The British Kaleidoscope only released two albums, "Tangerine Dream" in 1967, and "Faintly Blowing" in 1969. Then they changed their name to "Fairfield Parlour" (despite having the exact same band members) and released one more album in 1970, "From Home to Home." Furthermore, there was a fourth album, "White Faced Lady," that should have come out in 1971, but it wasn't and the band broke up. It eventually got released a couple of decades later. I'm ignoring the band name "Fairfield Parlour" since the only adds confusion. The band members later regretted the name change anyway, for instance releasing their archival album "White Faced Lady" with the "Kaleidoscope" name even though they were known as "Fairfield Parlour" at the time it was recorded.
Although the band didn't release much material, what they did put out is of a high quality. There are little to no live recordings that survive, unless you could BBC material, which I will deal with in another post. But they do have enough for a stray tracks album, which is this. The vast majority of songs here are A-sides (seven of them) or B-sides (six of those). There's also one song they only ever did for the BBC ("Jump in My Boat") and a bonus track, "Eye Witness."
This makes up a very solid album, more so than most stray tracks albums. A couple of the band's best known songs are here because they were only released as singles: "A Dream for Julie" and "Jenny Artichoke."
This album is 38 minutes long.
01 A Dream for Julie (Kaleidoscope)
02 Jenny Artichoke (Kaleidoscope)
03 Just How Much You Are (Kaleidoscope)
04 Jump in My Boat [Edit] (Kaleidoscope)
05 Do It Again for Jeffrey (Kaleidoscope)
06 Balloon (Kaleidoscope)
07 Bordeaux Rose (Kaleidoscope)
08 Just Another Day (Kaleidoscope)
09 Caraminda (Kaleidoscope)
10 I Am All the Animals (Kaleidoscope)
11 Song for You (Kaleidoscope)
12 Let the World Wash In (Kaleidoscope)
13 Medieval Masquerade [Instrumental] (Kaleidoscope)
14 Baby, Stay for Tonight (Kaleidoscope)
15 Eye Witness (Kaleidoscope)
https://www.upload.ee/files/16693430/KLEDOSCPE1967-1970_ADremfrJlie_atse.zip.html
I take it this band kept a low profile, because there are very few color photos of them, and most of those are used for album artwork already. I don't know where or when this photo is from, but at least it's in color and has decent resolution. For the text, I thought it was only fitting to use the font known as "kaleidoscope," so I did. :)
I totally agree with UK vs US. These guys were very fine. Deep in the vaults are 6 assorted collections I know of including one as "The Sidekicks"- their name 64 to 67. & there is a fine BBC Collection of 22 tracks called "Please Listen To The Pictures The BBC Sessions 1967-71".
ReplyDeleteThere was also a brief reunion for a live show 2017-11-11 London
here are boombox's notes about that day:
"...For me, this was my gig of the year: Kaleidoscope, celebrating 50 years of 'Tangerine Dream', in perhaps their last show, as leader Peter Daltrey wants to hold on to his remaining hearing. Appearances by the two remaining members: drummer, Danny Bridgman and guitarist, Eddy Pumer, was also promised, . As it turned out, Danny only played on a few songs and while Eddy wasn't fit enough to play, he was there piping up from the balcony from time to time. The band took the stage to perform 'Tangerine Dream' in its entirety, followed by further songs from the band's 'Faintly Blowing' LP and 'From Home To Home', the album they released, albeit with the same line-up, as Fairfield Parlour. Mike Hastings really nails these pieces and Peter delivered the songs beautifully. By the time the windchimes signaled the start of 'Aries' , there were lots of misty eyed people in the house. Particularly, 'Music' and 'The Sky Children' and got huge roars from the audience....."
The 'other' Kaleidoscope is also an amazing band! I'd love it if you dug up any recordings of the 'other' band?
ReplyDeleteIt's another case of 'great minds think alike', as I posted this exact compilation a few years ago, but luckily for you I've also posted one from the 'other' Kaleidoscope, so enjoy. https://albumsiwishexisted2.blogspot.com/2019/05/kaleidoscope-egyptian-candy-1970.html
ReplyDeleteOops! Sorry about that. I didn't realize. I see though you have a few more songs than I do. By the way, I doubt I'll post anything from the other Kaleidoscope.
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