Uncut talked to Giles Martin on his latest remix/restoration project for the Beatles, the Rubber Soul: Special Edition releases, which is out tomorrow.
Highlights:
Cynical fans might say it feels like there’s a store of these songs that always seem to become available whenever there’s a new package. Is it just “Carnival of Light” left now? Do you feel there’s anything left?
I promise you that isn’t the case. My approach on these projects is to try and cast a net that doesn’t damage the ocean, so to speak – collecting everything from that period. What happens is you start going into people’s personal archives and collections, so I’m not necessarily aware of everything going in. I’m asking, “What do you have? Is there anything useful I can tap into?” – and that’s how we find this material. But I don’t think there’s anything else. I might always say that, and then turn out to be a bare – faced liar talking to you at the end of it – but I don’t think there is.
Do you think “Carnival of Light” will ever see the light of day?
“Carnival of Light” was my White Album period, in a way – I do sort of live in the era I’m working on. It’s interesting – I did think about doing something with it when we hit that period. “Carnival of Light” isn’t a song. When people ask about it – it’s not an unreleased song, it’s an experience. It’s not a song, it’s –
It’s like an installation, I guess. A sound installation.
Exactly that. I talked to Paul about it at some point – doing an installation based on “Carnival of Light”. But it’s not something to be released as a record. I think they did something with it at the Roundhouse originally – with lighting. It’d be a fun thing to do properly: find an amazing lighting person and build something around it. But it doesn’t need to be released on a record, because that’s not what it was for. My approach to all this material is not to do things just so people can add to their collection – that’s not what the Beatles were about. It’s about stuff that’s fun to listen to, that people play more than once. That’s the idea.
...One final question, which you may not be able to answer – feel free to shut me down. The Beatles biopic has been in the news again this week – I saw your dad’s been cast, Harry Lloyd is playing him. Has he spoken to you at all, got any notes from you on how to portray him?
I’m not allowed to talk about it! I’d love to tell you everything, maybe over a beer sometime. I actually got in trouble with the film people because I announced Harry Lloyd’s casting on a Beatles anthology livestream before it was meant to come out. All I’ll say about the films is that they are extraordinary – I’ve done three biopics now, and this is off the charts. The attention to detail is crazy – it’s a very strange, very dangerous thing to do, but they really are extraordinary. I think people’s minds will be blown. If people get excited about Rubber Soul, wait till these films come out.
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