals . . . particularly the backing harmonies.

But yeah, the track is amazing, especially with the strings. I have the original music scores for the entire album.

M.

 

Yeah, it was considered and dropped. But none of the people involved had the level of information I have, anyway. It would have been lacking.

Plus, you have to look at the political angle . . . Jan Berry's lawyers and Screen Gems killed Dean Torrence's Columbia deal for Save For A Rainy Day in 1967. (That's why Dean's album remained only an obscure self-released and bootlegged thing until Sundazed put it out in '96). You see, Dean had no contractual ties with Screen Gems, like Jan Berry did. Dean had no business say in matters related to Jan & Dean. That was all Jan.

Then, when Jan Berry got the deal with Warner Bros. . . . Dean Torrence signed that contract. (And I have that contract in my posession). So Carnival of Sound would have officially been a Jan & Dean project (whether Dean was on it or not).

So you have to consider that, in the present era, Dean Torrence may have (or has) tried to block any kind of official release for Carnival of Sound.

In the past, when others have tried to license the stuff, WB has said it can't license stuff that was never released. But there should be nothing keeping WB (or its underlings) from releasing its own masters.

So yeah . . . you have to wonder.

M.

PS

Seven of the tracks on our forthcoming tribute album will be Carnival tracks. And while they won't be as good as the originals, I'll be using that project to promote the Carnival music, in lieu of an official release.

Here's a sample of one of our backing tracks . . . for the title track of the album:

"Carnival of Sound" — Backing Track (incomplete rough draft)
Produced by Cameron Michael Parkes and Mark A. Moore, 2007

Tom Bahler sang lead on the original version . . . and he will also sing lead on our new version.

M.

 

The was also correspondence from Rhino, at the time in question, that inicated Rhino Handmade was being dismantled, or at least having its funding cut. I recall there being mention of jobs being lost, etc.

I do know that was one of the excuses floated for not releasing the album.

M.

 

That explains it. Back in the late sixties, the Schwann catalog always listed "Save For A Rainy Day" on Columbia, but no dealer ever had it in stock.
It drove me nuts, untill I got an autographed copy from Dean in the early seventies on his own label.

 

I have a question about these recordings. It lists the dates from 1966 to 1968. As I seem to recall, didn't Jan suffer his serious car accident in April of 1966? After that, I thought he was in a coma for some period of time, and suffered paralysis. Not only that, he also suffered brain damage which necessitated a "re-learning" process. Didn't the recovery take many years?

My question is.........

Were the majority of these tracks recorded BEFORE the accident, and if they weren't............how would he have been able to be involved with the project, given his serious situation at the time?

Sounds like a fascinating project. If anybody could clarify this, I would appreciate it. I am a BIG Jan & Dean fan.........

 

"Only A Boy" was done before the accident (but was tweaked after it) . . . and thus it's the only Carnival track to feature Jan Berry's lead vocals. It's also the square peg on the album . . . doesn't really fit with the other material, for obvious reasons.

Jan also produced a track for "Louisiana Man" before the accident. Dean finished that one, but Jan and his team ended up recording a whole new version for Carnival of Sound.

There has been speculation that stuff like "Fan Tan" and "Hawaii" was started before the accident, because those tunes kind of put a psychedelic twist on the old surf formula. But Jan wasn't really recording that kind of thing in 1966.

At that time he was more into writing deep arrangements for stuff like "Norwegian Wood" (late '65, and into '66), etc.

Jan's accident occurred in April 1966. He was in a coma for just over a month. He went home in June.

In April 1967, exactly one year to the month after his accident, Jan Berry was back in the studio again, working on material that would become Carnival of Sound. I have the documentation to prove it.

He could barely speak at the time. But with the help of collaborators he'd worked with before the accident, and a few new people, Jan was able to continue writing, arranging, and producing. It was slow and tough going, but it happened.

I have tons of documentation on this album . . . and it really kicks in, in April of '67.

Jan spent a ton of money in the studio on the project . . . but it never saw the official light of day. The label gave up on it.

M.

 

The post-accident tracks were done much sooner than you would think, and done partly as therapy, IIRC.

I'm sure Mark will chime in with more details. -- Ah, I was right!!!

 

All tracks were recorded after the accident except for "Only A Boy". Jan did not sing on any of the tracks except for "Only A Boy". Jan was out of his coma obviously but was still severely neurologically and physically impaired. His mind was working by all accounts but he had trouble speaking, writing and controlling his body. The production of Carnival Of Sound would have been impossible without the assistance of Roger Christian, Glen Campbell, Davy Jones and others. All things considered the album was an amazing accomplishment.

 

And more's the pity! Mulholland ALONE is worth the price of admission. What a great song!!!!

 

Agreed . . . that piece is psychedelic jazz . . . and it's another Tom Bahler lead vocal. Awesome drumming from Hal, too.

For the record, Roger Christian stuck by Jan on that project, and helped a great deal . . . but Roger was only a lyricist. (That's all he'd ever been as a songwriter, with both Jan and Brian Wilson). Roger never produced anything of Jan's. He helped turn Jan's post-accident ideas into lyrics.

And the album has a sub-theme that centers around the mind . . . Fitting, considering Jan's brain damage.

Jan came up with the melodies (with input from others) . . . and then Jan worked with arrangers to get the scores and charts written out. And then the musicians and vocalists gelled to put the final touches on everything.

M.

 

Not therapy in this case. Warner Bros. (according to Joe Smith himself) wanted the Jan & Dean name, and they originally planned to released the album . . . on the heels of the singles they DID release . . . . "Only A Boy / Love & Hate" and "I Know My Mind / Laurel & Hardy."

Therapy was more of a reason when Lou Adler facilitated Jan's cutting a number of solo singles for Ode and A&M Records in the 1970s. Good stuff, too . . . in terms of arrangements, etc.

M.

 

Mark,

Thank you for the information. The Carnival of Sound project sounds like it could be something very special. Hopefully someone, SOMEDAY will release it. It would be interesting to find out more about it, in detail. Is your documentation on it available to read on a website? Hopefully you will keep us all informed on what is going on with it.

 

No, not available right now. I'm researching a biography of Jan Berry (and I'm now a decade into that) . . . But in the case of Carnival of Sound, if we can get it released, some of my information on the project could see the light of day in that packaging first . . . assuming I got the gig to do it . . . which is my plan.

As far as the Web, I wrote a piece about Jan Berry (on his official site) as a preview of my research . . . and a condensed version of that article appeared in Dumb Amgel #4 . . . and I did a piece on Jan for ESQ when he died. But that stuff focuses on Jan & Dean before the accident . . . the orignal era.

Jan's true story has been buried for 40 years, and there's just a lot of misconceptions about it. And I'm trying to foster a public dialogue . . . (1) as a way to promote my projects . . . and (2) as a way to get the original Jan & Dean catalog (including Carnival) the kind of treatment it deserves.

A forum like this, with lots of knowledgable people, is a great place to discuss this stuff. I'm looking for movers and shakers who can help me get Carnival of Sound and a Jan & Dean Box Set out on the market.

All fans . . . please sign the petition . . . as a public show of support for Jan & Dean, if nothing else:
http://www.petitiononline.com/jdcd2007/petition.html

If you don't know me from Adam . . . I'm a research historian by day . . . and have an entry at Wikipedia.com: Mark A. Moore

M.

 

Thanks for all of your hard work, Mark!!! I've already signed the petition. Hopefully, we can all band together to get all these exciting projects off the ground! Keep fighting for the positive choice, my friend.

 

Absolutely . . . the power of one translates into the power of many

M.

 

Yeah, I have one of those. The infamous JD-101 MONO . . . a groovy artifact, indeed, with Dean's artwork on the cream-colored label.

I bought a sealed copy . . . and broke it open just to see the label.

Not as cool as the colored "J&D Record Co." label for Dean's singles . . . but awesome nonetheless.

M.

 

Mark, can you post a pic of this. I'd love to see it!

 

Here's an image of the "J&D Record Co." label for Dean's singles:



The label image on Dean's self-released version of Save For A Rainy Day was the same . . . only it was black against a cream-colored background.

M.